Disney Adventure

Disneyland is awesome. I would assume it is as close to utopia as you can get. Outside of it's stellar innovation of "fun-ness" I think the two things that make it so great are a) it's really expensive and b) seat belts.

It seems like the park is man's best effort at class equalization in the sense that after spending that much money to get in, no one wants to get kicked out and that most folks, after spending that kind of money, are determined to enjoy their time there.

I think the people who drafted the patriot act could learn a lot from the folks at Disney. I assume there are cameras and monitoring devices every 4 millimeters (as evidenced by a family we watched whose daughter's temper tantrum escalated to nose bleeding proportions...Within 30 seconds of blood, there was a friendly representative there to escort them to what I can only imagine was a 'bleeding room....' i later saw the family shellacked and ensconced in the Norwegian portion of It's a Small World.... I kid... A little bit.) but no one seems to really mind.

I know they say that those who are willing to give up freedom for security deserve neither, but man, throw in some cool animatronics, a beer cart (thanks California Adventure Park!) and some backgrounds designed by Mary Blair, and I may be willing to go in for the patriotic lobotomy myself.

Ava had a blast. She warmed up the first day with her standby ride, the carousel, and we continued on to Dumbo. Then I had the great idea to go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride... Not so great... I had forgotten what a dark creepy ride it is, and Ava was not amused... Upset to be honest. So we made our way over to the Winne the Pooh ride. She was hesitant to get on, but I think she enjoyed the "wild honey trip."

Since Lorenzo and Aly were along, we were able to do a but of juggling and enjoy some adult rides as well. Pirates has been revamped to feature Johnny Depp as Keith Richards as a pirate, and that's always a good time.

Since we had flown out so early, I went back to the hotel with Ava to get her to bed so we could make the most of day two...

With an early start we made out way through most of Disneyland. Mylissa and Hamish came to meet us with Georgie and we all had an excellent time in Toon Town.

In the afternoon we went to California Adventure for our late lunch with Ariel and her princess friends... Ava was in awe.

After lunch, Lorenzo and Aly took Ava so Cortney and I could ride Soaring California... (Ava was one inch too short.) This ride was beyond incredible. I'd love to have a television that size... Sanford and Son would look amazing.

After that Cortney and I went to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Now, I hate falling worse than I hate taxes, and this ride involves falling 13 floors in an elevator. If the name Twilight Zone had not been attached, you could not pay me enough to ride it... Well actually, you probably could, but only because I really like money.

At one point in the ride the door opens and they take your picture right before plunging. Seeing my photo was beyond disturbing. It was the kind of expression reserved for tribal death masks. I thought about buying it, but as you guessed, they wanted a lot of money for that, and with a month of travel, I'm a little low on plasma.

The nightly parade was beautiful and Ava had a lot of fun dancing. I'll try to get some video up at some point.

After a full night of sleep, we woke up and scrambled over to the park for the Minnie Mouse breakfast buffet. We saw Captain Hook (who appeared to be a little too sweet to me, but whatever..), Tigger, Eeyore, Chip and Dale, and of course Minnie Mouse. Ava thought that eating pancakes in the presence of so much greatness was one of the highlights of her vacation.

We spent a few hours in the park before heading to the airport. As for falling rides, outside a few roller coasters like Space Mountain, I'm seriously done... And don't try to convince me of anything different.

If peer pressure worked on me, I'd be registered Democrat and there would be no meat in our fridge.

The rest of the pics are up at www.ninety3.com/disney

Cortney and I are off to Maui on Saturday. I hope to get some surfing in, but other than that, a whole lot of nothing, before heading back to work.