"I'm no longer a Disneyland virgin!"

The Magic Castle at night (and at Christmas).

If you keep up with this blog, then it's no surprise by my previous two posts (see somewhere below) that...yes, I went to Disneyland for the first time with my Aunt Ev, Uncle Bob, their two youngest (Mike and Natalie) and Uncle Bob's sister, Laura, and her family. I have to say it truly was magical - and I'm glad I experienced it for the first time with family - especially with the Christmas decorations up.

Now, the 3 hours it took me to park, take the tram over to the entrance and then stand in line for a tickets was NOT magical. And it was about 55 degrees all day. Boy. Had I not been meeting my family I would've turned around and skedaddled. But I stayed and I'm glad I did. Once I got older, I thought I'd wait and see Disney for the first time with my children. But...that might not happen so...Wanna see more pictures? Have you been to Disneyland? Click on READ MORE!

Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse greet you at the entrance to the Magic Castle...and Disneyland. What you see of the Magic Castle in the background is actually what should have been the back - or what is facing toward the inside of Disneyland.

Walt approved the plans AS IS and no one had the guts to tell Mr. Disney that he approved the Magic Castle backwards.

On our way to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Left to right: Cousin Mike, Mark Aldecoa, Laura Aldecoa, Mark A., Melissa A. Cousin Natalia (wearing Brett Favre's GB #4 jersey), Uncle Bob and Aunt Ev (my dad's youngest sister). This was my favorite ride of all.

Well, I had to get in one picture to prove I really was at Disneyland.

Cousin Natalie and I - the oldest and youngest of the Ircink grandchildren. We're standing in front of a mural of Mickey and Walt (I'm standing in front of Walt). The mural is actually made of over 50,000 (or is it 80,000) snapshots, shrunk down to like a half inch by half inch (maybe smaller), representing 50 years of Disney. See below.

Here's just a few of the snapshots that make up the mural above.

One of the first things you happen upon once you enter Disneyland through the Magic Castle is Main street.

Main Street decorated for Christmas.

One way for Walt Disney to keep an eye on things during construction was to build an office/apartment above this fire department in Main Street.

A tree all lit up. It turned out to be an interesting picture.

Space Mountain. Cousin Mike and I waited 70 minutes for this ride. It was great but seriously, to wait in a line more than 15 minutes for a 2 minute ride is a bit ridiculous, don't you think?

Uncle Bob and Mike on the Jungle Cruise.

The pirate ship at Adventure Land.I'd go back even though I think we saw most of the park in one day.

Let's see, I went on Space Mountain, the Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder, the Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean (my favorite), Peter Pan and the nightly light and sound show, Fantasmic.