Disneyland: The Scenery

As I already mentioned, we didn't see all of Disneyland or of California Adventure, and we didn't take a whole lot of pictures because we were, like, going on rides and stuffing our faces full of fantastic food and stuff, but we did manage to get a bunch of decent pictures of the park.

Palm tree, Paradise Pier, California Adventure

The Paradise Pier section of California Adventure was maybe my favorite section of both parks. It's done up to look like a beach boardwalk, and it's filled with carnival-type rides (plus, it's home to Ariel's Grotto, where the Princess Celebration Lunch is, which we'll get to tomorrow). We went on almost every ride here, because it's full of the stuff that is right in my wheelhouse: the Silly Symphony Swings, King Triton's Carousel, the giant swinging ferris wheel. (OK, I didn't go on the giant swinging ferris wheel, because: Exhibit A.) It also had the largest concentration of palm trees of any area of the parks, I think. No funnel cake, though, more's the pity.

Roses after dark, Paradise Pier, California Adventure

Paradise Pier is also where they have the big World of Color fire-light-water-laser show, which is AWESOME. And these roses, which smelled like heaven.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Fantasyland, Disneyland

Sleeping Beauty's Castle, in Disneyland. It's very small -- way smaller than Cinderella's Castle in Walt Disney World -- but it has a very charming old-world old-school fairy tale feel which is EXACTLY what people go to Disneyland for in the first place. And the Castle is GORGEOUS at night, especially during the fireworks spectacular, but I didn't get any pictures of that, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Mad Tea Party, Fantasyland, Disneyland

The Mad Tea Party is my very favorite ride visually, full stop. The colors, the spinning, the paper lanterns -- when I finally win the lottery and I buy my house in the Keys (or, dare I say it, possibly Orange County, but the part near the beach), I am going to decorate at least a part of my back porch to look like this ride. The Mad Tea Party is my Malibu Barbie Dream House.

Tomorrowland tower thing, Disneyland

I don't know if this sculpture thingy has a name, but it's a major landmark in -- wait for it -- Tomorrowland. We didn't really look in any gift shops, but I wonder if a smaller, desktop or mantel-sized version of this is available?

Blue Bayou, inside Pirates of the Caribbean, New Orleans Square, Disneyland

Okay, look, this is a bad picture, and I know it, but hopefully you can get a sense of what this restaurant looks and feels like. This is the Blue Bayou, which is inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and the food was AMAZING, and the ambience was even AMAZINGER, and the crab cakes were THE MOST AMAZINGEST EVER and I don't think I am saying that just because we didn't have dinner that night until like 8:30 at night and at that point we had been at the Disneyland Resort Compound Complex for in excess of 10 hours already. Dinner at this restaurant was a total splurge, way more money than we normally spend for the three of us to eat dinner, but absolutely worth it. There was this sauce on my crab cakes that was so delicious that I wanted to bathe in it and then lick myself clean. (Yes, that's a totally weird thing to say, but seriously: AH. MAY. ZEENG.)

The two loves of my life that aren't cheeseburgers

My very most favoritest pieces of scenery on the whole trip. She was all wide-eyed and drop-jawed for almost all of it, and he was just drinking it all in. I can't imagine experiencing Disneyland for the first time -- and even though I didn't get a cute little button, it was my first time in Disneyland too -- with anybody else.