A Very Happy Birthday

Today is Disneyland's 55th birthday! Can you believe it? I imagine to some that sounds so old, and to others it sounds so young.  I figure there are countless blogs today about Disneyland and how great it is, Walt's vision for a place he could take his family, people's favorite rides, yada yada yada.  I decided to honor this day by sharing some of my favorite Disneyland memories!

• My earliest memory - being locked out on the balcony of our near-by hotel with my aunt. I remember looking down and seeing the Matterhorn. It was the biggest, most fascinating thing I had ever seen!
• My scariest memory - Summer vacation before 2nd grade, Haunted Mansion. The ride came to an unplanned stop. We were in our doom buggy overlooking the table/ballroom scene. Suddenly a man in a suit of armor came and moved our buggy. There was screaming involved .... by us - NOT the suit of armor!
• My "dream come true" memory - 10th grade marching band trip. Finally! After fantasizing about it my entire life, I was part of a Disney parade. We marched right down the middle of Main Street USA to start Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade. I didn't want it to end!
• My "I just lost my voice" memory - 10th grade marching band trip. Big Thunder Mountain. Sara decided we HAD to yell "Tom's a babe!" when we were on the ride. Tom was the cast member that loaded us into the train. Well, we yelled. And then my voice disappeared.
• My "celebrity encounter" memory - Big Thunder Mountain. My mom and I stood in line next to "DJ" (Michael Fishman) from Roseanne. Roseanne was VERY popular at this time, so for us it was a pretty cool star sighting, even though it was just DJ and not Darlene (my favorite).
• My "seriously? Did I just do that?" memory - Hungry Bear restaurant in Critter Country. I was wearing a white Quicksilver t-shirt. I loved that shirt so much. Mom and I were sitting down to enjoy an early dinner. Just as I dipped my fry into some ketchup and started to aim for my mouth a cute college-aged cast member came up to our table. He wanted to ask a few questions, just to find out how our experience was. It was great ... until he came up to us --- and that ketchup covered fry went all down the front of that WHITE shirt I loved so much. I was mortified!
• My "is our log .... thrusting?" memory - Splash Mountain. Behind my aunt were 3 teenagers. If you have only been on WDW's Splash Mountain, in California you do not sit side by side. We all pretty much straddle each other. Well I don't know what kind of straddling was going on - but something was happened that caused our log to thrust forward in a rhythmic manner. My aunt was almost squealing behind me. I was too scared to look!!
• My "does this mean we spend the night?" memory - My mom and I were the very last guests on the Pirates of the Caribbean.  We exited our boat and went toward the exit. To our surprise the door to get out was locked. We kind of looked around confused, until someone came to set us free. Why we got in trouble from this cranky cast member I'll never know. 
• My "I didn't know that was possible" memory - We were on Star Tours. I have no idea what was so funny to my aunt, but she got the giggles. If you haven't experienced this then you are missing out! She was out of control with laughter. It was along the lines of  "Hee hee hee, hoo hoo hoo". Throw in a few snorts, and you've almost got it. But then something happened that I am still baffled by. She fell out of her seat! Slid might be more accurate. I looked to my right and saw her getting lower and lower. She was just flopping around like a fish. Clearly the cast member in charge of watching the ride wasn't paying much attention because she was literally out of her seat and bouncing all over for almost the entire duration of the ride!

Obviously I have many more memories, but that would get boring. So I have decided to end this blog with one last "I want to crawl in a corner and die!" memory!  Enjoy!

• It began in line for Space Mountain. My mom and I used to browse through stores to see what merchandise they had to offer before actually buying something. We stopped doing this after realizing they would always sell out of "THE" thing my mom had to have. Anyway, this particular year (1996), I was a senior in high school just about to graduate. The Lion King was taking over Disneyland. My mom was telling my aunt, our friend, and me about these boxer shorts she found in Adventureland. They had Timon and Pumbaa on them. My aunt heard the description of the boxers, but didn't really understand. So we explained that Pumbaa is kind of gifted with bodily functions.  Fast forward to later in the day in Adventureland. I was standing at the counter next to my mom while she was buying her boxer shorts. Of course, as is always the case, a hot college guy is tending to us.  Out of the blue a strange woman, (that would be my aunt), comes up from behind.  In a loud voice, as if she was projecting to the entire store, she says, "THOSE DON'T SAY 'FART' ON THEM?!?"  Realizing her volume and use of the "f" word, she kind of shriveled up and disappeared out of the store. Completely mortified, and seeing the cast member trying to suppress laughter, my mom says "Who was that lady?"  We tried to play it cool, but he had to know "that lady" was in fact with us. I seriously could have died!  

Would you like to see those shorts now that caused my most embarrassing Disneyland moment ever?? Here they are! (Yes, in 2010 we STILL have those shorts floating around!)

What are some of YOUR favorite memories??