Aging At Disneyland

I'm going to share here all the fun I had last week at Disneyland. That would be me and 16 others in our party. Never mind, it's too confusing to explain. And yes I mean Disneyland not the bogus look-a-like in hurricane land but the real, true Walt Disney originated land where his footprints still point the way; the one that most appeals to purists like me, but I digress.

I noticed a few abnormalities this trip from my prior three. Getting in and out, up and down and over and back all became increasingly difficult this time.

Walking away from the raft ride and noticing there were chlorine burns on the lower backs of my legs where significant splashes of water had made their way to my body through the various raft openings.

Neglecting to wear a hat resulted in a bright red scalp that will itch till the cows come home.

By the end of the third day, I was in junk food trauma. I must say though, the addition of fruit carts (I think I saw a total of two) was a plus. Unfortunately, I never could find them when I was actually hungry and not about to go on a stomach wrenching ride.

I foolishly wore shoes I thought would be comfortable vs. shoes I knew would be comfortable and the lack of arch support was challenging. What really fries you is watching flip flops after flip flops slapping by you while your blister and arches are screaming.

But in between the limping, there were great ride experiences like Thunder Mountain Railroad with some thumbs up riders you see here.

When thinking about the cost of everything there, I would have to say that Disneyland is not the place for those on a fixed income or who have a tendency toward motion sickness. I do have to admit I got a great picture of my niece's husband's face on the teacups when he obviously should have abstained.

Then there were the repeated instances of ride failure as you will witness in this picture when we had gotten all the way to the front of the line when they shut it down just before we could put our feet into the Splash Mountain logs. Hence the fat lips, which were retracted when we were given multiple fast passes for later. There are some significant engineering issues with many of these rides. I think they're struggling to handle the crowds and I do mean hundreds of thousands. FYI - for that reason alone, fast passes are pure heaven.

I also predict that in the not too distant future, in the battle of the scooters and the strollers, old coots on scooters will definitely prevail. Actually, maybe they'll invent a scooter with a second seat for a kid, kind of like those double strollers you see. That sounds pretty funny but presents a definite possibility.

We only had one experience where a big, fat guy yelled at us and blocked us from going forward a couple of people in the line to be with the rest of our party (there were 17 of us in total). So, the rest of our party insisted he go ahead so they could be with us. The rest of the line for all intents and purposes told him he was a jerk and he was. The payoff was that my sister and I got called ahead of him and his family to join an earlier raft, we did enjoy that irony.

So, how was my trip, you ask. I completely, totally and uncategorically loved it. Anyone who doesn't enjoy Disneyland has truly lost their youthful imagination and ability to enjoy pure fun; and that makes me sad. But not sad enough to dampen my happy memories, sorry.