The Happiest Place On Earth

California Adventure

The Tower of Terror (my favorite ride)

Disneyland's Famous Lollipops

Bert, Snow White's Evil Queen, Mary Poppins

Who wouldn't be happy here?

My trip was so amazing. I met so many different characters this time, made it on every ride in the park, bought tons of good food, and of course the famous lollipops for everyone at home, took 100's of pictures, my family and friends were so great, and everyone got along the entire time..

I wish I could say that was all true.

Sadly that is the farthest from the truth.

The trip I went on this past week has officially made it in the Guinness book of world records as the worst trip to disneyland ever. Now that I am home and the experience is behind me, I quite frankly can't believe it happened. Here is the "short" version of what went down.

Day 1

I met a friend..more like an acquaintance at her job Sunday night. Drove her car to southern Oregon. Six hours later met up with my mom and little sister, mom's new boyfriend which is "the acquaintance" father (ugh shoot me now), and my little sister's BFF.

So far so good.

Day 2

6 a.m. headed out the door for southern California.  Redbull check, chexmix check, pillow check, ipod (just in case) check. L.A. here we come! One hour into the trip begins the arguing. Mom's boyfriend and "the acquaintance" yelling nonsense back and forth from the front of the SUV to the back. What are they yelling at each other you say?.. A bunch of words not appropiate for this blog. Why are they mad at each other you ask? Let's just say difference in opinion, father and daughter history, and "the acquaintance" is an incredibly immature 19 year old female. Naturally this led her to tears and more tears.

The rest of the 13 hour drive was painfully awkward, tense, unusually silent, and flat out boring!

Day 3

Arise from the hotel bed. Horrible back ache. Perfect for the day ahead of me walking in Disneyland all day. "The acquaintence and mom's new boyfriend made that day very un-fun. (Yes I made that word up) Disagreeing on everything known to man, putting the rest of us in a frusterating postion. No one could agree on anything about anything. Ready to go home three days into the trip I decided from here on out to keep my wants and needs of  Disneyland to myself and let all the other piranhas fight it out.

Day 4

Exhausted and ready to punch someone. "The acquaintance" and I decided to head to the Disneyland parade that night on our own and let the rest of the bunch go to dinner without us. We all needed some seperation. Me from my mother, her from her father.  Here is where I kick myself. Now why would I leave with this "acquaintance" knowing her ability to bite someone mid-sentence? I thought that me, being the other 19 year old, she would try to bond with me a little more than she had with the others. In an ironic way, she did just that. Making my story less detailed. This crazy 19 year old  wanted to leave me in downtown L.A. by myself, for three guys she met that  night for some party they were having. You can bet that I had some words to say. And yes the piranha bit. A huge fight broke out and "the acquaintance" and I were no longer down for bonding.

I rode a bus back to the hotel alone.

Day 5

She never came home that night. Making day five of our trip awkward, tense, silent, tearful, and un-fun..again.

So many thoughts went through my head to buy a plane ticket home and never look back. But being the nice person that I am I was worried about her that whole day in Disneyland. Wondering if she was okay. Hoping she wouldn't end up on one of those "lost and never found" T.V. shows or one of those murder mysteries. We all felt guilty for still going to disneyland, but what were we to do? She wouldn't answer our calls and we had no idea where she had gone. I felt bad for letting her go. Could I have done more to stop her?

When we returned to the hotel later that night, there she was sitting in living room watching t.v.

"Hey guys! how was disneyland today?!"

Everyone responded in happy little voices and greeted her like nothing had happend.

I was astonished and pissed off at the same time.

Day 6

Thousands of rude comments made to me by "the acquaintance". Again words I can not put in this blog.

Let's just say I am so incredibly proud of myself for taking the high road and not biting back. I took it like a champ. =] Regardless though, it still hurt, not her comments, but that my own mother was sitting right there listening to every single one, and had nothing to say in my defense.

Told mother I was leaving. And ending my portion of the trip early, whether I had to buy a ticket home or rent a car or having someone pick me up. Where theres a will theres a way. I was coming home.

Drove back to southern Oregon in the wonderful SUV where I got to sit next to "the piranha" for 13 hours listneing to little snickets in my ear.

Once we got to mom's boyfriends house. I grabbed my mother's car keys to her Outie, through my suitcase in the back seat. And headed towards Portland at 85 miles per hour. Luckily I had my girl Beyonce to keep me company.

Day 7

Slept all through the night, in my own bed, drool and all. Glad to be home.

I learned the the happiest place on earth is not Disneyland, but it's where your true family and friends are, where you feel the safest, where you can sleep at night, where you always have fun

...lollipops or no lollipops.

Penelope