Ok, here is my DL trip report - I have over 150 pictures to share, (sorry no music this time) I am putting them up on my Proshow Gold Slideshow over here:
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=2877974&alb=0
But read this first!
We got to DL about 8:15 a.m. and it was sprinkling as we waited for the trams. By the time we got off the trams and started walking to the main gate, it was raining hard! LOL! Above the main gates are pumpkin cuts outs of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. Even the Mickey Mouse flower display in front of the train station has been transformed for the holiday.
As you walk through the tunnel, you will see pumpkins everywhere, in windows, balconies, and one huge Mickey Mouse one in front of the flag pole. At the "Hub" you see specialty pumpkins carved out for each "land" in the Magic Kingdom.
I had not ridden Nemo and the wait time was listed for only 45 minutes so we jumped into line and got on in 41 minutes! What a awesome ride! I am so glad they brought back this ride. After that, my wife and I jumped onto Space Mountain, less than 10 minute wait time!
After that, we decided we check out the decorations at Big Thunder Ranch. As we got some popcorn and coke in front of the Matterhorn, we got a call from our son. He told us to come over Titan Gardens...the dream team was there giving out dream fast passes and a special FP for the Haunted Mansion. So we ran over there and got our prizes - woo hoo!! (Thank you dream team and Jamie!)
So we made our way over to Frontierland, saw that Big Thunder was only a 5 minute wait, but really it was a walk on! I love that ride. We made our way over to Big Thunder Ranch and took lots of pictures of the decorations and of the Woody show.
As we were walking out, my wife saw Maynard working the crowd control.
Maynard is
Disneyland's most famous castmembers. He has been around for years, entertaining people with his silly songs, antics and comedy. There are web sites dedicated to him on the internet. Even the guys at Pixar have a fan club for him.
I decided to say "Hi" to him and see if I could get my picture with him. He was very gracious and he shared a few stories with us and even a song! Here is a video of that song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_ENfMfzfq8
He is like a mixture of Robin Williams and Jim Varney smooshed together. I think we spent about a half hour laughing our heads off and grateful Maynard took the time to share with us hilarious stories. Thank you Maynard!
Wanting to see the Haunted Mansion holiday makeover, we headed over to New Orleans Square. Fortunately, the line was only 20 minutes and we decided not to use our FPs and save them for later. Awesome, awesome! You have to see Mansion transformed into the Nightmare Before Christmas. My pictures do not do justice to the details.
Headed back to Pirates to see if it was open...they had shut it down because of a leak into the show building. No dice!
Onto Indiana Jones! Used our FPs and had a great ride. Had a bunch of first timers on the ride, which always makes it more fun.
Getting hungry we left the park and went over to Tony Roma's which is across street. More rain came as we made our way to the restaurant. Yummy baby back pork ribs, loaded baked potato, salad!
By the time we finished lunch the stormed cleared out and we headed over to California Adventure. They had a "Candy Corn Acres" display up. Not as detailed as DL, but it was OK.
Jumped on to Soarin' with our FPs again had a couple of first timers on that ride with us too. They were speechless after the ride. Then we headed to Mulhulland Madness for a ride and then California Screamin'. Those FPs sure came in handy!
My wife wanted her free tortilla - this is like a 3 minute tour. Whatever makes her happy. LOL!
Done with CA, we headed back over to DL. My camera battery had expired and so I went over to the camera store on Main Street. Did you know you can charge your batteries there for free? We watched the Parade of Dreams and then got on Buzz Lightyear. My wife got her best score to date! We went into Innoventions and played around with VMK for about 30 minutes and then went back to the camera store to pick up my battery. It was completely charged and ready to use for the rest of the day!
We headed up to Fantasyland and rode Snow White. Hadn't done that in a long time. The other ride lines were long, so back over to Haunted Mansion for another ride with our FP's. And then we took a spin on the Pooh ride - got a picture of the boys from Country Bear (they are hidden up behind the last room on the ride). Walking back, we saw that Pirates was now open. Yo Ho! Yo Ho!
Took some more pictures of the Mansion at night and meandered our way down Main Street. Left the park around 8:00 p.m. We stopped at In n' Out Burger for a quick bite. I had the number 1 combo, my wife had the number 2 combo.
What a great day of therapy!
Seacrest
Good Luck to your wife! 
(OK that and IASW at Christmas time 
Did a 
Just say that???? 
"Sleep my Pretty" said in her best "Wicked Witch" voice...
