Disneyland Day One

Our children had been waiting for this day ever since we told them about it prior to Christmas. Today would be the day we would venture to Disneyland and when I say “we” I am also referring to my mother who was integral in making this happen. I had harped on the fact that we all needed to get very early this morning because my daughter has the habit of wanting to sleep-in; however; as I recognized this morning all she needs is a little incentive to get out of bed. I made my way to the gym for a very good workout as I taper toward the Arizona Rock n’ Roll marathon next week. I did notice a strange sensation on the side of my foot and there appears to be a blister forming. This really isn’t anything new since I had one of these just a few weeks ago on my other foot. I thought nothing of it and did complete a very short run of 6 miles.

I returned home from the gym and yes, the incentive of heading off to Disneyland had everyone ready well before the required departure time. I guess Disneyland is a very big incentive because there was no complaining and everyone was very eager to get going. The was a little issue with the tickets but just as everything in my life seemingly works out for the best the little issue with the tickets turned into a savings. I had tried to purchase these tickets on EBay since the regular price is very expensive.

I found an auction which seemed to have a good deal but the auction was not setup properly and although I was one of the high bidders I was not able to purchase those tickets. I had contacted another agent who specializes in Disneyland tickets but one thing led to another and this didn’t work out. As I was running on the treadmill at the gym I just “so happened” (yeah right!) to see a commercial for a promotion at Disneyland which was basically a buy one get one free ticket which was indeed a big savings from the regular price. So, we were able to save money by having those other ticket purchases fall through. I continue to be amazed how things do really work out for the best no matter what happens.

The tickets were secured and we loaded everything and everybody in the minivan. We were headed toward Disneyland. Disneyland is less than 60 miles from our house but this trip could take upwards of 2 hours or only 1 hour depending on the traffic. I thought leaving a little later would make more sense but for some reason we still hit the same amount of traffic. We had scheduled our day at Disneyland through a service called RideMax which specializes in providing a very detailed itinerary at both Disneyland and California Adventure.

Thankfully our very dear friend had allowed us to utilize this service and we had our day actually both days all planned out. This did require us to arrive at Disneyland at a required time which we were a little behind do to the traffic but we weren’t too far off schedule. However; as we entered the park I had asked for the itinerary and somehow this got left in the car. I didn’t want to return to the car but thankfully my wife and mother did make their way back to the car to retrieve the information. While they went back to the car I took the children to the first scheduled ride and we were off to a very fun filled day at the “happiest place on earth”.

The day progressed very well and there really weren’t any long lines to speak of. My daughter is a roller coaster and ride fanatic whereas my son is still getting his “feet wet” in this area as he seems to be very much like me when I was his age; very cautious. I told my son and daughter the story about my family’s trip to Disneyworld when I was 8 and how I got so worked up I didn’t go on Space Mountain since I was so scared. I didn’t want this to happen to my son so I had him all prepped as we entered Space Mountain. I could see the angst in his eyes but he was a trooper and made it on the ride. He seemed to like and of course my daughter had no problems whatsoever.

We hit all the popular rides; Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Space Tours, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad, Splash Mountain and others. The standard; Small World was closed and so was the Haunted Mansion. We did cover all the rides the children wanted to go on and we did take advantage of the Fast Pass on the Indiana Jones Attraction. My son was again a bit afraid of this ride but manage to get through without any incidents. The day went very well and we had time to go over to California Adventure. The unfortunate part about going to Disneyland after the holidays is the fact that the parks close very early but we were able to cover all the good rides at California Adventure. My son wanted no part of the big roller coaster and yes, my daughter loved every second. The entire family enjoyed the Toy Story attraction and as the park closed we had enough fun for the day.