2 Awesome Days at Disney!!

First of all - check out our cool road trip logo! John Michael photo-shopped us into a sardine can : )

2 days at Disney and beautiful, gorgeous weather. We didn't even get sweaty - yesterday was actually cool and today was warm but not muggy and hot. Yesterday was not crowded at all. In fact, most of the rides were longer than the lines! Today (Friday) was a little more crowded but with the Fast Pass system we still had nothing to complain about.

I think we rode just about everything. Juliana - sorry - no princess photo of Ellie. You have to get in really long lines for those and even though Camille loves princesses she loves roller coasters more (you go, Camille) and said "later - i'd rather stand in line for space mountain". We did get one picture of her with Jasmine and Alladin after the Alladin show. She was absolutely thrilled and Jasmine was delightful. Captain Jack Sparrow was wandering drunkenly around Disneyland and Ellie would have loved to have had her picture taken with him but it was really difficult.

Speaking of princesses: Camille's favorite - Sleeping Beauty (I have no idea why - we don't even own the movie). My favorite is Belle - yellow dress (my favorite color) - best music in a musical EVER, plus I had a crush on Robby Benson when I was a teeny bopper ( he did the voice of Beast). Ellie's favorite was initially Ariel (I personally think it is because Ariel is defiant and refuses to mind her father) but now she says it is Pocahontas, because she isn't frilly like the other princesses. I asked the boys who their favorite princesses were and received all kinds of disgusting answers that I shall not repeat (like Princess Booger, etc). At the parade today (which I LOVED) the princess float was approaching and Camille sat up at attention, looking for Sleeping Beauty. There she was - but on the other side of the float! Oh no! But just as the float came alongside of us Sleeping Beauty danced over to our side. Camille caught her eye and Sleeping Beauty waved gracefully. Camille's face lit up and she waved back - then Sleeping Beauty reacted as if she had just received a kiss and she put her hands over her heart, never taking her eyes off of Camille. Camille melted and I actually started crying! But speaking of parade connections, Prince Caspian rode down Main St. on his horse. He was a handsome young thing in the way that Orlando Bloom is a handsome young thing. Our eyes met - I waved - and he raised his eyebrows in what I thought was a hubba hubba way, but Ellie thought was more of a "Oh my God that middle-aged woman is grossing me out" way.

We visited toon town for lunch - it was very sunny and didn't have the same cool, shady vegetation feel of the rest of the park. We had trouble finding a table in the shade. No problem. "Here," I said. "Slide this little table over here in front of this fake red door. Its shady." So the boys moved the table and we sat down to eat. A few minutes into our meal a big clock overhead starts clanging loudly. Then a young man acted all excited about where we were sitting and began trying to help us move the table (quickly). The door flies open and out comes Goofy - right into the Pavliska's lunch. Now, we had tried to get close to Goofy several times, unsuccesfully. So having him trip over our pizzas and sodas was quite convenient. He was good natured about it (no character rage such as we've seen in the news) and Camille and Jasper received pats on the head, which thrilled them no end.

Jasper is exactly 40" tall and was able to ride everything but the Indiana Jones ride (which is simply indescribable). So he rode Space Mountain and Splash Mountain and the other thrill rides. In the pictures you can't quite tell what he thinks about it - he definitely doesn't look thrilled : ) but he insisted he wasn't scared and was ready to go again. My favorite ride is Peter Pan's Flight and Space Mountain. Both boys ranked Pirates of the Carribean and Indiana Jones as a tie for first place. Jasper liked Splash Mountain - even though he is phobic about wet clothes. But I truly think his favorite was the Disney Train that goes through Dinosaur Land and the Grand Canyon. Camille liked Space Mountain the best (rode it twice). Ellie liked Alice in Wonderland! She enjoyed the fantastic thrill rides, but loved the storybook kiddie rides because she enjoyed the old-fashioned Disney stories so much. Plus she loves Lewis Carroll. She also got a humongous kick out of the Haunted Mansion. Jeff loved everything - he had so much fun and I could always hear him laughing hysterically in the car behind me....

The last time I was at Disney World was 1976 :) It was so much fun and left a huge impression on me. I was worried that it wouldn't seem as great now that I am an adult. But it was just wonderful. I felt 11-years-old again. I felt my mom with me on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - that was her favorite and she rode it several times. When I was young she read The Wind in the Willows to me.... the Disney integrity was intact and the dream is alive. Ellie didn't expect to love it but she did. She balks at consumerism and commercialism and other "isms" but she was enchanted the entire time. She appreciated the care and love and detail that went into everything. She said it was indeed a happy place and she had a wonderful time. She and I will both take one image home with us: we were standing in line (of course) and the teacup ride was in view. An older couple (late 70's?) was in a teacup. The ride began and the man began to spin the wheel while the woman closed her eyes and threw her arms wide open with her head back. She had a huge smile on her face. The man, also with a huge smile on his face, just watched her and spun and spun.... They could have been any little boy and girl in that teacup :) And for about 3 and a half minutes, I think they were.

Well, we have a BIG drive tomorrow. We are heading north and will be descending upon Mark and Rita very soon!

Love,

Sardine Mama