Birthday at Disneyland

For her birthday, the Girl asked if she could take one friend to Disneyland. She chose a friend who goes to another school, which I thought was a good choice because no one at her school would be jealous about it.

We picked her friend up around 9 or 9:30, and were on our way. We'd brought along a sweater and a change of clothes in case we got as wet as we did at Sea World. The girls put sun block on during the ride up there, and I played a new CD I'd made for them, with Pocket Full of Sunshine and other new songs. We'd gotten a good deal on park-hoppers thru Cal Tech, which seemed like a good deal. I was afraid Dland alone wouldn't be a full day, but I didn't want to get the Vons 2fer ticket, as you could only come to the second park on a different day, but within one month. That just seemed too hard, as it's a long way to drive.

Well, I was wrong in that Dland alone really can be a full day! I was glad to have the ability to go to the other park, tho, because we also had fun there.

I was surprised how crowded the park was, but I guess Spring Break is a different week for lots and lots of schools! It was a nice warm day, and when we first walked in I kept smelling the faint scent of pee as the sidewalk heated up. I kept thinking, "Who would be peeing out here on main street? And when?" Also, every now and then a whiff from the sewers would waft up for a nice P U. It just reminds me not to EVER try to go there during the heat of summer when the park is running anywhere near capacity! Whew!

I'm just saying.

Anyway, we went on 11 attractions in about 12 hours, and were exhausted by the end. We ate at our favorite restaurants - Pizza Port in Tomorrowland, and the soup-in-a-bread-bowl place in DCA's pier restaurants. At all times we were either on a ride, standing in line, walking to the next place, or eating. I don't think we could have fit in one more thing!

We got lucky at Space Mountain. I'd forgotten that a guy was telling everyone on the way in that this ride was down, and I was looking for the place to get a Fastpass to it. As I looked around, suddenly the ride opened up, and everyone started rushing inside! That was one of our fastest lines all day! Also, at DCA there were not as many people, so lines were shorter there for many things. Not California Soarin'. That line was as long as ever.

We got much wetter than we thought we'd really get, but luckily all of us (except K) had brought something to change into. I changed my pants, but since my hear was soaked, it kept my shirt wet in the back for most of the day.

For the first time I started to feel sick on Space Mountain. Space Mountain! My favorite ride! The easiest of roller coasters. The visuals in the beginning got to my stomach, and it took awhile for me to recover from that. K too! He says we're officially too old for roller coasters now. Sad.

He stood in line with the girls nearly 2 hours for their second ride on Space Mountain. This was their last ride, and I was exhausted, so I sat near the exit and waited for them. I could see into the arcade, and was watching an elderly woman kick everyone's butt at "Dance, Dance Revolution."

That was funny.

On the way out, the fireworks show had started, and the ushers were routing the walkers into certain pathways, then shouting at us to "keep moving!" That struck me as being not very nice, and I hate it when Disney is not very nice. I also hate it that they encourage people to waste!

I have mixed feelings about Disney, but all in all we had a fun day.

Now The Girl is 11 years old. On her actual birthday, she got her ears pierced to celebrate. We ate at Olive Garden (her favorite) and I made chocolate cupcakes.