Disneyland!!

Disneyland!!!

Someone once told me... "You remind me of Disneyland."  I will take that as a compliment, thank you!

 

I love Disneyland!!  As a child however, I never went there.  Instead of Disneyland we went to places a little bit closer like Yosemite or Pismo Beach, or a lot more faraway, like car trips to the East Coast, and vacations in the Azores.  No, I don’t regret my vacations as a child whatsoever, but I made it a point about going to Disneyland on my own as soon as I was able.

 

I was 20 years old when I got to Disneyland for the first time, but I’ve managed to get back there about 7 times since then, and I plan on going there again this August—hurrah!!!  It will be the first trip that we will be taking together as a newly combined family, and we are all looking forward to it as long as our van doesn’t break down on the way there. 

 

My favorite rides include the Matahorn, Indiana Jones  and Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and of course all the rides in Fantasy Land, EXCEPT It’s A Small World.  I can only go on that ride once.  I mean, those dolls remind me too much of Chuckie from those CHUCKIE horror movies.  BUT, you aren’t in Disneyland until you go on that ride—it’s almost like part of a penance or something—you just have to go!  Another ride that I particularly don’t like is Splash Mountain.  Despite the cute little animals singing and dancing, I get really nervous in that ride, because I know what is to come: the huge drop and I can’t relax.  The ride is too slow for me, and the drop is too slow as well.  It looks as though you are just going to land in a huge hole and never be seen again; like a hole in hell! 

 

Everything about Disneyland is magical (except the hole of hell).  It’s kind of hard to explain.  I was walking through Disneyland when Frank Sinatra died.  I looked up in the sky and noticed that a plane had drawn a huge heart in the sky overhead, it wasn’t until later I learned it was for Frankie.  Then there was the fireworks that night; the best place to see them are in Fantasy Land while riding on the Dumbo ride!!!

 

Downtown Disney is pretty cool with some really nice places to eat---the kids’ favorite is the Rainforest Café, and there is very nice movie theatre right there too.  California Adventure is great too; you can hear California themed songs all day long, and you just want to dance all over in the park once you hear them—especially early in the morning.  I had a very special dance with Goofy on one trip!  California Screaming is a great roller coaster because it goes really fast and you don’t have time to think.  Suddenly you are finding yourself upside down, and it’s like…you are thinking to yourself, “Gee, am I upside down?  Is that why my glasses fell off from my head?” 

 

Extra Credit:  Roller Coaster Nightmare:  I really don’t have one because for the longest time I never dared going on a roller coaster.  In fact, I didn’t go on a real one until 4 years ago, when my niece (who was 8 at the time) convinced me to go on the Big Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  I am from Santa Cruz, and I remember as a child, and as an adult, being particularly frightened about going on that old wooden roller coaster, but I did, and I loved it.  It was a very special day because it was the day that I met the love of my life, my husband Rich.  After riding on the roller coaster 5 times more in a row, I went on the carousel ride, and hit the ring right in the clown’s mouth 2 times in a row.  It was a magical day, and I should have played the lottery. 

 

Okay, I just thought of one nightmare ride, although it wasn’t a roller coaster.  It was a ride at Knotts Berry Farm in L.A., and it went in circles really fast and high like a ferris wheel.  When I got off the ride, my head couldn’t stop swaying to the side.  This went on for at least 5 minutes, and it scared me.  Also carnival rides are nightmarish, particularly the ferris wheel.  The ones I’ve been to at the carnival make weird squeaky sounds, go too fast or too slow and then there is the greasy looking  carnie guy below with 4 teeth; they always look loaded to me.