Disneyland: The Happiest Place on Earth

(Don't we all look so happy?)

For Thanksgiving this year, my family went to sunny California. There we met up with my aunt and grandma for my grandma's 90th birthday. We spent all of Wednesday in Disneyland. I quickly learned--after our first ride on Star Tours--that I am no longer a little kid and am now prone to motion sickness. I was about ready to go home after Star Tours combined with Space Mountain, but I managed to pull the pieces of my stomach together and made it a good long day. The Matterhorn and Tower of Terror ended up making the top rides of the day list. We only rode a few rides more than once: Tower of Terror--2 times; Pirates--2 times; Splash Mountain--2 times (since no one was in line for Splash Mountain at 10:30 PM instead of getting off we got to ride again for a picture perfect splash); and Matterhorn--4 times. Part of the reason we bobsledded through the Matterhorn so many times was because I wanted to get a picture of the Yeti, but this was as close as I got...

Here's a REAL picture of the Yeti, but clearly it wasn't taken while lugeing by on a high-speed bobsled.

Disneyland was all decked out for Christmas. And although I have a strict "No Christmas Before Thanksgiving" Policy, I have to admit that it was kind of cool to see It's a Small World Christmas Style and The Haunted Mansion as The Nightmare Before Christmas. But other than that the constant Christmas music mixed with Disney songs could drive a person to the brink of insanity. In fact I think that music may have subliminal messages that actually tell people to do ridiculous things--things they would never do any other place. As I walked around Disneyland, it made me think back to this past Halloween. I went to a friend's stake Halloween dance. As I sat there in a cold barn with dirt and hay in my shoes and a lame DJ, I laughed at how ridiculous Halloween is. Halloween gives people the right and privilege to dress like a freak one day of the year. Disneyland gives people a license to dress and act like a freak any day of the year--and I swear there is something in that music.