Disneyland. the happiest place on earth

ok.. i have to preface this. I am a big disneyland fan. As a kid my family made a yearly jaunt to Disneyland. We went every christmas eve, and it was great. Back when we first started going was in the EE ticket days.. and you had to choose what you wanted to ride on. We would always end up buying extra tickets because we would do and see so much. But every year the crowds got bigger and we did less. Disney got bigger and bigger.. now.. it's huge. Two parks, a massive infrastructure and outerstructure..
When Stasi and I were first married in 90, we lived right accross from the park. We both had entry passes, and went every friday nightand other times too.. again, the crowds got bigger and we found ourselves doing less and less. it was still always fun and enjoyable, but i'll admit, some of the luster was gone. When I moved to NorCal, i stopped going so much. actually stopped going at all. When Stasi moved the kids back to LA and bought them season passes to DIsney I'll admit I became a little bitter and took it out on Disneyland. I went two times after that, both the the first year of my second marriage, and it was so crowded, you could hardly do or see anything. The happiest place on earth was not a happy place for me anymore. crowds and life had taken their toll.
After the second divorce I started dating someone who was a big mickey fan, she would go 4 times a year. SHe couldn't imagine how I couldn't just love "the park" but it was so different then the park i grew up going to.. so.....
well, this summer I ended up in SOCAL with Kenny, and he's never been. I wanted to take him but i was really worried. Our first day was monday. It was crazy crowded, waiting lines bordered on 2 hours. We fought to get onto rides. I was discouraged, but kenny had a great time. He said it was the best day of his life...but i was a little bummed and kinda upset. We sat down to wait for the fireworks to start and a family sat down next to us. They exploded at each other about how miserable the day was and how unhappy they were "waste of money" they complained. It was harsh.
Made me realize I still had a great day with my son, and if he was happy i was happy.
We went again friday with all four kids... it was barely crowded at all, almost like i remembered it as a kid, we did everything,some things twice, we even got lucky and had someone hand us an extra fast pass to go on StarTours a second time.
it was awesome. THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE ..
and once again, for at least one day, it was the happiest place on earth