on disneyland, and why it really is the best

whenever i get the chance to take a trip home, it goes without saying that at least one day will be spent at disneyland. have i mentioned before that i'm a dedicated disneyland-goer? it's true. always have been. there are pictures of me in disneyland at every age. i could probably make a scrapbook of my entire childhood just with pictures from disneyland.

i've been trying to pinpoint when this romance really began - you know, the moment that disneyland and i gazed into each other's eyes and knew that we were meant to be. i think i have a rough idea. once, when i was in the fifth grade, my mom woke me and my brother up in the wee hours of the morning. it was still dark outside and she was whispering and all i could think was, does she know how early it is? fifth graders need their beauty sleep!  it was all very confusing. somehow she convinced us to come downstairs. for a few seconds, the three of us just stood in the quiet darkness of the living room and right when i started wondering if my mom had gone off the deep end, SURPRISE! all of a sudden, two of my aunts jumped out from behind the couch and announced that we were going to disneyland! (on a school day!!!)

i've never been so happy in my entire life.
the rest is really history. there's no turning back after a magical day like that, you know? up until i moved to oregon, i was even an annual passport holder. see? dedication.

now before you start thinking those thoughts that most people think when they think about disneyland, let me just stop you right there. because i know all about those thoughts that you're trying to think! putting my love for all-things-disney aside, i realize that for a lot of people (usually parents), disneyland sounds like hell on earth. and hey, i don't blame them! i know for a fact that my version of hell on earth would absolutely be standing in hour-long lines all day with screaming, ungrateful children nipping at my heels. (jim gaffigan knows what i'm talking about.)

as a self-proclaimed disney expert and someone who would rather drop dead than take a five-year-old to disneyland, let me set the record straight once and for all: there is a very simple way to avoid this nightmare. all you have to do is leave your kids at home.

now you can have some fun!
you'll save enormous amounts of money, you can leisurely meander through the park, grab a margarita, catch some fireworks, have a caramel apple, and by the end of the day, you'll realize that this really is the happiest place on earth.

maybe i should write a book about this.
heather's guide to disneyland happiness: 100 reasons to leave your kids at home

eh eh?

fortunately i don't have any children so i can enjoy disneyland in all its glory all by myself. and with lauren.

by the way, this is lauren! we've been best friends for more than 10 years. she and i met on the first day of sixth grade. our teacher was a real stickler for seating charts, and by some miracle, she sat us side by side. we didn't know it was a miracle at the time, but it was. we owe a lot to that seating chart.

when we discovered our shared love for disneyland, well. let's just say neither of us were in the market for another best friend after that. no matter how far apart we live from each other (now and in the future), disneyland will always be our meeting place.

this was easily one of the best days of summer so far. 

despite not having seen each other for 8 months, once lauren and i were reunited and finally back in our favorite place, it was like no time has passed. of course, while those 8 months away from each other seemed to drag on and on and on, our day at disneyland went by in the blink of an eye. like the true fanatics that we are, we arrived when the park opened and didn't leave until midnight (naturally), but somehow the time still managed to fly. 

hopefully we can make it back around christmas time. any true disneyland fan will tell you that december is the best month to visit. 

(check back in a few months and i'll tell you why)