In July of 2011, I decided I'd had enough of being a sad, frustrated man who pined for women he couldn't have, and I created a profile on OK Cupid. Minutes after doing so, I got a DM from a young woman I hadn't heard from in a long while: "I know you from Twitter :)"
That woman used to go by a Twitter handle that used her full, real name; I knew she was a film student at Columbia College, and that she had a cute and kissable face. When she messaged me on OK Cupid, she went by the name @LostOnTheFringe, which explained why I hadn't seen her online in a while.
Soon after that message, we were IM'ing each other. Then calling each other. And then, on July 30, we were sitting next to each other in a D-BOX theater watching "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" in 3D. The rest, as they say, is history.
I had always wanted to go to Disneyland for my birthday. In February 2012, that dream came true -- and @LostOnTheFringe was right alongside me. Here are some wonderful highlights from that trip, which happened to be her first to the Happiest Place on Earth:
We arrived in Anaheim on Jan. 31. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Walnut Street, which is my favorite hotel in the area. It's quiet, it's clean, and it's a 15-minute walk away from the esplanade. We could have walked underneath the monorail tracks that run along the backside of Downtown Disney, but we opted to walk through the Disneyland Hotel campus every morning. On our last day, we had brunch at Tangaroa Terrace. Yum!
Here we are with our 3-day Park Hoppers. We look ridiculously happy, don't we?!?
We had breakfast at Riverbelle Terrace the first two days of our trip. The Mickey Mouse Pancakes are irresistible, mostly because they provide you with a photo-op :)
The Matterhorn was down for refurbishment for our entire trip; I dubbed it "The Sadderhorn."
In line for Toy Story Midway Mania. Aren't we sexy beasts?!?!?!?!
Lisa bought a pair a Pluto mouse ears at DCA, then we saw Pluto about an hour later after returning to Disneyland!
Oh, Toadie. How I love you. I wish you were still entertaining guests in Florida. That being said, I LOVE Fantasyland in Florida -- PhilharMagic is one of my favorites. We'll get to experience the new stuff in a few weeks :)
Here's my beauty pose on the Mad Tea Party!
Look who we ran into just outside of Star Traders! This seems like an awfully random place for these three characters to show up, eh? (Not that I'm complaining!)
Day 2, my 33rd birthday, began with a Monorail ride from Downtown Disney to Tomorrowland, where we defeated Emperor Zurg. @LostOnTheFringe absolutely LOVED Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. (She also said this picture proves we were the happiest couple in Anaheim that day. I must agree!)
We really enjoyed the Pooh ride, which inexplicably has a bad reputation. @LostOnTheFringe wanted to take one of these Heffalumps home with her!
Yeah, we laughed our asses off at this. We are 12 years old, apparently. (But shouldn't everyone at Disneyland be 12 years old?)
Cheers for Pooh!
You should have seen the look on her face when I told her Disneyland had a petting zoo! We met the goats on Day 2, and she was in heaven. I can't wait to take her to the Affection Section at Animal Kingdom!
@LostOnTheFringe is ready for Splash Mountain, or, as she called it, The Ride With The Stupid Hillbilly Animals.
We saw the ultimate showdown at Jedi Training Academy: Darth Vader vs. Superman! (The kid in the Superman get-up seemed to be totally unaware of what was happening to him, lol)
Yes, that's a real seagull next to the fake ones in the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage lagoon. How awesome is that?!?
@LostOnTheFringe's co-worker desperately wanted Goofy's autograph, and we obtained it after some waiting (or stalking) in Mickey's Toontown. Daisy totally photobombed them, though :)
This might have been the highlight of the trip: We stumbled onto a game of Red Rover conducted by Rowdy Hatter and starring Cinderella and her mice, the Fairy Godmother, Aurora and Ariel. At one point, a guest was asked to "come on over" while doing a Captain EO moonwalk. So, so awesome!
@LostOnTheFringe poses with her new friends!
Here I am making a "shady" pin trading deal with a CM on Main Street :)
As a superfan of both pinball and Indiana Jones, I was overjoyed to find this pinball machine in Adventureland.
We had dinner here on our second night. @LostOnTheFringe had the filet, and I had the crabcakes. A wonderful dinner!
Aren't we just adorable?
I cannot lie -- I LOVE the Ariel ride. @LostOnTheFringe loves it even more. We did this six times on our trip, the most of any attraction. It might seem like a C-ticket to you, but it's an E-ticket in our hearts.
And here's the parting shot of @LostOnTheFringe giving Pluto some love :) We had an incredible vacation, and hope to repeat it this year at Walt Disney World. Hopefully we'll have another great trip report for you in February!
