"Second star to the right and straight on to morning."
Wherein Jack went to Disneyland
And got horrible pictures. That's what happens when you let me loose with a camera when I'd rather be sight seeing than taking pictures. But I was good and I snapped pictures of everything so I could share with everyone. So, while they aren't the best pictures in the world, hopefully you get an idea of how exciting it was.
Disneyland was never one of those places I dreamed of going. I don't think I even wanted to. Go on a quest, sure. A life and death adventure involving lots of dirt, running, and bad guys, yep. A curse in which I spy on international jewel thieves, I'd be right there. But a vacation to Disneyland, never entered my mind. Whenever I thought about it all I thought about were crowds and people....and PEOPLE.
However, when I found out I was going to get to go I realized that I did want to go and that I was excited. Excited enough to randomly jump up and down - except for the rib - and tell almost everyone I met that I got to go to Disneyland. I planned to have lots of fun, and when my rib hadn't healed completely I decided I'd have even more fun and if I broke it again I'd not mind because at least I'd have had fun in Disneyland. (No, I didn't rebreak it. Hurt it again, yeah. Am back in the sling, yep. But it's not broken in two so its all good.)
Of course, as has been seen during my San Francisco visit, I don't do vacations normally. And I don't mean simply going to Disneyland and on the rides with a broken rib. No, that is just one of the things. The other is that I somehow left my backpack - and all of my clothes - behind. I arrived in LA with Sammy, Clara, and John and little else. Not even my book. Therefore, one of my first glimpses of LA took place in a Walmart buying shirts, socks, and those other things you need for a vacation.
Day two we didn't go into the Disneyland part of the park but the California Adventure side. I didn't know it, but these are two different parks and California Adventure has more of the "Let's scare you out of your boots" rides. Example? Tower of Terror.
I'd agreed to go on Tower of Terror when everyone was talking about it. Note here, I have many unrational fears which shouldn't even be considered fears. However, one of my biggest fears is falling to my death. A rational fear and one most people have except for those dare devil few like my cousin.
Now, I knew what Tower of Terror was. A ride which took you seven stories and dropped you to your death, only you didn't die at the end of it. I knew I could be brave...rather I pretended I could be brave enough for at least one ride. I prepared myself for the drop and even though I wasn't excited about the ride I wasn't ready to run out the door when I got on it. Little did I know the ride doesn't drop you once but four times - or three. I kinda lost count after the second drop. I did okay after the first drop, and I was more than ready to get off. But then the thing went back up and I lost it. I didn't scream or cry, no I gripped my seat hard enough I am sure I left imprints and nearly climbed into the lap of my friend's mom. I closed my eyes, buried my head on her shoulder, and begged the man working the ride to stop it and let me off. By the time he did stop I was shaking so bad I think people in Maine could hear my knees knocking. Good times. Needless to say once was enough and I didn't get back on that ride.
I did however ride my first roller coaster. I did California Screamin'. I impressed myself by getting on it, probably not my brightest move because the upside down loop is not a good idea with a broken rib, but I'm still glad I did it. After all, who knows if I will ever be able to go back to Disneyland?
I even went on my first Ferris wheel ride. I was quite pleased.
The second day we went into Disneyland, and the little kid in me which hasn't ever really gone anywhere, came out even more than usual.
Whenever someone says Disneyland is magical, believe them. It's true.
Not only was it pretty - it felt like I'd walked back into the early 1900's - there were Disney characters EVERYWHERE. We saw Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, Mickey - WHOM I HUGGED...I had to get a nudge from Ben because I'm an awkward hugger, but I hugged him. We talked to Cruella Deville and Bert and Mary Poppins. Ben and I stalked Peter Pan but we couldn't find him, which was sad. We even went around chanting, "I do believe in fairies," to help in our search. We did see him in the parade though which was better than not seeing him at all.
Of course, there were rides in Disneyland we went on as well. All of them were safer than Tower of Terror and fun. My favorite was the Indiana Jones one and the Pirates of the Caribbean. But...also the Star Wars one, so I guess it was a three way tie.
They even had a Marvel set there. I guess Marvel is part of Disney, and we got to see Thor. So, for future reference, Thor himself was concerned about me because of the sling. Take that.
It was really just a lot of fun. We spent day two and three in Disneyland. We ran around, got pictures with any character we could find, and got teary eyed over a room full of drawings from the movies. We even ate lunch at the Jolly Holiday, which if you don't know the meaning behind that you need to go and watch Mary Poppins.
We might have crashed a breakfast when we saw Tigger and Eeyore, but nothing can be proven. I also saw Pooh, but couldn't get close enough to say hi to him, so I got a picture from the distance instead.
We watched two parades. One was in the day and harder to see because we are short people and everyone else in the world - at least what I've run into - is tall. We got creative and peered between tall people's shoulders. The second parade was the light one at night and we got better seats because someone kindly saved them for us while most of us continued to run around and look at everyone. (Thank you kind person.)
The lights one was amazing and so pretty. After that parade we stayed for the fireworks show.
I'm sure all of you have seen some wonderful fireworks in your time, but this beat them all. They were amazing, and they played songs from old and new Disney movies. They of course did Let it Go from Frozen - the song probably everyone is tired of hearing, but while they played it they made it snow. PEOPLE, DISNEY MADE IT SNOW REAL SNOW! Told you the place was magical.
So, to conclude. I know I was ordered to relax while on vacation but I didn't. I walked non stop for about 12 hours a day, more on the last day. By the end of it my rib hurt, my feet ached, and my legs still hurt from it. But it was worth it and I'd do it again if someone asked. So, while I didn't relax, I had a ton of fun which is always better than relaxing anyways.
I was going to upload the pictures today but I think it will make this post to long, so I will show them on Friday.
Until then I will bid you farewell and get some writing done.
And got horrible pictures. That's what happens when you let me loose with a camera when I'd rather be sight seeing than taking pictures. But I was good and I snapped pictures of everything so I could share with everyone. So, while they aren't the best pictures in the world, hopefully you get an idea of how exciting it was.
Disneyland was never one of those places I dreamed of going. I don't think I even wanted to. Go on a quest, sure. A life and death adventure involving lots of dirt, running, and bad guys, yep. A curse in which I spy on international jewel thieves, I'd be right there. But a vacation to Disneyland, never entered my mind. Whenever I thought about it all I thought about were crowds and people....and PEOPLE.
However, when I found out I was going to get to go I realized that I did want to go and that I was excited. Excited enough to randomly jump up and down - except for the rib - and tell almost everyone I met that I got to go to Disneyland. I planned to have lots of fun, and when my rib hadn't healed completely I decided I'd have even more fun and if I broke it again I'd not mind because at least I'd have had fun in Disneyland. (No, I didn't rebreak it. Hurt it again, yeah. Am back in the sling, yep. But it's not broken in two so its all good.)
Of course, as has been seen during my San Francisco visit, I don't do vacations normally. And I don't mean simply going to Disneyland and on the rides with a broken rib. No, that is just one of the things. The other is that I somehow left my backpack - and all of my clothes - behind. I arrived in LA with Sammy, Clara, and John and little else. Not even my book. Therefore, one of my first glimpses of LA took place in a Walmart buying shirts, socks, and those other things you need for a vacation.
Day two we didn't go into the Disneyland part of the park but the California Adventure side. I didn't know it, but these are two different parks and California Adventure has more of the "Let's scare you out of your boots" rides. Example? Tower of Terror.
I'd agreed to go on Tower of Terror when everyone was talking about it. Note here, I have many unrational fears which shouldn't even be considered fears. However, one of my biggest fears is falling to my death. A rational fear and one most people have except for those dare devil few like my cousin.
Now, I knew what Tower of Terror was. A ride which took you seven stories and dropped you to your death, only you didn't die at the end of it. I knew I could be brave...rather I pretended I could be brave enough for at least one ride. I prepared myself for the drop and even though I wasn't excited about the ride I wasn't ready to run out the door when I got on it. Little did I know the ride doesn't drop you once but four times - or three. I kinda lost count after the second drop. I did okay after the first drop, and I was more than ready to get off. But then the thing went back up and I lost it. I didn't scream or cry, no I gripped my seat hard enough I am sure I left imprints and nearly climbed into the lap of my friend's mom. I closed my eyes, buried my head on her shoulder, and begged the man working the ride to stop it and let me off. By the time he did stop I was shaking so bad I think people in Maine could hear my knees knocking. Good times. Needless to say once was enough and I didn't get back on that ride.
I did however ride my first roller coaster. I did California Screamin'. I impressed myself by getting on it, probably not my brightest move because the upside down loop is not a good idea with a broken rib, but I'm still glad I did it. After all, who knows if I will ever be able to go back to Disneyland?
I even went on my first Ferris wheel ride. I was quite pleased.
The second day we went into Disneyland, and the little kid in me which hasn't ever really gone anywhere, came out even more than usual.
Whenever someone says Disneyland is magical, believe them. It's true.
Not only was it pretty - it felt like I'd walked back into the early 1900's - there were Disney characters EVERYWHERE. We saw Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, Mickey - WHOM I HUGGED...I had to get a nudge from Ben because I'm an awkward hugger, but I hugged him. We talked to Cruella Deville and Bert and Mary Poppins. Ben and I stalked Peter Pan but we couldn't find him, which was sad. We even went around chanting, "I do believe in fairies," to help in our search. We did see him in the parade though which was better than not seeing him at all.
Of course, there were rides in Disneyland we went on as well. All of them were safer than Tower of Terror and fun. My favorite was the Indiana Jones one and the Pirates of the Caribbean. But...also the Star Wars one, so I guess it was a three way tie.
They even had a Marvel set there. I guess Marvel is part of Disney, and we got to see Thor. So, for future reference, Thor himself was concerned about me because of the sling. Take that.
It was really just a lot of fun. We spent day two and three in Disneyland. We ran around, got pictures with any character we could find, and got teary eyed over a room full of drawings from the movies. We even ate lunch at the Jolly Holiday, which if you don't know the meaning behind that you need to go and watch Mary Poppins.
We might have crashed a breakfast when we saw Tigger and Eeyore, but nothing can be proven. I also saw Pooh, but couldn't get close enough to say hi to him, so I got a picture from the distance instead.
We watched two parades. One was in the day and harder to see because we are short people and everyone else in the world - at least what I've run into - is tall. We got creative and peered between tall people's shoulders. The second parade was the light one at night and we got better seats because someone kindly saved them for us while most of us continued to run around and look at everyone. (Thank you kind person.)
The lights one was amazing and so pretty. After that parade we stayed for the fireworks show.
I'm sure all of you have seen some wonderful fireworks in your time, but this beat them all. They were amazing, and they played songs from old and new Disney movies. They of course did Let it Go from Frozen - the song probably everyone is tired of hearing, but while they played it they made it snow. PEOPLE, DISNEY MADE IT SNOW REAL SNOW! Told you the place was magical.
So, to conclude. I know I was ordered to relax while on vacation but I didn't. I walked non stop for about 12 hours a day, more on the last day. By the end of it my rib hurt, my feet ached, and my legs still hurt from it. But it was worth it and I'd do it again if someone asked. So, while I didn't relax, I had a ton of fun which is always better than relaxing anyways.
I was going to upload the pictures today but I think it will make this post to long, so I will show them on Friday.
Until then I will bid you farewell and get some writing done.
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