Let me preface all of this by telling you that I LOVE DISNEYLAND and I LOVE CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE. We have taken the boys twice in the past two years and I think 4 days in those two parks couldn't be better spent anywhere else. I have suffered all the criticism . . . they are too young . . . they wont remember anything . . . it is so crowded . . . the lines are horrible . . . it costs a jillion dollars . . . blah, blah, blah. Something about Disneyland calms me down. We have gone on 4th of July weekend and Memorial Day weekend and had an absolutely fabulous time. Eric wasn't even a year old and he still talks about his first trip there. They rode a million rides, I never felt it was crowded, I was impressed by how inexpensive (and HEALTHFULLY) you could eat, and we never waited more than 10 minutes to get on any ride. Love Disneyland.
All of those negative things that people warned me about with Disneyland? The crowds, the long lines, the expensive food? Discovery Kingdom lived up to every last one of those negative critiques, and then some. It was so hot and the lines to ride both water rides? Over an hour and a half each. Yep. It took over 30 minutes to get a pretzel. A PRETZEL, people, not a gourmet, cooked-to-order specialty meal. It was insane. I felt exhausted, over-heated, overwhelmed, and way over-charged.
There were some bright moments. Watching the kids watch the killer whale and dolphin shows. Worth the drive and money just watching their faces right there. My niece, Lindsay and her husband, Arturo, drove from San Francisco to spend the day with us and I would do just about anything to spend some time catching up to those two. Eric laughed until he got the hiccups on the frog ride and on the boat ride. Oh, and watching Kyle and Todd drive the "race cars" . . . after an hour long wait and an extra $10.
The moment to record for prosperity happened while Ky and I were looking at a French Lop Rabbit. A dad walks up with his little girl (she looked about 3 years old to me). This sweet, dedicated daddy does his very best baby-voice. "Wook honey a wittle bunny wabbit". Ky turns to him and says, "Well actually, that is a French Lop". I love my kid.
Probably the best moment of the day came when a woman offered to take a family picture of Todd, the boys and me. You have probably noticed there are virtually no photos of the four of us on this blog. That is because there ARE no pictures of the four of us in existence. Todd couldn't say no to a nice stranger so we sat and posed. The best moment of the day actually followed the taking of the picture. It happened when I scrolled back to check out the picture and thought, "huh, we look awfully cute."
Gawd, I can't wait to go to Disneyland.
