Disney for FREE.

Every other week, I get together with the other wives (and their kids) for a park day on Coronado.A friend of ours was down here with her husband for only a few weeks, but in that time they had gone to Disneyland with friends. They ended up getting three-day passes, but only used two of the days. Instead of having them go to waste, she gave me the tickets! With two extra passes to Disneyland and only a week to use them, I asked my friend C if she wanted to join me. She had a guest visiting, E, so it worked out perfectly!

We started out touring the new Cars Land. I thought that we got there early enough for FastPasses to the Radiator Springs Racers, but they were closing up right as we got there. Bummer.

We followed that up with some roller coasters and the swinging ferris wheel.

It turns out I didn't explain the rides very well and we were all gripping the side of our seats on the ferris wheel. Me, because I don't like them and I don't like heights; Them, because the swinging is pretty unexpected.

After that we went on the swings, which was actually the very first time I had ever been on this type of ride.

Disneyland is currently decked out in Halloween splendor. It's awesome.

 We went over to the classic Big Thunder Railroad, where C screamed "I just don't know about this!" from the last car the entire time. :-)

 And then we hit up the Tea Cups and went to wait in line for the Matterhorn. When we went to get into the final waiting area for the Matterhorn, I realized I was missing my Minnie Mouse card holder. Why is this a big deal? Well, it was holding my annual pass, an almost empty gift card, and our FastPasses. But honestly, I wasn't that concerned about those things - I was more upset about the card holder! Tim and I had gotten those at Tokyo Disney and have a matching pair.

So I got out of line and started searching the ground. I asked people in line. I asked the ride operator. C and E had also gotten out of line by this point, so we searched the ground between the Matterhorn and the Tea Cups and then asked the T.C. operators. No one had seen it. Ugh.

At this point, I'm trying to keep a good attitude, because I'm basically hosting for my friends and don't want to be a big stick-in-the-mud, but I was pretty bummed. The operators all suggested we go down to City Hall and ask at the Lost & Found. Knowing that I had just lost it, I figured the best I could do would be to report it missing and hope someone would find it and turn it in.

We walked down the L&F and I gave a description of the holder and what was in it. The lady was so nice and said they don't usually worry about lost Annual Passes, because they can be replaced (it is linked to my picture and my fingerprint), but if it's with something, they'll call the owner. This meant my Minnie Mouse card holder, which made me feel better. And then - and this is why Disney ROCKS - the lady asked me "Is there anything else I can do to make your day better?" I said, "Well, yeah, I lost two sets of FastPasses too." So she filled out two "Skip to the Front" passes for us. Amazing.

After all this turmoil, I needed to blow off some steam, so we walked across the park to Splash Mountain and used our first "Skip to the Front" pass.

Somehow I convinced my two guests to go in the front...

They got a bit wet. 

Then it was back to the Matterhorn to actually ride it and ask the operators AGAIN if they had anyone turn in my card holder. And...

SOMEONE DID! 

The operator was so nice about it and even commented that she always loves the souvenirs people bring and then she finds out they're from one of the International Disney parks and not available here in the US. We were all jumping up and down with excitement. It was awesome. 

Our day ended back at California Adventure, where we took in Tower of Terror. E even took out a chunk of C's leg on one of the descents. Guess I didn't explain this one very well either...

And we stuck around for the World of Color show - which we spent singing along to the songs and dancing.

In all, it was probably one of my most memorable days at the parks. It's a good thing we have annual passes, because I have definitely made mine worth it!