Hi I am Sherri and I will be your tour guide for this journey....remember to keep all hands and arms indside your ride vehicles at all times...we will not be responsible for lost or stolen posts so keep track of your valuables at all times. If you have any questions please save them until the end of each post then I will be happy to answer them. It might be a bumpy ride so pay close attention to all posted safety information and I hope you all enjoy yourselves.
My family moved back to Southern California when my Dad got out of the Army when I was about 5 years old. From that moment on vacations that were not related to extended family events were always
Disneyland! We ALWAYS hit the land on New Years Day as back then it was one of the quietest days of the year at the Happiest Place on Earth (Oh how times have changed) and there were usually 1-2 other trips at random times of the year.
Those were the days when you had a limited number of lettered tickets and you had to prioritize what was most important to you. The days when every land had ticket booths in case you ran out of "E" tickets and had to ride the Matterhorn just one more time. The days of the Skyway, characters that roamed without handlers that you could just walk up and hug (NO lineups!),The days when you saw men in suits and ladies with hats,gloves & heels as the normal get-up for a day at the land, and the days when a family of 4 could hit the land for the day and the tickets only cost about $20 for everybody if you were lucky enough to have a Magic Kingdom club card. the days of no cable TV, no Home computer no DVDs, VCRs or DVRs but instead the wonderful movies only to be seen in theaters and Sunday nights when the whole family watched Wonderful World of Disney together. OK now you all know I am OLD! But amazingly at DL I will forever be that 5 year old girl with stars in her eyes seeing it for the first time.
I spent Grad night at DL in 1985 which was my first foray to the land without my parents and siblings...and it seemed a gateway to growing up..(and I did wear the dress and heels that I wore to Graduation to the park that night as did everyone in my class (well the boys were in suits LOL)
I married and had 3 kids of my own who I took to DL every chance I got even after we moved from Southern California in 1990 to Arizona...The day before we moved was spent at Disneyland...I was afraid I would never be back.
But we did go back (well my family was mostly still there after all and they could be used as an excuse to go to DL right?) Not as often as before but still pretty regularly at least once a year.
I divorced and remarried and in 2002 my daughter Kari asked if for her birthday just she Brant & I could go to DL to see the NBC overlay on the Haunted Mansion. She was and still is today a devotee of Tim Burton and we rode the HMH about 10 times in that 1 1/2 day trip. That trip was 100% guided by my teenage daughter and it was a blur of HMH, POTC and the coasters. Little did I know that this was to be my last trip to DL for a very long time. Had I known just how long it would be I like to think I would have stopped and enjoyed every tiny Disney nuance to soak it in and keep it close to my heart. Alas this is not what happened.
Fast forward to 2008 when life was much different. The 3 oldest kids were grown and busy with their lives. We now lived in a tiny town in Northeastern Montana about 50 miles from the Canadian border. My 2nd husband & I had a new little one about to turn 4 and my thoughts turned to DL again. Over the next two years we scrimped & saved and planned and on December 25th, 2010 Christmas Day I arrived in DLR after 8 years away with tears in my eyes, I was home! All the details of this magical trip are yours to enjoy in the previous pages. My disney love was re-kindled...there would never be a drought like this one again! Before we were even home we began to plot how to do this again and the Halloween 2011 trip was born...and here we are with the PTR for our next adventure already begun. ENJOY!!!!
Still disappointed our trips won't be overlapping......bummer!!!
what do you hate 
What scares you a little 
or a lot 
inquiring minds want to know...
But I really like the Pirates life for we.....
