Happiest Post on Earth

True to Morrell style, we decided to take our much needed time off to visit our old stomping grounds in Southern California. Some may think we have an illness with our frequency of the Disney goodness, but to each their own right? We headed down on Thursday evening so we could have some time to relax on Friday and of course have time to hit up our favorite restaurant Ruby's where too much is eaten. Even our friends who had not been in over a year remembered it was delightful - even if they couldn't remember why. :) Mark is really good and orders something different each visit. I however, am stuck on their shrimp tacos. And still sorely miss their White Chocolate Raspberry shake. Cheers to a Ruby's Diner.

By Saturday we were ready for our visit with the mouse. Mark and I had very few needs which made our trip fabulous as the Richards' didn't seem to have too many expectations either. We were all just thrilled to be there and little Teagan was a trooper if I've ever seen one. With only a few 30 minute power naps - she seemed to be in good spirits the entire day. A fan of Disney from...birth. Just how we like them.

Little Mermaid didn't disappoint. Its been open for a week now so we expected lines down the street. We were pleasantly surprised with only a 30 minute wait! It really was quite wonderful, and true to most Disney "dark rides"; missing a large portion of the middle of the movie and just skipping to the end. Eh - it was still entertaining.

Of course a trip to the Mania was required. Mark and the Richards' are good sports to play with me. Although my scores are NOT the best of the day like the use to be, I still score higher then most and have a delightful time playing. And let the record show that I bring good ju-ju because Michelle got her best score when she rode with me. I'm just sayin'. I'm kind of a rock star.

The most ... colorful shall we say ... part of our Disneyland adventure was discovering the "Rave Children" all over the park. Now, for a high school teacher, I pride myself in knowing a bit about the young culture. However, I have never seen something like this before. And lets just keep in mind that it felt like 95 degrees in our regular attire so I can only imagine how warm these people must have felt. I give you - the plastic color explosion parade.


They sort of reminded me of Rainbow Bright. These kids had plastic jewelry everywhere! Some had them in several layers all the way up their arms! It was insane. We began to bargain that the more colorful bracelets you had on, the higher in rank you were. You know, sort of like some kind of system of hierarchy. And the girl with the magic school bus lunchbox (green shirt above) was the queen of the Rave Children. It was the weirdest sight we had ever seen. And I must say, I just missed the pose of the entire group of like 50+ in front of the castle. If only that gentleman would have walked faster then I would have had it! Sadly, this will have to suffice for memories.

Waiting for the parade was by far the hottest wait of my life. But well worth it. Disneyland has been failing in the parade department in my book for several years now; so when I heard that the new Soundsational parade was now preforming, I knew I had to have front row seats. And I was so delighted. It was a genuine Disney parade! Fabulous floats, delightful costumes and dancers in between, all the good characters, catchy music. Just delightful! So I highly recommend the time to sit and watch.


So, cheers to another delightful trip to visit The Land. We were really looking forward to spending the weekend with our dearest friends and were thrilled they made the trip down to join us.