Trip of a million dreams

My weekend trip to L.A. was fantastic. One million dreams fulfilled all in one weekend. We spent 15.5 hours at the happiest place on earth...how can you go wrong? I think I discovered the reason why I love Disneyland so much...the incredible details they put into everything. Like I always say, it's all about the details. Just like an ice cream sundae is 100 times better with a cherry on top.

We made sure to skip and do heel clicks down Main Street. That fulfilled Dream #304 and 305. We took a total of 19,900 steps and walked 10.6 miles. Each step was a dream.

The Disneyland fireworks are the best! Again...all about the details. We also became honorary bugs! The Bug's Life 3D show was one of my favorites. And getting spit on by a bug was Dream #435,960.

We also spent some quality time in the Beast's Library finding out what Disney character is most like us.

I was Belle. (Well, the second time. The first time I was Ariel.) Garrett was Cogsworth, Lisa was Cinderella, Emma was Lady (from Lady & the Tramp), and Bekah was the Evil Witch from Snow White! Sad! We developed a theory as to why Belle is every guy's favorite Disney princess. Not only is she pretty, smart, sweet, nice, and independent, but she falls in love with a Beast.

Of course we had to ride the Tower of Terror for Bekah H. twice! Garrett (the Ga is silent) and Bekah had a cozy moment on that ride. The lines actually weren't bad at all. We walked on to several rides several times in a row. The longest line we waited in was for Peter Pan. But at least we played I Spy to keep us entertained.

What better way to enjoy a roller coaster than with peppy tunes blasting in your ear? And of course we had to laugh like the Chinese grandma on every ride and sing along with all the theme songs.

We got drenched on Splash Mountain! I've seriously never gotten so soaked on that ride. And we went on it pretty early in the day so we dripped our way around for awhile after that. I think I left a small puddle in my "doom" buggy at the Haunted Mansion.

We spent an afternoon in Hollywood! We were stars for a day at Grauman's, the Kodak Theater and the Walk of Fame. We witnessed the wand prints from the Harry Potter gang at Grauman's Chinese Theater.

What better place than Hollywood for a wishing fountain? After all this was the trip of a million dreams! It was not my dream, however, to have a Marilyn Monroe moment coming out of the Pantages Theater. Or to have the guys behind us comment to me about my Marilyn Monroe moment.

And dream number 664,396 was to get my picture taken with Andy the soda fountain man for the Wall of Fame. I'm right up there with Tim Allen!

The point of this whole trip (and Dream #1) was to see the musical Wicked.

I must confess something though. Although I really enjoyed the play, I didn’t like it nearly as much as I thought I would. All I’d heard was fantastically good things about it. However, it was totally different than what I expected. I’m still having some inner conflict about the whole thing. I know that I am an idealist, but I don’t think it’s abnormal to feel that the “good guy” should always come out on top. And I like happy endings.

I just didn’t agree with some of the themes that were portrayed in this play. I didn’t like how Elphaba ended up giving in to what everyone else thought of her and what everyone told her she was. I didn’t like how she gave up on her dream because she felt like it wasn’t worth it anymore. I didn’t like how part of her motivation for her “just cause” was only to seek attention. I didn’t like how all the “good” people were really the bad ones. I didn’t like how selfish and deceitful every single person in that whole play was.

However, there were some themes that I did like. For example, I loved how Fierro changed and realized what it was that he really believed in and wanted. I loved that he realized he could never be happy just “dancing through life” and skimming the surface. It was funny, at intermission, I commented to Emma that I hated Fierro, but by the end of the show I think he turned out to be my favorite character. I also loved that both Elphaba and Glinda realized that they had changed for the better because of their friendship. Each took the others’ good qualities and adapted them into their own lives.

Even though I didn’t agree with a lot of the themes, I liked how this play made me think. (Seriously, I couldn’t sleep afterwards because I was analyzing things.) I mean, really what is the definition of wicked? Is everyone just out to fulfill their own selfish desires? And what are our true motives when doing things that might appear to be for the greater good?

One short day...to have a lifetime of fun. And that's a wrap.