This year, Disneyland is celebrating its 50th anniversary! Disneyland can now get discounted meals at Denny's! (That's age 50, right? Anyone?)

Anyway, even though the actual anniversary day isn't until mid-July, the celebration kicked off on May 5, because it was a cool date: 05/05/05

Of course, me being the dork that I am, I thought May 5 WAS the actual anniversary day until later in the evening. Oh, well. I'll just have to go back in July!

My friend, Ruthie, is an Annual Passport holder. When we found this out about each other on Orientation Day at UCLA, we knew we'd remain friends. So when she suggested going to Disneyland on the 5th, I was all for it!

That was the same day we were having our new couch delivered, so I wasn't sure what time I'd be able to head down there. Luckily, the couch arrived pretty early, and I was able to go on down to Disneyland and meet up with Ruthie and her daughter, Harper (who just turned 3).

We had a really fun time! We ate at Bengal Barbeque, and got pineapple whips from the Tiki Room Dole stand. Mmm, Disney food! We rode the Haunted Mansion and the Winnie the Pooh ride too. That was really funny, actually, because Harper was asking Ruthie if we could go, and Ruthie said, "Why don't you ask Meghan if she wants to go on that ride?" And Harper said, "Do you want to go on that ride?" Ruthie said, "Well tell her which one;" And Harper in her shy voice said, "The Winnie the Pooh one." I said, "Okay!" and she smiled so cute. She is a sweet little girl!

It was totally insanely crowded all day long which made moving around pretty difficult. But we managed and it was just really exciting to be there! Later, Ruthie's brother, Brian, and his friend, Tim, were able to rejoin us (they'd had to leave for work before I got there, and came back in the evening). They are cool guys, very nice, and fun to talk to. We all had a good time chatting and hanging out and wandering around the park. There is a really cool movie in the Disney theatre house now where Lincoln used to be. They showcased old tickets in these glass booths. It was amazing to see "Child Admission: $3"!! That must have been forever ago!

At 9:20, everyone eagerly awaited the presentation of the brand new fireworks show. It was phenomenal! And so exciting!! I could watch it a million times. I loved it!

A little later, we found out that Harper is tall enough to ride the Matterhorn. We asked her if she wanted to go and she said yes, so we went for it. I hadn't been on that ride in years, so I didn't remember it that well. That abominable snowman freaked me out a little! It was much more fun than I'd remembered, and I laughed almost the whole way through. Afterwards, I found out that Harper enjoyed it just as much and wasn't scared at all. We were all glad about that, and very proud of her for doing so well. What a cool kid!

Then we rode It's a Small World, and that was it for the evening. The park was closing down. We did a little shopping. Or rather, Ruthie and Brian did. I went outside the crowded shop and hung out with Harper, which was really nice. Then we all met up again and headed back to the parking structure together. It was such a great day, and we really need to do it again sometime!

(Pictures from the day are here.)

It was a little strange being at Disneyland without Joe. I think May 5th was only the second time I've ever been there without him. But he was really tired from work, so I understood. And when I got home, he had built the entire couch. Here's a before and after shot ~

   

Joe is so cool!

I wanted to tell him all about the fireworks and everything, but I didn't. I wanted to see his reaction how it would have been that night, without knowing anything about it. So he and I went on May 8th, and had an awesome time!! When we first got there, Joe staked out a place for us to watch the parade while I stood in the world's longest line so that I could buy us some corndogs. Mmm, corndogs. They were great and the parade was pretty good, too. The floats were really cool, but there weren't that many of them. I expected a ton of floats for this big anniversary year, but instead, there are only a few, and they stop every so often while the characters dance in front of you. It's nice; I just wish there was even more to it!

Joe and I were able to eat dinner at our favorite restaurant there, a Mexican restuarant in Frontier Land. It was great, as always, and what's more, they even gave us a Collector's Edition pin for Annual Passport holders - go us!

Afterwards, we watched the fireworks, which was just as exciting as the first time. I can't even tell you how much I love fireworks shows. They are so much fun. And it's great to hear the whole crowd ooh and ahh together, in a genuinely awed way. It was a great time! Joe really liked them too and thought it was sweet that I hadn't told him anything, that I'd left it as a surprise. The fact that I'd left it as a surprise was even a surprise. He said, "You usually like to tell me everything!" I'm really glad he enjoyed them!

We rode Star Tours at the end of the night, and then headed home. A perfect ending to a wonderful evening.

I LOVE all the happy memories I have from Disneyland. I know they're huge and corporate and sort of evil in their own way, but I can't deny that I really do love the magical feel of the place, and all the fun I always have when I'm there.

Happy 50th, Disneyland! And many more!