When it comes to Disneyland, I am definitely outnumbered.  My husband is not a fan of the cost or the amount of people.  Stevie is very… meh about it, mostly scared of all the rides.  (My fault since I traumatized him at Universal Studios a couple years ago.)

But, by no small miracle, I am still able to convince them to go once a year.

We don’t actually bother with Disneyland anymore, but spend a day at California Adventure instead.  It just has a more relaxed vibe with lots of open space, so it’s not quite as intense as the main park.

On this particular trip, I talked it up by reminding Stevie that he’d get to see Mickey and Donald and maybe even Spider-man.  The characters are really what he lives for.

So!  Imagine our delight when — as soon as we walked through the pearly gates — we ran into none other than Mickey Mouse himself.  He was heading off for a break, but he stopped and waved at Stevie.  Stevie didn’t even hesitate but ran up and gave him a huge hug and told him “I like your shoes”.  Mickey humored him and gave a few extra hugs and high fives and blew a kiss while Stevie just watched in amazement.   Even Paul couldn’t hide that he was a little excited for Stevie to have such a sweet experience.

And it’s moments like that at Disney that just never get old.