For our anniversary this year, we saved up for a trip to California centered around baseball and Disneyland. We were there June 10th-13th. The timing was perfect. Dillon was able to get time off from his then-current job and while we were there, he was offered a position at his much improved and now-current job. They told him that he could start as soon as we got back. (You guys! This job! It's such a blessing. It's in Dillon's field of study. He enjoys what he does and the people he works with. He has THE BEST hours of 7-3:30 Monday through Friday. AND he gets major holidays off. We love Metalcraft!)
Our fun-filled early-anniversary trip
Day 1:
Our first day was all about the Braves vs. Padres game at Petco Park. (We've gone to a Braves game every summer since we've been married and are going to try our best to keep up the tradition). My parents let us borrow their Chevy Impala (for the low-price of Disney souvenirs) for the trip because its gas mileage is awesome and because its air conditioner actually works (important for this heat-hater).
Fun fact: I don't love car rides. I have a propensity for car-sickness that is ridiculous. This restricts me from any time passing activities except for listening to music and car games like 20 questions (big thriller, that one :) ). That being said, my attention span reverts back to that of a three-year old. Soooo, to break up the monotony of the drive we stopped in Primm- a random cluster of shopping outlets, a casino, a hotel, and a giant rollercoaster.
Dillon likes to try on shorts sans dressing room
We hopped back in the car and had planned to be to the game an hour early so that Dillon could try and get some signatures. Well, our handy-dandy GPS had other plans. We were about 6 miles out from Petco Park (You know, the point where the GPS really, really matters. Because, especially in California, if you miss your exit, no big deal, just drive another ten miles and take 13 different on and off ramps all just to loop back and miss your exit again, sucker) when it stopped working. It had the cute little blue car driving on a blank tan canvas of nothingness.
I quickly plugged in my parents GPS but theirs informed us that the satellites were down. So I whipped out my iPhone and plugged in Petco Park. Somehow, I hit a wrong button because the phone thought I wanted instructions from Petco Park to our house. We failed to realize this until it informed us we had 50 miles until our next exit (obviously that didn't make sense, we were only 6ish miles away from the park). Shoot! So I re-plugged it in, we got on the right path, and made it about 3 minutes before the game started.
These things tend to not bring out the best in either Dillon or I. I panic and he gets frustrated and we both get ticked off at the other, until we reach our destination and then laugh about it all because "Hey, we got here and remember how it's our anniversary trip? It's all good."
Day 2:
The rest of the trip was all about Disneyland/California Adventure. We did three-day park hopper tickets and decided that is the way to go- less stress to hurry and hit everything, time for naps and swimming, favorite rides are easily repeated etc.
We woke up late, took our dear sweet time getting ready, and headed on over to the park. Dillon had never been so he let me take the lead (I've only been twice, but I guess that still beats zero). I convinced him to hit up Toy Story in California Adventure first (top left) because the line for that one gets crazy long. I came out victorious (my score is in red-top right). Booyah! (He spanked me in Astroblasters the next day, but we don't need to talk about that).
The bottom right is a picture of the Toy Story soldiers putting little kids through "boot camp". So cute.
Lunch- THE best corn dogs.
Cars Land! This part of the park was fun and looked exactly like Radiator Springs. However, the race car ride had a 3 hour wait. No.thank.you.
Dillon picked these out for me. He's so flattering. I think I've somehow buffaloed him though.
Don't mind my sweat-stache. It was hot and humid to the max.
Bug's Life. Because it's inside and you get to sit for a minute.
In between all of that we managed to hit all of the big highlights. California Screamin', Grizzly Rapids, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates, Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion, and so on. Around 5 o'clock we were beat and so tired. We decided to eat at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney then head back to our hotel for swimming. I think we both fell asleep around 8:30. Hoorah ha.
Day 3:
This day included repeats of just about every ride (excluding the Ferris wheel and Tower of Tower) plus a few of the smaller attractions we didn't get to yet.
Inside Indiana Jones, outside Space Mountain, and lunch in the Blue Bayou. The Blue Bayou is a restaurant that is inside the Pirates ride. I don't remember noticing it on previous trips but as we rode past we decided to eat there. It was on the pricey end but the food was great and the atmosphere was really fun.
Outside of It's a Small World- quickly deemed Dillon's least favorite ride.
Some of our picture-during-the-ride highlights. Dillon's faces are the best (plus the girl in front of him on Space Mountain. That face = glorious)
We played hard this day and used our fast passes wisely. We watched the fireworks show (seen below with a nice silhouette of a stranger's Mickey Mouse ears) and then hit our favorites a few more times before the park closed.
We reserved this day for souvenir shopping and relaxed meandering. We woke up late, again, missing our Magic Morning (What can I say? We like our sleep). We made one more valiant effort to go on the race car ride in Cars Land but the fast passes were completely gone...for the rest of the day...at nine in the morning. And the wait? You guessed it. Three hours. We'll try again on our next go around.
We did however go to Splash Mountain multiple times because Dillon decided it was his favorite. We also hit up some little kid rides because the wait was only five minutes when we walked by (the day before the wait was AT LEAST forty-five minutes for both of them).
From there, it was mostly about visiting the shops. Plus my ankles were swelling over my shoes (I'll get to that shortly).
Dillon's "I'm a Pirate" face
His chosen souvenir- a build-your-own light saber
I love that he picked this and that he's a kid at heart
My chosen souvenir
We called it good early in the day, happy with our overall experience and headed home in the late afternoon.
When all said and done, a great anniversary trip with the best man around and a few entertaining stories to add to our repertoire.
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