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| Sleeping Beauty's castle on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. wikipedia.com |
In my youth, I harbored romantic visions of what a Disneyland trip with a boyfriend would be like, part of which involved him buying me one of those gigantic all-day lollipops on Main Street. I'm not sure what that was all about.
Too many Archie comics, no doubt.
Sometimes girlfriends and I would go to Disneyland on a parks and rec bus-trip and spend the whole day hoping to find boys to flirt with. We never did. On one 1960s trip I was wearing a pair of flowered Wrangler jeans bought especially for the occasion. I thought I was pretty cool, but now I can only imagine how silly I looked.
Believe me, bringing along your own partner to kiss in the dark rides is much better than hoping to snag one at the park.
But right now, my aging body was telling me I shouldn't be dragging it through the "Happiest Place on Earth." The day before, Lynn and I took Charlotte to the Valencia mall so her parents could pack up her room for an upcoming move.
Chasing after a two-year-old is hard on knees that need replacing. We looked at koi in the pond, hunted for water turtles, got her face painted, spent an inordinate amount of time in the Disney store, bought a plush Jiminy Cricket and ate hot-fudge sundaes.
Which may not sound like a lot of activity to you, but to someone with bad knees and sciatica, you might as well be talking about a trip up Mount Whitney.
I knew that an adult trip to the House of Mouse, as my husband calls it, would be more laid-back than one with kids, even grown kids. We usually go once a year, and my 20-somethings are hell-bent on getting on every ride they possibly can, while I limp along behind them.
My kids are always making me do things I don't want to do, like go on Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm sorry, I'm over this particular ride. I can remember watching "The Wonderful World of Color" (in black and white) on television one Sunday night when Walt Disney showed us the mock-up of New Orleans square, and the drawing for Pirates of the Caribbean. Walt's been dead since the day we landed on the moon, so that tells you how old this ride is. Even sticking Johnny Depp into it can't revive this chestnut for me.
So there I was, popping Schedule C narcotics like they were M&Ms, just trying to get through a day of walking through the Magic Kingdom. I got my husband a birthday button at the Town Hall, and was amazed to see how many park-goers said, "Happy Birthday, Jim!" I knew employees would, that's part of their job to recognize the buttons that say Happy Anniversary, First Visit, Just Married or Family Reunion, but civilians? That was a surprise.
We didn't get on many rides because of the crowds. You'd think there wasn't a recession on by the amount of off-season visitors to Mickey's place. Fast passes for the new improved Star Tours had a return time late in the evening, so we waited.
And it was well worth the wait. Usually, I'm nostalgic about rides, and hate for them to be changed. I loved that when Star Tours supplanted Monsanto's Journey Though Inner Space, they paid it homage by including the microscope as a prop in the movie. Just before the star speeder burst through the hanger doors, you could see it on the right.
Now the robot voiced by PeeWee Herman has been replaced by C3PO as the pilot, but the old robot has been moved to the interior line and can be heard shrieking, "I'm still getting used to my programming!" I miss the old movie, but the new one I saw was fantastic, and I love that there are 53 more versions to see. I swear that the jump to light speed is not as jolting as before, but it could be my imagination.
One ride we did get on was the new Little Mermaid in California Adventure, which we literally walked on at dinner time. It is similar to the Winnie the Pooh ride, definitely for tiny tots, who are the target market for the Disney Princesses, anyway.
Little Mermaid was cute, and I couldn't help but think how much Charlotte will love it in December when we plan to come back with the whole family, including my new son-in-law Patrick. In fact, I thought about my granddaughter a lot that day. I would never say that Disneyland is only for kids, but like Christmas, tots make it a lot more festive, seeing things through their eyes.
Poor Patrick, who grew up on the East Coast, had no idea when he married into this family how large Disneyland looms in our collective consciousness. I was a year old when the park opened, and it has been part of growing up for me and my kids. Now we are working on the next generation, and Charlotte is princess-crazy. We listen to the feminist warnings about this and think, "Yeah, you're probably right," then order Beauty and the Beast sparkly light-up shoes online.
We're looking forward to initiating him into the cult.
It's telling that probably the most enjoyable part of the day was sipping Newcastle in a California Adventure bar. Adult beverages, a cool breeze, and my very own boy to kiss. The waitress called us "love birds." Even though I didn't get an all-day sucker, it was pretty romantic.
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| Charlotte on the carousel at the Valencia mall in her Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, light-up shoes. She didn't actually ride it the day I took her, she was more interested in the koi pond. |
Chasing after a two-year-old is hard on knees that need replacing. We looked at koi in the pond, hunted for water turtles, got her face painted, spent an inordinate amount of time in the Disney store, bought a plush Jiminy Cricket and ate hot-fudge sundaes.
Which may not sound like a lot of activity to you, but to someone with bad knees and sciatica, you might as well be talking about a trip up Mount Whitney.
I knew that an adult trip to the House of Mouse, as my husband calls it, would be more laid-back than one with kids, even grown kids. We usually go once a year, and my 20-somethings are hell-bent on getting on every ride they possibly can, while I limp along behind them.
My kids are always making me do things I don't want to do, like go on Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm sorry, I'm over this particular ride. I can remember watching "The Wonderful World of Color" (in black and white) on television one Sunday night when Walt Disney showed us the mock-up of New Orleans square, and the drawing for Pirates of the Caribbean. Walt's been dead since the day we landed on the moon, so that tells you how old this ride is. Even sticking Johnny Depp into it can't revive this chestnut for me.
 |
| Jim and his birthday button. |
So there I was, popping Schedule C narcotics like they were M&Ms, just trying to get through a day of walking through the Magic Kingdom. I got my husband a birthday button at the Town Hall, and was amazed to see how many park-goers said, "Happy Birthday, Jim!" I knew employees would, that's part of their job to recognize the buttons that say Happy Anniversary, First Visit, Just Married or Family Reunion, but civilians? That was a surprise.
We didn't get on many rides because of the crowds. You'd think there wasn't a recession on by the amount of off-season visitors to Mickey's place. Fast passes for the new improved Star Tours had a return time late in the evening, so we waited.
And it was well worth the wait. Usually, I'm nostalgic about rides, and hate for them to be changed. I loved that when Star Tours supplanted Monsanto's Journey Though Inner Space, they paid it homage by including the microscope as a prop in the movie. Just before the star speeder burst through the hanger doors, you could see it on the right.
 |
| King Triton celebrates the marriage of his daughter to lame-o Prince Erik. |
One ride we did get on was the new Little Mermaid in California Adventure, which we literally walked on at dinner time. It is similar to the Winnie the Pooh ride, definitely for tiny tots, who are the target market for the Disney Princesses, anyway.
Little Mermaid was cute, and I couldn't help but think how much Charlotte will love it in December when we plan to come back with the whole family, including my new son-in-law Patrick. In fact, I thought about my granddaughter a lot that day. I would never say that Disneyland is only for kids, but like Christmas, tots make it a lot more festive, seeing things through their eyes.
Poor Patrick, who grew up on the East Coast, had no idea when he married into this family how large Disneyland looms in our collective consciousness. I was a year old when the park opened, and it has been part of growing up for me and my kids. Now we are working on the next generation, and Charlotte is princess-crazy. We listen to the feminist warnings about this and think, "Yeah, you're probably right," then order Beauty and the Beast sparkly light-up shoes online.
We're looking forward to initiating him into the cult.
It's telling that probably the most enjoyable part of the day was sipping Newcastle in a California Adventure bar. Adult beverages, a cool breeze, and my very own boy to kiss. The waitress called us "love birds." Even though I didn't get an all-day sucker, it was pretty romantic.
