Dudleychicks Do Disneyland

Well so much for keeping up on my blog...stuff happens!  Lots of stuff actually but I have not been good about documenting it all here (for the three of you who actually read my blog).

But I did want to do a special post on the recent convergence of the Dudleychicks on Disneyland. I went to the CTMH convention which just happened to be held at Disneyland this year. Be warned it is a long post with LOTS of pics. Since Ashleigh didn't come home to work this summer but opted to stay in Utah I decided she should drive to CA and meet me for a couple of days of family fun. She agreed, but wasn't sure she could get the time off.  It took some creative maneuvering and sweet talking her supervisors in order to get the time off but she figured it out.

I headed towards California by air on Tuesday morning while Ashleigh took to the open road.

We converged here... ready for some fun!

The Disneyland Hotel

Unfortunately, our room was not quite ready so we had to wander around a bit,

but look who Ashleigh ran into!

Once our room was ready we grabbed our bags and headed to the Adventure Tower. The room was awesome. We loved all the little Disney touches everywhere but my favorite part was the headboard that lights up and plays, "When You Wish Upon A Star". So cool!

We knew we had limited time so we made haste settling in and headed for Disney's California Adventure.

Now when I was younger my father lived in CA and I would visit him for a month every summer. We always went to Disneyland but I think the last time I was there I was 16...that was just a FEW years ago. In those days what is now California Adventure was a parking lot. Now it's a hopping park full of fun (but partially under construction to add a new front entrance and Cars section). We had dinner reservations at Ariel's Grotto later in the evening but had some time to kill so we headed for one of our favorite rides. We knew it was a favorite because we have ridden the one at MGM in DisneyWorld many times.

Because we were staying at the above mentioned hotel we were given magic tickets known as FASTPASSES. These babies let us skip the hour wait in line...love that! Here we are just before we got on the ride.

These are our scared faces, but really we were excited.

We screamed and laughed like little girls and remembered when we once rode this ride lots of times in a row on New Years Eve in DisneyWorld. Good Times! Next we headed over to It's Tough To Be a Bug and donned our honorary bug spectacles.

Finally, our tummies were reminding us of our dinner reservations so we headed over to Ariel's Grotto.

Dinner was delicious!

The Menu

Yummy salad

Antipasto

Shrimp and Clams

Fresh Sourdough Bread flower with dipping sauces

My Tri-tip entree

Ashleigh's Fish

The desserts were divine!

With our dinner we got priority seating (which really meant standing) for The World of Color show. I have to say this show was probably my favorite show I have ever seen at a Disney park. Think Bellagio fountains on steroids with color and lasers and movie clips projected on walls of water. It was breathtaking! We were standing right up against the railing next to the water...front and center!

We were so close we got wet from the back splash of the fountains. This is what I looked like after. 
I guess I should have worn water proof mascara!

Day 2...
We got up leisurely on Wednesday and nursed the beautiful blister that had appeared on Ashleigh's foot before heading into Disneyland.  Angie and Vicki joined us for the day's adventures.

Our first ride of the day was Pirates of The Caribbean, followed by Splash Mountian. Vicki doesn't like the drops so she opted to wait for Angie, Ashleigh and I...little did we know how smart she was. I just wish we had left our backpacks with her. I think this is the absolute wettest I have ever gotten on a ride that wasn't at Water World. We got completely soaked! There was at least four inches of water in the bottom of our "log" when we got out. It took the camera a while to dry out but the phones were ok, thank goodness!!!

If you look closely at the pic you might just see a special appearance of the tie-dyed traveling underpants on this ride.


Next we went to new Orleans Square for a bread bowl of Clam Chowder, some Mickey Biegnets and a trip through the Haunted Mansion.

We took a short break from the fun to head back to the hotel and check in for convention
but were back just in time to watch the fireworks over the castle.

Mickey Fireworks shot by Vicki

All in all it was a blast and some much needed fun time with my girl. I just wish it had been longer.

Now it's time to say goodbye...M~I~C~K~E~Y    M~O~U~S~E.