7:25 p.m. - 2004-12-23
Disneyland, at last
I did not write very much about our trip to Disneyland. I got back last year, and things suddenly got all crazy busy with the new job and the having a life thing, and suddenly two months had gone by and it seemed kind of lame to write an entry about my two months ago vacation.
But if I write an entry about an eighteen months ago vacation, that�s like a retrospective, right? Sure. Whatever works. Mostly I just decided I want some record of it and if the world thinks I�m a total lame-o for having the funnest (yes, I know it isn�t a word.) time ever while surrounded by oversized cartoon characters and screaming four-year-olds, well, so be it.
The greatest moment in the entire trip was actually before we set foot in Disneyland proper.
The Raisin and I arrived in Anaheim via a lengthy shuttle ride, and once we settled into our hotel room (our hotel kindly let us check in early), we set out to find a grocery store.
The moderately useful front desk pointed one out to us on the map, and in an ongoing struggle, failed to grasp that we were perfectly willing to take the regular bus to get there. We eventually weaseled information about the Anaheim Resort Transit out of them, which is pretty much just a tourist bus that runs between the major attractions and charges more than the regular bus for crappier service but without any of those scary locals. But it went within a few blocks of the grocery store, so we bought tickets from the front desk and headed out.
It was quite early in the day still, so we decided we would take a spin through Downtown Disney first, and scope things out before heading to the store. We got on the twee little bus, and it got us to Disneyland fairly speedily.
They�ve changed up Disneyland in the last few years, and now instead of tromping through a gigantic parking lot to get to the entrance, you arrive in a fancy little area called the Esplanade or something equally ridiculous.
We pulled into the turnaround and stepped off the bus, and the minute our feet hit the pavement, we were swept up in the Disneyland magic. Music burbled cheerfully overhead. There were flowers blooming everywhere we looked � at home, they were still shoveling snow. The sun was bright and warm, and we looked at each other with total glee on our faces.
Everything we saw was exciting. �Hey, check out the gigantic CALIFORNIA letters at the entrance to California Adventures!� �Oooh, there�s the monorail!� �Look, a BAKERY!�
I got mocked for that last one. I was kind of caught up in the moment, and the first store we saw in Downtown Disney was the bakery, and it seemed exciting at the time. (We didn�t even go inside, now that I think about it. Maybe it�s a really exciting bakery and we don�t even KNOW! We�ll have to remedy that next time.)
We were both wearing tank tops and shorts and sandals, and we were practically skipping down the pathways. We poked into every store we passed (except, of course, the bakery), and each one seemed to be far more exciting than we would have found it at home. Before long, we came upon the world�s most gigantic Disney store, full to the brim of Disneyland merchandise that I had a very hard time resisting. We moseyed around in there for quite some time before deciding that we were hungry. Conveniently, across the way was a pretzel store, and we decided that a pretzel would suit nicely.
The Raisin, I believe, got a sour cream and onion pretzel, while I opted for the plain one with a lemonade on the side. And I have to tell you, that is the best pretzel I�ve ever eaten in my life. We strolled further into Downtown Disney, eating our pretzels, exclaiming over how delicious they were and occasionally squealing with glee over the fact that we were actually in California.
We spent some time in the Lego store, which was really, really cool (Jamie, when you�re there, you should take five minutes to go down to the very end of Downtown Disney and check it out. You will love the Lego Darth Vader.), and got sucked into Build-A-Bear Workshop, which we�d never seen before. (Now they have one in the mall here, and it�s lost some of its novelty.) We admired every store and coveted every souvenir. But eventually, we decided that we should get to the store before much more time passed, and we dragged ourselves out of Downtown Disney to catch another Tourist Tram to the store, or as close as we could get.
Grocery shopping was unexciting, and we were absolutely starved by the time we hiked there from the bus stop and back, but a dinner at Red Robin�s refueled us (sometimes you want a familiar menu, and aside from the unsweetened iced tea � ew � it was good, fast, and familiar, all of which we wanted), and we headed back to the hotel.
Taken out of context, it�s a slightly dull day that sounds like what the Raisin and I do when she comes here to visit or I go there. We shopped, we ate, we laughed a lot and goofed around. But there was something about the atmosphere that we felt the minute we stepped off that bus. I don�t know if it was the music � the familiar songs the minute we arrived, never overwhelming but always a cheerful presence � or the weather, or the chemicals they pump into the air to make you believe you�re at the happiest place on earth. All I know is that I can still close my eyes and see my foot stepping off that bus and remember the feeling that washed over me. It had been a rough year, but every single crappy thing that had happened just ceased to matter in that single moment.
That�s a feeling that�s pretty rare, and it�s also one that lasts a long time. I can cheer myself up just by remembering the sight of the bakery, or the taste of that pretzel, or the laughter of the Raisin as we sang along with the music. Mock me if you want, but I will defend how much fun we had there until the day I die.
Be warned. Now that I�ve started writing about it, I might not stop. No, I haven�t forgotten about the how I met Jamie thing (and, in an odd moment of serendipity, I ran into my junior high band teacher today, and she was totally amazed to learn that Jamie and I were getting married. It was kind of hilarious, actually.), but maybe I�ll intersperse some more Disneyland entries among the Jamie ones. Because if there�s anything that�s going to get me through Holidailies, it�s going to be talking about Jamie, the Raisin, and Disneyland. Get me going on any of those subjects and you�re guaranteed a lengthy ramble.
