The secret family adventure
It’s a small world after all, because I saw a couple of
Hollister families cruising around Disneyland and Disney’s
California Adventure last week. I learned long ago that the
tentacles of San Benito County reach far and wide.
Our annual trip to the Magic Kingdom was a spur of the moment
thing, planned when my wife and I realized we each had a rare
weekday off. We kept it a secret from the kids, only telling them
that they should pack for a three-day trip somewhere.
The secret family adventure
It’s a small world after all, because I saw a couple of Hollister families cruising around Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure last week. I learned long ago that the tentacles of San Benito County reach far and wide.
Our annual trip to the Magic Kingdom was a spur of the moment thing, planned when my wife and I realized we each had a rare weekday off. We kept it a secret from the kids, only telling them that they should pack for a three-day trip somewhere.
They made guesses: “I know it’s Disneyland!” our younger one said.
But when we did our best PR spin – “We can neither confirm nor deny the voracity of your postulations” – or something like that, we threw them for a loop.
Since we were heading down south on New Year’s Day, and being the sports nuts that they are, they ventured other guesses:
“We’re going to the Rose Bowl! We’re going to watch USC vs. Penn State!”
I said, “I can’t tell you what we’re doing, but we may be going by Pasadena.” We drove by the exit, we just didn’t stop.
Then it was “We’re going to a Lakers game! We’re going to watch Kobe!” Our children over-estimate their parents’ financial resources and have no idea that four tickets to a Lakers game on New Year’s Day would probably cost more than four tickets to Disneyland – even with a couple of churros thrown in.
So my wife and I held our ground, keeping the secret as best we could.
As we neared Magic Mountain, they thought that could be our destination, as I tried to throw them off the scent by scooting the car to the right lane of the highway as we neared that exit.
When we kept driving, they gave up guessing for a while.
Finally, we arrived at the Disneyland exit and they knew our plan.
“Are you guys excited?” we asked, as their dreams of watching college football and pro basketball in person were dashed.
“Oh yeah,” they responded in unison. We knew they would be. Heck, I was excited.
It wasn’t Chamber of Commerce weather during our trip, as it was overcast and chilly during our stay. There was no rain but there were close to a billion people there, as always.
All of that didn’t matter a bit, however, as we battled those crowds to enjoy some quality family time with a teen and a tween who still don’t mind hanging around their parents at a theme park.
“Dad, I’m going to sit by you on the Matterhorn,” my youngest one declared. Since that was the first “real” roller coaster that he braved at Disneyland, it has become his favorite.
Then we waited nearly an hour to ride Space Mountain, and my son said that actually, this was his favorite, but the Matterhorn was right behind it. The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad crept into his ever-changing Top 5 list after we rode that during the nightly fireworks show, climbing one of the ride’s hills with a clackety-clack as the pyrotechnics boomed in the sky in front of us, setting a surreal scene.
With no friends around, it was good, quality family bonding time; one of those increasingly-rare times where we weren’t rushed to be somewhere or do something. You can’t be rushed when you’re in line for the Indiana Jones ride for 85 minutes.
The trip was not just about the rides, though my older son seemed proud that he held down his lunch on the Maliboomer, which looks scarier than it is because it features “barf shields” meant to protect other riders and spectators from flying lunch.
We all talked a lot during our long waits in line and we all yelled and made weird faces when we rode the Tower of Terror. Since we could all drive our own cars on Autopia, we tried to race each other and I ignored the warnings and kept bumping into my wife’s car as we were nearing the end of the ride. Our family even took a break from the DVD and Ipod and car radio to play word guessing games on the long ride home along Hwy. 5.
The older the kids get, the more special these trips get. We don’t bring home the mouse ears any more, but we do have the “It’s a Small World” and “Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirate’s life for me” songs stuck in our heads for a week. And we used our cell phones to take pictures of the pictures they took of us on the thrill rides. (I’m not paying $19.95 to see myself looking all chicken-y on a ride.)
It’s all great fun, family bonding couched as an adventure, no barf shield required.
