Simply Sandra: What a trip!

Well, folks...we're back! I honestly tried to blog from the road, but for some reason my blog by e-mail didn't work. Whatever! Here's a brief re-cap from our trip. I will post more of the artsy photos Steve took with his new camera in another post.
So, we left bright and early on Saturday morning at around 5:30 am. This got us to LA just after 10am. Here are some photos of us shopping. It's kinda crazy there...

It's almost like a street fair - dozens of tiny little stores, most of them insanely unorganized and no price tags anywhere...bargainers paradise. Unfortunately, I'm not that good at bargaining.

Here is a trim shop - I meant for my expression to be more in awe but I kinda look disgusted...but I was really in awe! So much amazing stuff!

This just made me laugh. It should read "tulle" - the netting fabric used at weddings and stuff. TOOO funny!

After we found all the fabric we were going to find for the day, we ventured into the garment district. There was one lady with AMAZING gowns she makes for children. She wouldn't let us take any pictures, but they were inspirational!

That night, we made our way to Simi Valley where we stayed at a lovely hotel - with a hot tub which was great, and just had a relaxing evening.

The next morning we headed over to Magic Mountain. We didn't really take any photos there because it is a filthy, disgusting place. We got there before opening and went straight to X2. It's the most amazingly unbelievable thrill ride I have ever been on. On that ride, you experience sensations you have never felt before, and probably never will again. You should google it to see how cool it was.

Oh my!

Unfortunately, that ride set us up for a bit of disappointment. I did enjoy Tatsu - the "flying" coaster. It was almost all downhill after that. We then went on Superman: The Escape, Riddler's Revenge and Batman. They were filthy, disgusting and even smelly - the cue line, the loading area and even the actual rides themselves. I got totally sick to my stomach after those 3. After guzzling down a coke to see if it would settle me, we went on to Scream - a newer one but no big whoop and the Goliath - we had been there about 7 years ago when it was brand new and it was still great. Those were the major rides we wanted to go on. We went back to X2 to see what the line was like - it was way long and we had literally walked on all of the other ones, so we decided to get out of that stink pot and head to the shining goodness of Disneyland! It was only 1pm - so we had accomplished all we cared to see of Magic Mountain in 3 hours.

After a stop for lunch, Walmart and hotel check in, we headed over to Disneyland. As we entered the plaza, they were just allowing people to wait for the Candlelight Ceremony - a tradition started by Walt Disney himself. Even though it didn't start for 1 1/2 hours and it was standing room only, we decided to wait. It was well worth it! There was a fantastic orchestra, and amazingly large choir and a special "celebrity" narrator...

Here we are, waiting...

Here's a photo of the choir/orchestra.

And our special guest narrator..John Stamos. That's him - the little blur, I swear.

While I'm sure he's a very nice person and a decent TV actor, narrator he is not. We made some friends at Fantasmic later that night and the guy put it perfectly - when one thinks of the nativity, John Stamos doesn't exactly come to mind as the perfect narrator. He was simply boring - he had no inflection in his voice. It was kinda funny when one of the girls in the choir fainted and he helped her down - how chivalrous and great PR to boot, eh?

But the ceremony was beautiful - great music, soloist and very religious! They told the whole nativity story and even praised our Savior, Jesus Christ, even though they never mentioned Him by name. It was New King James versionized, but I didn't mind, I was just so thrilled to see a big name company like Disney recognizing the nativity. It was wonderful!

We also made it on the Haunted Mansion Holiday - it was our first time seeing that - it was SOOO cool, then to see Fantasmic (we sat for about another 2 hours waiting for that - it was mad busy) and then Fireworks. I didn't love the fireworks. I mean, they were great for a Christmas Fireworks show, but I SO love the "Wishes" show that I was underwhelmed. Even the snow afterwards was kinda a let down - just the same bubble snow we used in Beauty and the Beast. It made me cough.

But what a fun, amazing day.

Before our trip, I had asked Steve if we needed an oil change - he said we'd be fine, but then our car flashed "Oil Change Required" at us repeatedly, so on Monday morning we found the local Walmart and got our oil changed. $30! Yikes! Here, it's like $18. Shoulda listened to me! We made it back to the parks around noon.

Outside DCA!

Waiting for It's A Small World Holiday...I love the mermaids that sing "Jingle Shells"

Waiting in line for the Parade, talking to Lola and Ryder's babysitter, my dear friend Alda!

I was impressed by the toy soldiers - they really played their trumpets!

As a former trumpeter (bet you didn't know that), it was so cool!

I also liked the roller skating snowflakes. Like my artsy photo?

We had heard about Pixie Hollow - a Tinkerbell and Friends meet-n-greet that they put in where Ariel used to be. The line was "short" (and by short I mean 1/2 an hour) so we decided to check it out. It really isn't anything more than just a small area with large plants to make it seem like you've shrunk to fairy size and 2 meet and greet areas.