The place of Adventure, Travel to East Africa: Djibouti, India, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Kenya, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus and Disneyland.  Now adding Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan and Disneyland.  Mexico and Disneyland.   Disaster, Earthquake and Emergency Preparedness and Services for San Francisco.  We also like Disneyland.

 Disneyland, here we come!!

On Friday, Sept, 13, 2002, The Lads, I, and my new - wonderful - girlfriend are taking to the road, and heading for Disneyland.  We shall see what adventures we have en route.  Check back to see what happens!

September 14, 2002:  The Boys, my girlfriend and I have arrived!  The weather is great, the staff at the Inn instantly recognizes me, and our passes are renewed and upgraded to "2 park" passes in no time!  Many of our favorite rides are covered, the girlfriend got her OWN annual pass,  and she thinks it's great!  In the evening, The Boys abandon us, as they want to see a movie on their own, and do.  Exhausted already, The Boys have been teasing me about getting old.  I stay up to be sure of their safe arrival back to their room - despite my aged condition at 49!  (Funny - I wouldn't trade this point in my life for anything)!

Summer of 2002 was positively dull, as far as The Boys and I were concerned.  I had July 4th with them - and we did plant a flag atop a tall mountain, but - other than them spending some time with me at work - the time was filled with camps and other activities - NOT done with my approval!  In late July, I did meet a young lady, and that HAS turned out to be quite exciting!

February 22, 2002 saw the Boys and I return to our favorite haunt - Disneyland.  The Boys are spending this week with me, including last weekend and this one.  The night before we left, the boys had a bit of a break in that I allowed their Mother to have an evening with them - just like I do, on Thursday evening.  Both Boys got invited to an overnight with friends.  That gave me a free evening as well, which I (used to my best advantage, as I remember)...

A pretty uneventful drive lasted a mere 7 1/4 hours.  We ate a late lunch, skipped the usual dinner in Buttonwillow, made a beeline to Disneyland, and headed directly for dinner at the Bengal Barbecue - finding it closed.  Oh well, tomorrow then.

For the record:  Star Tours, Space Mountain (which we thought would be closed), were the rides of the evening, along with an unexpected fireworks show.

February 23, 2002:  The Boys slept in this morning, and it wasn't until late that I had the heart to roust them and get them going.  We didn't make the gate until about 11:30 AM.

As soon as we entered the gate, we ran into a friend of Chris' and his Dad - another single Dad, and a friend of mine.  They tagged along with us for most of the day, and turned a special day into a VERY special one!  What a coincidence!

Lunch was at the Bengal Barbecue (of course) and the rides included (for all of us), The Haunted Mansion (back to normal), Indiana Jones, Big Thunder Mountain, The Matterhorn, Space Mountain and the Jungle Cruise.  Later, the Boys and I did the Imagination Institute and Star Tours - following our swim back at the Candy Cane and dinner at the local pizza joint. 

During our break, I was able to confirm the data I have on the Disneyland trunked radio system - it's accurate!

In the evening, as the Disneyland day comes to a close,  The Boys want to go off in the candy store by themselves - and make their way back to the Inn on their own.  I allow this, and they make it back before I do!  They are growing up, and as I'm allowing them to, they are showing good (Great?) responsibility!

This diary is in chronological order, with the latest news added to the end.  Last entry: October 7, 2001.

October 4:  Tomorrow is Disneyland day.  Tonight the X, like every year, tries to block our annual pilgrimage to the Magic Kingdom.  As usual, she failed, but this time became enraged and ordered me to never set foot inside her "home" again.  I guess that means she won't be asking me to do her any favors when she's out of town, ever again.  What do you want to bet?  I believe her problems are getting worse.  Too bad.

 October 5, 2001:  After running around all morning getting things done there are only two chores left before we can go.  Get sandwiches for the trip and a replacement printer cartridge for my portable printer.  Parking is fierce today, so I have to park near the school and walk five blocks for sandwiches.  We pick up the printer cartridge on the way out of town.

The eight hour drive is completed in eight hours, despite heavy traffic and four stops.  The Boys have said, "Thank goodness we had driving to Tahoe Acres to train us, this was easy"!  They want to pull off a short weekend to Disneyland this Winter, if we can't get a longer time.

On the 10 PM shuttle bus, we arrive at the gates of Disneyland, only to find that the computer thinks our passes expired months ago!   They let us in anyway.  At the Bank, they find that the system is all confused because out renewal card were mailed TODAY!  Never did find out why they thought our old cards were no good.  They're good though our current trip. Things got straightened out.

Because we were so nice about things, they rewarded us with a "go to the front of the line" pass for tonight AND one for tomorrow as well.  It pays to be nice!

A couple of passes through Space Mountain - with an Autopia visit thrown for good measure (just what I needed: 3 hours driving around town, doing chores, and a eight hour highway drive to LA and my reward is a drive on the Autopia - heh, heh.), and we are done.  Exhausted.  The Boys go off to bed easily after a snack, and I'm going to follow shortly.  It was a good first day for a short visit.

Postscript to the "must find" printer cartridge portion of the story:  Tonight, I was looking for my digital camera.  I looked in my Jeep's console and found a printer cartridge of the exact type I had hunted for and found in San Francisco.  I had one all along!  Well, now I have a spare.  Of course, I always did!  Yes, I found the camera as well.  In a fit of disorganization, I had stowed it where I usually do. 

Saturday, October 6, 2001

This morning, none of us wanted to wake up early, but Colt made a "muffin run" to the Candy Cane's breakfast bar, and came back with goodies.

It was still well into the morning when we arrived at the gate, and yes, our passes are still fouled up - as the undoubtedly will be for he duration of the trip.  We look at it in the best light possible:  While the check us out, we get to spend some time observing a Disneyland entry gate.  It is an interesting place to watch!  Security is there, most of it unseen and unnoticed by the people flowing through. 

It was a day of rides!  We make use of our "special" entry pass, on Splash Mountain,  while we let the time pass for a fastpass we obtained as soon as we got there!  We have mastered the art of the fast pass!  Before we leave for the afternoon break, we make sure we have gathered one or two in advance, which we can use when we return from the afternoon / dinner break. When we return (In this case, with some time watching the entry turnstile as they check our presence on the "exceptions" list), we get another fastpass, while we ride on the passes we already have!

Ride nutshell:  Space Mountain (2X), Indiana Jones (3X), Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Pinocchio's scary ride (Kid rides are cool, too), and the Haunted Mansion.

The Haunted Mansion is worthy of note here.  It has been transformed for the Halloween season.  Save for the track route, the entire ride has been decked out especially for Halloween!  Highly recommended.  Highly praised.  Fast passes: required.  They must have publicized it in So. Cal. heavily, but I knew nothing of it beforehand.

Following our last ride on Space Mountain, I remembered it was time for the nightly fireworks at Disneyland.  For some reason, following the Sept. 11 attack on our Country, I really thought watching some fireworks was a good idea.  Christopher protested, (he wanted to ride more rides, but I - I am Dad, after all, prevailed.  We made our way to the smoking spot near the (closed) Matterhorn ride.  I smoked, the lights dimmed, and the fireworks show began...

It was a spectacular fireworks extravaganza, the likes of which could only be called "The usual", by one who has witnessed dozens of such displays, and we three certainly qualify.  Then, just as we thought it was over, came a voice through the loudspeaker: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls.  In light of recent events, Disneyland is proud to present the following salute to our Country and Home".  What followed was not one, but two renditions of "God Bless America", with tremendous fireworks!  Everyone sang.

It was the emotional release I had been needing.  My eyes welled up more than once.  During the break between renditions, I shook the hand of another visitor.  We both said "God Bless America"! to each other.  That She had a Russian accent and her partner was a Black man, meant and means absolutely nothing.  Their daughter is as American as apple pie!  I was happy to spend that moment with them, fellow Americans. 

Later, I asked the Boys what parts of the day they wanted me to enter into the diary tonight, after they went to bed.  Both of them said, "The Fireworks".  Both of them had separately told me that tears had welled up in THEIR eyes, as well...  It was a needed release for all of us - now we want to kill some terrorists. 

Tomorrow is "Red shirt" day at Disneyland.  The Gay folks are having "Gay Day 2" tomorrow, all wearing red shirts.  There were plenty of early arrivals today, whose shirts are probably going to begin to smell pretty bad by tomorrow afternoon  (do I need to remind us of Mister Flaming STINKY, who not only smelled like Hell, but insisted on talking about Spandex clothing, so we all could hear, on the bus?  (Gross - tub lards talking spandex).  I remember last year.  Lots of banner towing airplanes, buzzing the Park, with Gay slogans and web sites.  No problem then (I had actually forgotten) but I'm sure the planes will be missing this year.

I would love it if all the straight folks wore blue or white shirts, turning the whole place into a giant American flag!

Anyway, thinking of the crowds last year, The Boys want to do the California Adventure tomorrow, and I plan on it.  Maybe we'll do some Disneyland as well - we'll see how things turn out!

Sunday, October 7, 2001

We awoke to the news that America's armed response to the terrorist attacks had begun.  The Boys and I were glued to the tube for awhile, as we drank morning beverages, took showers and ate doughnuts.

We bypassed Disneyland entirely today and did the California Adventure.  It's not Disneyland, but it is certainly an eye popping (and mind blowing) piece of work.  I may have to back fill the descriptions of the attractions, but we went on the Golden Zephyr, the California Screamin' roller coaster, Soaring above California, and the Grizzly river rapids.

We did the Grizzly ride twice, almost by accident.  We used our day's tickets to get a fast pass.  On a lark, we tried it again with our Disneyland Annual passes, and out popped another fast pass for each of us!   This was a trick that could not be repeated.  When The Boys tried it again, out came a chit that said that this "ticket was not used for admission today, so is not valid".

We found Disney pork ribs for dinner!  As you may recall, I lamented the closing of Disneyland's Bear Country BBQ, the source of a good BBQ meal.  The "Taste Pilot's Base" now has an excellent BBQ rib dinner for $9.99 and other goodies as well.  For Park food, an excellent value, and excellent quality.

The Park was closing at 8 PM tonight, with the Electrical Parade scheduled at 8PM.  This was one of the "Biggies" when I began my journeys to Disneyland with The Boys, as a single Dad.  It was important to us.  We settled in to watch, about 2/3 of the way along the Parade Route.  Everyone was there, but it was nothing like Disneyland crowds.  It was thoroughly enjoyable.  Everyone had a good nostalgic time.  Then...

The last float came by.  It's name: To Honor America.  An Illuminated extravaganza of our flag, our colors and our American Eagle.  The crowd rose, applauded and burst into cheers!  As it passed, it was the end of the parade.  Without thinking much, I fell in behind.  Usually, the crowd - myself included - just kind of disperses after a parade has gone by, but we followed.  A few minutes later, I looked back.  The ENTIRE PARK had followed the float, until it went off stage. 

Then it was time for us to go.  It was almost 9 PM - and Disneyland was closing at that hour. 

The Boys and I went to Downtown Disney after that.  They were tired.  When a shoving match erupted between the Boys, that was it.  We went back to the room, and it was time for bed.  Tonight is not a school night, but tomorrow night IS!  Tomorrow is also a big travel day, so I'm glad we're all going down relatively early. 

Monday October 8

We departed the Inn by 11:30 am and headed North for a remarkably smooth and rapid return.  This drive is rapidly becoming "routine", as we pretty well know where we are going to rest, eat and refuel.  By 7 PM we were back in The City, and sitting down to a delicious Chinese meal by 7:30.  By 9, the Boys were back with their Mom, all Homework complete.

All that's left now is developing the photos!