The night and the morning after

After our nap we snacked and got ready for another attack on the mouse.  When we arrived at about 5:30, the sun had set and the place was packed.  And I mean packed.  I haven't seen so many people at Disneyland since I was once there in August.  Thank goodness we had fast passes!  We rode Indy and Pirates and then made it over to Space Mountain and then watched the fireworks and enjoyed the Haunted Mansion and ended the evening with a trip down Splash Mountain.  After that, we caught the train and rode around to main street and limped on home.

We all got to bed sometime around midnight.  And the next morning, Saturday, was our one early entry day.  We knew we had to bite the bullet, get up early, and hit it.  So we did!  We were at the gates at 6:50.  But so were many other hearty souls.  The lines were long, but Fred found the shortest and fastest and we were soon inside and headed for Ruben's favorite.....Space Mountain.  What a wake up call!  Then it was over to Adventure Land and we rode the "Jingle" cruise.  The ride was the same but the lame jokes were holiday related.  Emily wanted to ride the canal boats (one ride she had never done) so we went over to Fantasyland and also rode the teacups and then went back to adventureland for Indy.  Buy then, Jeff and I were dragging our asses so we bailed and we went to the IHOP for lots of coffee and pancakes.  Em, Ru and Fred rode Splash Mt. and got fast passes for the evening, and got to the hotel just a few minutes after us.  We all met at the pool for swim and sun and then retired for naps.  Here are some pictures of last night and this morning.

The big tree

The castle at night

Wheeeee!

Princess's and their protection in the morning line.

Em and Fred hold each other up.....note how empty at 7 am.

Waiting for space mt.

We miss the "wildest ride in the wilderness".  They are remodeling it.

photo opportunity

about to be swallowed

before and after spinning teacups

The real thing

Ahhhh the hot tub for my aching knees

Sun in large doses

Roses in December in SoCal

Our rooms at the Tropicana side by side.

Jeff here with my take on Disney.  There are so many different levels to examine that I feel like I am looking at a bermuda onion.  My first thought is whoa!!!!! Too many people.  People stopping in front of you, people cutting in front of you, people being rude, crass and vulgar - in other words people being people.  After the initial dunk and emersion into this witches cauldron, you suddenly feel yourself caught up in the Disney magic.  No expense has been spared on the rides.  The experience is as real and vivid as it can possibly be.  Autotronic people look like real live people, jungles feel like jungles with the cloying sweetness of lush growth surrounding you, night birds cry out as blasts of hot air encompass the vehicle which delivers us to our grand adventure.  Adrenaline flows freely as we sit on a ledge between life and death, giant boulders rolling towards us, space ships on a certain collision course, giant cobra's reaching out to bite us and then suddenly breaking free to safe haven where we scuttle over to our next sensory overload.  I find myself deep into the fantasy and singing at the top of my lungs, "Zippity doo dah, zippitty day" with my fellow adventurous souls.  Yes, there is truly Disney magic and it resides right here in Anaheim, California. Yes, everything is outrageously overpriced by a factor of four but somehow, it doesn't matter to us adrenalin junkies, just give me another crack at "Space Mountain".

More pictures from our first morning

We made it

Exhausted already

Tomorrowland

Full of people

Cheap tickets were cheaper, but I had to go back and get them validated at the ticket booth.  This was a very nice lady, but the slowest on earth.  Just had to commemorate her slowness while I was waiting.

New bobsleds....comfy

At the lagoon

looking for Nemo

At the character breakfast...spendy but lots of fun

Jeff and his favorite character.....Pluto

Meeting Mr. Pan

Eeyor's mood was infectious

First stupid shoes of the trip.....she was going REALLY slow.

Sneaky post by Emily the guest blogger

The drive down the valley was arduous and thick with traffic. Fortunately we made it to the grapevine with no difficulty. Although we were fading fast at 5pm we headed over the mountain and down into traffic. It was stop and go for a little bit, but then it cleared out which allowed J and K to get some tasty ribs. Fred and I decided to ditch traffic and we zigged and zagged all over the California freeway system. With no small amount of irony we had no rib dinner and arrived only 15 minutes before J and K.

Our room was only on the second floor (we had requested third) and Freddie cut his hand trying to fix the leaking toilet in our room. We settled in, watched the repair man replace the toilet, and slept well.

After a quick cereal breakfast we were at the Disney gates. We had a ticket snafu which delayed us a little, but we still had a great time. We started with Peter Pan's flight and soared over Neverland. Then we did the Matterhorn bobsled, and afterwards recovered in the calm of the finding Nemo submarine voyage. That being over we had a few minutes before our breakfast reservation so we watched Captain Eo. That dripped with awesome. I was super glad we had a breakfast reservation, because they weren't taking walk ins. I was delighted that they had gluten free waffles, the cook made them for me special :-D. Jeff was delighted that they had coffee. After a few minutes I ran off in search of fastpasses for Indiana Jones, and as a bonus was also able to get some for Space Mountain much later in the evening.

At the character breakfast you eat a delicious buffet style breakfast while various Disney characters come visit you at your table. We saw Dale (but not Chip) Minnie, Pluto, Eyeore, Rafiki, the mouse from Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Pooh. Jeff was happy they had coffee, and
Freddie made up for the small amount Ru and I ate. As the diner emptied the park filled. We with the strongest stomachs rode Star Tours, which convinced me that a 3D flight simulator directly after breakfast is Not a good idea. Then we all found our way to the Tiki room (Where the birds sing words and the flowers croon). Some cotton candy and Dole whip was consumed during the crooning. We parted company with J and K and while they went in search of a souvenir we rode the train around the park. As we headed back to the hotel for a siesta, we saw that they had started turning away Disney guests, the park was full.
Just now I'm laying on a lounge chair watching Ru and Fred frolic in the otherwise unoccupied pool. A nap is soon to follow.

The weather is clear, with a light southern breeze, and in the upper 70's.
Sweet.

Glutten Free Mickey Waffles

Christmas and Disneyland

What a wonderful time J and K have had during the Christmas season.  The whole thing started with the usual gang enjoying Thanksgiving together.  Even an uncooked turkey and screaming smoke alarm could not dull the fun.

 With the forecast for snow and freezing weather, and a snow day, we got in the car and headed for the coast where we found sun and NO snow.  We went to Shore Acres to see the lights and spent some time at the Mill losing money

What we found when we got home.

On my walk

We hosted the annual family fun Christmas Party on the 14th.  The snow had mostly melted and the smoke alarm only went off once!  Ruben won the Sweater contest, the white elephant gifts were hilarious and a great time was had by all.

Odin is ready for the party

Eddie and Katherine attended.

The winner!

Then we also hosted the traditional sing along and soup dinner on Christmas eve.  We enjoyed singing (with a great solo by Max on "Snow" from the movie White Christmas) and opened what Santa had gifted us.  We went to bed as early as we could to prepare for the journey to Disney Land

J and K--Super hosts!

After a fitful night's sleep, we packed up and soon realized that one car would not hold all our stuff.  So J and K climbed into the Nissan and we caravaned south on I-5.  J enjoyed his Christmas gift from Max and the scenery was great until we got to the San Joaquin Valley......then it was traffic and more traffic.  Note to self:  No more traveling on Boxing Day......too many people trying to get home.

Jeff and his present

Leaving 34 and foggy and finding 70 and sunny--Yay

Mt Shasta....not too much snow

Ruben at the rest stop.

We are currently at the Best Western Anderson Inn enjoying complementary breakfast and getting ready for that last long drive down I-5 to Anaheim.  More pix and adventures to come.