Magic.
That's the only way anyone can describe the happiest place on earth. Disneyland. It's magical.
Because even now, a month and a half later, I'm still dreaming about that happy place and thinking about how in the world I can get back there.
To soothe my heart that so desperately wants to be there, I will post some pictures from the trip I took in February.
Yep. That's right, February.
My friends, Julia and Linds, asked me what I wanted for my birthday. In jest, I said I wanted to go to Disneyland. I've always wanted to go with my single friends. I realize that people want to take their kids and I always appreciate when my married friends invite me along to help wrangle the children (which I always end up having to decline). But I wanted to go with some single friends to just goof off and not have responsibility.
Julia and Linds are the best. Because they put a plan in action. We found a weekend to go. We bought plane tickets. Julia found a hotel and a shuttle, and away we flew.
This was the first picture of the trip. I have cut out Linds and Julia because I promised that I would not post any bad pictures of them. Since my view is skewed... well, I'm limiting my posting of them (I hope they appreciate this).
The first comment of the trip that made me laugh was after Linds looked over the picture while eating dinner at the SLC airport she said, "We're in for a rough trip. First picture and Laurel looks like a model."
(She's very kind...)
We flew into Long Beach since it's actually cheaper.
The flight out of SLC was delayed because our pilots hadn't arrived. I think we ended up being an hour late.
Our shuttle arrived and whisked us off to the hotel. We were serenaded by our shuttle driver and his Whitney Houston collection.
Across the street from the hotel was a 7-Eleven so upon our checking into the hotel, we stopped in to grab some snacks for our trips to the park and a Slurpee.
We went to bed and determined to get up early the next morning to get into the park and start seeing some magic.
Unfortunately, my ticket didn't seem to be working... so we missed our magic morning. And they made me stand off to the side for forever while they figured out what was wrong. Stupid Disneyland employees.
The manager was kind enough to give all three of us Magic Mornings to use again. But we didn't get a chance. We rode everything in the first two days. We decided to sleep in on Saturday.
That's right. We were there for 3 days, people. Three days!
Day one!:
Rode Matternhorn.
(I'm a little disappointed that we only rode this once. Such a classic ride.)
Had my first Dole Whip. Is it bad that I kind of like it with just the ice cream?
Tested the limits of ALL rides to see which rides seat 3 adult women comfortably (Haunted Mansion... not so much. Peter Pan and Little Mermaid? Definitely.)
Little Mermaid... yep. I could sing along with Ariel the WHOLE time.
We did Buzz Lightyear more times than I can count. I actually got over 100,00 one time. That was pretty much my goal. Julia, however, was freaking amazing at the game.
Okay. This is going to sound lame.
Ever since I heard of Peter Pan's Flight when I was in high school, I've ALWAYS wanted to go on it. ALWAYS.
But the line was always an hour long and no one was willing to suffer through it for me.
Well, we passed by on our first day and it was a 30 minute wait.
I got to go on Peter Pan.
PETER PAN!
And it was magical.
All of my little girl dreams came true. Peter Pan is my favorite story and this one maybe became one of my favorite rides.
I was also introduced to the corn dogs. Those were dang good corn dogs.
So... here is my fashion faux pas (false step for anyone who doesn't speak French).
I brought a sweatshirt in case it got cold. I didn't realize that the sweatshirt and my jeans matched perfect. So... that was a little awkward. The #bluebomb.
Lastly, Day one brought me this cookie.
THE BEST COOKIE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
It's the consistency of cookie dough.
Dear Sister-In-Law Former Food Scientist: I'm going to need you to analyze this cookie and come up with the recipe for me. Let me know if I need to purchase various samples. I'm willing to go back to Disneyland. Because these were INCREDIBLE. We had one every night. Okay, maybe two every night. And maybe I bought like four the last night.
Day Two:
The weather wasn't so great... It rained for a bit. But ever prepared Julia brought some ponchos. We rocked those and stayed relatively dry.
Before the rain hit though, we enjoyed Goofy's Flight School. A ridiculous little kid's ride that is slightly more terrifying. You pretty much feel like you're going to be thrown from the car. Especially when you're a larger 30 year old girl.
Toy Story Midway Mania.
One of my favorite rides.
The lines for California Screamin' were non existent. So we rode. And rode. And RODE!
We found some indoor activities during the worst of the rain storms.
Beast's Library is pretty cool. It's a personality quiz and they tell you which Disney character you're most like.
Apparently, I'm closest to...
Yeah... don't think that's true.
Julia and Linds convinced me to go see Captain EO.
While I like Michael Jackson... I just couldn't get past the 80s music or animation... or the story. *sigh* I'm definitely not a child of the 80s.
We also wandered into Innovations. Here's me as an old lady (the picture on the left... the picture on the right is me now... I age pretty poorly.)
They also had a home of the future. I took a nap on the comfy couch.
But there were plenty of gadgets that I would be willing to pin on my Pinterest boards in there.
The evening ended with the World of Color.
Perhaps my favorite nighttime show.
I maybe got teary eyed a few times.
The music. The lights. The colors.
It all made me feel happy and alive. And not so cynical or sad about turning 30.
It also explains why I was in such a good mood for like a week after I returned.
Day 3:
As I mentioned, we had Magic Morning passes but because we accomplished everything and wanted to see the fireworks show that night, we decided to sleep in a little and take it easy. So we missed out on Magic Morning but still accomplished plenty.
We hit up Toy Story Mania again.
It was a Saturday and the park was packed...
But we got to ride the new Radiator Springs ride for a second time. The whole Cars Land kind of reminded me of Utah. It was beautiful and a fun ride. We're just glad we didn't have to wait 3 hours like other people.
We took in the parades. Ate ice cream too.
Rode on Space Mountain.
And ended the evening with corn dogs and fireworks.
I'll be honest. I cried during fireworks too. I didn't want to come back to my real life. I wanted to stay at Disneyland and feel like a little kid again forever.
But I'm an adult. With responsibilities. So...
We had an early morning flight out. You can't see the bags under my eyes... but they were there. And don't worry, we arrived back in SLC and I had to get ready and get to church to teach Relief Society. With only 4.5 hours of sleep. Yeah. I was a little ornery. Probably not one of my best lessons.
I LOVED this trip. In fact, I think about it almost every day. I dream about going back.
People, I realize you're laughing, but I'm not. I'm going back.
Because Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad were both closed.
Clearly, I have my priorities.
