Shortly after my mom and I arrived at the airport, we walked over to the ticketing area and I started to fill out the customs form before we got in line. My mom went, “Hey,” to me, and pointed behind me. This made me aware that there was someone there, so I apologized and inched over to give them space to get to the counter.

“No, look,” my mom said. I turned around and Cam was there!

My first reaction was to cry, and I thought he had come all that way just to say goodbye to me in a much more romantic way. Instead of saying anything, I just stared blankly at him because I was having trouble processing why he would do this or how he got there.

“I thought I should come along,” he said, and held up his passport and ticket, so I cried even harder (but in a happy way!).

The two of them had been plotting this for a long time. We had booked our flight when my mom was in town, and Cam had casually looked at my confirmation and rushed downstairs to book the seat next to us on his own computer.

There’s a little more to the story…

The next morning I had trouble waking up (I am not a morning person) and Cam said he was going to go for a walk while I got ready. When he returned, he suggested we go for a walk together, and wouldn’t have any part of my insisting that I was hungry and wanted to just go to breakfast!

My mom also said, “I’ll wander around while you guys go for your walk.”

I started feeling nervous because it seemed like his surprise at the airport wouldn’t be the only one on this trip!

We walked down to the rose garden by our tower (one of my favorite places from when I was a little kid), and Cam was acting super nervous. Meanwhile, my mom was creeping in the distance, taking photos of us.

“Hey, what is that?” he said pointing to a ledge on the gazebo. Sure enough there was a ring box there, so I started to cry. The ring box was empty, since he didn’t want to leave it there unsupervised, but he got down and pulled the ring out of his pocket.

My mom continued to take photos during the ordeal, and finally we flagged her over to get some posed photos as well. I’m so happy we could have a paparazzi photographer during that moment!

This was definitely my most memorable Disneyland trip!

Everyone has asked us when the date is (they started asking an hour after we got engaged, which seemed a little soon to me!), and we’ve finally narrowed it down to May 2013. This gives us lots of comfortable time to plan it properly, and for me to work around my busiest photography seasons. I’ll be sharing details as they come together, and I’m already so excited!

Each time I go to Disneyland, I intend to blog my favorite photos but never get around to it… well, no more! This time around it was a challenge to find photos of things I have never taken there before, and with a few new Christmas elements and special touches around the park (along with some inclement weather), the task was much easier than I expected! Even though it rained quite a bit, it was nice to get away from the snow for a week and have a break :)

The Calgary Airport

Holiday candied apples

The artificial snow following the fireworks

It’s a Small World

Some odd stuffed animals for sale

A hidden Mickey in the orange tree

The cutest snowmen (and snow-women) you will ever see

The Grand Californian Hotel (which I sadly did not stay at!)

The rain puddles made for gorgeous reflections. It was still pouring at this time, so I had an umbrella over me and the camera.

No one here believes me that California gets cold in the winter, but those snow capped mountains aren’t at that high of an elevation!

Marshmallow snowman

The Haunted Mansion gets switched to the Nightmare Before Christmas for the entirety of the holiday season, so you can still experience Halloween belatedly :)

A murder of crows swarmed near the Haunted Mansion, how fitting :)

One of my favorite bands, Surburban Legends, was playing one night. I was so excited to find out that trumpet player Aaron has rejoined the band!

Another exciting gift from “Santa” was that my friend Alan had a piano shift on our last day at the park (he only fills in for other players, so we don’t always get to hear him).

That day they also had guest marching bands from the Rose Bowl Parade. This dog is naturally with the firemen.

This band trotted like horses while they played, which was super impressive.

With the release of the new Tron, Disneyland put on “ElecTRONica,” a street dance party inspired by the movie. They also recreated Flynn’s arcade, which was quite accurate (including 80s music!).

The event starts with a stage show, with 80s music and costumes, and then switches to the style of Tron Legacy, with music by Daft Punk.

Flynn’s

The infamous $80 Tron Mickey Mouse Ears

Leaving a bit of snow for a lot of snow.

Lastly, the highlight of my trip was my conversation with a talking trash can:

When I picked up Disney’s weekend schedule my first weekend there, I literally shrieked when I read who would be playing in Tomorrowland, because after all these years I am still a huge fan girl, no matter how much I tried to deny it…

I first saw Suburban Legends in 2002, and again in 2003, so it’s been a loooong five years for me (they never tour in Canada). As soon as I saw them they became one of my favorite bands. Since then the lineup has gone through HUGE changes. First trombone player Dallas was killed in a hit and run, then old band members flocked out. Vince returned as their singer (he was formerly one of their trumpet players), and when I checked them out on MySpace I was disappointed; the ska was gone, and now they were silly funk. I understood ska is just not a big thing right now, but oh it broke my heart. I wasn’t happy with the new music I was hearing on MySpace.

After seeing them live, I have totally changed my mind, and they are still one of my favorite bands. They are the most energetic, entertaining live band I have ever seen. Their music has gotten so much tighter since I last saw them, and every new band member is a huge asset (there are only 4/8 of the members from when I saw them). And they still have dance choreography! They get the crowd involved through the entire thing (singing and dancing competitions) and when the crowd’s energy starts to wane at the end of the night, they work their butts off to bring it back up (which most bands don’t bother with).

I couldn’t pull myself away from their engaging show and went all three nights to all five sets, phew! (Even enduring a lady who thinks Canada is communist?! -She thinks we are a terrifying socialist country, but by socialist really meant communist, and no we aren’t even socialist, haha!)

They played nearly every song they have ever written. This meant they still do all the ska songs! I was wondering what it would be like with Tim no longer on vocals, but Vince totally nailed it and then some. Sadly there were only several of us there skanking, but my heart was content.

I want mooooooore. They are touring with the Aquabats (!!!) but not here. We DO like ska here, guys :(

Check them out on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/suburbanlegends

Klemm: “That was the best way end a song ever… a karate kick to the audience!”

The most unnecessary, or most AWESOME, band member ever?? Dallas plays keytar and cowbell!

Mikey is a wicked good bass player, and he’s so cute and little!, so I stuck around that side of the stage more :P
However he apparently works at an Apple store, but I can forgive that.

I like Brian because even though he’s in a cool band he’s still a total band nerd.
He was one of my favorites back in the day, so I was sad not to get a photo with him.

I could not stop laughing when he’d do this… with the pelvic thrusts.

I cannot begin to describe how epic this is.

They changed their wardrobe between every set, in case you haven’t noticed.
I wish everyone would dress so nicely like this all of the time!

There are a few more at my website.

Michael is a little cheesy. He sings the most, and tries to get people involved even when they don’t want to be noticed. He’s always smiling, which is much more than I can say for most of the people who work there these days!

Sharon comes to watch him every day she can. She has been coming to Disneyland since it first opened, and had started the Rod Miller fan club years ago. Rod has long since retired, and Sharon has picked Michael as her new favorite.

Eric is the only one with no following, and I don’t think he’s ever had one. He’s been working there for as long as I remember, and I never really enjoyed him before, but this time we stuck around a bit and I changed my mind.

Robert has picked up the bulk of Alan’s old fans, though their styles are very different, and I am not about to discuss all the drama involved there, which there is a lot of (unfortunately I can’t help but be involved! alas!). Robert is very showy and versatile when he plays, but he doesn’t play very much ragtime anymore, which defeats the idea of it being the ragtime piano.

Robert has bling

Jonny is getting ridiculously better each year I go, which is cool to see because I happened to hear him on his first night he ever worked there! Right now I feel he is the only one there who channels that energy that Rod or Alan used to play with.

Stan, a “famous regular” at the park, still plays a few four hand piano songs with Jonny, which is always a treat to see. (Stan also puts tons of these on YouTube, so go here and follow the username.)

Another thing I learnt is that he wrote the music for MySpace: The Musical. Geez, I have to step it up with what I’m accomplishing with my life!

I only could bring my Rebel because my 40D is too heavy and bulky (especially with the grip and using an L-lens most of the time… and then you want to bring an external flash, the 50mm, a telephoto… etc. out of control!), and especially inconvenient on rides. But ohhhhh, I suffered for it. I remember how amazing it was when I first got that camera; now I was constantly cursing how slow it was (I missed so many shots because the auto-focus was too slow) and how limited the kit lens was. What, I can only zoom to 55mm?? Painful! And ohhh the grain at high ISOs.

Now I have my love back in my hands :)