We spent today’s Extra Magic Hour in California Adventure
going on The Tower of Terror twice and getting an adrenaline rush before
breakfast. Then we went on Soarin’ Over California which the kids have never really
liked in the past. They loved it today. You sit in a hang glider-type machine and
are lifted 45-feet in the air and “fly” through different scenes of California
which are projected onto an 80-foot dome/screen. It’s a great ride and tends to be extremely popular with grown-ups, which just proves that my kids are
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| Ashley waving to her friends |
We stopped for breakfast at the Jolly Holiday Café
in Disneyland. We sat on the garden patio and watched Disneyland come to life. Ali and
Chad ran over to the French Market and bought beignets which came in a white
paper sack, and when they were finished, there was 2 cups of powdered sugar
left in the bag. Ashley ran inside the café and came out holding a spoon. She
told Chad to hand her the bag and he said, “There is no way I’m going to let you eat a spoonful of sugar,” and then we tossed back our heads and laughed at his accidental Mary Poppins reference while we were sitting in her café.
It was like a scene in a cheesy TV show from the fifties and I'm not even ashamed.
We didn’t leave Disneyland for the next ten hours. Well… most of us didn’t. Jackson was still beat
from yesterday and his legs were sore from the fifteen hour day, so he went back to
the room to take a nap. For the past month he’s been sleeping and eating and
growing and I guess even Disneyland isn’t powerful enough to stop puberty for a few days.
Three hours later, I got a phone call from Chad, he and Ali had just gone on
Pirates of the Caribbean and Ashley and I were on Main Street. "Hey, where are you guys?" He asked.
"At the Emporium on Main Street." I said.
"Okay, I'll be there in a minute. Bye." That was unlike Chad and I thought maybe he was tired and ready to leave. Three minutes later, Jackson walked into the store and I realized it had been him on the phone and not my husband. Jackson's phone had died so he borrowed a strange man's phone to call me and since I didn’t pay attention to the caller ID when I answered, I thought it was Chad. In those three hours away, apparently his voice got deeper and I swear he grew two inches. He said he was starving but felt well-rested.
We met Chad and Ali at The Plaza Inn and Jackson ordered two full
meals. He ate it all. Pasta, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, a
biscuit, and a breadstick… All while Ali nibbled on a slice of watermelon. When
the food was gone, we spent some time in Fantasyland. Peter Pan, Alice in
Wonderland, Pinocchio, and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle… Not much has changed with
those rides since as far back as I can remember and that’s what makes them so
great. But soon the kids were craving their freedom and Chad and I were ready
to be old and ride the Disneyland Railroad around the park while we sipped our
coffee. It’s an 18-minute ride and requires zero walking. There were a whole lotta white-haired folks on that train with us.
You know those idiot videos that are all over the internet
saying, “This mom walked into a store for groceries. What happens next will
have you in tears,” or “Greg arrived thinking it was just a normal day at work.
What happened next will blow your mind.” Well, I’m not even joking when I say
that what happened next on our train ride will have you raise your eyebrows slightly
and say, “That’s pretty cool.” Or perhaps you’ll chuckle and say, “No way!” Maybe.
First of all, it’s important to know that Disneyland has
fifty-eight attractions, that’s fifty-eight different things to do and about
eighty-five acres in which to do them. And there can be about 40,000 visitors per day. The Disneyland Railroad has five
different trains, each with four sets of cars. Okay, now I can get to the “what
happened next” part of the story that you are dying to hear.
Chad and I climbed aboard one of the train cars and picked a
random spot to sit. We stayed seated at the stops in Tomorrowland, Main Street,
and New Orleans Square. Once the train leaves New Orleans Square, it continues
around the perimeter of the park and passes right through Splash Mountain. Inside Splash Mountain, there
is a large window where people on the train can look down and
see people riding in logs. There is maybe a ten-second glimpse into
the ride before the trains passes through the mountain and continues on to Toontown, which is the last stop.
Chad and I noticed that each time we’ve ridden Splash Mountain
during this trip we have never seen a train go by that window. But tonight, as Chad and I rode the train through Splash Mountain, in
that ten-seconds we had to look down and see the inside of the ride, we saw a
log floating along. Guess who the three log-riders were? Ashley, Ali, and Jackson.
I don’t know what the odds are on the chances of that happening, and I’m not
gambler, but I would’ve bet a million dollars (of Chad’s money because I don’t
"have a job") that something like that was impossible. There's just too many
variables and what-if-we-hads... What if we picked a different car? A different seat? And it really did freak us out.
Okay, so I guess maybe you had to be there.
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| If you've ever wondered what's it's like to star in a parade... |
We met the kids on Main Street and watched the parade
together. Once again, I was invited to star in the parade alongside Mary and Bert. The
powers that be must’ve been impressed with my work in the previous parade. Some
might say that as the last float passed by I jumped up and chased it all the
way through Disneyland constantly tripping in the streetcar track that runs
along Main Street, but they would be wrong. In fact, the chimney sweep waved
and smiled at me the whole time I marched behind him, and I'm certain they only do
that when they are impressed by one’s parade-skills. He also spent a lot of time waving and smiling to the special needs girl in the wheelchair next to me. But she wasn't nearly as parade savvy as I am.
We went on Big Thunder Mountain and when the ride ended, as we approached the loading/unloading zone, it broke down. We heard the cast members announce it was having "technical difficulties." Then a couple of cast members came to us and told us they would get us out of there shortly and to please remain seated. It was amazing. Except yesterday I was reading about the various deaths that have occurred in Disneyland to the kids (bedtime stories) and one of those deaths happened on Big Thunder Mountain. And a little 5-year old boy had to have all five toes on one of his feet amputated after an accident. I confess that I think of that every time we get on the ride now. But when we broke down it was exciting and fun. We were escorted off the ride and had to walk on the track and this is the only picture I got because I was so ecstatic:
We stayed until the park closed, and then about twenty minutes
after that because one of the kids (I refuse to name names) was carrying Chad's iPod 5 and
it must have fallen out of his pocket on one of the rides. He thought he'd had it on The Haunted Mansion so we checked there and four cast members tried
unsuccessfully to search for it. The iPod was a gift for Chad and had been
pre-loaded with about 1,500 songs. It’s a bummer, but we hope the magic and wonder of
Disneyland will rub off on whoever found it and that they turned it in at the Lost and Found as they left
the Magic Kingdom. Either that, or we hope the person who stole an iPod they found gets hit by a bus on his or her way home tonight while trying to decode the password. Other than that little snafu, today was pretty terrific.
It was one of those Zip-a-dee-doo-dah days-
The kind of day where you can’t open your mouth
Without a song jumpin’ right out.
-The Niemeyers
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