Good morning!

[kyburg]

I went to Disneyland yesterday. Day before that, I was at Knott's Berry Farm.

And I've started using some LJ controls on a post or two this morning. The discussions are breaking down into "Nyah Nyah" too much for my comfort level. Cope.

snackpants, are you guys coming out for the 50th Anniversary next year? The park looks fantastic, such an improvement over last year. But on the down side, most of the park is under renovation or completely blocked off - I've been there when the castle has been closed, but right now, it looks like it's being tented for termites. Lots of storefronts blocked off in both Tomorrowland and Adventureland - and while the Haunted Mansion has had its redress for the Nightmare Before Christmas, the outside decorations are really beginning to show the wear of over three years seasons in the sun - what was bright, bright red is turning very orange...*sigh*.

We did a lot of pin trading. nytshaed was with us. How could we not?

But Knott's was Friday night - and the night didn't end until after midnight. That's right. Work all day, play ALL NIGHT. ARR.

What did we do before cell phones to get multiple people in a group in the same place at the same time? Oh, we had a plan - and a timetable. And people were where they said they would be - and stuff.

That kind of work still produces good results - it's just when you leave part of your party someplace, you're supposed to make plans to meet up later on, not depend on the cell phones to save your ass.

I lost nytshaed and cuddlycthulhu for six hours that night. Cell phones had died and not all the numbers had been shared with the ones that were still functional. Try to find two people wearing black and such at Knott's Halloween Haunt after 8:00 PM. Go ahead.

I got to spend some quality time with caitlin and poetpaladin while unclejimbo rode the beeg rollercoaster multiple times and/or went searching.

They hung Ryan Seacrest, BTW. While they lampooned the campaign of 2004, even giving the fight to Bush (hey, this is Orange County, California. And this is "we're more conservative than Jerry Fallwell" Knotts Berry Farm we're talking about, of course Bush would win over Kerry, dopes), not too many people were cheering. Matter of fact, that joke fell pretty short. But they sent up Michael Jackson three times and the crowd went wild each time - that, was a thing of beauty. I was so hoping they were going to hang him.

If I spelled Ryan's name wrong, it's because I don't know who he is. American Idol? Never watched it.

Disney the next day began at 10:30 AM - picked up nytshaed and cuddlycthulhu, hit Goofy's Kitchen and began our day at the park around noonish. We left over twelve hours later.

And I have too much theme park detrius today to find homes for. I have stuffed animals. I have pearls. I have Disney pins. I have STUFF.

And Jim is working tonight, so I need to kick his ass back to sleep for some hours. Amazingly, I am whole and in one piece - some jackass ran into cuddlycthulhu with a motorized scooter (don't apologize idiot, this is Orange County and we hates everyone, right?) and we ended up at the First Aid Station for the first time in umpity-ump years, putting him in a wheelchair for the balance of the evening himself!

I have come to a new conclusion on wheels. Children too young to traverse the park without a stroller are too young to take for a full day. I saw more bitterly unhappy kids being wheeled around by people too tired to give a shit yesterday - change the focus, folks. Kids go for half a day. Cope. When you are too tired to manage them, you are too tired to parent effectively - go home. What comes first - your kids or getting your last bit of utility out of your admission fee? Tell me you're having a good time - go ahead.

I'm one of those kids who went to Disney back in the early 60's. I was old enough to walk myself around, and my younger brother was home with a sitter while we went. I've decided - no strollers.

*sighs* I remember trying to manage someone in a wheelchair back in 1997. It wasn't the same last night, but Disneyland is still not a friendly place for someone completely confined to their chair, and I still won't do it again, and won't recommend trying to take someone completely confined to a wheelchair to Disneyland to anyone else. Want to ride the rides? You can't. Want to go see everything in the park? You can't. I think Downtown Disney is better set-up, but it's also newer. California Adventure might also be the better bet. If you can stand the Beach Boys.

But trying to do Power Disney like we do is very tough if you can't keep up.

And speaking of keeping up, I've got to go get some more sleep, if not just resting. Ahh, weekend. It's loverly.