Glitter Diaries: Disneyland, Where Dreams Come True
D and I do not hesitate to freely admit that we have very little in common with each other, other than our mutual love for one another, and for Disney. One single place that we were determined to go to was Disneyland, and the day finally came on a Friday during our vacation. Given some expert advice from D's sister about traffic driving to Anaheim, we did not leave until just before 10:00 a.m., making it to the Disneyland parking area in just over an hour. Little did we know, it was going to be our lucky day as one of the first things that happened was getting free parking! D tried to pay the $17.00 fee with his credit card, and the attendant said that she would try but that the machines had been down all morning. As luck would have it, the machines were still down and we were given a voucher. The parking garage was also very well managed so we were directed to where we were to park which also happened to be right by the elevator that took us to the shuttles to the Disneyland theme park.
I'm not going to lie, up until we parked the car, we were see-sawing back and forth on the decision to see Disneyland or the newer Disney California Adventure (DCA). The deciding factors for our ultimate choice of Disneyland were the following:
1. Disneyland was open to midnight whereas DCA closed at 10:00 p.m. and it was already around noon by the time we were lined up for admission.
2. Disneyland was where we would definitely get a chance to see some our most beloved Disney characters, something we were both looking forward to.
3. Disneyland was celebrating its Diamond Anniversary (it has been 60 years of making dreams come true at this theme park), and it would have been a shame to miss this once-in-a-lifetime celebration.
Our second stroke of luck came when we were lined up for admission (which is $100/person for just one park) and one of the 'cast members' came by to usher a number of us in line to another area where there was virtually no one in line. Within minutes, we had our admission tickets in hand, and were greeted with the 60th Celebration sign at the entrance near Main Street.
Some highlights of our dreamy and fun-filled day were the rides (Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Indiana Jones, just to name a few), meeting some beloved Disney characters and getting their autographs while posing for some keepsake photos with them (Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, Tigger, Pooh and Mickey). Finally, the biggest highlight was being able to experience one of the happiest places on earth with the person who makes me the happiest. D had a lot of fun bouncing around with Tigger, and impressed Mickey Mouse with his fantastic and accurate impression of the iconic Disney character. With our final stroke of luck, the Indiana Jones ride was down when we went during the hour that was designated on our FastPass, so our passes ended up being good for the rest of the night, whenever we wanted to come back for it. We went back around 10:30 p.m. where we flew through the line and D was finally able to go on one of his most favourite rides.
D and I could not have wished for a more amazing day! We would not hesitate to spend a future vacation either back in Anaheim, or in Orlando where Disney World is located. All in all, it was a magical day!
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