"Disneyland is not a sprint, but a marathon where you sprint all the way to the finish line." - me, just now.
Whenever people tell me they go to Disneyland to "have fun," I tell them that I'm sure they could find a more worthwhile way to spend $100+ on a day sitting on a bench taking a break because they were too tired to "have fun." I'm serious about Disney, and when I go, I squeeze every last drop of Mickey Mouse ears out of the place until I'd had my fun. While my family are all facilitators of the Disney Diehard lifestyle, not all of my friends are, and there are many bodies still left at the side of the Storybook Land Canal Boats. Rest in peace, friends. This Thursday, another cohort came through to try their hand at not one, but a two-park day with me.
6:45 AM. I snooze at the 6:30 but wake up to hear my friends DHong and Kristen complaining about how early it is and the fact that they can't see the sun. Whatever. I don't care about their opinions anyway. Waking up late is for people who love tan lines after long lines in the early afternoon.
7:30 AM. SoCal drivers pile up on Interstate 5. Still more fun than Autopia. DHong reiterates how, on his first trip to Disneyland, he doesn't want to do water rides...because he doesn't want to get his socks wet.
8:15 AM. I walk through that familiar esplanade hearing that familiar music. Chewy, we home.
11 AM. The previous night, I asked everyone to name one ride they had to ride. Everyone said they had to ride normal choices like Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, and Haunted Mansion, which is why Matt Sit suggested we wait for 40 minutes in line to go on Mickey's Fun Wheel. Now, as a constant purveyor of fun, I know what fun entails, and after being in a gondola swung singlehandedly by Matt Sit and going two revolutions in a big circle, I think I'm good.
11:30 AM. I buy myself Dole Whip cotton candy, new at California Adventure, and declare that this is my replacement Dole Whip for the day. Everyone else in the group looks at me with amusement and disgust at my decision.
2 PM. Things are getting packed. To save time, Kristen and I switch off, grabbing everyone's fastpasses to run across the park, print up new tickets, and then dash back and sneak back in line. For my most daring feat, I stumble through a mob of paradegoers to get Space Mountain fastpasses, and then run back and wait till the staff attendant isn't looking and sneak into the disabled entrance of Jungle Cruise to catch up with my friends in line.
4 PM. We line up for Pirates of the Caribbean. We don't tell DHong about the drops. For some reason, he gets the wettest. Yes, including his socks. The boat is very amused as we pass by sunken treasure and the ghost of Davy Jones, all drier than DHong.
7:30 PM. We split up to grab food quicker. It's turkey legs for some (a Disney staple), the new Beauty and the Beast restaurant for others, all so that we're ready for...
8:30 PM. the MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE AKA GET HYPE. The lights are what make up my childhood, and even although I've never seen this special parade at Disneyland, I remember my dad and I imagining we were at Disneyland when I was a toddler, the disco ball in my room lighting round and round while my dad hoists me onto his shoulders and starts singing the theme song.
9 PM. We line up for It's a Small World. DHong gets worried because he demolished the entire turkey leg and does not want to look at any other turkey appendage. I speak up for the group and tell him to be careful, there might be drops. Tate echoes, "you'll get really wet on this ride." We hype up the fear of thousands of dolls from all over the world singing as a dark, intense ride experience. HIs heart starts beating faster. As he settles in the ride and he eventually figures it out, he murmurs "oh noooooo" in the voice of an old man with a lisp. But by the end of the ride, he's been converted, and the echoes of his rendition of It's a Small World ricochet off my eardrum and deep into the depths of my dark soul.
12 AM. We knock out the fireworks and run over to California Adventure to see one of my favorite shows, World of Color. The world is a carousel of color, and through all of the lines and crowds, there are also the moments that bring out life in living color. We run back to take on three more rides. Tate is the Rebel Spy on Star Tours, even with his awful allergies, and we go 100+ mph on Hyperspace Mountain and decimate Indiana Jones. It's late, but we get everyone out.
Disneyland with me is an experience, and not one everyone can handle. It's just that there's so much to see and so much to do, and I want to make believe that I can, if even just for a day.
