Before and the happiest place on earth.....

In April Bryan and I volunteered for Phoenix Pride as Parade Marshalls and ended up taking over the organization of the floats. It was hot, Bryan threatened to spank a bear and I kept having to tell a drunk American Indian person of unknown gender to stay behind the white line. Some days I think that is the story of my life, but that is not today’s post. Because Phoenix Pride was working with Disney’s Give a Day program Bryan and I got vouchers for a day at either Disneyland/Disney’s California Adventure that we upgraded to a park hopper pass. The plan was that we spend a day at the resort and then we spend a day at the beach, but I got a deal on a Harley Road King so spoiler alert, I overscheduled us.



We left on Thursday leaving Grace behind and drove to LA. The drive was pretty uneventful, except we started working on the post about our Utah motorcycle trip, which should be up on tumblr.lovelesschristian.com soon. We got into LA went to the Petersen Automotive Museum, which Bryan thoroughly enjoyed and took lots of pictures that can be found at: http://www.lovelesschristian.com/gallery2/v/Trips/Los+Angeles+6-10-10/CarMuesum/

Although I enjoyed the staging of the exhibits, we were disappointed that we missed out on all but 15 minutes of the Children’s discovery area though because it seemed really cool. They teach you how pistons in an engine work, and you are allowed to dress up and get our pictures taken siting in cars and other modes of transportation.

I am speed....

The guy taking our picture made Bryan kiss me....this was not of Bryan's own inclination.

This however was....he thinks he's cool :)

It was fun and anyone who has kids or likes to act like a kid would enjoy this piece of the museum. We also did a couple of other touristy things like drive by the Chinese Theater, the La Brea Tar Pits, and look for the Hollywood sign which I couldn't find much to Bryan's disappointment. We then headed off to REI where we spent too much money (but they did have a shower that I could fit in my pocket) and on to the hotel. And since we were going to Disneyland and in the words of Thumper's mom, "if you can't say sumthin nice...." The hotel was a cheap place to stay across the street from Disneyland. Actually the hotel was not bad at all...I just think I have been spoilt by high thread counts and places without lots of noise. But if we had kids or brought the dog (they are pet friendly with a little enclosed patio) the Anaheim Plaza is not bad for the price.

So the next day we woke up, got dressed and headed out the door by 7:00 a.m. to be to Disneyland by 7:30 a.m. which we thought was 30 minutes early. It was not. It was an hour and a half early. This was a happy mistake though, because since we were early we were able to enter California Adventure and get our fast pass for World of Color that was premiering that night. For a look at what we saw check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o0Icz6ExiM

So we got our tickets, got our picture taken with Lighting McQueen and Mater:

And got buttons saying it was our anniversary. We were ready to hit our first ride which was the Jungle Cruise. Bryan was dressed for it and the jokes did not disappoint. Indiana Jones was not as awesome, but it had no line so that worked out. We used the fast pass to book a time for Big Thunder Railroad, and I was amazed at how good a job Disney had done with the Hoodoos after seeing them in real life during the Utah trip. We then headed over to California Adventures to check out some of their rides (we enjoyed them a lot more even if they weren't as kitchy) and Bryan tortured me by making me go on the Ferris wheel. I hate those things and the dad of the little girl who was trying to explain the nuances of Disneyland found my death grip on Bryan pretty amusing. We ate some fantastic sourdough to take the edge off before we headed over to The Blue Bayou for lunch.

This is the place that I've wanted to eat at since I was ten. It is located in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (which was better before the new animatronics were put in if you ask me) and is a sit down restaurant. I had the Jambalaya and Bryan had the Salmon. The Jambalaya was good, but if I were to do it again I'd order the Salmon. I also ordered creme brulee and coffee which were both excellent and if I were to go back I'd probably just order those. The wait staff was awesome and Jessica our waitress even took our picture and got us the kids menus that we could wear as hats. (I've got a picture on the website)

After that it was off to ride rides. Loved Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and Soaring over California. I would try to get in the front if you were to do Soaring because the feet were distracting. We thought Star Tours seemed dated, and the Matterhorn broke down when we were on it...luckily we did not get stuck. The Haunted Mansion was closed, but we were able to ride in the caboose of the Train. We also did Splash Mountain which was ok, and then headed back over to California Adventure. We rode the ride that shot you up in the air and then brought you back down which I was not sure I wanted to be on throughout the entire ride. I guess the girl who strapped us in kept looking at me to see if I wanted to get off, and then over at Bryan and smiling at him. It wasn't as bad as the Ferris Wheel (yes I know I am a huge chicken), but I did the ride once and won't have to do it again. We rode on the Zephyr and got some great pictures, and then walked over and stood for 2 hours to watch World of Color. It was awesome, although a bit clique. Then it was up into the Tower of Terror which I liked better than the first two rides that sent you up and then down (I was in a cage and in the dark for most of it which made me happier) The views were pretty cool at night. We also checked out the Muppet 3D experience which I think was my favorite thing we did. The muppets just cracked me up. It may have been that I was loopy but I love Sam Eagle and the old men in the balcony. Truly a treat. We bought a christmas orniment and we walked back to the hotel. On our way home we discussed how we didn't see a lot of the characters and that Disneyland didn't seem to be about Mickey anymore. Rather it was all about Toy Story and princesses. We talked about how the rides have changed, they were either ones that shot you up really high or they were story type rides that may have been interactive. We thought that the Pixar rides were all very well done, but wondered if we were not in the Disney Demographic anymore. All and all a good day, even if we aren't in the Disney demographic.