Finally! Disneyland

The rest of this trip was really just an excuse to finally visit Disneyland, a place I have wanted to see since I was a little girl watching Walt Disney talk about it on TV.

We got here a little after noon and were in the park before 1 o'clock. We thought we'd just stay a little while until our room at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel was ready, but no surprise, we stayed until the Christmas Fantasy Parade and the fireworks show Believe...In Holiday Magic closed the park at 6 p.m. After the fireworks ended, we just sat on a bench, people-watched, and listened to Christmas music while waiting for the crowd to leave. Then we slowly made our way down a quiet and mostly deserted Main Street under the lighted garlands.

Our favorite ride today: The Haunted Mansion Holiday. Favorite experience: a tie between walking into the park for the first time and the fireworks. What can I say? It was as great as I had hoped it would be. I have to admit to getting a little choked up (okay, I cried), when we first entered the park. It's a little gem of a place. I love it!

We've finally moved into our room. It is very nice - immaculate and bright. It's very roomy and we have a "park view" (maybe if we take out our binoculars). We are an easy 10-minute walk away from the entrance to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.

Our plan is to spend tomorrow at Disneyland and Thursday at California Adventure and then to repeat our favorites on Friday morning before we leave at for the airport. At some point we'll take some time to check out Downtown Disney and the three Disney hotels - The Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier, and the Grand Californian.

We took a million photos today (nearly)! They are here on Flickr .