The Happiest Place On Earth Part ONE

So the moment had finally arrived. We made it! Though my hubby and kiddos zonked out, I lost a little sleep the night before anticipating. For weeks, the girls have been asking me what it was going to be like. One word: "Magical." I mean, how else do you describe Disneyland? Okay, it's a little how I imagine Heaven to look like too (along with the part in Polar Express where they get to meet Santa for the first time--but I need to stay focused here). You just walk in those gates at Disneyland and you forget that there is a real world out there. Bills. Gas prices. War. Sickness. Litter boxes. You just get to sort of pretend.

As we were walking down Main Street, I kept thinking about how when I was growing up, my family went to Disneyland (which also triggered the memory that chocolate covered, frozen bananas, and Space Mountain don't mix well), and when I was dating my hubby, I got to come out with his family too for vacation to Disneyland (we had to buy those yellow Mickey ponchos, cuz it was pouring down rain and we were not, not going stand in line). I never would have imagined then bringing our own children here. That we would be standing in the same picture spots with our own children. Walking down the very paths we had walked years and years before. Experiencing this with my very own family, was such a neat thing for me to realize. That being said, we would so be avoiding the chocolate covered, frozen bananas.

I was glued to my daughters' faces as we were walking through. I didn't want to miss a thing. I loved seeing them light up at everything they were seeing. It was like I was experiencing it for the first time too, seeing them. Oh course, they spotted the castle right away. So that's where we went first. A good start. I could see that they were blissfully overwhelmed and didn't quite know where to begin. They wanted to go in the castle. We explained to go in the castle, you go on the rides. We suggested Snow White. Straight away hubby and I were surprised with their answer, "Noooooo!" We thought they were kidding and headed for the line. "Noooooooo!...It's scaaaary!" Hubby and I looked at each other. Scary? They've watched this movie about 125 times, along with all the other Disney Princess movies. They are all scary, but they loooove these movies. We reminded them of that fact. But they weren't budging. So we suggested, Peter Pan. Same reaction. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Same thing. Really? Do you even know what Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is? I was starting to get a little desperate. How about Pinoccio? For some reason, of which I wasn't going to waste precious minutes figuring out, this was okay. They'd try it. Once. After that ride, it just reassured them that they did not want to go on any of the other rides we had suggested. We kept trying to encourage them to go on the rides. That these rides were the kid rides. The easy rides. They are so fuuuuun! C'mooooon...Pleeeeease? Then came the tears. I think we had been in "The Happiest Place On Earth" for a grand total of 15 minutes and we already had the tears. Tears?! At Disneyland? Really? I was pretty sure we were breaking like the #1 rule at Disneyland-- Absolutely no tears. We mean this people! Honestly. Tears? Unbelievable. But at the same time, it makes perfect sense for us. That is so us. So we rode Dumbo about ten times in a row. The carousel. And spent the first hour and a half walking around Disneyland.

I'm gonna give you a little BREAK here, cuz this is long. I'll be back in a little bit to continue the magic.