Disneyland...Just the Two Of Us

This year my company celebrated it's 15th year and wanted to do something special for the company picnic. All of the employees voted and thankfully the winner was Disneyland.
They offered each employee two free tickets and any additional tickets were slightly discounted. They also offered charter buses for people who didn't want to drive.
Perfect!
Luke and I decided to go alone and leave the kids behind since we brought them last month. We have never been to Disneyland alone before.
The bad news....the charter buses left town at 5:30am....which meant we had to be at the Aera parking lot shortly after 5am. We were tired from staying up late the night before. Luke's parents came down to watch the kids for us and stayed the night. I got up at 4:30am. WOW!
We got to the park shortly after 8am and we grabbed a quick bite at a bakery in Downtown Disney. Expensive...but quick.
We hit up Star Tours first, then Indiana Jones, and the Haunted Mansion. We attempted Splash Mountain when the sun came out, but as we stood in line it was shut down for technical difficulties.
We decided we would take the train around the park and then take the Monorail over to Downtown Disney.

Our company lunch started at 11:30am in the Disneyland hotel.
We grabbed lunch and then watched "Snow White and the Hunstman" in Downtown Disney. I'm pretty sure Luke would've enjoyed it a little more if he wasn't sleeping thoughtout the movie! :)
After the movie we headed over to California Adventure for a bit.

We rode the Tower of Terror (which I LOVE) and it was Luke's first (and probably last) time on the ride. I was giggling the entire ride and Luke was chuckling at me.
Here we are in the service elevator before launch! All smiles.

(This is me trying to get my hair out of my face)

Then we made our way over to California Screamin. Another ride I love. Luke...not so much. I wish I could've rode these rides over and over again!

We made the 30 minute walk out of the park to Cheesecake Factory! If I'm going to pay out the nose for a meal, it's going to be here...not in the park.

I decided to go with the usual appetizer....deep fried mac and cheese. I wish this stuff was fat free....that would be my dream.

For dinner I got the chicken medeira and it was quite good...but rich. The chicken was smothered in cheese and mushrooms. I ended up eating only one of the chicken breasts and a few bites of potatoes. Way too much food...but I never complain.

By the time we finished we could've crawled under the table and taken a nap. We were done for the day. Too bad the charter bus wasn't leaving Disneyland until 10pm. We still had a few hours to party in the park. We ended up going into the Lincoln Theater for a little bit. The animotronic Abe Lincoln was SO REAL I would've sworn it was a real person. Seriously. I paid no attention to what he was saying and I was just staring at his every movement. It was very bizarre.
After we wandered around Main Street we decided to take the train around the park again...and just count down the minutes until we could get on the bus!

The conductor on the train had a serious speech impediment. It was hard to understand the guy. Finally Luke says, "Holy cow...Elmer Fudd is driving the train." I laughed so hard....partly out of sleep deprivation. It was pretty humorous.
We got to the bus at 9:50 all ready to pull out at 10. Needless to say, others weren't as prompt. We ended up pulling out at 10:30. WHOA. We got back to the Aera parking lot after 1am and crawled into bed by 1:30am.
It was a long day, but I really enjoyed the time with my partner in crime.