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| Tiggers are wonderful things |
This year marks the 10th anniversary of my travel
blog. I started it for my kids so that when they’re older with children of
their own, they can look back on these years and remember the adventures we had.
And I write it for Chad and myself so we can do the same. Today is my 162nd
blog entry. That's 162 days of vacations and laughs and new experiences. We went on
several trips that I didn’t write about, but overall, I captured a big part of
our travels together. This morning I discovered that 37 of my 162 blog entries are about our time in Disney parks. 37 days in Disneyland can (and probably did) result
in a lot of repetitive stories and observations. But on this trip, we noticed something
new.
Chad and I are amazed by how many grandparents we saw with their
grandkids in Disneyland. Our first night here, as we walked the esplanade
between the parks, we were nearly run over by a grandma and grandpa riding matching
scooters. Each one had a grandkid on their lap, and the children were driving.
They were going in circles and weaving in and out of people, and the
grandparents were laughing hysterically. They didn’t even try to redirect their grandkids
when they turned the scooters into bumper cars and everyone nearly died. Chad and I agreed
that we would be those grandparents one day.
We saw many families wearing matching Disney shirts that identified
everyone in the group: Dad, Mom, Grandma,
Grandpa, Son, etc. The grandparents always looked so proud and happy to be there. And the people
wearing the Mom and Dad shirts always looked exhausted and on the verge of tears. I watched a grandpa with a cane in one hand, holding his grandson’s hand in the other, as the
little boy navigated him through the crowd in Fantasyland. I saw a little girl standing in
line at the Main Street train depot with her parents and when she saw her
grandma, she shrieked and ran straight in to her arms and that grandma looked like she just won the lottery. We never saw kids throwing fits or being fussy with their grandparents, we only saw pure joy. Over and over again, we
noticed these things and talked about what it will be like for us when we are
able to bring our own grandkids here years from now.
This morning, we took a horse-drawn street car down Main
Street and were delighted to find out the horse’s name was Chad. We got off in
front of the castle, which is closed for refurbishment, and walked to
Frontierland where we did some target practice at Shootin’ Exposition before making
our way to Critter Country. We avoided Splash Mountain today after taking a
bath in it last night, and we opted instead to go on The Many Adventures of
Winnie the Pooh, where guests ride in giant beehives through Hundred-Acre Wood.
We stopped going on this ride years ago when the kids were no longer interested,
and we forgot how absolutely sweet and peaceful the ride is. When it was over,
we shopped at Pooh Corner and met Tigger, Eeyore, and Pooh.
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| Chad and Chad |
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| "You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes." -A.A. Milne |
We rode more rides, snacking and shuffling our way through the park. After
eating pizza and salad in Tomorrowland at Alien Pizza Planet, we went back to
the hotel where I took a 2-hour nap. We had fast passes for 3:40, so once we
were rested and refreshed, we went back to the park and stayed all night.
We had reserved a Fantasmic! dining package earlier in the
day. For $30 per person, you get a meal at Hungry Bear Restaurant and admission
to a reserved viewing area for Fantasmic! at 9:00 and Mickey’s firework show
at 9:30. We lingered over our meal of BBQ chicken, riblets, salad, and rice on
the patio overlooking Rivers of America and finished with funnel cake. Then we played
until it was time to return to the viewing area before the entertainment.
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| Jack Sparrow's Black Pearl emerging from the fog |
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| Can you spot your favorites? |
We took a comfy seat on our reserved section of concrete ground where
our butt cheeks promptly fell asleep. Ashley was getting chilly, and we still had an
hour to wait, but our view was perfect. When Fantasmic! began, we were reminded
all over again why Disney is the number one entertainment empire in the world (I don't know if that's factual, it just sounded cool). The imagination, the talent, and the artistic genius that went into making this show is just beyond what I can explain. For the past
few years, we always took advantage of the thinner crowds during Fantasmic! to
ride the attractions that have notoriously long lines, and I’m so glad we didn’t
miss it this year. The show is too hard to describe, especially at 1:30 in the morning
when my brain has turned to soup and I'm trying to recall our day, but I will say, if you find yourself in
Disneyland, you do not want to miss it. As soon as Fantasmic! was over, Ashley
went back to the hotel to go to bed—she was completely exhausted. Chad and I stayed
for the fireworks show, and it was so wonderful and full of energy, that I got my
second wind and was ready for more fun. We went on rides, we shopped, and we
snacked. And at about 11:00, we finally said goodbye to Disneyland, but we’re
taking with us an excitement about returning one day in our matching scooters
with our grandkids in tow. And once those grandkids start to get fussy, we'll drop them off with their parents and zoom away on our scooters to safety.
Once again, we saw zero Teslas today. But to be fair, all we
did was cross the street.
-Rachel
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