The Happiest Place on Earth!!!!

And it most certainly is!

I skipped, danced and sang my way around the land of the Mouse.

And yes, I probably embarrassed my family to boot.

But that's okay, you are allowed to act like a child sometimes.

And I acted like one a fair bit - I squealed, I aahed, I bounced from foot to foot in anticipation, I even let out a few whoops every now and then.

In my head I kept saying, "I'm here! I'm here!"

I drove everyone mad by stopping to photograph literally everything!

Obviously, having never been to Disneyland before, I must say it is beautiful at Christmas time.

There were decorations everywhere.

I really tried my best to take in as much of my surroundings as I could, but The Groom and the kids were more interested in going on the rides.

We were very fortunate that for 3 of the 4 days we were there we didn't really need to get Fastpasses for anything.  

The only time we did use them was if the wait was around 45 minutes and we wanted to do something else in the meantime.

It was a rather quiet time at the park, most wait times for rides was 5 to 15 minutes.  Even the busiest day wasn't that busy.

One of the first things we did on our first day at the park was to go and see Santa (but we call him Father Christmas).

While we were waiting outside the gate, we saw Jessie come walking along.

I got all excited when I saw some of my favourite characters.

(We won't mention the infamous stalking of Goofy incident around the park...

The kids were so embarrassed).

And after visiting with Father Christmas and admiring his reindeer, we saw Pluto.

He is so cute.

I missed my dogs when I would see him.

The Groom and the kids INSISTED I go on the Tea Cups.

I HATE the Tea Cups.

I don't like rides that go around in circles or spin.

I don't even like the Merry-go-Round.

I was a lovely shade of green when we got off.

The kids thought it was funny to see how fast they could spin our cup and I'm sure they were taking bets on how soon I would be sick.

I was rather wobbly on my feet when we got off and stayed close to a rubbish bin for a little while afterwards.

For just-in-case...

But I loved all of the other rides.

The Groom refused to go on It's A Small World.

He said it took him years to get the song out of his head when he first went as a kid and he'll never risk it again.

I LOVED it!!!

Luckily much of the song was interspersed with Jingle Bells so it was fun.

I only had Jingle Bells spinning around my head for a few days afterwards.

It's A Small World is kitchy and kind of daggy but it is a lovely contrast to the 'high tech' rides in the park.

Space Tours was so much fun.

We went on it about four times.

Thank heaven for quiet days at the park.

It's Buzz Lightyear!

While the kids and The Groom were off riding more rides (for the umpteenth time) I staked out our spot outside the bakery for the nightly parade.

A girl can't be expected to sit on hard concrete in the gutter without something to keep her going.

Cappucino and Mickey cookies.

And maybe a churro or two...


Come 4.30pm or so, it was like someone turned a light off somewhere - it got cold and dark suddenly.


The days were beautiful, though.

Our first night at Disneyland saw us missing out on the fireworks because of strong winds so they were cancelled.

Once an announcement had been made a big cry of disappointment rose up from the crowd outside Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Some people had been there for an hour minding their spots for the show.

Instead of fireworks we got to watch the light show and enjoy the 'snow' falling.

It was so magical.

I went home on cloud nine and I'm sure I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

I was one happy little camper.