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| Pretty in Pink Sunrise on Magic Kingdom Day |
But before gaining
admittance to the “Happiest Place on Earth”, one must navigate the metal
detector. “No problem” I thought,
erroneously, as it turned out. With a
forecast of 90+ degrees, I was clad only in a t-shirt, shorts and hiking shoes. I still managed to set the metal detector
off. So I became acquainted with “Mr.
Wand”. Luckily, I didn’t have to make
the acquaintance of Mr. Pat Down. Maybe
it was my glasses, my belt buckle, the screw in my ankle or the shrapnel in my
arm from an unfortunate wood splitting incident, but the machines they were a’beeping. The memories had already begun and I wasn’t
even in the Park yet.
Finally, after every bulge on my body was investigated thoroughly and I was deemed harmless, I was granted admission
to the Magic Kingdom to the sympathetic glances of fellow visitors. Disneyland opened
on July 17, 1955. I finally got to go on
April 23, 1978 and have been to both Disneyland and Disney World several times since,
but it is still a thrill to walk down Main Street, the impressive silhouette of
the iconic Castle in view in the distance.
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| Brooklyn Takes the Wheel at the Tomorrowland Speedway |
My son had already
scheduled our three “fast pass” rides where we got to go directly to the front
of the line while enduring the scowls of the people who already been
standing in line for an hour. Everybody
gets 3 “Fast Pass” rides, but not everybody knows how to use them (me). In that case, I suggest they bring a kid or a
grandkid along to schedule them like I did.
Our first ride was the
Barnstormer, a real grown-up roller coaster.
My Barnstorming companion was my 2-year-old grandson, Max, who had never been on a real grown-up roller coaster before. I was a little nervous about how he might
react. As we waited, a couple with green
hair, a British accent, and metal rings protruding from most visible parts of
their bodies (and, I suspect, many parts of their bodies that were not visible)
waited in line in front of us. "Probably
walked right on through the metal detector", I thought to myself. Max, who can be adventurous or cautious depending on his mood, took the Barnstormer in stride. He probably figured if grandpa could ride it,
how dangerous could it be?
With the precision of a
military operation, we checked the rides off our list, deferring those with an
hour+ wait time and no fast pass until our next trip. We made it to:
Barnstormers
Buzz Lightyear’s Space
Ranger Spin
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| Max Takes a Break |
It’s a Small World
Haunted Mansion
Peter Pan’s Flight
Pirates of the Caribbean
The People Movers
Swiss Family Treehouse
Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad
Tomorrowland Speedway
Walt Disney World Railroad
Taking a break from the rides, we
stopped for a hot dog lunch at Disney’s baseball themed restaurant, Casey’s. I remembered it because a dozen years ago I spent
$35 for 4 hot dogs, fries and drinks.
Boy, were those the days. This
year it was $45 for 3 hot dogs (one was foot long for the kids to split), 3
fries and drinks. If you want to go
someplace that makes it seem like the prices at Silver Dollar City are cheap,
Disney World is the place, starting with $20 for parking.
At one point during the
day I found a shady spot to watch Max who was asleep in his stroller. Up walked some women wearing t-shirts that
read “STUCKENSCHNEIDER GIRLS DO DISNEY”.
"Are you from Jefferson
City, Mo".? I asked. "Our family used to
be", one said. I thought so. Only in Jefferson City have I encountered
Stuckenschneider’s.
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| Gavin gets in the spirit of the Dancing in the Streets Parade |
The normal highlight of my
day at Disney is the Electric Parade near closing time. Alas, the Electric Parade has been
discontinued at Disney World. It it’s
place are several smaller, less impressive parades throughout the day. I was disappointed. But, the closing time fireworks and laser
light show at the Castle are better than ever. As we waited, Mother Nature threatened to add some fireworks of her own as a dark
cloud moved behind the Castle.
Thankfully, it was a bluff, at least where we were. Back at the Resort, my wife had tried to soak
up a little vitamin D at the pool, only to retreat to the room when the skies
opened.
After retracing the route
to our car, I checked my walking mileage for the day on my phone. 8.1 miles.
Under the 10 miles promised by the rental company on the mobility
scooter I had investigated for my wife. But as the
Fireworks show ended, it was hard for me to imagine my first time scooter rider
wife navigating the wall-to-wall mass of people heading for the parking lot.
If she should end up
needing a mobility scooter on a regular basis, I plan to take her to Walmart
and let her do a few laps so she can hold her own. If she can make it at Walmart, she can make it anywhere.
The first time we went to
Disneyland, it was just my wife and me.
Then my wife and son and me. Then
my wife and son and his girlfriend and me.
And now my son, his wife, my 3 grandkids and me.
Boy.
Tomorrowland got here a lot sooner than I
expected.
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| Mother Nature threatened some fireworks of her own prior to the fireworks & laser light show |
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