What's a 40-something Mom and a 5.75 year old boy to do on a Sunday afternoon when there's nothing on the calendar that needs doing?
Go to Disneyland, of course!
Long story short, I didn't tell him where we going and by taking a circuitous route to get there, trying to throw him off, resulted in it taking far longer than it should have.
After we arrived I said I needed to go to the bathroom. As we walked into the ladies' room I almost literally walked into a good friend of mine, Jen! We pointed at each other and said "You!" We laughed. Ok. *That* made the extra traffic and time on the road worth it. If I had taken our normal route we never would've bumped into Jen and her family. We had known the other would be there that day, but had totally different plans and didn't think we'd see one another. How fortuitous to run into some of our favorite people! We spent a little time together so Cub and her son could have time to play while the adults talked. They went to their special event and we headed into Disneyland.
The first stop every time with Cub must be Star Tours. It's his favorite ride. Sorry, Camera Guy. Attraction. It was very crowded on Sunday. An 8 out of 10 on the Crowd-o-Meter! Needless to say, we didn't get on too many attractions. When we got over to Haunted Mansion the line was extra long because of the overlay of Nightmare Before Christmas. I asked the CM (Cast Member) at the end of the line how long the wait was and she replied "1 hour." I turned to Cub and told him the line was SUPER long today and asked did he want to wait or go to the Pooh ride. He said Pooh. At which point the CM asked if it was just the 2 of us. I replied that it was indeed, just the 2 of us. She indicated for us to follow her. She led us past the long line of people waiting and past the hearse, up the stairs to the front of the line! We were escorted by another CM into the first chamber within a minute! What a kind thing she did, letting us go up to the front of the line! She didn't have to do that. But, sprinkling pixie dust is a perk of her job.
Pixie dust is Disney-speak for creating magic for someone. By her taking us to the front of the line and not have to wait, she made magic happen for us! we didn't think we were going to be able to ride that ride. It's not something the CMs are able to do for everyone every time. That's part of what makes it special. We floated through the attraction as if Tinker Bell herself had sprinkled us with her pixie dust and taught us to fly!
As we moved through the park after that we headed to the Winnie the Pooh ride. The CM was just moving the rope across the entrance, closing it. I asked what happened and she explained it was "down" (not working). Ok, we said, we'd go wander through the store at the end of the ride (most Disney attractions have a store at the end that you have to walk through in order to get back out into the park) and see if the attraction was working again when we came out. It was not. However, Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore were in their Meet-and-Greet spots. We hadn't taken pictures with them in a long time! Cub was up for waiting to see them after we learned they were about to go on a break.
So wait and see them (except Pooh) we did. When we got to the spot where Pooh would've been we were told his break was a little longer and they were sorry, but we couldn't wait where we were as it was a hazard. Huh? Um, how about if we wait over here to the side? Another family in front of us got angry and huffy with the CM who was trying to explain to us the situation. We got neither angry nor huffy and after that family left the CM let us stay, albeit a little more out of the way, for Pooh. It would be about 10 mins. we were told. 15 mins. later, Pooh emerged. Cub had been a trooper about waiting! Of course, having the iPad along to play with helped. :)
So I got pictures of Cub with Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore! Hooray! What luck! Or was it more pixie dust? I choose to believe the latter. That's what it sure felt like, anyway.
The line for Buzz Lightyear attraction was shorter than we had seen it the whole time we were there that day, so we hopped in line and rode the ride, feeling pixie dusted not to have waitied as long as we might have earlier in the day.
I asked Cub if we could ride Pirates of the Caribbean before we left. I know he's a little scared of the waterfall drops. He was a little hesitant but said ok. As we approached the queue I was shocked (shocked, I say!) to find it completely empty and not roped off! It had just come "back up" from being "down" and there was no one waiting. We almost ran through the queue to get to the front! We were on in no time! How lucky were we? Wait, no, I think pixie dust was at work again for us, knowing that Cub was starting to wear down for the day, growing increasingly tired as we neared bedtime.
He snuggled in close and buried his face in my side as we approached the first, and admitedly, larger, of the 2 waterfalls. I LOVED IT! Having him still want to snuggle to me to feel safe, left me choked up. Afrer the seond, smaller waterfall he rode the majority of the rest of the attraction with his hand resting on my leg. I felt warm and loved. This was my favorite memory of the day. But, I knew he was done and needed to get to the car quickly when he lay down on the bench-seat of the boat and lay his head in my lap after we went up the waterfall to disembark.
My only disappointment of the day was I tried unsuccessfully to purchase a limited time only ceramic mug fashioned to look like Minnie Mouse as a pumpkin. I was told they were out resort-wide. That would've been the icing on the proverbial cake of my day. But, upon reflection, and discussion with Cub today, we both really had a great day together, just us, no Camera Guy for a change, and made some fun memories, just Mommy and Cub.
It was by far one of my favorite days with Cub in memory. Our journey was sprinkled with pixie dust from the minute we stepped out of the car.
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