The Happiest Place On Earth

I should start off by telling you that Randy took most of the pictures on this vacation. There were over 700 pictures and videos that I was priviledged to sort through. Anyway....

Monday morning could not come soon enough. I was so excited. I was worse than my kids! We knew that the gates opened at 9:30 so we were determined to be down there by 9:00. It was a fabulous time of year to be at Disneyland.

Anytime of year is probably great to be at Disneyland, but I loved the Halloween decorations. I loved that all the flowers were fall colors. I loved that everything that could be decorated was decked out for Halloween.

Now it must be noted that I had never been to Disneyland. Randy had never been to Disneyland. My mom and dad had never been to Disneyland. Of course, it was also a first for my four kids. I can imagine what it would feel like to spontaneously combust because that's how I felt while the crowd is counting down 10, 9, 8...until the gates opened, and I was in the Happiest Place on Earth.

Then I cried. (So did my mom.)

I had been reading books about Disneyland and it was so exciting to actually see these places and tell my kids little factoids that I had gleaned from my reading.

Like this one, for example. Did you know that when Walt Disney was alive, he would occassionally stay in the room above the fire department so he could watch what was going on? There's a light in the window that never gets turned off.

We got to hang out on Main Street for 30 minutes. I loved Main Street and probably could have spent half the day there.

My dad, ever the comedian. My dad was so easy to find at Disneyland in this shirt. I wished that he would have had three of them.

One thing about our first day at Disneyland must be noted. It was hot. Not just approaching-100-degrees hot, it was sweating-in-the-shade hot. We just happened to be spending Los Angeles' hottest day on record at Disneyland. It was 113 degrees.  

We had a great time our first day and went to as many rides and saw as many things as we could. There were a few rides McKay couldn't ride, but we just took turns waiting with him. We spent 8 hours inside Disneyland on that first day and only saw half the park. There was just so much to see and do. I was amazed at the "stuff" to entertain a person.

We had reservations at Goofy's Kitchen for Monday night. When you are at Finding Nemo and the monorail isn't working, Goofy's Kitchen is a LONG ways away. The best thing about Goofy' Kitchen was the air-conditioning. My kids probably wouldn't say that, but it's my blog so you get my opinion. Randy had the camera so I have no pictures of Goofy. Goofy was very tall. We did get to see lots of characters in the kitchen, though.

We waited at our table for Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. She spent a good five minutes talking to Kilee and making Kilee feel very special. I love the Fairy Godmother. She is now my favorite character.

Then we went back to our hotel and fell into bed, completely exhausted.