The Happiest Place on Earth

Feb. 3rd to Feb. 6th.

We said our goodbyes the day before so that we could leave Quartzsite, Arizona early Monday morning. The winds blew all night and they were going to be strong on our travel day. The weather people were correct.

There was a lot of dust in the air. We quickly headed to the dump station and dumped and filled, just in case we were not going to make it to our final destination. The wind was supposed to be strong nearly all day. I grabbed the wheel with two hands and just hung on for the ride. Luckily for me it wasn't that  bad. Sure, there was a lot of dust blowing around. It felt like being in a fog. We have seen it blow so hard that it became zero visibility as if you were in a blizzard.

That was the first fun part of our drive. The second fun part was going to be L.A. traffic. L. A. TRAFFIC! You say. Yes, we say, because that is where Disneyland is. My little sweetheart has never been there and I wanted to have her see it before she dies. The traffic didn't kill her so she lives for now. Actually the traffic wasn't that bad. Very tolerable. California has a law that says if you are pulling a trailer, your speed limit is 55. Not 70, like everyone else. So we just slowed down and got in the right lane and let everyone else just zoom around us. There were a couple of times I thought we were going to lose our front bumper as people would weave in and out, coming to within feet of our front end. I didn't panic. Lisa took it very well. She may be up for Houston or Atlanta in the near future. We will have to see.

We found our campground. Anaheim Harbor RV Park. We picked this one only for its location. It is .8 miles from the entrance to Disney. Easy walking distance. That is what all of the death marches in Quartzsite were building me up for. I know that now.

Our campsite is next to the very busy 6 lane Harbor Blvd. It sounds like a race track all day long. It is a good thing we are hardly in the RV all day.

We got in around noon. We ate lunch and then walked over to get our tickets in advance so that we wouldn't have to waste time on Tuesday, our first big day there. That taken care of we walked into Downtown Disney. That's where they have all kinds of stores and restaurants to enjoy. We got our first taste of Disney and then we walked back to the RV park. Anxious for the next day.

This trip was going to be nostalgic for me. I think the last time I was here was when I was a wee little lass of ten years old. This would be the first time for Lisa. As an added bonus in the nostalgic category, there was a Shakey's Pizza parlour right next door to the campground. We ate there for dinner and the pizza was just as good as I remember.

In fact it was so good we ate there again on our last night. As a kid we went to Shakey's for birthday's and such. Fargo had one until it changed hands and then the building eventually burned down. Sad face as I write that.

Our first full day we decided to go to California Adventures. It is a Disney park right next door to Disneyland. Neither one of us have been there. We were giddy as school kids so we got up early and headed over there.

Pixar Pier.

It was fun to see new attractions. It was a smaller park and we got around it twice. We saw everything we could. The Cars area was really neat. It was just like being in Radiator Springs.

The Cozy Cone Motel.

The Cars Ride.

The Cars land at dusk. They light up the neon.

It was the Chinese New Year which happened to be the year of the mouse. There was a small parade for this guy.

They have a launch coaster there called the Incredicoaster. That was our first ride. Boy was that a mistake. That ruined it for Lisa for the day to do any thrill rides again. We got off of that and I looked over and she was swallowing hard.Way to take one for the team.

We walked and walked, taking in all of the sights. The lines for the rides were not that bad either. Having been to Disney World in Orlando many times, we were used to wait times of 40-60 minutes. Here they were 20-30 minutes. We had a full day our first day so we trudged back to the RV park, exhausted but happy.

The next morning we got up and headed over to the Disneyland.

There were so many people just in line to get through the bag check and into the park. That took about 20 minutes. Then we got in line to get through the ticket turnstiles to get into the park. That took another 15 minutes. We finally made it in. Main Street was packed.

There are a lot of similarities between the parks and also many differences. The main thing is the size of the castle.

It is not as majestic as Disney Worlds.

We rode many familiar rides and some of the ones that Orlando doesn't have. We loved it. We were so happy to be able to do that.

The ride I remember the most from my childhood was the bobsleds at the Matterhorn. We were able to get on that early and it was fun. However I don't remember it being that bumpy and I thought the bobsleds went all the way to the top. Oh, well. It was still fun.

Something new here was the Star Wars area. It was huge and done very well. You almost feel like you are a Jedi fighting the Republic.

You can build your own lightsaber for the low, low price of 200 dollars. I was going to get one but Lisa advised against it. I guess she couldn't picture me running through our woods at night with my lightsaber in hand. But I can imagine it. Maybe next time.

One of the other rides I remember as a child was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. They still have the subs running but now it is a Nemo ride.

It was another long day of walking and walking.

Our second day at the Disneyland was more of the same. We walked around and rode some of the rides we wanted to ride again. We wanted to make sure we got stuff for the kids and grandkids. Halfway through the day we decided to call it quits.

It was really worth it for us to see it. We loved it. Now our next big worry was going to be getting out of the L.A. traffic.

"Glady's! Pack your Mickey Mouse ears up, we are hitting the road. I have heard of a Graboid sighting not far from here."