Just a Hop, a Skip, and a Jump Away

So, I told my superbud Lauri that whenever I neglect to carry my camera around with me, the blog sits idly by. Haha! Sorry about that. I realized that if I'm going to be a diligent blogger, I need to carry the ol' Nikon with me regularly.

So last night, I decided to bring it along for a last-minute, two-hour visit to Disneyland. (The park usually closes at 8:00 PM now, so that means we have to concentrate our super-happy-fun into just a few hours sometimes.) Tim and I have been working very hard this week on our various works and homeworks, and decided to reward ourselves with a little Disney magic.

Stupid 210!!! Okay, so the Disney magic didn't start immediately. But at least we were moving... sometimes we just sit there and inhale exhaust and stare at our fellow bravers-of-the-210-at-rush-hour.

When we finally arrived, California Adventure was set to close soon, so we ran in to the Mission Tortilla Factory and got our delicious, warm, free tortillas at the end of the mini-tour. And we spotted a couple of new annual passholders, Sarah and Chloe!! We chatted with them for a few minutes, while Chloe (19-20 months?) kept escaping, causing Sarah to have to chase her repeatedly. Welcome to the Disney obsession, you two!! You will never get away, haha. By the looks of it, we'll probably run into them regularly, because I think Sarah is already in love with Disneyland, after being a passholder for one day. Yay!

After that, we ran over to the Tower of Terror, which Tim happily rode, while I waited in the gift shop. ("Expectant mothers should not ride." The bane of my existence right now.) Note the picture of Tim on the ride, looking off to the side, slightly bemused. What a kook.

By the time we left the Tower of Terror, California Adventure was closed, so we headed over to Disneyland, bought our standard churros (although sometimes we substitute pineapple whips or those giant cookies near Winnie the Pooh), and continued with the rides. Even though it was the evening, it was actually pretty slow, so we didn't have to spend much time waiting in lines. We went on Haunted Mansion again (which is required, since it's Nightmare Before Christmas-themed right now), Pirates of the Caribbean, Mad Tea Party, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (which we like to call "Mr. Toad's Rapid and Delirious Descent into Hell"), and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. Then we watched some of the nightly super-happy-nostalgic parade, ran off to Tomorrowland, and went on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. (154,000!! Nice, Tim!!) Anyway, it was a great time, especially considering that we were only there for like two hours. Here are some more photos:

This is a totally awful picture that I took as we were walking into Pirates of the Caribbean. There were other people behind us, and I didn't want to be one of those people who stops and makes others wait while they take a picture in line. So, I tried to be considerate, but unfortunately, I'm just not very good at aiming the lens while in motion.

Pregnant Jean picture! (25 weeks) That's the Sword in the Stone in Fantasyland, with the castle in the background.

This is what I stare at every time we go on the Mad Tea Party. Tim is an insane teacup spinner, and he gets that thing to go really, really, really fast. It's awesome.

After the park closed, we went to Rainforest Cafe for dinner, and had a really fun waiter who mostly cracked himself up, but sometimes made us laugh too. I always get the China Island Chicken Salad, and it was delectable as usual. We came to the conclusion that the Rainforest Cafe would be a much more interesting and genuine "safari" adventure if they released jaguars every now and then, just to keep the diners on their toes. There would be a few maulings every night, but boy, would it be exciting!!! :-)