Last weekend, I went to Disneyland for my mom’s 60th birthday celebration. My siblings, Jeff and his wife Kat, and my sister Mara, and her daughter, Maelin, (22 months) were also there. Overall, I had a terrific time. I arrived late on Friday night, and had evidently missed a huge rainstorm.
My mom and the others had been in Disneyland on Friday and had gotten caught in the rain for several hours. Fortunately on Saturday and Sunday the weather was clear. It was cooler than normal, but no rain.
The thing is- every time we go to Disneyland, someone is sick. I think we are cursed. This time, was no exception. I started with a cold early in the week. By the time I arrived, I still had some congestion, and a hoarse voice. But I felt fine. Mara was coming down with a cold, and so was Maelin. Nothing to worry about- or so we thought. Experience should have taught us.
Ever since my family has been going to Disneyland, (since we were teenagers in the 80’s), I think there has been one trip, where no one was sick. There was the time we went over Christmas break, when we all had an awful stomach flu, and each had a day where we were throwing up in the hotel room. I remember I actually threw up on Main St. I was probably about 15, and was mortified. We were not able to be in Disneyland all at the same time, because one of us was always sick.
Then there was the trip where my parents decided to take a family friend along- he had never been. We lived in Colorado, he lived in New Mexico. So my parents drove to New Mexico to pick him up. He was fine the entire car trip there, but once he got there, he got deathly ill. My parents were terrified he was going to die. They rushed him to the emergency room, and spent hours there with him. Then he was back at the hotel, too sick to make the trip home. Eventually by the time we were supposed to go home the doctors thought he would be OK. He was sick a few times on the way home, but by the time he was home, he was fine.
So on Saturday, when Maelin started coughing, we should have remembered these past experiences- but we didn’t. She was having fun, and didn’t seem that sick. In the meantime, my mom, Mara, and Kat, all came down with the cold. I still couldn’t shake mine. On Sunday morning, Maelin woke up at 3am screaming, because her eyes were glued shut, with that goopy, gross eye discharge. Her eyes weren’t pink, so we thought she had a cold virus settle in her eyes.
But after her eyes were cleaned up, and she had gotten some more rest, she seemed fine. By Sunday afternoon, it was clear that Maelin was sick, and was not feeling good at all. So Mara took her back to the hotel. We all wondered why we can never be in Disneyland without someone being sick.
My mom offered to go back to the hotel at 10pm so Mara could get out and have some fun, so it was nice to have those few hours, but my mom wasn’t there- it just wasn’t the same. When Mara got back on Monday, she took Maelin to the doctor and she had a double ear infection and pink eye. So once again, our Disneyland “curse” had struck. But at least no one ended up in the hospital this time.
But I still had a wonderful time. My best friend, Mary, who lives in California now, while she is in a traveling nurse program, drove up and met me at Downtown Disney on Saturday, and we had lunch. I hadn’t seen her in almost a year. We had lots of fun catching up.
I had not been to California Adventure yet, and loved it. I enjoyed the rides, Soarin’ Over California and California Screamin’ the most. I love roller coasters and I was thrilled with Screamin’ It is one of the best roller coasters I have been on. (I’m including a You Tube video of it, at the end of this post.)
On Saturday night, I met up with one of our friends from high school, Tom. I hadn’t seen him, in about 17 years. We used to be in drama, and the school plays. Mara, couldn’t make it since Maelin was sick. Tom actually works for Disney now. So we rode a few of the rides and chatted. It was nice to see two of my friends on Saturday.
On Sunday, we made it to the park for the Magic Morning (we got in an hour before they opened) which was 7am. Jeff, Kat, and I were still at the park 18 hours, and 15 minutes later! We finally left at 12:15am- Monday morning. I don’t think I have ever been so tired, and sore. We were talking about going to get a drink at one of the hotels, but we could not walk! My blisters had blisters, and I think I felt arthritis coming on in my knees. We figured out that the longest we had been there before was 15 hours, so we shattered our old record.
My favorite ride overall though is, and will always be Space Mountain. It is worth it to me to go to Disneyland just to ride Space Mountain. I got to go on it with everyone. Even though we all couldn’t be on the ride at the same time, I am glad I got to be with my family this weekend, catch up with some friends, and be there for my mom. Curse or no curse.
Now for the pictures:
All of us (L to R: My mom, myself, Kat, Jeff, Maelin, & Mara)
At the park’s entrance
In front of the waterfall in California Adventure
The Girls
My mom and I
Just in case you are a roller coaster enthusiast, you can watch a video on Screamin’ It moves much faster though, than what it looks like on this video.
