Many of you may not know this, but Luke has been adamantly opposed to visiting Disneyland (ahem, the happiest place on earth!) ever since I've known him. He thinks it's for kids. Now, it is for kids - but it's also JUST as fun for adults. And anyone who knows Luke knows that he is really just a big kid at heart, anyways.
Our friends John and Elise (a.k.a. the Ingrams) are major Disney lovers. I mean, they go every year and stay in the park from open until close and ride every ride as many times as possible. That's how much they love Disneyland. So, since they knew I had been trying to convince Luke to go for quite some time, John created a little bet over a bowling match. What was Luke's penalty for losing? You guessed it, a trip to Disneyland! Lucky for me, the Disney magic was in my favor that night and Luke lost by a measly couple of points. Which meant a trip to Disneyland for all of us! It was technically in honor of my birthday, I guess; but, I really just wanted Luke to experience the happiest place on earth.
We took a three-day trip to Disneyland and California Adventure the weekend after my birthday, and it turned out to be everything I had hoped for! And it was especially fun to see the look on Luke's face as he figured out what we were all talking about :)
Minnie is my favorite!
Ready for some rides!
Luke and me in Cars Land!
Cars Land! You feel like you are a part of the movie it's so realistic.
We also got to see my best friend Miyong and her fiance, Adam. They live in Los Angeles and drove down to hang out with us for a night. One of the compromises of this trip was that Luke got to see a baseball game at the Anaheim Angels field. Miyong and Adam joined us and we had a great time. There were even fireworks after the game - a nice surprise for me, being a fireworks affacionado and all.
Miyong and I at the game... which we mostly talked the whole way through :)
The next morning we were up bright and early for another day at the parks! (Elise runs a tight ship and you are required to be out the door and at the park shuttle by 7:40 - or else!)
Magic Kingdom and coffee in the morning - what could be better?
Elise and me on the Dumbo ride!
Someone's got some muscles...
Watch out, everyone! Cait's at the wheel!
Elise, Pluto, and me!
Strike a pose (or scream) for Space Mountain!
John and I sat this one out. That's Elise and Luke in the second row of seats. Have fun, guys!
Later that day, we got wind that Johnny Depp was going to be at California Adventure park for the movie premiere of The Lone Ranger. If you aren't aware, Johnny Depp is my all-time favorite actor. So, this was a HUGE deal for me! Elise agreed to go check out the premiere with me and I am SO glad she did. Thanks to her magical negotiating skills, she was able to get us IN to the red carpet area, where we sat on bleachers with our feet ON the red carpet. Yes, I am telling you the truth - and here's the photo to prove it.
Yep, this really happened!
Cannot even believe this is happening!
We met Gilles Marini!
After about 2.5 hours of waiting and one much-needed trip to the bathroom, we started hearing screams from across the park. We knew it had to be him! The security people told us to stay seated and he would likely come over and sign autographs - apparently he would much rather talk to his fans than the press. All of a sudden, the security people formed a line along the carpet between the press and us, and there came Johnny! Elise looked at me and said, "I'll get his autograph for you, and you just... say something to him!" It all happened so fast, but when he crouched down next to us, Elise got his autograph on the back of my iPhone case as planned and I couldn't think of what to say. But somehow in my haze of star-struckedness, I blurted out, "Oh my gosh, Johnny - I love you!" You will not believe this next part. He had heard my seriously lame attempt at professing my love and looked down at me, put his hand on my shoulder, looked into my eyes, and said, "Thank you so much." Yes, that really happened!
He's real!
And that's how happy I was. It's not obvious or anything, is it? All that to say, he was really nice to everyone and took so much time to greet his fans - a class act in my book. And that was my epic encounter with Johnny Depp - short and sweet, at the happiest place on earth.
Oh yeah, here's my phone case with his signature before my oily hands wiped it off over the next few days. Boo! At least I have evidence!
Luke is not one to leave anything behind on his plate (or mine, for that matter). So it was no surprise that he cleaned his turkey leg to the bone.
I think he enjoyed it?
And thus ends our epic trip to Disneyland. Fun was had by all - so much that we all fell asleep on the cab ride to the airport.
And, it turns out Luke really does like Disneyland after all. Imagine that?
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