The Happiest Place on Earth

Yesterday, Bryan and I work up around 7:30 and decided to be spontaneous. He's been having a craving for Disneyland for the past few months and his repeated enteritis that we visit finally got into my head as well. We dropped Mel off at Wagville (also known as Puppy Disneyland) and headed to the Magical Kingdom.

Goofy may have been too busy for a photo op, but Tigger was ready

Though neither of us had been for a good 10 years, we didn't buy into this whole California Adventure Land nonsense. We wanted traditional Disneyland, and for the most part that's what we got. We were happy to see Star Tours has not been updated, but approved thoroughly of the new Space Mountain.

And I was finally ready to appreciate this ride instead of mock it

Sadly, It's a Small World and the Matterhorn were both closed for seasonal maintenance.

As per usual, most of the pictures we took were of us being sad at life's little disappointments.

Here's a breakdown of what I thought of the "new" Disneyland:

1. The addition of animatronic Johnny Depp to Pirates is completely unnecessary, and the change in music in the Pirate village scene makes the ride less fun.

2. I don't understand the Haunted Mansion as Nightmare Before Christmas, but I think I like it. Does it go back to be regularly haunted during other parts of the year?

3. Splash Mountain is still awesome, especially if there is a big guy in front of you to absorb most of the splash.

4. A weekday in November is the perfect time to go to Disneyland to avoid crowds - the longest we waited was 20min for Indiana Jones.

5. Indiana Jones is lame (the ride, not the franchise).

6. I don't understand the moral behind Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Why do we end up in hell after being sentenced for riding too wildly? Are we to assume that Mr. Toad gets killed, because I don't remember that in Wind in the Willows.

7. Most of the rides are surprisingly scary. A little girl riding behind us on Snow White told her mother she didn't want to go on any more of these scary rides, and I had to agree that Snow White ends on an unnecessarily scary note.

8. The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House is better as the Tarzan Treehouse.

9. DON'T BE TRICKED by Innoventions. It's a live infomercial for HP products. Don't be sucked in by it's appealing spinning room!

10. Honey I Shrunk the Audience was way better as Captain Eo (so says Bry, I wouldn't know having missed the Michael Jackson hit entirely in my youth)

11. Big Thunder Mountain is the perfect roller coaster.

12. Though the park may stay open until midnight, one really only needs about 6 hours at Disneyland to get your fix.

T-I-double g-er

Overall, a surprisingly fun time, but as I said this morning, if someone were to tell me I could get into Disneyland today for free, I'd probably pass.