15-Hour Day...

When most people see that title, they would think of a 15-hour “work” day...but this was anything but work! This was Christina’s 25^th Birthday at Disneyland and it was a blast to say the least!!! We woke up at 5:45 am to get ready and to pack everything we needed and we were on the road by 7 am. Of course with the lovely LA traffic, it took up to 2 ½ hours to get there (where it should only have really taken an hour without any traffic). At that point we were ready to stop driving the Volvo car and start driving the Indiana Jones Jeep! We walked in and got the free birthday day-pass, so we only had to buy one ticket.

Our first stop was the new Finding Nemo ride, which is a submarine ride. It was cute, a ride I would recommend for children though. A good tip is that they don’t have a Fast Pass line, so if you want to go on it, I would suggest getting there as early as possible and getting in line for that ride first. Here is a photo of the view from inside the sub.

After the submarine ride, we ran over to Tomorrow Land to get a “Fast Pass” for our favorite roller coaster ride, Space Mountain. Then we went to see the 3-D film, Honey I Shrunk the Kids…

to kill enough time until our Fast Passes were ready to be used. Now let me take a moment to explain Fast Passes (for those of you who have no idea what they are). Ok, Disneyland created this pass called the Fast Pass (only for certain rides though). How it works is; you go to a ride and if it has a “Fast Pass” sign above where the line starts, then that’s where you obtain your Fast Pass, for that ride. Now next to that sign will have the times during which the “Fast Pass” is able to be used. It’s always an hour’s time length, like 2:30 – 3:30 or 5:45 – 6:45. So you stick your Disneyland Park ticket in a machine and it scans your ticket, then out pops a Fast Pass. Then you go off onto other rides and come back to that ride you got the Fast Pass for, during the hours that are stamped on it. Understand how Fast Passes work now? On with the blog…

Thankfully there weren’t too many people there at the park (must be due to the lovely economy), so we didn’t have to wait long. Funny thing is that if it’s your birthday, you get a pin to wear that says “Happy Birthday” with your name on it. Then you put it on so everyone can see it’s your b-day and you get to see everyone else who shares your day. So we were waiting in line at Space Mountain and in front of us was a mother and her young daughter who had a pin that said Happy Birthday Christina. Weird right? Same name and same birthday…I thought that was pretty interesting. So the mother saw it was my b-day too and that her daughter and I shared the same name. So we got to talking and she handed us some extra VIP passes she had that said, “Happy Birthday Christina” on them. Well because her and I had the same name and birthday, Aaron and I were able to use them. That really set up the rest of our day for us…we were sooooo excited! NO LINES, NO WAIT, NO PROBLEM ! haha I wish we would have gotten her email address or something, we would love to send her a Thank You.

So on with the day…then we went to “The Astroblasters” ride that’s made to look like Toy Story. This ride is silly but its super fun. It’s pretty much lazer tag while moving and some of your targets are moving as well. Here are two photos of us, that we were not ready for and we look like goons lol Notice the scores the first time around, Aaron bombed and the second game, Christina bombed. We came to the conclusion that it was a lot easier sitting on the left side…more opportunities to shoot the targets.

Fast-forward a few hours (to spare the boring explanations) We went over to Fantasy Land and hit up the Mr. Toad ride, the Snow-White ride, the Mad Tea Party (the tea-cups)

which is one of our favorites

…notice our action shots, Indiana Jones, Star Tours, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain(where Christina sat dead front and got soaked from her hips down) and also our other favorite ride, Haunted Mansion (which is cool but 100 times cooler with The Nightmare Before Christmas set up, which is only between the time of Halloween till Christimas)

When it hit dinner time, Aaron had secretly (and I had no idea how) made reservations at the Blue Bayou restaurant, which is super romantic. We got the best table in the house and right on the water. For people who do

n’t know this restaurant, it’s the best restaurant in Disneyland and is set inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (if you’ve been on this ride then you’ve seen the people eating at the beginning of the ride where it’s very quiet and looks like nighttime above). It’s also very reminiscent of New Orleans. Their menu is based on items such as Jambalaya, Gumbo and Crab Cakes. It was really nice! After dinner, we wanted to go on the Pirates of the Caribbean to see the restaurant from the water. We’ve been on the ride before this trip but there was something magical about eating there and then taking that boat ride :)

Then we watched some amazing fireworks and did some shopping for treats and goodies before going to Downtown Disney. We went to the Nightmare Before Christmas store and Christina got some PJ’s with Jack Skellington on them, 2 water glasses and an awesome mouse pad. Before we left, we had to go on Space Mountain 1 more time and with our VIP passes we didn’t have to do the 60 min wait…yay! We got in the first 2 seats of the ride and WOAH, does it make a difference. It was soo much fun! You feel like you are going so much faster then if you were in the middle or the back

of the ride.

11 o’clock rolls around and we are super tired…we go to Downtown Disney and do some final shopping stops. We go to the Build-A-Bear Factory and made a horse stuffed animal that we named, Malibu. We kinda felt like we were 5 years old again while doing it but isn’t that what Disneyland is all about? Then we went to the huge Disney store and bought our neighbors a baby-looking Mickey for their newborn, a small thank you for taking care of our dogs during the day. Thank God for them, they saved us $60.00 for doggie day care. Last stop was the candy shop and Christina didn’t want a big birthday cake or ice cream so she got a rice krispy bar and Aaron got one of those crazy build your own sugar tubes with different colors/flavors…a sweet ending to a sweet day!

It was a perfect Disney B-Day for me. Lots of pictures, memories and fun! It was all about celebrating today (Disney’s new motto) and leaving with lasting memories!