Dizzy land

I was trying to be patient and actually show you some pictures of our adventures at Disneyland, but John has to convert all the pictures from RAW to a usable internet format before I can show them to you, the adoring public. That may take a while, so I'm going to give you a bit of a travelogue.

We have been planning this trip for a couple of months. We figured it was time for Annie to be introduced to the wonders of commercialized fun, and we were right. A tall five-year-old is the perfect Disneyland companion. She was able to go on all the rides at the Magic Kingdom - and she was only turned away at the big roller coaster at California Adventures (the one that does a loop-de-loop and several G's of force) for being a half an inch too short. She was also very willing to do whatever we asked her to do without complaining. We told her to stick by us, and she did. When we told her to hold onto the bars or spin the teacups or laugh on cue, she was more than willing. She just trusted that we wouldn't put her anyplace that wasn't fun or safe.

Since it was just the three of us, Annie usually had to decide who she wanted to ride with. I'm not ashamed to say that she usually picked her Daddy. He was better at "space" stuff, so she went on Space Mountain with Daddy. He was better at "toys" so I rode with a random teenager on the Toy Story shoot-out ride. I was better at driving, so I was able to hold the gas pedal down for Autopia. I suppose I should be happy that she thinks I'm good at something.

We put her on a "starter" roller-coaster to make sure she would be good on everything. We went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and then we took her on goofy's roller coaster in Toon Town. At the end of the roller coaster, she was happy and excited to get moving on to new things. After we got off Space Mountain, Daddy looked over at Annie and asked her what she thought. She said "That was great. Soooo much fun." When asked if she wanted to do it again, the answer was a resounding "No." I guess once was enough for her.

We did get her to go twice on Thunder Mountain, but only because the line was so short that we couldn't pass it up. She was a little more nervous the second time, but she was such a little trooper.

There was one thing she specifically asked for at Disneyland. She wanted to see the fireworks. Bad. She saw a little video about the fireworks at Disneyland and she wanted to see what the fuss was all about. At the beginning of the first day, we told her that it would be a long day and that she might not want to wait until the fireworks, but that we would try to last until then. When we found her falling asleep at the dinner table (at a respectable 7:30) we knew we would be missing the fireworks (they start at 9:25!!). We packed up and took a tired little girl back to her bed. In the morning, she was disappointed that she wasn't able to stay awake and we were disappointed that we couldn't deliver on the fireworks that she wanted so badly. We had another great day at Disneyland and one of the last things we did was go "Soarin' over California." They put you in a seat and let your feet dangle and show you a panoramic view of different parts of California. It feels like your are hang-gliding. One of the last scenes was fireworks. Yea! Disney delivers again.

Since we were going for her birthday, Disneyland gave us a little button that said "Happy Birthday" on it that she wore on her shirt. Every time we turned around, someone was telling her to have a happy birthday. She would hear it when we were on the rides or walking down the street. She loved all the attention - and it was just another thing that made it all magical.

It was some of the most fun I've ever had at Disneyland. Seeing her see things for the first time. Helping her have fun. Watching her little mouse ears bob up and down and seeing that amazing smile from ear-to-ear. Amazing. Everyone should have a kid just so they could take them to Disneyland.