Christmas 2009, Part 1: Disneyland

This year Paul and I went to Disneyland with his family. Neither of us were looking forward to the drive, but at least it was short (compared to the 11 hrs to Utah we were familiar with). The drive was mostly uneventful. Although LA is not a driver-friendly place, it is alarmingly like driving in Utah--too fast, no signalling, no space between cars, and lots of leap-frogging. It was kind of comforting, in a weird, messed-up sort of way. At any rate, we made it to the hotel and got ourselves checked in. Soon Paul's family arrived, an average amount of hugging ensued, and a plan of attack was devised. We would begin in Tomorrowland and work counterclockwise through the park. This plan lasted precisely 1 land. We skipped Space Mountain because I am a wuss and no one wanted to wait for a hour while I bummed about the park. (They are nice and all.) So we did Innovations which is not anything remotely close to interesting or a ride. We then fled Tomorrowland for the far more happening Fantasyland. We rode the Matterhorn (very bumpy and rough, I'd forgotten that), the Teacups, Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (as awesome as ever), and Snow White's Scary Adventures. Fantasyland was getting really, really, REALLY crowded, so we moved over to the other side of the park, which was much less busy. We rode the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, visited the Tiki Room (which is AWESOME!), and Paul and his family rode the Tower of Terror, while I searched for pajamas which I had left at home. Oops. We had dinner at a nice restaurant in New Orleans Square, After that we went back to the hotel. We arrived just in time to see the fireworks from the balcony. After that we went to bed because we were exhausted.

Day 2 started later than Day 1 and in the California Adventure Park. It's more like a standard amusement park with roller coasters and the like, so not so much my cup of tea. In retrospect, I probably should have gone over to Fantasyland and ridden the Pinocchio ride or something that equally appealed only to me. Of course, if I had done that, I wouldn't have explored the whole park and been able to fill Paul and his family in on the wait times for the big roller coaster or the lauch-you-a-thousand-feet-in-the-air-and-then-drop-you ride, which were remarkably short. Grizzly Rapids looked super fun, but it was too cold for a water ride. (The weather was cool and got progressively cloudy and windy over the afternoon and into the evening. By the evening, I was freezing from the wind, even though I was wearing my trench coat over a heavy cardigan over a long-sleeved shirt. Paul kindly took his hoodie and put it over all my layers, then laughed because I looked like a chocolate kiss.) After that, Paul's dad and brother bailed to watch the Vegas bowl, while the rest of us went back to Disneyland. Paul and his littlest brother, Spencer, rode Splash Mountain together. Then we all rode the Winnie the Pooh Ride, which is the best new ride at Disneyland, forget that Indiana Jones nonsense. They play the heffalump and woozels song while going through a trippy, black light paradise in a honey pot. If one was actually tripping, the heffalumps and woozels would be genuinely freaky. We rode the new Pirates of the Caribbean, which is mostly the same (good). We also fought through some absurdly long lines to get to the Small World holiday ride. It was nice, but I prefer the regular one more. After all that, we rode the train across the park, enjoyed the Nightmare Before Christmas-themed Haunted Mansion, which was very fun as well. Way better than the usual Haunted Mansion. Finally, we went back to the hotel and crashed with the goal of leaving for Utah early the next morning.