Disney - A Debriefing

I was a reluctant traveller. Many an email and chat were had with BFF before the trip about how freaked out I was to be leaving the country during my holiday break! I didn't want to miss seeing my brother & his family (in from Victoria). And I wanted to spend my holiday sleeping in, and scrapbooking, and hanging out with friends and family, and getting a head start on cleaning out my stupid studio! But Russel was adamant....and I will admit that I did (eventually...more or less) enjoy myself!

I took a bajillion photos! Ha! I've got to give Disney credit for a lot of things, but the biggest one is their attention to detail. Every ride, building, garbage can, and churro stand is decorated & on theme. So I did get a lot of random pictures of the "embellishments" in the parks, but thankfully no garbage cans. Well, not on purpose at least! And most of my pictures are kind of terrible in quality...oops. I thought I would share with you the photos that remind me of the best moments, the highlights of the trip, the most memorable...

When Lucas saw the Hollywood backdrop, and we all thought it was Radiator Springs! Pretty much the look on his face for most of the time was worth all the crowds, and uncomfortable plane rides, and long lines in the world!

Our first glimpse into the world of Cars Land was a giant Red driving down the street! I will admit that I was pretty excited to see that as well!

During the Jedi Training Academy Show, when Darth Vader slowly emerged from under the stage. HA! Lucas - and all the other kids and adults in the crowd - were so pumped!

The beach! It was raining, and chilly, and empty - except for some crazy surfers and even crazier tourists - but it was completely amazing to race the waves with Dude.

When we asked Lucas what he really really wanted to see most of all on his last day at Disneyland, he answered without hesitation: "DJ's Dance Party". Essentially DJ drives into the centre of town, plays some music, and puts on a dance party. His "ladies" invite kids up to dance with them, and it's generally just an awesome time. Lucas did NOT want to join in the fun directly, but he did watch intently all the times we caught the show, and do his own little dance safely on the sidelines.

Lucas reads every single sign he sees. Always. This proved to be at our detriment in the Parks, because for every ride there is a sign detailing the style of the ride. And Lucas' buzz words were "high speed" and "turbulent". Every time he saw those words or some variation on the theme he would make sure to tell us in a loud and panicked voice that this ride would not be fun, and it would be scary, and he did not want to go on this ride, etc. etc. Even Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was met with disbelief and anxiety! But the best was Space Mountain. He knew it was a roller coaster, and he knew it was a big deal, and then he read the sign! Oh man, did we hear an earful on the walk through the line! Afterwards (yes, we are the worst parents and totally made him go on it!) he told us it was the "worst time ever" and that the ride "gave him a heart attack." Drama drama drama!

Meeting McQueen! He and Mater traded off their spot in front of the Cozy Cone pretty much all day, and there was a continuous line of excited kids (& parents....geeze louise!) ready and waiting to get their photos taken with them. Dude was not happy about being in that line, at all! But I told him that Mom & Dad really wanted to get their photo taken with McQueen, so he would just have to wait with us. See how happy he was when we got to the front of the line...?!?!?

Major Observations: It was SO BUSY! I knew that the parks would be crowded at this time of year, but I so wasn't ready for the actual amount of people, everywhere! The Christmas lights & decorations are cool, but I wouldn't want to make an annual tradition out of it. It was nice to see and experience, but I'm good now! Bring your own food! Not only is it expensive to eat in the parks, with all the people around this means that actually getting to eat takes way too much precious time out of your day! Take time to just appreciated where you are. I know for a fact that Lucas could have just stood in Cars Land for three days and been satisfied with his vacation. And I could have done the same at the beach. And we did, as best we could. That's what made the vacation awesome. Say YES to everything! Every time we asked Dude if he wanted to go on a specific ride, he said no. Every. Time. Even if he didn't even know what the ride was! Saying "yes" on a vacation means you get to experience more things, and even if you don't like those things in the end, at least you can say you did them. Ahem...Space Mountain.

And I had a good time overall, but I don't think I want to travel over the holidays again for a long time! Listening to my sister and my family talk about all the fun stuff they did Christmas Day was enough to make me feel that whatever I gained by going away, I missed even more by being away from home.

Thanks for making it to the end of the post! That was a doozy...no more Disney related posts for awhile. Until I start scrapbooking them that is! Aye yi yi!!

later loves