Welcome To Mickey's Fun Wheel.

.....Disneyland is a freakin' awesome place. The three days we actually played there were a whirlwind of fun. What a trip down memory lane too. The dichotomy of being there now and the nine year old me playing on the rides was just overwhelming at times. But I can definitely say that even at 43 Disneyland is a fun place to visit and entirely worth the trip!

.....TBT used her Delta Frequent Flyer miles to get us there and back. I personally do not mind Delta at all. After flying with United on several ocassions I can affirm that Delta is a dream in comparison. TBT disagrees but she hasn't flown a whole lot in the past handful of years, so I don't think she realizes just how much the airlines have changed.

.....We left near five in the afternoon, with a relatively short layover in Salt Lake City. Got into the Orange County / John Wayne International Airport after 10PM. Our shuttle to the airport, while chaotic, got us there in relatively good condition and speed. Again, TBT is going to disagree I think, but I've traveled via far worse so I was still happy by the time we made it into our room.

.....Our room was my only real disappointment of the whole trip. It was TINY! One queen sized bed and barely enough room for the three of us to turn around, much less share each others air for three whole days. :-) Thankfully we didn't spend a whole lot of time there.

.....The next morning I was up early. At 5AM I was getting into the shower and getting rather excited at the prospects of the day. :-) TBT and the Rhys Monster were up by 6:30 or so and after a little prodding we quickly hit the hotel's Continental Breakfast and hurried on down the street to grab our Park Hopper passes. I am SO glad the park got rid of the ticket booklets. And the 'FastPass' system makes the lines much, much shorter than I ever remember them. I think the most we waited for a ride was about fourty minutes, which is a dream compared to the hours people used to wait.

.....That first day we hit the big rides in Tommorrow Land, Space Mountain and Nemo's Submarine Adventure. The last time I was at Disneyland I rode the old Submarine and the new ride is much better, although I miss the mermaid. But the animatronic seagulls made up for the mermaids. :-) 'Mine! Mine! Mine!' :-)

.....Space Mountain was new to me. A rollar coaster to the stars. I wouldn't classify it as scary, but it was thrilling. :-)

.....Autopia was still the same ride it was thirty years ago. :-) As was the Matterhorn. That Yeti's arm is getting TIRED. :-) It waved 'Hi' to us with a much stiffer wave than it did a long time ago. :-)

.....After lunch we spent the day in the California Adventures Park. This was entirely new to me. The last time I was there the land it sat on was about a million acres of parking lot. This juxtapostion was really weird to me. I remember a couple of times with Mom looking for our car and seeming to walk forever from the main gate to it.

.....That first day we did the Bear Mountain water ride. It was fantastic! And we got absolutely soaked! Which was kinda nice on the hot day it was. :-)

.....TBT and the Rhys Monster did the California Screamin' Coaster. This was the 'biggest' Disney had to offer. Gosh though, if I remember correctly, the Coasters at Magic Mountain make this one look like a pre-school ride. We need to take Rhys there some day I think.

.....By the end of the day we were standing in line for 'Mickey's Fun Wheel' which was basically a big Ferris Wheel where the gondola's slid on rails. It was O.K., but we stood in line for fourty minutes and heard the Ferris Wheel warning so often that we were hearing it in our dreams for days afterward! 'Welcome to Mickey's Fun Wheel. Please keep your arms and your legs inside the gondola at all times. Please supervise your children at all times. Thank you, and have a fun ride!' Oh, God! By the ten billionth time of hearing that I just wanted the ride to be over! :-)

.....The next day we did an extended exploration of Disneyland itself. The Haunted Mansion is way cool, and set to 'A Nightmare Before Christmas' theme. We did the Indiana Jones ride, and at least two or three more rides of Space Mountain. :-) The Enchanted Tiki Room is cheesy, but all the talking birds are still cool to watch. :-)

.....We never did get to ride the Columbia, or the Mark Twain River Boat. But we sure tried! :-) We finally did Splash Mountain and even rode Poohs Wild Honey Ride. Where the Mushroom Laced dreams of Pooh were wild to witness. :-)

.....On our last day, TBT started it off by doing the Tower of Terror. I wasn't feelin' up to the challenge, so I hung out below. Then we did our last grand tour of Disneyland. We buzzed through ToonTown, then hit Fantasyland. The Teacups really caught me off-guard! I remember being nine and having to stretch to look out of them. Here I was at fourty trying to squeeze my body confortably in one of them. It was amazing! But I had to ride them for old times sake.

.....Toad's Wild Ride is still there. :-) But they've built castle walls around it now. It looks much better than it used to.

.....The steam locomotive was ridden at least a dozen times and we finally managed to figure out how to use it strategically to get from place to place. :-) The monorails were ridden and are as cool as they were thirty years ago. Although they've been greatly modernized. I think Seattle could learn a thing or two from Disney.

.....Rhys had had enough by Monday afternoon and took the rest of the day off. It gave TBT and I a chance to hang out together for a few rides. We got to see the Muppets 3D Adventure. I loved it! But I'm a big Muppets fan. :-) Then we rode the Condor Flats ride, which is basically a trip on a moving seat through some of California's best scenery. It was well done. And piping in the smells of the forest and other scenes was a nice touch.

.....We were done ourselves before the fireworks on Monday and limped our way back to the hotel room. We were so sore. Which made the plane trips the next day hard! But we made it back in time to drag things into the house before Fight Practice.

.....I was dragging all day today, which wasn't helped by a cold I seemed to pick up somewhere along the way. I am NOT looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. :-) But on the good side I only have two days to make it through.

.....Although the weekend is filled. Sigh! It's time for bed. I am TIRED!

.....Aaron / Arontius.