This post is in the Travel category, but also tagged for Bucket List.
The Bucket List is a list of things I want to do/feel I should do before I die. I've done some of them already, and I'm telling one of those stories here. To see the whole list, click here.
When I was 11, my father told me that he wanted to go and see his sister in Australia. Not appreciating the bonds of family, or perhaps not understanding that I might find a way to hold a Koala Bear in my arms, I said, in that lovely, sweet, polite and completely unspoilt way that upper middle class children have:
"I want to go to Disneyland!"
In retrospect, not my proudest moment.
Being Daddy's little girl, my dear aunt was spared three weeks of dealing with annoying family visitors, and off to the US of A we flew!
We went to a lot of places - my dad got a special ticket where you can fly as much as you want within the US, as long as you didn't go back to the same city. But my favorite places were Disneyland and Disneyworld.
Because we visited both (I did say I was spoiled, didn't I?), my memories of the two are jumbled up. It's all merged into one sense of childhood wonder and awe.
This is in stark contrast to going back to Disneyland as an adult. Just as much fun, but in a different way.
So here's what I remember:
Entering the park
When we went in 1981, I thought parking lot was HUGE. I remember thinking we were never going to get anywhere near the park, and I was so impatient to get in! Then we had to get on some boat thing to cross the seven seas to get to the gates. The guide told us that the lake actually had waters from each of the seven seas in it. I'd learnt about the water cycle at school, so I was wondering if they kept going to the seven seas to get more water, but I didn't dare ask.
In 2001, we did our research beforehand and stayed the night in the Disney hotel so that we could get through the gates an hour before they were open to the general public. We were probably in the first 10 people in the park that day. As we walked up Main Street, I saw Mickey Mouse standing at the end of it.
When I did my MBA, we studied Disneyland as an example of managing staff. They train their staff to be "actors", instructing them to be "on stage" as soon as they exit from the rabbit warren of tunnels under the park and come out to interact with the public.
So I began to wonder... how committed are you to your performance, Mickey?
Indulge me a moment while I set the scene. By this stage I had speed-walked to the front of the people coming into the park. I was also bigger than I am now - perhaps a dress size 20.
I opened my arms. I broke into a run. I barrelled straight at the poor little fake mouse, yelling:
"MICKEY!"
I think, from the massive, prolonged bear hug that I gave poor Mickey, that he was being played by a slim teenage girl that day, who probably thought that she was being kind to a mentally challenged adult - which isn't bad thing, frankly.
I put my arm around her, my embarrassed husband caught up with us, and took a picture.
The Tiki Room
I have a very vague memory of the Tiki room as a child. I remember being bemused.
As an adult, many years later, it was a hilarious experience.
The guy standing outside was basically getting tired people, who had been walking around the park all day, to come inside by explaining to them that there was air-conditioning and a place to sit.
The Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room, the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki room (you have to know the song), a bunch of rattynimatronic birds and totem poles sing you the silly song. I think that you have to be high to really appreciate it, but we don't do that stuff so we just had to let our healthy sense of irony keep us laughing our asses off. There were definitely some people in there who had gone for the "full Tiki experience" - we could smell them.
The Matahorn roller coaster
When I was a kid, I had dragged my poor parents round the park relentlessly, until they were exhausted. My father and mother sat down and told me they would stay where they were, and that I should go on the rides and come back and find them.
FREEDOM!
I was so happy I could've burst.
I got in line for the Matahorn, and was so proud when I realized I was taller than the minimum height required.
The line people were a bit confused when I got in by myself, with no adult to sit next to me, but I was unfazed. Till the ride started. I thought I was going to die.
No. Listen.
I am not kidding.
I thought I was going to die.
I screamed so hard that, when I got off the ride, I had lost my voice.
Lost. My. Voice.
Going back there as an adult was as mistake. The ride seemed smaller, and was more nostalgic than thrilling.
Which isn't to say there aren't good roller coasters at Disneyland. We were there with a friend of ours - let's call him Martin - who decided to check out Disney's California Adventure, the park next door. We had arranged to meet him at the Light Parade as dusk fell.
The parade came and went. No Martin.
Hmmmmm.
And then we saw him. He was very, very pale. He had never been on a roller coaster in his life, and he chose, for his first one, a mammoth called California Screaming.
This steel coaster (built to look wooden) offers up a 0-55 launch in four seconds, a 107-foot drop and a vertical loop around a Mickey Mouse logo. You'll also hear "surf guitar" music through an on-board soundtrack, a la "Space Mountain."
This is the 6th longest coaster in the world, and 2nd longest steel coaster in the U.S. this coaster currently has a maximum of 5 cars running at one time.
Source: www.themeparkinsider.com
Martin was feeling very weak, and quite ill.
As they do with a lot of these rides, there is an automatic camera that takes a picture at a key moment on the ride. Martin said that, when he went to the viewing area, other people were pointing at the photo of him and laughing, saying:
"Hey! Look at that guy!"
I just watched a video of what going on the ride is like, with headphones on and Fluffy Bear grabbed my knee unexpectedly. Apparently I was screaming.
Yeah, that goes on the "Avoid" list.
Still, Disneyland is a magical place and they are always adding new rides so, as I've just said to Fluffy Bear, we have to go again!