Happy Pictures!

We had a great time with the Gimlin's celebrating at Disneyland!  The day was quite l-o-n-g as Ben and Steph arrived at our home around 4:30 in the morning.  That's right -- in the morning.  We were full of energy though, which waned about 1:00 that afternoon.  You can see the bright eyes we had at our first rides and the sheer exhaustion on our faces by the end of the night.  It was so fun, though, and was a great end to our summer.

It had been about three years since we last went to Disneyland, and a lot has changed since then!  California Adventure is no longer the surfin' California theme but is is the process of becoming a more vintage Mickey experience.  There are a few new rides there, such as a Little Mermaid attraction, the new Toy Story experience, and Goofy's Sky School (the old Mulholland Madness ride).  In Disneyland, Star Tours has received a major redo.  It's now in 3D and has tons of different storylines!  We only went once, but you can potentially go fifty times and see something different each time.  The best part of that ride was when Darth Vader stopped us because there was a rebel spy in our ship.  When the picture popped up on the screen of this rebel spy, it was none other than my hubby!  Ha!  I wish I had been quick enough to take a picture.  It was classic. 

By far the most amazing new attraction is the World of Color at California Adventure.  This was outstanding!  If you have ever experienced the Disneyland fireworks, you know that Walt knows how to put on a show.  Like many people, I grew up with old Disney favorites so hearing all of my favorite Disney songs put to an incredible water, color, and screen show seriously brought me to tears!  (That and the fact that the little girl in front of me was part of the Make a Wish Foundation...yep, I didn't stand a chance!)  If you are planning a trip to D-Land and CA-Adventure anytime soon, make sure you get the fast passes for this show.  You'll get the best seats in the house (which we did not).  

As usual, Tower of Terror took the prize for the best thrill.  I wish we had had time to do it more than once.  The good news for us is this was just the beginning of Disneyland this year.  We got annual passes!  We tried to talk B+S to join in on that fun, but they were pretty sure Ellie couldn't handle a year of Disneyland yet.  Ben and I share a birthday month, though, so perhaps we'll find another reason for the four of us to go again!

Thanks, Mickey, for the great day!  You did not disappoint!