Sorry for the break in blog posts everyone – work was ridiculously crazy last week, and there was literally zero time to post anything about anything! But rest easy, we’re back!

We went to Disneyland with Jay & his fiancee Elizabeth on Sunday to celebrate Josh’s birthday:

Phil is a crazy huge fan of dogs, so he had to stop and say hecko to Pluto. He was so fascinated by the huge friendly dog with the big shiny nose! He was a little reluctant to give him a high five, but was more than happy to honk that nose.

The funny thing is Phil’s biggest thrill all day was leading his stroller through the park. He just started walking by himself over Christmas, and this was his first trip to Disneyland where he could do some real walking. All day long, all he wanted to do was hang onto the side of that stroller and help walk it everywhere we went!

It was a fun day of just walkin around having good times and popcorn, and we were able to catch up with our friends Eric and Deb at the Pirates of the Caribbean which was great. We weren’t sure we’d be able to meet up with them, and then we’re standing in line and boom there they are in line just a little ways ahead of us!

We got to talking about the Pirates of the Caribbean ride on the way home. And how it was so much better when it was just a ride, and not a commercial for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Back in our day when we were kids, it was just a cool ride about pirates runnin around looting and plundering. Now they beat you over the head with Captain Jack Sparrow at every turn. I think they’ve added even more Cap’n Jack since the last time I was on the ride a couple of years ago. And that “your boat is going directly into this wall of water with a talking pirate from one of the movies superimposed on it” effect was cool, but 100% unneccessary, guys.

It just cheapens the message. Pirates are cool. That’s all that ride is supposed to be. I understand making it a commercial for the movies, but I just can’t get behind it.

Same thing with It’s a Small World.

It’s a Small World is different these days. Look real close when you’re going through the Hawaii area. The little boy surfer has been replaced by Lilo and Stitch. There’s a Cinderella and some mice in another part of the ride. Ariel in the underwater section. What used to be a celebration of kids from all over the world is slowly turning into a commercial for Disney movies. It just kinda makes me sad. Not like It’s a Small World was ever one of my favorite rides, and I certainly like seeing the Disney characters all Mary Blair-ized. But you guys lost the magical kids around the world singing together just a little when you started adding the movie characters. This is like the one place there should be zero characters.

Well maybe there shouldn’t be any characters in Abe Lincoln’s room either. As long as you keep the movie characters outta there, we’re good.

I actually haven’t been in the Abe Lincoln exhibit in ages. Are there characters in there now? Someone go check and report back. Cuz that room is a total snoozefest.