4am- WE RIDE!

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Geo: 33.8327, -117.916

We got up at the crap hour of 4am. Most of us work so we were limited to a 3 day trip. The cheapest Disneyland tickets were ironically 3 day park hoppers. So... We ended up doing two partial days and one full day. We made the long drive down I-5 and got to Anaheim around 11am. Not bad timing! We did most of the checking in process to our condo but the rooms weren't ready yet so we just headed over to the park.

My sister Geneva made Galen and I some badass crocheted Disney hats. My Minnie hat had a detachable bow (she made three other bows in other colors). Even though it was February, it was already incredibly warm outside. The next two days the heat would reach into the 80s (which made the DoleWhip floats from the Tiki room absolute bliss). The park was fairly crowded, especially this first day, which was odd for February it seemed. But maybe a bunch of kids are on break from school or something. We used Geneva's back handicap to jump ahead of many lines the next few days. She's not super immobile, and actually walked a huge chunk of the time. During those instances, we'd take turns riding her scooter around Disneyland for her. It was quite eye opening to see how many people just simply don't care you're on a scooter and presumably disabled. They ignore your presence. Look the other way. Which is not only sad but makes not running them over less a priority. As great as the scooter is with going and stopping, the brakes still aren't the greatest. And if you're gonna be a dick, I'm not going to feel bad running into your ankles. Karma.

I think the funniest thing that happened was when we were on the Indiana Jones ride. I had put my backpack on the floor of the ride, incorrectly thinking it would be safe. It was too big to fit in the "pockets" the ride provides. It ended up between my dad's legs while I tried to hold onto my brother's water bottle with my feet amidst the sharp turns and jerks of the ride. On literally the last turn, the backpack flew out of my dad's legs, past mine and smacked against the wall outside our car. And the ride just continued on as I sat there stunned it flew out of the car so fast. We got out of the car and I went up to the nearest ride operator to explain what happened, that the backpack was literally 30ft away from where we were standing on the last turn and they just needed to stop the ride for a minute to grab the backpack. The kid (who was probably all of 18) listened unsympathetically as I explained three times that all of our wallets, phones, disneyland tickets and hotel information was in that backpack (okay... I exaggerated a little.. but I really wanted my backpack, DAMMIT!). And three times he just said we'd have to pick up the backpack at the end of the day from the Lost and Found. It was dinner time, how are we going to eat without money? We can't even leave the park and come back without our tickets. Just as I was about to ask to see his manager, he called the manager for me. He was also unsympathetic but he did offer to give us dinner vouchers to any of the cheaper restaurants in Disneyland... until he realized there were eight of us in our group. Suddenly his story changed from, "We can't just STOP the ride" to "..let me call my manager on the phone... he may want to stop the ride... or give you dinner vouchers." So, he left and came back after about five minutes. They were going to stop the ride for my backpack but they had to let "this group" on the ride first. Enter stage left, Jennifer Lopez, her kids, her bouncers, her entourage and her personal Dinseyland concierge. Understood. I wasn't even annoyed- I was incredibly amused. No wonder they were fiercely against retrieving my backpack. We sat to the side as we watched J-Lo hang out with her son while everyone else rode the ride. We think he was probably too freaked out to go on the ride. Most people getting off the ride didn't realize it was her. The few that did were quickly ushered along by the ginormous bouncer. As a parent myself, it was neat to see her in the dressed down Mom role. =)

Other than David losing his wallet somewhere in California Adventures, there was minimal drama from then on out. (Somebody returned the wallet to Lost and Found almost immediately- thank god for honest people).

We were all exhausted by the time we made it back to the condo at 11pm. First day well spent!

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