28 years old again, for the 6th time

Its my birthday! And I celebrated it today at the Happiest Place on Earth- for free!!

I love that Disney has a birthday club where you can get into the park (either one) for free as long as you can show your driver's license and prove you were born that day- YOU'RE IN!

Its a pretty good racket for the park, too- because you have to figure no one is really going to come by themselves for their b-day. If they want to celebrate, they will bring a slew of people (who all have to pay for their OWN tickets). Pretty smart idea. Worked on us!

My husband had to buy his ticket to join me and I am so glad he did. We had such a fun time together. Plus I put on my running shoes and originally planned to track my mileage. I forgot my iPod, so I wasn't able to officially do that- but judging from my feet pain at the end of the day, I feel like we at least went 6miles.

We went on almost all the rides without much wait. We used the Fast Pass system to get onto Magic Mountain, we got to the Matterhorn early in the day. We went through the House of the Future (Innoventions), Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Nemo's Submarine, Snow White, Mr. Toad's wild ride, walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise and Thunder Mountain Railroad. The only ride that we really had to wait in line for (like more than 1.5 hr) was Peter Pan ride.

Now for any of you who know the Peter Pan ride, you might be thinking- that ride lasts less than 2 mins- how could you wait that long? Well that ride encapsulates almost all the magic of my childhood. Waiting in line, hearing the music, I think of my mom singing "Never smile at a crocodile"... and then you get on the flying pirate ship and fly over London with all the stars below you- it is truly magical, even for this 34 yr old princess. Well worth the wait to do that and to share it with my husband.

The other cool thing about going to Disney on your b-day is that they give you a button with your name on it that says "Its my birthday!". Therefore, I was wished a "Happy Birthday" by more employees at the park than on any b-day ever! Also- it was like a b-day convention! I didn't realize how many people were born on April 3rd, too!! I was wishing happy birthday to kids, to teens, to people my age, to people older than me, to people on crutches and wheelchairs, to people in strollers- it was incredible. It was a great day for sharing the love.

Lastly- we spent some time in New Orleans Square and I got to reminisce on my trip out there last year for Jaime and Charlie's wedding. My husband took me to the New Orleans cafe where I had gumbo and a seafood crepe. Plus I got a birthday beignet that was shaped like Mickey and my husband serenaded me with Happy Birthday! It was an awesome day!

To top it off, when we got back to the car, I had voicemail messages from everyone in my family, including an incredible rendition of Happy Birthday sung by my sister, bro in law and my 4year old niece. I felt so filled with love and happy to embark on this new year, sober and with renewed commitments to myself.