Tuesday, January 26, 2010
To the above picture I say: "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!"
Last week, we ventured forth on a grand adventure to Disneyland in "sunny" Southern California. (They're having a water shortage, did you know?) Let's begin at the beginning, shall we? (BTW, this is going to be a very long post. I'll be printing this out for our family records so I want to remember every detail!)
The night before we left, our emotions had long since left the realm of mere "excited." We felt positively frenzied, like all of our blood had been replaced with Sprite. Seriously, we were about to burst! We packed our bags and decided, since Delta charges insane amounts of money for checked-in luggage, to pack lightly. So we were very "smart" and packed very lightly--one pair of shoes for all of us, just a couple of shirts, an extra pair of pants, etc. We could always rewear things, we reasoned. And all three of us were able to fit our things into one check-in bag. Smart, smart, frugle us!
As you can see, Bethany really "got into" the packing. (Pardon the pun.) Anyway, we got all ready and had a terrible night's sleep (sorta like Christmas Eve times TEN!)and the next morning, we took off for the airport. Our party consisted of James, Bethany, me, my mom, my dad, and my Grandma Johnson. A jolly group, if I do say so myself (and I do), all bound for lots of Disney fun in the sun. (Did you catch that? FUN in the SUN.) As we drove to the airport through a snowstorm, we were all giddy and made lots of comments along the lines of how lucky we were to be escaping the terrible Utah weather, etc., etc. (Statements that later came back to haunt us, I assure you!)
When we arrived at the airport, Bethany was all about toting her own luggage. She was also very excited about the metal detector--walking through it in just her socks was such a thrill! She wanted to do it again but unfortunately, airport security frowns on that sort of thing. At any rate, we were soon on our way! 
Once we got on the plane, the first thing Bethany did was climb into her seat, peer over at the people behind us and beam. Then she announced, "Hi, I'm Bessany! I'm two!" and then she sat down, all ready to go. 
The above picture was taken before we took off. Note: There will be NO pictures of me during or immediately after the flight. While Bethany flew like a champ (no air pressure or air sickness problems for her!) Mommy was sicker than a dog. The flight was very turbulant, particularly the landing (which lasted AT LEAST ten years!) and let's just say I was NOT at my best. But Bethany did great! And when the flight attendant came strolling along with her drink cart, Bethany just turned to her and said all on her own, "I'll have orange juice, please." Just like she'd been flying for years. (I credit this to her Usborne Book of First Experiences, the section on flying, which we reviewed frequently before the trip to prepare her. Hence the increased excitement over the metal detector mentioned earlier.)
Anyway, we finally, FINALLY landed, me looking as white as a sheet and green around the gills (again, no pictures) and caught the Disneyland Express bus that took us to our hotel. The first thing we noticed upon landing, however, was the complete absence of sun, sunshine, blue skies, warm weather, and so on. You'd have thought we had landed in downtown Seattle--rain everywhere! But at that point, the cold rain on my face felt heavenly after my recent bonding time with the airsick bag!
Soon we arrived at our hotel, Staybridge Suites. It was a nice place and the best part about it was the kitchen! It was wonderful to be able to just make a peanut butter sandwich if we wanted it, and not have to rely on icky and super-expensive Disneyland food. They also had FREE access to clothes dryers (which came in handy, as I'll later prove) and big, yummy, complementary breakfasts every morning. I'd totally recommend staying there! But I digress.
After resting a bit and unpacking, we caught our shuttle to Disneyland. We had to get It's a Small World in that day because they were closing it down for the rest of the week to take down their Christmas decorations. It was fun seeing the Christmas version of Small World and Bethany stood up and danced in the boat, she was so excited. (Um, don't tell the Disney employees about that--I'll deny every word. I meant to say that she sat down and kept her hands and feet within the boat at all times.) We also rode on Peter Pan, which I love today and will love tomorrow and every day until I die--and then after I'm dead, too. I'm convinced that Heaven has the Peter Pan ride. And Splash Mountain. But I digress again. Anyway, after Peter Pan Bethany announced, "I did not like that ride. It was barely scary. I do not like Captain Hook." She was so good about going on all of the rides, and even if they were scary, she just somberly took it all in and then calmly pronounced her judgement after the experience was over.
We also bought ponchos that night, just in case it continued to rain off and on throughout the week--however, we were optimistic that it would stop raining at that point. (After all, this was sunny California! They'd run out of rain sooner or later.) And during our brief time at Disneyland that first night, we heard the announcer say a statement we grew to know very well over the next few days, "Due to inclement weather, the parade is cancelled." and then later, "Due to inclement weather, Disneyland park will be closing at eight o'clock (instead of 11:00)." "Due to inclement weather" became the mantra for the week, because the weather never did get "clement!"
The next morning at breakfast, Bethany refused to eat anything at all, which was a little weird. But she generally doesn't want a big breakfast, and we chalked it up to the overall excitement of travel and headed off to the park anyway. The rain had let up a little, and we had a great amount of fun in store!
We started with the new "Finding Nemo" ride, which had opened soon after our last trip there three years ago. I didn't like it--it was noisy and made me claustrophobic! But we heartily enjoyed shooting Zurgs on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. My parents especially got into it--who knew my mom liked to shoot things so much? Seriously, the woman was lethal! We rode Buzz a couple of times (with my dad totally kicking my trash both times) then since we were in Tomorrowland we headed to Autopia. 
By this time, though, we were starting to really worry about Bethany. She just didn't seem excited at all. She was completely not reacting to anything and just wanted me to hold her the whole time. And during our ride on the Autopia cars, it started to rain. I mean REALLY started to rain. We all ran for cover to the Innovations building and hung out there for an hour or so, trying to dry out and wait out the storm. But the rain just wasn't letting up at all and I was wanting to get Bethany back to the hotel, so we left during what we thought was a break from the heaviest rain.
And then the rain really, really, REALLY started to come down. Like days-of-Noah type of rain. Seriously, none of us had ever seen rain like that in our entire lives! (And Grandma and Mom lived in Eugene, Oregon for three years!) We were wading through four-inch deep water on our way to the shuttle. James had Bethany zipped up in his jacket and had his poncho over her, and all of us just ran pell-mell for the bus. We could hardly even see where we were going and the rain was freezing! Finally, finally we made it onto the bus. And here we are with our good attitudes:
Okay, so I didn't have the best attitude at that point. Not even feeling close to PollyAnna. But I was trying to echo the cheery thoughts of Mom and Grandma, who were saying things like, "We're having an experience we'll remember!" So true. We found out later that night that there had been a tornado in Southern California, and the weather people were calling the rain "tornadic thunderstorms." So we were pretty impressed that we were at Disneyland during a tornadic thunderstorm! (We later found out that Disneyland had more rain that one day than they had all last year.)
Once we got back to the hotel, though, Bethany was feeling pretty hot, and we were feeling pretty worried. (Just a side note: while we were packing before the trip, James asked me if we should bring the Tylenol for Bethany. I said, in the spirit of packing light, "Nah, she hardly ever needs it and we can always find some there in the unlikely event that we need some." Again, words to haunt me later!) James and Dad spent the rest of afternoon riding two different buses to various stores to find some Children's Tylenol, some Children's Motrin and a thermometer, while all of our clothes dried in the clothes dryer and I snuggled a hot, sleeping Bethany amid a room full of laid-out-to-dry ponchos. (Are we having fun yet?)
A few hours later, thanks to a priesthood blessing and a good dose of Tylenol, Bethany started to perk up. The hotel had movies you could borrow for free (Did I mention I really liked this place?) so we settled down to watch Monsters, Inc. while we munched our complementary cheese and crackers, also provided by the hotel. (They had a different yummy snack every night!) We kept a pretty close eye on Bethany through the night, giving her doses of Motrin and Tylenol as often as we could. 
We took Bethany's temperature so many times, she decided that Grandpa needed HIS temperature taken, too. She did this by sticking the thermometer in his hair--often. As I thought he looked cute, I took a picture:
Thankfully, Wednesday morning's cloudy sky had not yet started to drip the inevitable rain, so we hightailed it to the park--armed with Tylenol and Bethany's thermometer, just in case. And as we walked in the gates, who should we see but GOOFY! An actual Disneyland character! We were SO excited. Nevermind that none of us are mega Goofy fans--it was a character, and characters had been pretty scarce during the tornadic thunderstorms. (The wimps!) So we had to stop and get a picture to document the historical moment:
Our good luck struck twice that morning when we saw Mickey Mouse himself! We were thrilled! And because there weren't that many people there, we actually got to spend some quality time with him (or her--who knows who's really in there, right?). And it was almost like you see in the commercials when the kid walks up to Mickey and absolutely no one else is around, and he gets a hug from Mickey and then they go walking off together down the street, into the sunset. I always used to make fun of that commercial because the REAL story is that most kids wait in line two hours or more to see Mickey for a quick photo and a pat on the head. But for us that day, the commercial was more of a reality! It was a Disneyland miracle!
That Wednesday morning was one of our favorite times during the whole trip. The rain was mild--just a notch above sprinkling--and we were able to ride lots of our favorite rides, including MY all-time favorite, Splash Mountain! We finally, finally felt like we were really at Disneyland, in spite of the fact that we couldn't find a churro anywhere (the churro people are apparently not fond of rain). But the best thing of all about Wednesday morning was that Bethany was finally feeling better. Everything falls into perspective sometimes, you know? On Monday and Tuesday morning, I was so stinkin' mad about the rain. Then after Bethany got sick, I didn't care about the weather anymore. "As long as Bethany feels well, we can handle the rain," we said. So when Bethie started feeling better, a HUGE cloud lifted from our hearts--if not from our heads!
Here are some highlights from Wednesday morning:
Meeting Jasmine:
Snow White:
Mulan:
Belle:
And Minnie!
You know, they say that "Every cloud has a silver lining," And our rain clouds did have a pretty wonderful silver lining: NO LINES. We didn't spend as much time at the park as we would have if it had been sunny, but we got lots done because we walked onto every ride without standing in a line. And it was awfully cute watching Bethany roam around like a little ghost in her poncho!
That afternoon, though, the weather turned monsoon-ish again, so once again we headed back to the hotel amid a torrent of rain. At the hotel, we settled into our now daily routine of throwing all of our clothes in the dryer, spreading our ponchos out to dry, and drying out our shoes with the hair blowers. Incidently, I didn't know prior to this trip that my shoes have holes in them. Not the ideal situation to find that out! I would have paid $100 for a pair of $5 galoshes if I had found them. I'm not kidding. Then we settled in for the night with another video, Night at the Museum, which was fun to watch all snug in our room with the rain pouring outside.
The next day, Thursday, was my very favorite day of the whole trip. We woke up, donned our jackets and ponchos, did NOT do our hair (no point), and headed to Disney's California Adventure. So fun! The highlight was taking my mom and Grandma on the Soarin' Over California ride. I love that ride and knew they would, too, and I couldn't wait to share it with them! And they didn't let me down. They loved it every bit as much as I knew they would and, in fact, we rode it twice in a row (loving that no lines thing)! Dad took Bethany to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show while we rode Soarin'. So much fun!
Also on Thursday, we went to the show It's Tough to Be a Bug in Bugland: 
Met Tinkerbell and Silvermist in Pixie Hollow:
And had a rootin', tootin' time on the Woody ride, where once again we got to shoot things. (What is it about normally docile people enjoying shooting things? FUN!) We had so much fun on that ride, we rode it several times. Bethany and I, every time the car spun around, would yell, "YAHOOO!" I'll never forget that, yelling "YAHOO!!!! over and over with Bethany while we shot targets in 3D! 
We really had such a fun time that day. For once, I just embraced the rain. Bethany was feeling completely better. We were having fun anyway. Bring it on. AND WE FINALLY FOUND A CHURRO!!!!!!! Bless that hardy churro-maker's heart, whoever she was.
After a yummy late lunch at the Rainforest Cafe (it seemed appropriate), Mom, Dad and Grandma all headed back to the hotel. But James, Bethany and I stayed behind for more fun. Thursday was the first day we actually stayed at the parks the entire day. Finally, on day four, we were able to stay! Not that it didn't rain--it did. We were soaked and my feet felt like blocks of ice. (I really wondered for a time if I would find mushrooms growing between my toes from my feet being constantly wet. Disneyland trench foot. But so far, so good.) We were determined to stick it out, though, and we had a ball! The weather actually cleared up that evening for awhile. Of course, that's when we heard the announcement that they were closing early again "Due to inclement weather." Funny how they let us stay during tornadic thunderstorms, then closed when it was clearing up!
At around 6:30, we headed back to the hotel, since Bethany had fallen asleep in my arms. We returned to hot cups of cocoa, our clothes dryers, warm baths, and once again took hair blowers to our shoes while watching Galaxy Quest.
Friday was our last day at Disneyland, and the weather was . . .very rainy. (Did I mention that Southern California is having a water shortage?)But we bundled up again and headed out into the downpour.
The highlight of the morning was when we got to see the Aladdin show. So fun! So spectacular! And all in a nice, warm building where we could rest our rain-pelted heads! Here are Mom, Dad and Grandma standing in line for the Aladdin show--the only line we really had to stand in the entire trip.
As it was our last day, we also did some souvenier shopping. Grandpa and Grandma Lyman had given Bethany some money, and she decided to spend it on Mickey Mouse ears with her name embroidered on the back. For some reason, she prefered wearing the strap on her nose:
The gang (except me!) under the "Golden Gate" bridge:
That day, we tried to hit what we didn't get before as well as revisit our favorite things. Grandma, James, Mom and Dad went on Soarin' again while Bethany and I waited out the rain in a gift shop. Then we went on the Monster's Inc. ride four times. (Bethany LOVED it, especially as we had just seen the movie again.)We gave Bugland a good try and even rode Heimlich's "Chew-Chew" Train in the pouring rain. Can't say that one was all that fun. I didn't account for the fact that the giant clovers in Bugland accumulate and drip lots of water in addition to the regular rain. And our bums got wet from the puddles on the seats! (Nothing worse than a wet bum, right?) So my word of advice: the "Chew-Chew" train is better in the sun, no matter how valiantly you're trying to have a good attitude. After our wet train ride, we headed back over to Disneyland for a few last-minute princess meetings and greetings:
And generally tried to have a bang-up last day. We went on Pirates one last time, as that's a favorite. We tried to do Splash Mountain and Winnie the Pooh again, too, but they were closed "due to inclement weather." (After all, we wouldn't want to get wet on Splash Mountain, right?)
In the afternoon, Mom, Dad and Grandma declared themselves done and took off for the hotel, while James, Bethany and I stayed behind. We wanted to do just a few more things. Unfortunately, the rain hadn't let up at all and they had shut down a lot of the rides--including the Haunted Mansion, which made me CRAZY. For Pete's sake! That ride is ENTIRELY indoors! I came this close to telling the Disney employee just how I felt about that, but decided I should be a good example for my daughter. But I was really fuming on the inside.
But then we experienced another Disneyland miracle, which brought me back to the brink of sanity. We walked into the eatery in Fantasyland to grab a bite to eat, and an employee asked us if we wanted a "Magical Moment." (Why yes, we did.) So he took us to a private little table, all decked out with a real tablecloth and real cloth napkins, and he waited on us hand and foot. He even gave us free refillable drinks, a free warm cookie and free hot chocolate to take with us when we left! I wanted to HUG that kid! But I didn't want to alarm him, so I refrained. I had just been so frustrated that they were shutting down indoor rides because of the rain, but this kid restored some of my faith in magic!
We did get to go to the Tiki Room again (Bethany's favorite) and hit a few other things like Dumbo and the carousel--which they kept open in the rain, thank you very much, unlike the all indoor Haunted Mansion. (Okay, I'll stop now.) And then we went home to dry out and pack up. The week went WAY too fast!
What have I learned?
1) Take galoshes with you wherever you go, especially when you go to "sunny" destinations that have a "water shortage."
2) Take Tylenol with you wherever you go, especially when your child never gets sick.
3) Chew a Meklazine (sp?) any time you travel. It not only makes you totally not airsick on the flight home, it also makes you feel very happy inside about life in general. Ahhhhh, drugs!
4) When you see the sunshine and the blue sky and NOT A CLOUD IN SIGHT on your drive from the hotel to the airport on your way out of town, just pretend it's not there. It's not mocking you. Really. It does no good to cry, shake your fist at the sky or think bad words.
5) James is VERY HANDSOME in a poncho.
6) When you go to "sunny" destinations where there is a water shortage, make sure you travel with people who are determined to have fun, no matter what. I can't thank my family enough for their positive outlook. We really did have a lot of fun, in good part because we chose to have fun despite the "inclement weather." It was a trip to remember--with great fondness. I already wish I were back, rain and all. And the cutest thing ever was hearing Bethany sing all of the Disney songs on the flight home. She could have passed a hat around the plane--people loved her!
I once heard a quote by Mark Twain: "I'm glad I did it, partly because it was well worth it, but mostly because I shall never have to do it again." That's not how I feel about the trip--I do want to do it again. Soon. But I will say that next time I would like to see a little sun. As my mom said, "I wonder how Disneyland would have looked if we had been able to look UP!" But the memories are pretty awesome anyway--and maybe not in spite of the rain, but because of it. (And next time, I'm bringing galoshes and a heavy raincoat and quite possibly an entire fireman's suit!)
