Saturday brought with it the weekend crowds but nothing could detract from that Disneyland magic. Our first ride on the Monorail took us directly into Tomorrowland, the location of Autopia (one of Oliver's favourite rides). A drive around the track before heading to Buzz Lightyear Auto Blasters and then onto viewing the classic Captain EO 3D (starring a very young Michael Jackson, circa 1986!) Star Tours for the boys and a little shopping for me, before Mickey's Toontown. A rather long wait for Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin (beginning to understand the Disney genius of detailed queuing areas!) and a wander through the Big Thunder Ranch Halloween Carnival takes us back towards New Orleans Square. A ride on Pirates of the Caribbean (just as good second time around!) and a pointless wait for the boys at ... read more

Packing and checking out of the hotel in San Diego preceded the necessary task of finding a laundromat. A few hours (and lots of quarters later) we were finally on the road, bound for the Disneyland Hotel. You literally could not wipe the smile from my face as we pulled in, checked in and then walked into the lobby of the Frontier Tower and made our way to our room (on the top floor, the 14th floor, with a balcony, just perfect for those who love heights!) The hotel, the room, all the attention to the tiny details, it is quite simply amazingly awesome, so worth every single penny and so much better than I could have ever imagined. Our first night is spent settling in before dinner out on the deck at Tangaroa Terrace. The ... read more

We began our Thursday with the somewhat mundane but necessary task of doing laundry but certainly made up for it come afternoon when we set out for the LA County Fair. The drive to the fairgrounds in Pomona took almost an hour but on arrival we were greeted with all the sights, sounds and smells that reminded us of the Royal Show back home in OZ, just on a much much larger scale. The highlight of our fair visit, was for a change centred around Bradley. The dates just happened to coincide with the fair hosting The Star Trek Exhibition. It was such a fantastic opportunity to see props and costumes from both the TV series and movies, and Bradley even had the chance to sit in the captains chair on the bridge of the Enterprise ... read more

Our day started very lazily and we made it down to breakfast by around 9.30am. There's just something about sitting in a hotel breakfast area sipping coffee that makes the soul smile. We decided to head off from the hotel in search of the infamous Walmart and after a few minor driving direction adjustments (the curse or sweet salvation that is the GPS!) we found ourselves at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw shopping mall..... quite simply three levels of shopping awesomeness! Our first American shopping experience almost had to start with one of the famous icons and fluking a mall that had three of them in one, made my day indeed. Just amazing on so many levels; size, pricing, variety, the list goes on. We spent until late afternoon wandering the aisles of the US shopping giants ... read more

As Cinderella would put it "A dream is a wish your heart makes" and that quite simply sums up the experience our little family of three is about to embark on! As a certified Disney enthusiast, it has been a lifelong dream of mine to visit Disneyland, meet the Mouse himself and don a pair of those ever famous ears! And unbelievably so, we are about to do this and oh so much more in the coming 5 weeks. We have devoted the past 5 years to making our dream of a life and home in the country a reality. The time has been filled with hard work, stress, sacrifice and on some days all out complete exhaustion. But it has also been a time of family and friends, love and laughter, sharing and community along ... read more