Happy 55th birthday, Disneyland!
It plays a part in the wonderful memories of childhood. In fact, having lived in California all my life, Disneyland is intertwined with lots of memories, for me. Many of the family stories include Disneyland.
Of course, there was the first time, shortly after the park opened. There were special activities for newspaper folks and their families. Since my father was a newspaperman, we were included. I don't remember much about that visit except being flabbergasted that such a wonderful place existed.
What I do remember is riding around the perimeter of the park, on the train, with Walt Disney. Lots of people were taking our pictures and I got to sit right next to him. I was way too young to know what a photo op was.
I don't remember too many trips back to Disneyland after that, as a child. I think my parents were mildly amused by the whole thing but, getting in free was probably the draw. No more free tickets were forthcoming, as I remember.
What I do remember is E Tickets. Do you remember them? Even now, all these years later, you will still hear someone make a joke about needing an E Ticket to do something. Younger folks just look blank when that happens, too.
I do remember taking my young children there many times. They loved Bear Country. I have pictures of cute little toddler boys wearing Bear Country necklaces and climbing the trees in the park. In fact, I think the younger one was unwilling to go to bed that night unless he could wear his Bear Country bear around his neck.
Thinking about my son, Matthew, in Disneyland when he was still in diapers, reminds me of what should have been his first trip to the Magic Kingdom. My husband and I were the leaders of the Junior High School Youth Group at our church. For an entire school year, the kids did various things to raise money for a trip to Disneyland.
I made enough cookies to feed the entire population of California, and we sold them every Sunday morning, after church. We had a car wash, or two, too. The culmination of our fund raising attempts was a fried chicken dinner, held in the early spring.
A hundred people paid their money to come support us and eat fried chicken. It was the first—and last—time I cooked supper for a hundred people. By myself. It wasn't planned that way: the other parents who were going to help me had to back out at the last minute.
It was April. I was due in the first part of June. He was born on a Thursday, at the end of May, and the youth group went to Disneyland two days later, on Saturday. Not me: I was still in the hospital. My husband and two older children went without me. Oh well....
There have been lots of other trips to Disneyland since then. And every time we go, as we walk through the parking lot, to the entrance gates, my heart starts to pound and my stomach is full of butterflies. Excitement. Pure and simple: excitement. It never goes away, regardless of how many times I go there.
Probably my favorite time was the year that my daughter was in the high school marching band. They were invited to march in the daily Christmas Parade on Main Street. It was early in December and the weather was beautiful. The park was nearly empty except for the bands, their parents and other family members. There was no waiting in line to get on the rides. It was great.
Another of my favorite times was taking my first grandchild to Disneyland. In order to get him to go in the car, we had to “lie” to him. He was quite enamored of garbage trucks at the time, so we told him we were going to go see the garbage trucks.
He was quite disappointed at first, but he warmed up to the idea when Goofy gave him a hug. Phew.
I haven't been to Disneyland now for quite a while. I know that it has changed a lot, and so have I. There are new rides, new attractions, and a much younger “younger generation” than there was back then. Yes, I'm older, and possibly wiser, but in my heart of hearts, I'm still that little girl, riding on the train....
Loving the Magic Kingdom!
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