Yesterday, I braved the crazy crowds and went to Disneyland. I arrived at a little after 8 am and was stuck in DTD waiting to go though the security checks. They had stopped letting people in because the lines to go through the main entrance turnstiles had backed up to the entrance of DCA. At 8:30 they let people in and we started moving. By 8:50, I was on Main Street. At 9, they dropped the rope and the massive crowd crept toward the castle. I had already decided to make a b-line for Buzz Light Year, since I had yet to ride it. It took another 20 minutes to get there.

After riding Buzz I made my way around past the subs to the path between the back of Buzz and Matterhorn. It was there that a small crowd gathered behind a rope watching the kick off in front of the castle. We had next to no view. We did see a camel resting that would later be used to carry the Genie as all the characters from the commercial finally "arrived" at Disneyland. I was able to make out the songs sung by Christina Aguilera and Leanne Rimes. I also faintly heard Art Linkletter, Michael Eisner and Julie Andrews. The fireworks went off behind the castle and that was it.

I stayed around the park for several more hours, checking out the improvements to Jungle Cruise and the new 50th display at the Opera House. Good stuff. There were more Disney dorks then I'd ever seen at one time in the park. Most came into the park wearing their golden ears with their hand-stitched names on them. It was quite a sight. The good news is, we still have 18 months to see the new parade and the new firework show. I'll be sure wait until things calm down.

In the meantime, don't get hit by a truck, ok?