everything under the sun

The pain of separating from Mira on Friday was eased by a trip to Disneyland on Saturday.

I'd never been to either of the Disney parks, and I didn't feel like I was missing anything because a) I've always preferred Warner Brothers' cartoon characters, and b) I think what Disney has done to American copyright law is greedy and ridiculous -- see the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Plus, nearly every summer of my childhood I went to Cedar Point, which is quite a good amusement park (now that I've been to Disneyland I can confirm this); so for a person who doesn't like roller coasters, or any rides that are, as Natalie calls them, "barfy," or waiting in line for said barfy rides, or walking around in wet drawers, I figure I've done my time in amusementland, and I'm cool with that.

Oh, FREE, did you say? I can go to Disneyland for free? With people I adore? Mickey Mouse here I come! My girl Darcy gets a schweet discount because she works for Disney. So schweet, in fact, that entrance to the park (along with its sister park, California Adventure), is free for her and three guests whenever she wants to go. Saturday found me, Darcy, Natalie, and Lori packing off to greet the mouse. We had fun in the sun, eating totally tasty crap, walking our feets off, riding rides -- barfy and otherwise -- shopping, and watching fireworks.

Oddly, we didn't see any characters. No Mickey, no Minnie. Not even a Pluto or a Goofy. There was a parade, during which we were inside a restaurant, stuffing our hungry faces. I'm thinking all the characters laid low until it was time to march.

My favorite attractions were the Enchanted Tiki Room, and stunning, magnificent Soarin' Over California.

Rides that aren't likely to see my old ass again: Star Tours, Space Mountain, California Screamin'. Here we are being tortured on the last two.

Ya gotta love Lori's peep show in the first shot, heh heh. The second shows my roller coaster strategy, which is to distract myself by screaming my head off.

And here are some more shots of the day. I love the one of our flashing Mickey-as-a-pumpkin rings, which Darcy bought us so we wouldn't get lost from each other when it got dark. :)

Sunday I was too exhausted to even fix a decent meal, so for breakfast and lunch I tore Mickey a new a-hole.

We think this Disneyland shot is pretty clever, seeing as we all met at a Farmer's Market.

Darcy and Natalie, you made excellent guides for us Disneyland virgins, Lori and me. To all you girls, Thanks, Sugarlips!