Disneyland here we come!!!

I am so excited! We are planning a trip to CA for the first week in December. I have already traded all of my days (which was so easy this time!) for work. And then I talked with a very good friend of ours who works at Disneyland. He said he would get us into the park one of the days we are there!!! Thanks Jimmy!

Aidan has never been there and it has been awhile since Kaitlyn has been there I think she was 3 the last time we went. We are going to have it be a surprise and wrap up some sort of Disney related gift to give to each of them while we are at my mom and dad's celebrating Christmas on the 3rd. It is going to be sooooo hard for me to keep it a secret because Kaitlyn has been asking me if we can go there and Aidan has seen the pictures of the last time we went and says it looks like fun and he wants to go there! I love good surprises like that!

I know I am spoiled, but I have been to Disneyland lots of times. Our graduation night was spent at Disneyland, a whole night staying up and enjoying the happiest place on earth...what better way to celebrate. Aaron and I were almost engaged at Disneyland..at least that is what I have been told, but he thought I knew so he decided to wait. (And I never knew by the way!)

Some of my happiest memories have been at Disneyland. We used to try to go once a year, and it is amazing to me how it has changed so much since when I was a kid. One of my favorite rides as a kid is no longer there. It was called the adventure through inner space, and by the time you were at the end of the ride you looked just inches tall.I think Star Tours took the place of that ride many years ago. I have seen Bear Country Jamboree go, which is really sad....And yet somehow the Tiki room is still there. I know there have been even bigger changes since my parents were children. When my mom was a child they had tickets to get on the rides.
Although Walt Disney said "The way I see it, Disneyland will never be finished. It’s something we can keep developing and adding to. A motion picture is different. Once it’s wrapped up and sent out for processing, we’re through with it. If there are things that could be improved, we can’t do anything about them anymore. I’ve always wanted to work on something alive, something that keeps growing. We’ve got that in Disneyland." And while I love that about Disney, I still long for some of the nostalgia of some of the lesser remembered attractions. But I do have to admit some of the changes have been for the better...case in point...Captain EO. It replaced "America Sings" which was entertaining and taught some sort of historical importance Captain EO was just awful. I have not seen the latest attraction that has replaced it, but I think anything has to be better that Michael Jackson!

And while most of the changes have been for the better, I believe there are 2 attractions that will always remain. Oh sure they may have some up grades and renovations, but the premise of them will always stay the same. And those are my 2 absolute favorite rides, I cannot go to Disneyland without riding on "Haunted Mansion" and "Pirates of the Carribbean". Aaron and I even took Kaitlyn on both of those when she was very little...and like us she loved them. She was a little scared in the Haunted Mansion, but for the most part she really loved it. If you could see Kaitlyn's face in this picture you would see that she is so full of glee. (Please forgive the not so great LO this one was done at the beginning stages of scrapbooking).

I am so excited to be taking both of my children to one of the places that I loved in my childhood, to give them the opportunity to find those nostalgic attractions that they can remember and tell their children about someday. After all Disney is a growing and changing entity.