I'm goin' to Disneyland?

My wife's family lives in the Southeast.
My best friend lives in the Northwest.
I'm a teacher - big, fat summer vacations.

We drive a lot.

The past three years have seen us piling the clan into the van, and driving multi-thousands of miles, gone from home for multi-weeks.

Not this year.

This year, we decided to stay home. Ahhhhhhh...
I love to drive, and love to travel, but I needed a break from it, so it wouldn't loose it's joy factor.

So, this year we decided to buy Disney Annual Passes instead, and go to the park a bunch. With four boys, three of which are old enough to enjoy the place, it seemed like a good idea. It still does, but today made it tough.

I was our first full-day trip to the park, and it was everything we locals know to expect, but forget about if we've been away for a while:
1) Hot. Hazy. Smog. SoCal weather at its' worst.
2) CROWDED! The wait for some rides was over 90 minutes! Oh yeah, that'll go over real well with the 3 year old.
3) This was the kicker, the thing that sent wifey and I over the edge.
$10.90 for two fries and two sodas.
I am not kidding.
Oh, and it took me over 30 minutes to get them.

Lessons learned? More on that tomorrow. Right now, I'm still shaking and sputtering from "lunch".