Disneyland
For Jeff’s 29th birthday, we planned a trip to Disneyland. We thought it would be nice to make it a long weekend and take his actual birthday off, Monday, September 15th. Jeff’s been to Disneyworld before, but not the west coast version, and though he’s lived in California for five years now, he’s never been as far south as L.A.
We left Friday afternoon at about 5pm. On the way down, we stopped by Pismo Beach to stretch out legs. It’s a cute little beach town, a couple of hours south of Salinas.
We had plans to stay with Jim and Christina for Friday night, but Christina ended up having to go to a bridal shower, and Jim ended up having to go to Las Vegas. So at the very last minute, we decided to drive forth to Anaheim and stay at the hotel that we had made reservations at for the weekend. Before we got to the Sheraton, we stopped by in Thousand Oaks to have dinner with Ramzi at Chili’s. It was nice to see him and catch up.
On Saturday, we spent the whole day at California Adventure Park. I’ve never been there before, but i’ve heard from a few people that it’s not that great. Overall I think the park is not that bad, but the complaint most people have is that its too “Boardwalk-ish” and just subpar for being a Disney production. There is not a lot of special “theming” as they call it. For us Californians, it’s not really anything exciting, since practically everything featured in the park (The Golden Gate Bridge, the Wharf, the Boardwalk rides/games, the Winery, the Farmer’s Market…) we’ve already experienced in it’s real form. For tourists I can see how it would be a fun mini-California adventure all packed into one day.
This looks like Cannery Row, doesn’t it?! Look at me in all the sardines. They didn’t smell as bad as one would imagine… JK.
The Bugs Life land was so super cute! Though it was mainly made up for kids, I had a blast looking at the props. This part of the park was the only part that was really done up Disney style.
Here is the rock formation that looks like a bear or a coyote, or some kind of animal.
Me and Stitch! This is the ONLY picture of me and a Disney character. They were hardly any of them roaming the parks, we were so disappointed! When I went there when i was 10 years old, there were TONS of them everywhere. What a bummer.
We did see Holly Madison of Girls Next Door (Hugh Hefner’s #1 girlfriend). She was waiting in line with us for the new Toy Story Mania! Ride. That was the longest line we had to wait in. She was with a whole posse of people. She seemed nice but we didn’t want to bother her for a posed picture.
The Toy Story Mania ride was really fun! It’s basically an interactive 3D video-game/ride where you have a gun and you shoot at targets! I beat Jeff! AMAZING yet so very TRUE.
This rollercoaster was awesome! It’s made to look like a wooden one kinda, but its steel. Fakery, just like everything else in the park! But oh well, its Disneyland. =] Aren’t the Mickey ears cute?
There was a really cool strobe light animation display with these Toy Story characters. Its called a “Zoetrope”. Watch a video of it here.
On Sunday we went to Disneyland. My favorite park of the park is Toontown! Here’s Jeff playing Goofy! I love the big whale. I guess he is from Pinnochio?
Look at the really long road! Oh wait, is it really there? The Golden Gate Bridge, mini-sized and squished a bit! These two pictures above are from California Adventure park. We went back on Sunday to ride the Tower of Terror ride again, since it was our favorite ride. We were so excited for it, we forgot to take a picture! The ride is like an haunted/broken “elevator” ride that drops you up and down. At one point they open the doors to the outside world, and you are at the top floor and can see the whole park!
There was an awesome fireworks show at night. Tinkerbell even made an appearance in the sky. We bought cool light necklaces and had big ice cream sundaes before the fireworks show!
We drove back on Monday. We stopped by Christina’s house to say hi to her and Maddie. She’s so cute. We had lunch together and whenever i would bring my sandwich to my mouth, Maddie would open her mouth like she wanted to eat my food! Silly kid.
When we got back home, I gave Jeff his presents! I made one of those Cootie Catcher paper game cards, and each flap had a riddle for a present written in it. I got him new black shoes, a bunch of different mustards and a bag of pretzels, boxers from AE, and a new Yankees hoodie.
Butters was there to greet us. He liked the boxes.
Jeff said he loved all his presents. We had a good trip but of course wished it lasted a bit longer. Even with the extra day off, it still seemed too short.
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Comments ( 1 Comment )
christina | Sep 22, 2008 at 11:14 amSorry we werent home that weekend…i’m surprised we weren’t considering we never usually have anything to do. It looks like you guys had a lot of fun though. I miss some of the old Disney attractions like the Swiss Family Robinson tree which is now Tarzans tree I believe.. and the mermaid submarine ride! 🙁 oh and its a small world is down dunno if it still is and I dunno what they’re doing to it.
OH and I didn’t know it was Jeff’s birthday! Happy belated birthday! I would have made a cake or somethign when you stopped by on Monday.