a well deserved vacation for our family. i was a bit concerned that 5 days at Walt's would burn me out, but it did only the reverse and reeled me in. for those planning to do the same type of vacation, check into costco for great deals, we did the 5 for 3 days park hopper pass and stayed at a "good neighbor" hotel (within a 5 min shuttle ride to the resorts). i was very impressed with what Anaheim is pumping, after not having been there for about 15+ years my memory was this magical kingdom stuck inside a run-down town...but thats all changed. the surrounding areas of disneyland have done a great deal of improvements and they now have an awesome shuttle system called ART (Anaheim resort transit) that goes to and from your hotel and resort every 20 mins. so make sure you're staying at a "good neighbor" and you're hooked up.
we had intended to take things very slow and leave plenty of slack in the schedule to freely come and go to the resort...as i said we intended to do that, but instead we found ourselves putting in 12 hour days at the resort. i am no disney junky but there was plenty to see and do such as parades, live shows, characters, dining, and of course rides...no junky, but we will return in a couple of years for our second babe.
my daughter Alanna (4 yrs old) had a wonderful time. she loved seeing the princesses and was star struck. (more advise, if you have a lil' girl and you have the opportunity to do a character meal...go for "Ariel's breakfast", the food is rockin and the kids are in awe.) some other highlights were the parades and the MIckey Mouse club house show (also featuring handy mandy, little einstein's and such.) she didn't care too much for the indoor theme rides (classics) as they were typically dark, loud, and always something haunting...why is that? was walt tortured as a kid? her favorite rides were the outdoor open and airy old school fair type rides. she was granted to make a wish in the wishing pond and receieved several prizes (word of advise, never tell your kid "make a wish and it will come true"...she used that to her advantage, "i wish for a doll, i wish for a dress, i wish for...." and how can you back down after telling her that?!)
i had a blast. some things in my memory were just as magical when revisited and others where better left to be unvisited again (pirates of the caribbean! bore!!!)
our lil' 10 month old measured how our day went, she was the boss and we stuck to what she had to say.
my wife, having just recently been diagnosed with a rare disease called takayasu, also had a wonderful time. it is because of her condition that we chose to keep it slow and go for the 5 day pass...but we didn't keep it slow and by the end of the trip she suffered from it. upon our return her feet swelled and became very painful, and she felt systems of heart failure (water in the lungs, limited breathing etc.) so we took her to a doctor, they did the routine tests and found she now needs to be on constant high blood pressure meds, had to take diuretics, and closely monitored...and she is still struggling to find her ground. i love that woman! her willingness to fight against the odds, to put up with life's daily challenges, and all for the betterment of her family, i truly admire, respect and love her.
all in all we had a blast. a wonderful exhausting blast that we are still paying the price for (health), but it is a trip put into our dreams and we look forward to our return.
and p.s. doesn't that last shot just "crack" you up? - love it! (not the cheesy pun, but the photo)
