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| A gorgeous morning on Main Street, U.S.A. |
Our first ride was on The Matterhorn, which
just recently got a facelift.
Unfortunately, during the facelift, no one thought to add padding to the
new bob sleds, and Chad and I got a little banged-up on the ride. As we exited the 53 year-old roller coaster,
Chad was rubbing his hip and saying, “you don’t think this is ‘cause we’re old
do you?” I said, “no,” and we shuffled our
walkers and oxygen tanks over to a bench to sit with the other retirees. The kids went on again because apparently,
the younger you are, the less The Matterhorn gives you whiplash and knocks your spine out of alignment. While the two of us reminisced about the good
ol’ days of our youth, we laughed as we watched quite a few guys (who all appeared to be our age) get off that ride,
holding their lower backs, making comments like, “wow, that really hurt,” "I wonder why that hurt so bad?"
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| Jackson being Jackson |
After the kids were done being irresponsible, reckless
thrill-seeking delinquints, we decided to eat breakfast. But first, we noticed that the park was about to open, and hundreds of people were lined up on Main Street behind ropes waiting to get in. Jackson walked over to where they were lined up, stood in front of them all, and danced a jig. A mocking jig, that, had it not been my son, and had I not thought it so hilarious, might of rubbed me the wrong way. But come on - that's just funny.
We stopped at The Jolly Holiday Bakery Café for breakfast. This is new, replacing the Blue Ribbon Bakery,
and I believe they made it especially for me, after hearing about my
life-long infatuation with Mary Poppins.
I loved it - I loved every single thing about it (except the coffee-but who cares?) We bought fruit and
croissants, coffee and apple cider, and sat outside in the sunshine.
During breakfast, we realized the kids were really excited to go on
rides, while Father Time and I wanted to just take it easy, and enjoy a quiet
day in Disneyland. So we split up. The kids went off to ride the rides, while Chad
and I sipped our coffee and reapplied adhesive to our dentures.
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| Little changes are everywhere! |
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| "When two holidays collide..." |
The girls bought pretzels in Downtown Disney, but the boys
and I wanted sandwiches from Earl of Sandwich (yesterday was the soft opening,
the grand opening is this Friday). We
figure with a line that stretched around the building last night, it couldn’t
be bad. Today's line was only
about 20 minutes long. Jackson got the Full Montagu,
Chad had turkey, and I had the Italian.
All 3 of us agree that this place serves some of the best sandwiches we’ve
ever tasted. We are definitely going
back this week.
The hottest part of the afternoon was spent at the
pool. I laid in the sun, the kids and
Chad went on the Monorail-themed waterslides, sat in the hot tub, and played in
the pool. Eventually, the girls came and
got me and took me down the slide. But I
had spent so much time dozing in my lounge chair, that I only got one turn before it was time to get
ready to go back to Disneyland.
We rode the monorail to Tomorrowland and went on Space
Mountain. They’ve revamped for
Halloween, and now it features this super scary space-ghost that actually freaked Ashley
out quite a bit - almost to the point of tears. I’m sure we’ll be
getting some parenting judgments from some of you, but I really don’t care. The rest of us loved the ride.
Next up was dinner for the kids at Pizza Port and then a stop at Star
Tours.
Star Tours is about the closest any of us will ever get to
actually being IN the Star Wars films, and it is so rad.
For Chad and I, who grew up on Star Wars, who raised our own
kids on Star Wars (at one point even allowing our son to believe he was Anakin
Skywalker), Star Wars is a huge part of our lives. So this ride was cool to us on so many
levels. Jackson announced it’s his
favorite ride so far. I think deep down,
a part of him still believes he’s Anakin.
And that’s alright with me. I
still want to own an Ewok.
With about an hour and a half left until closing, we split
up again. The kids went off to Splash
Mountain, where the ride was so quiet, that upon finishing the first
time, they asked a cast member if they could stay on and go again. He made them sing ‘Jingle Bells,’ which they
did, and they got to stay on. They went
on Big Thunder Mountain, while Chad and I were eating dinner at Rancho del Zocalo in
Frontierland. That was a first for
us. It was okay.
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| A quiet day in the park together... |
Then we went back to The Haunted Mansion, mostly to admire
the decorations. You can't take it all in the first time. We never get tired of
appreciating the creativity and imagination that comes from people. Especially "Disney" people. I may not possess any of my OWN, but I can
sure recognize it in others!
Once the park closed, we were exhausted and ready to call it
a night. On the walk back to the hotel,
through Downtown Disney, Chad and I discussed the possibility of the existence of
tandem wheelchairs by the time we’re too old to walk, and the logistics of how
we will get our old butts around Disneyland when that time comes. And I’m thinking the time is drawing near.
“I think most of all what I want Disneyland to be is a happy
place… where parents and children can have fun, together.” – Walt Disney
Oh, if he only knew…
The Niemeyers
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