In the House of the Mouse

There is a place in this world where dreams come true. 

I know the Utah state song says that Utah is the place where dreams come true (3:01), but I am not referring to Utah. I am referring to......

DISNEY LAND!

Specifically, the pineapple dole whip stand outside of the Tiki Room at Disney Land. That is the place where my dreams come true. 

This little girl's dreams also come true at Disney Land: 

  

The day started off with us not being able to find Disney Land. Does that make us sound dumb? If you just said yes, I would like you to change your attitude and blame the GPS. That's what we did :) 

"Oh, sorry. We were just trying to find Disney Land." -Christine

"I feel like Disney Land is just....invisible. Well, maybe not. Maybe it's visible, to everyone but us." -Steve

Ch: I was about to suggest that Heather get out and push the button, but then I was worried she would get kidnapped. 

S: I wasn't even worried about that, I was thinking she would get shot!

Ch: Oh, wow, that's way worse!

W: I mean, they both sound pretty bad, I'm not sure which is worse....

"Disney looks a lot more boring than it did in the pictures...." *When our GPS told us that we had arrived and we were next to some law building*

S: I'm just gonna pull over and ask that guy how to get to Disney Land.

W: Does he speak English?

S: *catching a glimpse* Oh, nope!

H: Wait. Didn't you serve a Spanish-speaking mission? 

S: I'm not that good....

H: How hard is it to say, donde esta Disney Land?

H: You're like, the real mom. And I'm like the rich stepmom who awkwardly decided to come on the family vacation and I'm trying to buy everyone's love. 

W: It's working for me!

Eventually, we noticed some roller coasters on the horizon and drove towards them. We parked. We got our own personal bus ride to the park. We collected our free tickets. We collected our badges. Christine got a Birthday one, Winnie and Steve got "I'm celebrating!" pins, and I got "Happily Ever After." ......?? 

"I ain't got a lick of sense, I'll tell you that right now." 

Her: This the party bus! 

Us: You like your job?

Her: F no. 

Her: I'm jealous y'all are goin into the park. Well, have fun without me. Have a fun day. I'll just be out here, driving your people around. 

Ch: Come with us!

Her: Oh! Okay. Okay, yeah! I'll just drive my bus in, how about that?

Us: *Encouraging*

Her: *grabbing the bus walky-talky thing and pretending to talk into it* What are you doing in the park? - Uh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry sir. - Again? Really? - Yes sir, I'm sorry. This is the last time, I promise. These nice people just invited me to go with them. - But we've told you before - Yes sir, I know. .... - we've told you before, that driving your bus in the parks is frowned on. 

-our bus driver

Christine used this cool program called Ride Max to figure out when we should get in line for specific rides, when we should get our Fast Passes, etc. It was awesome! We never waited more than 15 minutes for a ride.

For whatever reason, Steve decided that he was Iron Man. He also had a bad few minutes where he decided that Iron Man needed to speak in third person.....just as a side note.

S: *zipping up his jacket to cover his "I'm Celebrating!" pin* I'll just be like, hey Christine. Pull down my zipper. I have a surprise for you. 
H: ......are you really gonna say that?


"These lockers are pretty big, who would ever need a jumbo one? Are they trying to park their car here? Leave a child?" 


H: Winnie! It's Winnie the Pooh! You need a picture!
W: *observing the long line* How about a stalker picture?

Ch: There are a couple of lookout points on Tom Sawyer Island....

S: You would know about those!

Do you see my face in this picture? That is exactly how I felt to be on that ride. 

H: I don't really like mandarin oranges. 

W: Why not? They're kind of like lil cuties, and you love those.

H: I know, but.....

-30 seconds later-

H: Okay these are the best things ever! I was just thinking how they are different than lil cuties, and they're only different in ways that make them better! You don't have to peel them, and they don't go bad as fast....how have I never realized that these are the most amazing things ever!?

If you've never been to Disney Land, there is a fun little thing called "Turtle Talk with Crush." Crush, from Finding Nemo, interacts with the people in the audience and asks them questions and answers their questions, and it's really cool and I don't know how they do it. Anyway, the picture above is of us getting ready for Turtle Talk :)

Crush to Little Girl: What do humans like to do for fun?
Little Girl: Well.....I......um.....my......my mommy paid over $1000 just to bring me here. 

Not to be rude, but the family sitting behind us on Tower of Terror was so funny. None of them spoke English except the oldest daughter, who was probably 12 or 13, and I'm pretty sure none of them had any idea that they were getting on a ride that was going to dead-drop them several stories. Their reactions were priceless. 

All of us loved the ride, but apparently we were in the minority. When we went to the bathroom after the ride, we overheard another little girl, who was probably 11 or 12, crying to her mom about her experience.

Girl: That was awful. I'm never going on that ride again. I've never been so scared for my life!

Mom: Well, I won't go on it again either, honey. 

Girl: It was like, they opened the windows, and I knew where that ride got its name. I'm still shaking! I'm still crying!

W: Did you hear that?

Ch: Uh, the longest pee EVER?

H: No.....the girl crying

"I almost want to buy that picture, just so I can have a picture of you sitting by yourself on the roller coaster." -Steve is a wonderful brother

If you haven't been to Disney Land sometime in the last few years, you haven't seen World of Colors. All I can say about that is, I am so sorry for you. This show was amazing and I think my mouth was open for at least half of it. They used lasers and water and projectors and lights and fire and music and it was just so awesome. 

And after it was over, we may or may not have stormed off to our car yelling about how great Disney is. 

"DISNEY. That's the only thing that matters in this life!"

"I have to quit school. I don't need to be a lawyer! I just need to spend all my money on coming here again and again to watch World of Colors."

Ch: Can we just listen to Disney music the whole way to the beach?

H: YES!~

W: Can we just listen to Disney music for the rest of our lives?

"Now I understand why churros cost $5. They have to pay for that awesome show! I understand now. And I fully support those $5 churros."

W: I think that show alone made this day worthwhile.

H: It was so worth that free ticket!

I just wanted to end on this picture because, well, look at it. Look at how hilarious it is. Look at how awkward our poses are. None of us knows what happened with this picture.....the guy taking our picture just told us to strike a pose and we were on the spot and we were tired and Christine tried to do Mickey ears and....yeah.