Disneyland out my window

We head for our room, following a hallway past a gift shop -- Benjamin our NBA fan is thrilled to see Lakers championship T-shirts for sale.

We continue past a snack shop and out through automatic doors into a courtyard. I can’t help but think that having to go outdoors while hauling luggage would be a major problem in the heat of Texas, but here it’s in the upper 70’s, lower 80’s at most. It’s pretty nice.

We enter the tower through another set of double doors and take a glass elevator to the tenth floor. The view from this elevator is the courtyard and pool area, but what we’re most wanting to see is the view to the north – Disneyland!

On reaching the tenth floor, we wheel our bags down the hallway towards our room. There are black and white pictures of early Disneyland hanging in some areas of the halls – a very nice touch. We may not be staying in an actual Disney hotel, but the pictures definitely create some of the same atmosphere.

We find room number 1039, insert a key – green light, always a treat! – and the six of us stream into the room. After dumping our bags, every one of us heads to throw back the curtains and look out on the balcony.

And there it is – Disneyland!!! And it’s right outside our balcony! (Kind of.)

From our spacious balcony, which comes with two chairs and a table (not all the balconies at the Sheraton are this big) we can see the Anaheim Convention Center and all three Disney hotels – the Paradise Pier Hotel, the Grand Californian, and further in the distance, the towers of the Disneyland Hotel.

California Adventure stretches across our view from Paradise Pier with the California Screamin’ coaster and Mickey’s Fun Wheel, all the way past Grizzly Peak to the Tower of Terror. We quickly spot Soarin’ Over California and a few other attractions we want to visit.

This is cool – we’re actually so close that we can hear the people screaming on California Screamin’!!

Behind the California Adventure park is Disneyland itself. Okay, California Adventure looks fun, but seeing Disneyland tugs at my heartstrings. I mean, this is THE park, the original, where it all began. It was built by Walt Disney himself, and it is the only Disney park in which he actually walked and worked. There is not and never will be anything else like it.

The Matterhorn and Space Mountain are the two easiest icons to find, falling just to the left of the Tower of Terror in our view. With a little more effort we locate the Main Street Train Station, Big Thunder Mountain, and the top of Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Looking to the far right, to the east, I spot the brown walls and white roof of the Honda Center in the distance. It’s farther away, but for the next four days, I will be going there, not Disneyland. Competition and convention first, Disney fun later.

It’ll be worth the wait – especially when I can see it each day and night from my room!