the best part was probably Friday afternoon, though, because I snuck off to Disneyland for the evening. they have these twilight tickets that are good after 4pm, so it was actually a pretty good deal. I hadn't been there in a while and I really really wanted to go on the new and improved space mountain (my all-time favorite ride). I had to wait in line for about 45 minutes when I first got there, but it was definitely worth it. it was much faster, darker (they took out that orange star in the middle), and had a cool soundtrack. and I even managed to go again right before they closed. I did the Disneyland sprint and got myself on all the major rides except for pirates of the caribbean (closed for renovation) and splash mountain (too cold) in about six hours. yes, I went by myself, but it was ok for two reasons: 1. this way I could do exactly what I wanted to when I wanted to and not worry about dragging someone else along. this allowed me to get on all the rides and see the fireworks and everything. and 2. I wasn't really by myself. I have been there so many times with so many different people, that I had all those wonderful memories with me as I walked along main street and waited in line for star tours and bought a churro in front of the magic castle. it was really nice.
oh, and there was a new ride involving buzz lightyear and the little martian dudes. it was pretty fun, you get to be a space ranger and shoot a "laser gun" at targets to take down the evil emperor zurg. the best part, though, was at the end. they took your picture just like a bunch of the other rides, but this time instead of charging you $8 for it, they let you email it to yourself for free! how cool is that? here's my awful picture:
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I'm a level 3 space ranger!