Disneyland for New Year's, DAY 3!

On the morning of our last day at Disneyland, Liz posted the following status on Facebook:

18 hours in Disneyland after only 4 hours of sleep? Bring it Mouse!!

(For a recap of our first two days, click here and here.)

It was New Year's Eve, and a Monday, and we decided to go whole hog and use our "Magic Morning" option to start at 7:15 a.m. When 8 o'clock rolled around, we had just taken a spin on Space Mountain, and it seemed like every one else headed that way to "beat the crowd" as it were. Probably smart, since the Fast Passes disappeared quickly, and the line for that particular ride took over two hours later in the day (I should know, I stood in it, and it was absolutely worth it to sit in the front of the car! BEST RIDE EVER!!!!!!)!

We also decided to take the requisite Mickey face
and Cinderella Castle photos while there were
only a few groups of people to compete with.

As you can see, Liz and I decided to wear the tiaras we had purchased on our previous Disney trip together. I bought a Cinderella-themed tiara, despite the fact that my favorite princess at the time was Aurora (I liked the design for the Cinderella one better). Since then, I've played Cinderella in Into the Woods and fell in love with her story. 

Can you see Belle in the background to Liz's left?!!

Oddly, although I've been going to Disneyland since I was about a year old, I have only ever met one of the Disney princesses. So, you can imagine how excited Liz and I were halfway through the morning when we realized that not only were there several princesses nearby, but the line to get to them was crazy short (I guess everyone was still on line for Space Mountain). You'd think that since we are adults and have gotten to play princesses that we would have been more relaxed. Not so. I think even the princesses were taken aback by how thrilled we were to meet them. Cinderella liked my tiara and was very flattered when I told her she is my favorite. Meeting Aurora in front of her castle was pretty darn awesome, and Belle was adorable. I enjoyed finally living out that personal fantasy. I've been waiting my whole life!

I have to give Mike credit for being as understanding as he was. He took it all in stride, and stood in line and took photos for us with Belle, Aurora, Cinderella, Tinker Bell, and Tinker Bell's little sister Periwinkle without a hint of sneer or irony. I guess he pretty much expected it -- we were wearing tiaras after all. (And, yes, I did say, "I am a princess and this is my tiara!" a couple of times that morning.)

clockwise from top left:
Cinderella, Tinker Bell, Belle,
Periwinkle, and Aurora

Sadly, I was unable to wear the tiara for the entire day due to a goose egg from a collision with another park guest the day before (he poked his head out of a shop to see if it was still raining right as I walked by and smacked his head into mine). Fortunately, I had another hat to replace it with, and we'd rented a locker again to put our extra stuff in so I didn't have to carry it around all day.

Other highlights of the day included:

• Sharing one of the famous turkey legs for lunch. It was tasty, but I don't think I need another one. It tasted more like ham than turkey.
• Taking a billion photos of ourselves riding the Teacups
• A hilarious guide (yay!) on the Jungle Cruise making up for the lame one from the day before
• An African-American man in front of us at Space Mountain chatting us up online, purposely doing "Blue Steel" for our "make faces for the camera" gag, and then referring to himself as the "token black guy" in our photo. Not PC, but funny!
• Eating Dole whips in the Tiki Room during some down time
• A worker making the effort to find out where Mickey was for us (since the app was wrong!), and getting us into the line even though it was technically closed... then having primo spots next to some really sweet and excited teenage Asian girls for the holiday parade
• Riding all the rides in Fantasy Land (except Dumbo, sadly), smooshing into one row for Thunder Mountain Railroad, and riding Indiana Jones, the Matterhorn, Pirates, and the Haunted Mansion again
• Getting stuck in the crowd and being "forced" to watch the fireworks
• Deep-fried Monte Cristo sandwiches at The New Orleans Cafe
• A photo with a guy dressed like the 10th Doctor from Doctor Who:

Personality-wise, I think I'm a Donna,
but I look more like Rose here.
And now I want to dress up next time I go to Disneyland!

Out of the cold and craziness for a few minutes

We decided ahead of time not to bother trying to watch the countdown in front of the castle. We knew the crowd would be insane, and we knew from experience that if you wait in front of the Rivers of America, and then stay after, you have front row seats for an extra showing of Fantasmic! As a bonus, there was a "Dueling pianos/sing-along" going on. They put two pianos on one of the Tom Sawyer rafts and we all sang songs like "Sweet Caroline", "We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together" and "Hey, Jude" at the top of our lungs. Every once in awhile, they'd put up the water spray and project Muppet clips like Ode to Joy, and Bohemian Rhapsody. Brilliant! It was fun to cheer and scream together and hug at the stroke of midnight. Then a bunch of people cleared away and we enjoyed Fantasmic (I felt badly for poor Ariel in her seashells -- it was not a particularly warm night). 

The park was open until 2 a.m. for the holiday, so after the show we ran to It's a Small World -- one of the last two attractions we'd wanted to do but hadn't yet. To our surprise and delight, the last dance party was still going on over there! Liz and I embarrassed Mike yet again by gleefully showing off our moves while we waited in line. I'm not going to pretend I'm a graceful dancer on the best of days, and we were so tired and giddy that night... I'm pretty sure everyone around us thought we were drunk, but we didn't care. By the looks on their faces, they were all thoroughly entertained, and so were we! "Baby, bye, bye, bye!"

Last of all we faced the still-monster-lengthed line for Peter Pan's Flight. When we left the park it was 2:15ish, and we were all beat. The adrenaline was gone, and we knew we had to get up early for the 12 hour drive home. We made it home all right the next day, but I was exhausted for the rest of the week -- thank goodness for a shortened work week!

Mike asked me what my favorite part was, and I told him it was watching how excited he was at the Mad "T" Party, and Liz and I flipping out over the princesses. It was awesome being with just two other people, people who happen to be pretty chill. We knew it was going to be crowded and planned on it being expensive (though the discounts and free parking Liz had with her annual pass sure helped). We all made sure everyone got to do pretty much everything they wanted to. When we needed to take a break to blow-dry our socks in the bathroom, or browse the shops, or buy an 11th churro, we did. No one complained or tried to create silly extra drama. We just had fun.

I wasn't kidding when I said it was one of my favorite vacations ever. I hope my next is as awesome! Guess I better start planning one, eh?

And if I get to go back to Disneyland in the next couple of months, I shan't complain!