My Favorite Place

I love Disneyland! To me it really is the happiest place on earth. It a place where I can be a kid again. When I walk through the gates all my worries are left behind. Lately that is something I wish I could do. It has been a tough couple of weeks and I really need a trip to Disneyland. I wish I could just pack my bags and drive to California and visit my favorite place. I just feel refreshed and renewed when I have been to Disneyland. I have been so many times that I don't even need to plan anymore. I know the hotels I like to stay at and I know where everything is in the park. I know which shows to attend and at what time. I know how to avoid the crowds. I know the little Disney secrets and where to find many of the Hidden Mickey's. Yet there are still things I have never done in Disneyland so there is always something new and something to look forward too. This past year my sister and I took a trip to Disneyland just the two of us and we experienced several new things that I have never done with my family. We had the opportunity to tour the apartment that was originally going to be built for Walt Disney himself. It is in New Orleans Square above Pirates of the Caribbean. They were getting ready to start remodeling and finishing it for this year's Year of a Million Dreams Dream Suite Stay and it was open to explore. We went out on the balcony that overlooks Tom Sawyer Island, Frontierland and New Orleans Square. I stood there and imagined that Walt Disney had once stood where I stood and viewed his park. It was a pretty special moment for me. I will never forget it. The picture is of me on that balcony.

I have tried to visit Disneyland every year. Last year I managed to visit two Disney parks, Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida. It is my dream to one day visit all the Disney parks throughout the world. Not in the same year of course. The past two years have been the Year(s) of Million Dreams at Disney and when we were in Walt Disney World last January we were the recipients of a dream. We won Dream Fast Passes at Epcot. It was so much fun actually win one of the dreams. Even though we didn't need to use our Dream Fast Pass as it was not crowded, it was pretty cool to win it.

This year I turn 35 and the only gift I want is to spend my birthday in my favorite place. I am going on the Ultimate Disneyland Trip and I am going to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. It has been a dream of mine for years. People keep saying "if you are going to do the Ultimate Disneyland trip why don't you stay at the Grand Californian hotel". I have had the opportunity to stay at that hotel and it is by far the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in but to me the Disneyland hotel is the ultimate because it is full of the nostalgia of Disneyland. It is the hotel of Disneyland to me and I have dreamed of staying there since my second trip to Disneyland when I was seven. I was only 18 months old on my first trip so I don't remember much but I remember walking past the Disneyland hotel when I was seven and I thought it was so amazing. So that is my dream for this year.