Being on vacation is funny. It’s supposed to be all about relaxation and recharging your batteries, but theme park vacations are anything but relaxing! Since we left on Wednesday I haven’t slept in past 6:00 AM and haven’t gone to bed before 11:30! And guess what? It’s a fabulous vacation! Lol! Our vacations are almost always at Disneyland. We are just ‘those people’. Some like Hawaii, some go camping, we go to Disneyland. Never before have I been reminded of how much a creature of habit I am than this trip. Disneyland is relaxing to our family. I always just thought we liked it here and that’s why, but it really has more to do with our familiarity with the environment and straight up happiness than anything. This year we added the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios to our itinerary and oh my goodness if that wasn’t the most exhausting day on the books! We had to learn the map, see all new attractions and an entirely different method of processing entertainment.
I won’t say we are uptight and pious, but we definitely shy away from cynicism, teasing, violence and, mayhaps, we’ve passed that onto our children because we had to keep coaching them- it’s ok! It’s funny to make fun of old people… Sometimes… Babies, too! Boogers are hilarious- so are farts! And it’s just fake blood! It’s not gross! Don’t worry! They only pretended to cut her arm off! But they were chagrined and shocked by all the rude and insensitive humor! LOL! Psycho, with the motel, iconic house on the hill and actual, real life Norman Bates carrying his dead mother to the trunk of the car, then chasing us menacingly with a knife, freaked them out beyond the beyond and forget about Jaws. Straight up traumatic for my littles. They’re so not toughened up! By the time we walked around in the 85 degree heat in that environment with 10,000 other people for 15 hours, we were so ready for hotel and home-sweet-DISNEYLAND!
The truly interesting part of this whole vacay thang this time ’round is that I always feel so authentically, entirely exhausted by the end of a theme park day, but I have yet to exceed 14,000 steps! Last time we vacationed in Disneyland we had a hotel walk to take every morning and night that resulted in a tremendous step boost to over 20,000 steps daily. I’ll be curious to see what actually shakes out as the average by the end of the trip. That said, my hips feel like I’ve been running ten miles a day. I realized that there’s a lot of standing in line and everywhere else and that definitely takes its toll on me. I’m planning a solid rest time upon our return home to insure I’ll be able to run the half marathon on the 28th! The other interesting thing, regarding my body, is that my belt had to be tightened two notches since I got here. Either I’m dehydrated or I’m losing some weight. Hopefully it’s the latter and not the former. 😋
High points from the trip so far:
- The Live Frozen Musical in the Hyperion theater is just incredible- a parallel to the Aladdin show that lasted there for 14 years. I actually got teary a couple of times. I thought I’d heard Let it Go enough times to not get mushy about it, but it felt anthemic and girl powerish in a way that was pretty moving. Loved it!
- Soarin’ was new! Before I’ve always soared over California, but they changed it to be worldwide. I saw the scope of the Great Wall of China and was able to show my kids specifically how the Bavarian castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau are just a hop and a skip across the forest from one another, just like when I saw them in real life. It allowed my family to see things, to travel the world in a super accessible way and it was fairly emotional to me as I love, Love, LOVE travel but can’t afford it on a grand scale often. Last time I saw a different continent I was 23!
- Turtle Talk with Crush (an interactive movie where a guy behind the scenes voices the character and talks with the audience while the turtle swims around on the screen) resulted in Jude being quizzed about his favorite food. Jude told Crush his favorite food is a banana because of its shape. 😳 Yep. The audience literally gasped… Crush went silent…. And then he added because it’s shaped like the letter C. I was dying of silent laughter! My sweetheart of a boy!
- During our first morning at Disneyland, we cleaned up the entirety of Tomorrowland and also managed to ride Indiana Jones PLUS Thunder Mountain before 1:00! We were impressed!We learned to go to the opposite park as has the one that is hosting the Early Entry Magic Morning. The Disney Park (Disneyland or Disney’s California Adventure) with the early entry is PACKED while the other park has been comparably empty. We banked a lot of solid, low-crowd-impact playtime by taking advantage of the schedule. 😉
- Chewbacca was the sweetest Wookie ever. He lovingly caressed all of our faces, compared our hair color and lengths before hugging us the same way he hugs Han after he is released from the carbonite. I’ll confess I may have cried a little. The older I get the sappier (and happier) I get.
Awesome.
