Disneyland - A Magical Place for Grown-ups

First let me explain that my last two trips to Disneyland did not quite reach the level of “perfection” for one simple reason, I could not relax because I was worried about my children. While at Disneyland when Shandra was 2 years old, she climbed out of her stroller and disappeared. Obviously, I have never been so frightened in my life! Apparently, she enjoyed the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride so much that she wanted to ride again. While four frantic adults spent an agonizing 20 minutes rushing around, yelling her name, and pretty much panicking, Shandra was calmly working her way past the hundreds of people in line and was just about to board the pirate vessel with strangers. Fortunately a few people had seen her sneaking through the line, and when they saw us, they directed us to her. Of course, she was only mad that she couldn’t get on the ride, but needless to say, I was scarred for life!

Fast forward several years. We were again at Disneyland, BJ and Shandra are considerably older and Tasha is 7 years old. We were all walking together amidst throngs of people, when I suddenly I stop in panic. “Where is Tasha?” I shout, feeling the horrible reminiscent wave of terror wash over me. As the terror started to overwhelm me, I feel a gentle tugging on my hand and hear a soft, little voice say, “I’m right here, mom! I am holding your hand!” My family has spent many hours laughing at my “loss” of Tasha, and I good naturedly laugh along. However, I believe it just shows how much Shandra’s disappearance affected me.

So, now, many years later, when presented with the opportunity to visit the most magical place on earth – adults only – it is easy to understand why I leaped at the chance! Many people have questioned why I would consider going to a “children’s” place without children, and I answer without hesitation, “So I can enjoy it!” We decided to invite Tasha to go with us, and I made sure that she understood that I was thrilled to have her along, especially since she is now of the age that she could take care of her self if she got separated from us!

At first the trip was scheduled for the week of my Spring Break, but due to scheduling complications we ended up leaving a mere 6 days after making the decision to go! Talk about the spur of the moment! Loraine is a master at travel arrangements, so I surrendered my typical “type A personality” role of navigator and let her take over. And, of course, she did a fabulous job!

The ride on the California freeways was more enjoyable than expected since Tasha brought her TomTom along and had it programmed to speak to us in Pirate Language. It didn’t take long to learn that “lean to the port” means keep to the left, “argh, lean to starboard” means keep to the right, and “head to the open seas and let the wind fill your sails” means get on the freeway and just cruise. By the end of the journey we all were speaking fluent “pirate”, however Tasha had a much better accent.

We decided that since we didn’t want to waste a precious moment of our time at the magic kingdom, we dropped off our suitcases and headed right over. The weather was perfect! 65° the first day and then a little warmer each day there after. Neither Robyn, Tasha, nor I had ever been to California Adventures so we started off our vacation with a big thrill – The Tower of Terror! Since I am mortally afraid of heights, this was HUGE! Dropping 13 stories certainly gets the adrenaline pumping! From there we Soared over California, and then braved California Screamin’. After the first time around, I was more than ready to be on solid ground again, however when we discovered that the park was closing for the night, and there was going to be only one more car, Robyn, Tasha, and Loraine turned right around and hopped back on! Personally, I think they are CRAZY!

Throughout the course of the next three days we rode and saw just about everything there was to see in both California Adventure and Disneyland – including several adventure with Indiana Jones, getting wet on Splash Mountain, numerous falls from the Tower of Terror and at least six thrilled-filled rides on California Screamin’. We stood in line and were able to get the autographs of tons of characters (and they didn’t even seem to mind that we were over 3 feet tall!) and met some great people. While we were waiting to meet The Queen from Snow White (by the way, she doesn’t have a name, she signs as “The Queen”) Tasha realized that she had an apple in her backpack. Just before our turn, The Queen was visiting with a couple of very cute little girls. When it was our turn and the girls had walked away, The Queen said to us, “did you bring any of those nasty little creatures with you?” referring to the girls. When we assured her we did not, Tasha presented her with the apple. She snatched the apple and walked away. We just stood there wondering what to do, because we were now at the front of a long line – with no queen! The Queen calmly walked over to the girls she had been talking to and with an evil smile presented the apple to them! It was so funny! I was extremely impressed with the characters and how they perfectly portrayed their parts.

We all got along fabulously as travel companions! We had oodles of fits of laughter, some serious conversations, and our friendships are stronger because of this time together. Loraine was a fantastic travel guide and knew all of the secrets of getting us to the places we wanted to go as well as to maximize our time. If we ever had trouble deciding what to do next (a problem Tasha and I struggle with) Robyn was perfectly willing to make the decision for us – and she always chose wisely. This was an absolutely wonderful trip, and one I will remember always!