It's a Team's Life

Disneyland, Happiest place on Earth

By Linda Caffee
Posted Nov 21st 2011 11:33PM

My motherâ€™s senior class went to Disneyland for their senior trip and that started our familyâ€™s enjoyment of anything Disney. As a child every Sunday when Walt Disneyâ€™s Disneyland TV show came on that was enough to bring me in from the outside and watch TV with the rest of the family.

I have read many books on the history of Walt Disney and his vision of Disneyland. The history of Disneyland is fascinating starting with how Main Street was designed to how the characters are dressed.

As our girls were growing up we were able to afford Disneyland only once and only one of my girls faintly remembers the trip. As children they were surrounded by books as well as movies that Disney created with many of the older movies still theirs as well as my favorites.

Debbie and her son Mikey

In the past several years I have once again been able to spend time at Disneyland with a friend I grew up with in Arizona. Debbie and her family are as enamored with Disneyland as I am. This month a lucky coincidence happened as they had a three day trip planned to Disneyland and we happened to get a load to the area and were pre assigned on a load for the following Monday. It was also a three-day weekend for our youngest daughter who is stationed at Nellis Air Force Base and she drove over for the weekend.

California Screaming!

Bob had projects he wanted to work on with the truck so Brandy and I joined Debbie and her son for a wonderful fun filled three days. Brandy has just had her jaw surgery so she could not ride the roller coasters, which there are not many of. On Thursday I rode all of the rides that Brandy could not ride over and over. California Screaming is a fun roller coaster and since I was willing to ride as a single I could get a single pass and go to the front of the line! I rode it three times in a row before I finally tore myself away to finish my list of rides. This year was my first to ride Tower of Terror and what a hoot that was! The ride is over way to fast but sure has some fun drops as well as quickly rising to the top of the hotel.

Main Street Parade

It was nice to spend the day with Brandy seeing the park through her eyes as basically a first time guest. We took our time and both of us enjoyed the short amount of time waiting in line. This time of year the parks are not nearly as full as they are in the summer. We enjoyed the entire atmosphere around each attraction as the ride actually starts from were the lines starts till boarding. One of my favorites from childhood is the Jungle Boat Cruise and I still laugh over the same old corny jokes.

Brnady and I with snow on our heads and tree in background after Fireworks

We also enjoyed the Haunted House as well as Splash Mountain. Pirates of the Caribbean was closed for winter refurbishing, which was a shame as that is also one of my favorites. A newer ride is Indiana Jones Adventure that is also becoming a favorite. This time of year Disneyland decorates for Christmas and it is really beautiful as the first thing to see after crossing under the railroad is the huge Christmas tree. We were able to watch the parades, the water shows as well as the fireworks on Main Street. After the fireworks the oohs and aahs could be heard for miles as Disneyland has installed snow machines and it snowed on all of us. The Christmas decorations as well as the snow reminded me again of why I think Disneyland is so magical.