There's just something about unflinching perfection that should, in all reason, scare the living crap out of me, but oddly enough, is mystifying.
One of my weekends home, I headed down to the 'Land with my friend Laura, who - like me - is a 12-year-old trapped in the body of someone slightly older. The amount of enjoyment I get out of Disneyland has not changed - if anything, it has increased. I have longer legs, and can therefore get to rides faster. I have my own income with which I can purchase all the cotton candy, churros, and frozen lemonade that my heart desires. I have the patience to wait in line for more than 15 minutes. But not more than 20. That's a bit excessive.
We left on a Friday night and returned that Sunday night, giving us essentially 2 full days down there. The weather was, as Laura called it, 'swampy.' 95 degrees and sticky. Thank goodness Disney keeps all their rides at a balmy 50 degrees inside. It's a wonder with all the temperature changes I didn't explode like the alien at the end of Alien3.
Hoping to beat the crowds, we arrived at the front gates each morning at 8, just as they were opening. There were still crowds. And apparently, if you buy a 3-day or more Park Hopper pass, you get an early entry one day, allowing you to enter at 7. Huzzah!
The morning crowds were pretty manageable. We managed to fit in roughly 4 rides / an hour for the first few hours. The afternoons got messy, and we usually made our way to Downtown Disney for a drink.
In terms of a quick summary, it was magical. I love Disneyland, and I can't wait to bring my future kids here as an excuse not to be the creepy old guy wandering around Disneyland by himself. Disney does immersion like nobody else. We were out the first day from 8 am until 10:30 pm, and the second day from 8 until 5. I was exhausted afterward, but it was so worth it. Because we were having so much fun, I mostly forgot to take pictures, but here are a couple.
They replaced the old 20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea submarine ride with a Nemo-themed
one. It wasn't too bad, despite having the
most ridiculous line in the park. The coolest
part were the animatronic seagulls that
intermittently exclaimed "Moine?"
Laura posing with Mr. Toad in line for his wildride.
The following night after returning from L.A., I said my farewells and boarded my plane back to Sydney. On the flight back, I was seated next to a woman from Malta and her son, who had Down's Syndrome. They were both very nice, and he was high-function Down's. Content with sleeping and his portable video games, he was also very adamant about offering me some of his candy he had with him. After politely refusing to take a second one (after taking the first offered), he made a game of trying to get me to take the candy every 5 seconds, even going so far as to do a wild flourish of his hands before setting it on my try table. Nice kid - he had his grandmother take a few pictures of the two of us.
The cool Sydney air bit at my face as I stepped out of the airport. It was nice to be back.
No comments:
Post a Comment