'The Watchers: All Eyes Are On Him'

Mickey's neighborhood is about a two-hour journey. Family from Australia and the Southern Cal desert enjoyed crossing two county lines (maybe three) to reach our destiny. Everyone napped except for Princess S. who was driving the family mini van even though such vehicle is not at all "cool" for young teenage Princess to drive.

Sir Walt's domain began with a nice big welcome sign and a huge parking structure which costs one $11 to to leave transportation vehicle in. Safely, we assumed. From there, one must travel by open tram after having braved the escalator from the 6th floor (very steep, don't look down).
We found the courage to pass up the temptations of Disney's shopping row before the main entrance and proceeded to find Brother Josh (EmmieStore.com blatantly advertised in this spot) and his family of four at the letter C. The exploration of Mickey's realm had begun.

I do believe we covered every inch of Disney's Mouse Land this past Saturday, Oh my! Cousin S. is three months pregnant, Auntie E. is 72, Cousin G. is 5 and Cousin N. was quite sick. Nonetheless, we had a great time. Let's see now, how to spend 12 hours inside Disneyland on a budget? There were ten of us and at $83 per person one can hardly fathom how we would manage the day unless we broke Miss Piggy Bank. Oh wait . . . Princess S. once upon a time worked at Buzz Lightyear's Cafe in Tomorrow Land. She indeed has friends! Yea, three wonderful, amazing friends, signed our entire family in for free. It's good to have friends.

Well, of course, for little Cousin G (5 year-old) this was a journey of a lifetime. And as luck would have it, Mr. Mickey Mouse was filming inside his barn. Every one had an open invitation to come see him at work and play, so to speak. This took about 2 hours of our time but Little G. got her hug, kiss, a wave and her photo op. Forever a positively delightful memory.

Budget took a little dive for the worse when Princess' friends weren't working in any of the exotic Disney food establishments so we had to pay for lunch and supper. Ah, but wait, travelers from the Land Down Under do not eat such large American portions and we were able to share.

All in all it was a wonderful day, we visited both parks -- Disneyland and California Adventure -- and we finally rested our weary bodies back in the desert at around 2:00am. Oy! My aching forty something body. Now it's off to the LA County Fair. Our friend's band is playing so that should be something fun to talk about in Blog Land.

Worthy mentions:
1. prime spot for the parade (those princesses rock!)
2. outstanding fireworks
3. learning Australian (fairy floss anyone?)
4. Soaring over California ride
5. hot turkey legs
6. Indiana Jones roller coaster with brother
7. best slowest, funnest ride ever--Buzz Lightyear