Do I still love Disney?

I just want to be there already

I feel like I miss Disney so much more when I live out of state..

Maybe it just feels harder now because my hotel room looks exactly like the Farefield Inn Marriott

Around the time I was 13, I started to wonder if I would ever get to a point in my life 

where Disneyland wouldn't be as exciting as it is every year..

I wondered if I would still be willing to get up at 5:00am 4:00am on the morning of my birthday

I wondered if I would still get that  feeling in the pit of my stomach when I saw these signs

I wondered if I would still get excited about skipping down Main Street USA

I wondered if I would still race to Space Mountain and Matterhorn first thing in the morning..
I wondered if "Mickey Food" would still be just as exciting as it was when I was 7 or 8..

Would I still think the canoe ride was dumb?

Would I ever get excited about walking around the stores?

Would I still feel like casually walking around Disneyland was wasting precious ride-time?

Would I still refuse to go back to the hotel to take a nap?
Would I still be a diva when people would take my picture?

I think this was my 6th birthday..

Will I still follow my "Disney-Prep-Routine" when I'm older?

This consisted of watching Disneyland Fun over, and over, several months before my birthday

Will I still pack my suitcase months in advance? 

Will I ever sleep in the car on the way down to Disney?

Will I ever complain about being out until the park closed? 

Will I still want to watch Fantasmic at the end of the day?

Will I still want to ride Haunted Mansion at 9:00 in the morning 

so I can blow out the candles in the Ball Room? 

Worst of all

Would I still want to spend my birthday(s) at Disneyland

 after I turned 18? or 20?

UHM..YES

I know with out a doubt that will never change

I am proud to say that I have spend every, single birthday at Disneyland

(with the exception of my 18th because I was getting baptized)

Have I still followed my "D.P.R"?

Yes. Completely.

But now I have an entire playlist on YouTube that I watch.

(and yes, I am watching it right now) 

Have I packed my suitcase months in advance? 

...more like I just have my outfits picked out months in advanced..

I'm making my 'birthday t-shirt' this year

Have I ever fallen asleep in the car on the way to Disneyland?

... I can't believe I did that last year... even Jayson was shocked...

Have I complained about being in the park until it closed?

No, but I will admit that last year it was so unbelievably packed because of the new Cars Land opening that the shortest wait times for any rides were at least an hour.. so we went home around 7:00pm

Do I still want to watch Fantasmic at the end of the day?

It really kind of depends. If the park was practically empty and we got a lot done in the day, then I don't mind stopping a few hours before it starts to save a decent seat. If it's been a long and crazy day and we don't have a hotel room and we still had more we wanted to get done, then I would probably decide to just skip it.  If we have a hotel room, I usually chose a night to sit down and watch :) 

Do I still want to ride Haunted Mansion first thing in the morning? 

Well first of all, let me explain why I used to want to be in line by 9:00am.

One year, someone in my family (I used to go with my parents, brother, aunt, uncle, other aunt, and cousin) said to me that I needed to blow out the candles that were on the cake in the Ball Room because all the ghosts came to celebrate my birthday. Ever since then I wanted to be on the ride by the time I was born so that way I could blow out the candles, and I wouldn't deem myself a year older until after I did that..

Anyway, I haven't really wanted to ride Haunted Mansion first thing in the morning. I've realized over the years that if you don't jump on Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Indy, (sometimes) Pirates, or Splash (and now Star Tours) first thing in the morning, the lines are ridiculously long..especially after California Adventure opens.. 

The nice thing about Haunted Mansion is that the line is never that long anyway. I think the longest I have ever waited in line was 45 minutes.. 

~ ~ ~

I must say that I am glad that my family took me to Disney every year when I was younger. I'm glad that I still get to carry on the tradition with Jayson, but I also learned several tricks to our Disney Vacation..

I guess I can share those tips with you.. ;) 

1. Get to the Disneyland Parking lot before it opens
   If you're not staying at a hotel then I highly recommend this! Sometimes they bring you out to the outside parking lot (the part that isn't covered) and usually it's a pain because then your car sits out in the hot sun all day long. The bonus to this, how ever, is that you're parked right next to the sidewalk where the tram is. Then at the end of the day you don't have to do much walking, or spend tons of time searching for your car in the parking structure (because lets be honest, who really tries to remember where they parked when they first get there??).
   
   
2. How to avoid long linesOkay, I'm going just explain how Jayson and I normally tackle the park, and then I'll explain how we did it last year:
   
   We stand in line outside the Disneyland gates at about 7:30ish. When the park opens we hit the big rides first. We don't necessarily do these in any order but we start from one end of the park and work our way across. The "big rides" consist of Space, Star Tours, Matterhorn, Indy, Pirates, Haunted, and Splash (I've been using those ride abbreviations since I can remember...because that's what my Aunt Tara does ;). Now usually, we've been in the park since 8:00am and we can get all of those done by 10:00am, which is when California Adventure Opens. Once we're done with all of those rides (or if 9:30ish comes first..) we head over to California Adventure. Then we tackle all of the big rides there also and again work our way from one side of the park to the other. We usually start at Soarin, then go to Grizzly, Screamin', Toy Story, and then Tower. Once we've finished those then we hang out in CAA until we've done everything we wanted to, which is usually around 3:00 or 4:00. By this time, most of the families with kids that have a hotel with either start heading back or stop along the sides of the streets to eat lunch or watch parades, which leaves the lines that much shorter!
   
   Last year was a total different ball game... because Cars Land had just opened in June (my birthday is the first day of August). We really wanted to try to jump on the new Radiator Springs Racers, so we knew we had to start at California Adventure first. Luckily, they had opened the park two hours earlier than normal (probably because of the new land opening). Jayson and I happened to be second in line outside the gates, but about ten minutes after they opened the Magic Morning gates (Magic Morning is when you get to go to each park and hour before they open to the public ONLY if you are staying at a Disney approved hotel), we started to see a huge line coming down Buena Vista Street. A few moments later, we heard a cast member announce that they were doing additional ride testing on Radiator Springs Racers so they would not be opening that attraction up until 10:00am, but you could still get in line for a fast pass. At this point, Jayson and I realized that there was no way we would be getting a fast past simply because the line for it was now weaving it's way down BVS and outside the main gates..and that was just the Magic Morning Guests! So we decided that we would just got ride some of the bigger rides because everyone would be in Cars Land. The park opened at 10:00am and we sprinted to California Screamin' and we literally rode it at least five times in a row because there was NO ONE in line. I think we ended up riding Screamin' ( all 5 times), Soarin, Toy Story, and Tower in under an hour. After we got off tower of terror, we decided to just walk down Route 66 in Cars Land so we could at least see what it looked like and get it out of the way. It was CRAZY how jam packed it was. We didn't even go inside any of the shops because there were just too many people and strollers to weave around. We walked all the way down to the statue of Stanley, and walked past part of R.S.S. when all of a sudden, I saw a cast member tapping guests on the shoulders, whispering in their ears, and pointing to the line up que. I grabbed Jayson by the wrist and literally drug him in between people to get into the line up que without really explaining to him what I was doing. All I kept telling him was to keep up and follow me. When we were finally in line, I over heard a cast member say that the wait was about 45 minutes from that point. Jayson and I decided that if we really wanted to ride this ride, now would be the time to do it because we managed to get a good spot in line and we didn't have a fast pass. About 15 minutes went by and we heard a cast member on the intercom say that they had finished testing the ride and were now opening it for operation. I think we ended up waiting in line for maybe 30 minutes, because other guests that managed to get fast passes for later in the day decided to leave and come back later. We were so lucky!!! Radiator Springs Racers in now my favorite ride :) 

~ ~ ~

I still have to wait a little over two months before I can go! 

It's terrible!!
So to help ease my pain, I downloaded all of the ride sound tracks onto my phone :)

I have almost 30 songs, including the fireworks soundtracks!
I know what I'm going to be listening to on the drive back to California ;)
And I literally listen to my playlist on YouTube every day, all day long
(like right now) 

I'm embarrassed to say that I have yet to find all of the Hidden Mickey's on the rides...
I need to try harder this year to find them..
I was talking to my friend Amanda about it this morning,
AND I NEVER KNEW
that on the Winnie the Pooh ride you could still see the animal heads from Country Bear Jamboree!!
I need to find that....