It turns out that Disneyland is even better through the eyes of my daughter than it was on my own first visit. It really was a magical place for Jelly Bean. When you ask her now what her favorite part was, she can't even choose. I suppose that is because the whole trip was packed with one glorious surprise after another. She just says, "Everything. Everything was my favorite." She was truly enchanted.
We spent a week in California this May--visiting family, weathering illnesses, going to the beach, hemorrhaging money, and taking the girls on their first trip to Disneyland. I had been putting off the grands and aunties who were pushing to take the Bean to the Big D for a few years because I thought she was too young to really appreciate it. I'm glad that I did. I have decided that 4 1/2 years old is the optimum balance of being old enough to handle the long days and long lines and yet young enough to fully appreciate the magic. Sweet Pea, at almost 2, was definitely
not at the optimum age. I would have left her at Grammy's house if there had been anyone to watch her for the day. There was not, of course, because everyone wanted to be with the Bean for her D-land christening. She could have been in a Verizon commercial: Jelly Bean followed by her "network." We had my aunt, my cousin, my little cousin, Grammy and Papa, Papa Dude, and Mommy, Daddy and baby sister. The kid didn't make a single request that didn't have at least three people clamoring to fulfil it. She even had my aunt calling my cell phone from 300 miles away and demanding that we get a present for the girls from her. It was like the scene in
Hitch when Cameron Diaz asks the accountants for a pen.
I thought that Jelly Bean would catch on to the situation and cash in, but she hardly asked for anything. In fact, the only purchase that I remember her requesting was a glow wand from one of those vending carts on the way out of the park at night. By the afternoon of Day 2, the grands couldn't take it any longer and crumbled at the Princess Pavilion. They took matters into their own hands, and the purchasing began in earnest.
In the end it turned out that she didn't ask us to buy anything for her because she was blissfully happy at every turn. She was just taking it all in, riding rides, meeting characters, hugging princesses, dancing in the parade. Jelly Bean has a pretty decent grasp of real and pretend, but I think that the edges blurred nicely while we were there. Now whenever we see images of Cinderella or Tiana or Jasmine, the Bean is like, yeah, I've met her, we're buds. One of my favorite moments came when we were riding the submarines, which, for those of you who have not been to the park in a few decades, has been remodeled to feature Nemo (the fish, not the captain). They've got some pretty nifty projection system to make it look like the animated creatures are really swimming around in the water outside our submarine portholes. We were floating along, watching these little scenes with
Finding Nemo characters, and at one point the animated Dory looked toward us and said, "Hey! Why is that whale eating that big yellow submarine?" Jelly Bean gave a little start and exclaimed, "Mommy! She knows we're here!" It was perfect.
I admit that the week was not without its drawbacks. I had been dreadfully ill with an unshakable cough and cold leading up the trip. It lingered the entire time with the charming addition of a case of conjunctivitis that landed me in the urgent care clinic for the better part of Mother's Day. Sweet Pea held up reasonably well for both full days at the park, but then she debuted her newly acquired stomach bug with a spectacular episode of projectile vomiting at the character breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel. That was the beginning of a 6-day gastrointestinal nightmare. Brava, Sweet Pea.
And of course there was the inevitable and unmitigated outflow of money that is associated with any family vacation involving licensed characters. Just for posterity's sake, I will tell you that I purchased a 2-day pass for two adults and one child for...wait for it...$433. Is anyone else shocked here? I imagine that my girls will someday be reading this after they have taken
their children to Disneyland and laughing at how quaint my ranting is (similar to the way we snicker at our parents for complaining about spending twenty thousand dollars for a house in the 70's). We questioned the "cast member" who loaded people onto the parking trams about how many people visited the park each day and spent some time, as does everyone I suppose, trying to calculate the daily ticket sales. I also contemplated the operating costs for a day at that place. What does the loading dock of Disneyland look like? Are there 18-wheelers full of mouse ears pulling up every morning? Is there a freight train loaded with cotton candy rolling in? (
Side note: the Bean had her first cotton candy at Disneyland and said, "It tastes like hair.") Anyway, that company is a monster. I wasn't blind to the commercial genius of the whole operation, but you know what? It was all worth it. They do a great job, and it was still enchanting, even for me. I loved taking the girls there, but I confess that I would go to Disneyland again, even without them.
By fortunate coincidence, we happened to walk into the park on the morning of our first day right at the moment that Mickey was leading a marching band down Main Street. They stopped in front of us and did a few tunes and then off they went. I said, "Jelly Bean, wasn't that nice of Mickey Mouse to bring a marching to band to greet you on your first visit to Disneyland?"
She said, "But how did he know I was here?"
And I said, "Because it's the Magic Kingdom."
First off, Jelly Bean graduated from preschool last May. They wound up the year with a little ceremony in which each kid is given a certificate that predicts their future occupation. At the end of her first year, Bean got the Little Scientist Award which delighted me and distressed her accountant father. This time, however, her teachers made a comment on her personality that made us both laugh by bestowing upon her the Little Politician Award.
