Happy Birthday from the Happiest Place on Earth

This year for her birthday Alison wanted to be in Disneyland. So we planned a trip. Alison also decided to invite her grandma. One of Alison's favorite memories with her grandparents was the time we all went to Disneyland with Alison's whole family. She thought a lot about these memories when her grandpa Kent passed away last year. A few days before the funeral, Alison was talking to her grandma and asked her if she would like to go to Disneyland. Aleene replied affirmatively. This stuck with Alison. When we were planning this trip we invited Aleene to come with us. Later on, Debbie and then Blake also decided to come. They thought it would be fun to bring our niece, Skylee, along as well. Before you knew it Alison's birthday Disneyland trip was a real party!

Alison, Aleene, Debbie, and I flew to California on Tuesday night. Alison and my seats were upgraded so I switched with Aleene. This way Alison could visit with Aleene while we were flying  We arrived in Anaheim and headed to our hotel - the Castle Inn and Suites. We chose this hotel because it is close to Disneyland (about a quarter-mile walk), which was perfect for this trip.

Wednesday, our first day in the park, was Alison's birthday. She decided to spend the day in California adventure. Alison got to do whatever she wanted because of course it was her birthday. The park opened a little later (9am) than usual, so we got to sleep in a little bit. We arrived in plenty of time to be in the park when it opened. On our way into the park, we had to stop and add a day to Debbie's park ticket (she extended her trip when Blake and Skylee decided to come) and get a wheelchair for Aleene. Aleene was not sure she wanted a wheelchair (she had a good experience with a jazzy the last time she was in Disneyland), but we promised her it would work really well and she gave it a shot. A wheelchair is a great option because she can easily converse with the person pushing the wheelchair and it has better maneuverability than the jazzy. In the end, Aleene agreed that the wheelchair was the best choice for this trip.

We started off the day with Soarin' around the world. Aleene had never ridden on it before (it was closed the last time she came). She was blown away by the amazing ride experience. It truly is an awe-inspiring ride. After Soarin' we made our way around the park riding as many rides as we could. It was a very pleasant day. Between our fast passes and the wheelchair, we really did not wait in any long lines. Aleene kept a detailed list of every ride or attraction we went on. She wanted to be able to remember every experience.

The one thing that was open along the pier was Toy Story Midway Mania. This is one of our favorite rides. All Alison said she wanted for her birthday was to beat me at Midway Mania. Coming out of the second game I thought I would have an easy victory. However, Alison pulled ahead in the final game and she won. Afterward, we also bought Alison a Howdy shirt from Knick Knacks on the pier.

We ate lunch at the Pacific wharf area. Alison wanted to have mac and cheese for lunch and you can order it at the Pacific wharf cafe. With our lunch, we had the Pixar Lemon-Raspberry Cake. It was Alison's birthday so we thought it was appropriate to celebrate with cake. Pixar Fest is going on at Disneyland and California Adventure now through June so there were tons of amazing treats. We tried as many as we could.

After lunch, we continued to wander through the park riding rides and trying out experiences. We pretty much rode every open ride. They are currently renovating the pier area. It will be Pixar pier starting in June so most of the rides over there, including the roller coaster, were down. One of the more memorable rides we went on was Grizzly River Rapids. I love this ride. We warned Aleene that she would probably get wet and possibly might get soaked. She told us she wanted to ride everything we rode. We got loaded into the raft with a very nice family from Vancouver and away we went. We went down the first big drop and the family from Vancouver got soaked, and we thought we might not get very wet. Boy, we were wrong. Everyone on our raft got drenched. It was so much fun. It did take us a little while to dry out.

We made sure to ride the Golden Zephyr. It brought back some good memories of the last time we all were in California Adventure together. Aleene and Kent wandered off along the pier and rode many of the old-time carnival-type rides together. When we found them a bunch of us rode the Golden Zephyr together.

Aleene also decided to go on Guardians of the Galaxy with us. She had a lot of fun but had a little bit of a hard time catching her breath after the ride. She told us later that she thought there would only be one drop. It is a fairly intense ride and she did not really know what to expect. Later we had a wild-card fast pass that we could use to ride any ride and she chose to use it to go on Guardians again.

We enjoyed some of the non-ride entrainment as well. We went to the Pixar short-film festival and it was very enjoyable. They play three of the Pixar shorts in 3d. We also went to Turtle Talk with Crush - Aleene thought that was a hoot.

To celebrate Alison's birthday we had dinner reservations at Carthay Circle. This is a great place for a celebratory meal at California Adventure. The food is delicious and the service and atmosphere are very nice. They have a signature fried biscuit appetizer. They are crispy outside, gooey inside, and very delicious. The inside is filled with white cheddar, bacon, and a hint of jalapeño and served with apricot honey butter. They were one of the highlights of the meal. After we ate our main courses they surprised Alison with a happy birthday cake.

After dinner, we had a Fastpass for Soarin' and then we wandered through the park to find a spot for the Paint the Night parade. This is Alison's favorite night show and she was so happy that they brought it back. It works way better in California adventure because there is more room for people to enjoy the parade. It is pretty spectacular. After the parade, the park closed and we decided to call it a night.

It was really fun to spend Alison's birthday in the park. We were, especially glad that Aleene and Debbie would join us to celebrate. Alison is pretty awesome and I feel lucky to have her in my life. She is the love of my life and my greatest adventure - Happy Birthday!