October 8, 1999

At a little after the stroke of noon, our Columbus Day adventure is launched! I pick up the boys after school for a lunch of "Taco Bell" day. Suitably fed, we head from school over to the kid's Mom's house, then on to my place to 'triage' 2 full cases of clothes.

It turns out Mom did a pretty good job again. I had to add very little, and remove half a dozen sweatshirts, to get the boy's supplies into our one travel case.

In a nutshell, we packed the following in: One half of a day at school, one half day of travel, one half night's worth of homework and a FULL day of Disneyland adventure and fun! It's no wonder they crashed hard when it was time for bed!

We wound up at the Carousel, across from Disneyland's Main Gate. It is a very serviceable and well kept facility. It lacks only in that it has no outdoor tables where one can read or use a laptop computer after the kids are asleep. It also has no place where a modem can be plugged in.

Anyway, dinner was at the usual first night stop: Pluto's hot dog stand in Toontown. As always, this stand is somewhat expensive, but one's grumbles disappear when we see that we really DO get a full measure of food for the money, and it's pretty tasty as well.

For having spent only 4 hours in the park, we have had some high adventure: we rode 5 attractions in that time: The "toon" spin, the gadget coaster, space mountain, star tours and the newest attraction: Rocket Rods. All highly recommended for 9 and 11 year olds.

Saturday October 9, 1999:

The day turns out HOT at almost 100 degrees F! That doesn't slow down the crowds, though. By noon, the place is packed. Colt wants his favorite for lunch: The Bengal Barbecue! The little sticks of beef come in either sweet and mild (Banyan) or tangy and spicy (Bengal). For about $4 per order a single stick seems like a poor value. One stick is a filling lunch, however. Just as we wrap up lunch, we see that a closed Indiana Jones has reopened. We make a dash for it and are on the ride within 10 minutes! The boys remind me that Patricia got freaked out on the by the darts on the Indiana Jones ride. I'm happy that young Colt enjoys it now. It was quite a ride and we got to it on Saturday. With the crowds, amazing. Dinner was at Daddy and Colt's favorite place, the Big Thunder Barbecue. It's still great food, and a highly recommended way to drop a few dollars into the Disney coffers. Still, for park food - a good value!  (Even Great)!

Sunday, October 10 1999

The crowds were a bit lightened out today, but the line for the "Rocket Rods" still proves that it's Disneyland's newest ride. Lunch at the Rocket pizza port satisfies Christopher's quest for Pizza. After lunch, the crowds and heat got to us and it was time for a break. We headed back to the inn where the boys wound themselves up, until they were bouncing off the walls.

We finally headed out to Anaheim, checked out the "real" world outside the gate and headed back with supplies in hand. Back to the park for rides (Matterhorn) and dinner (Frontierland) for burgers at the take out "Grub" place. Christopher surprises us. He is usually the small eater, and tends to fill up on coke rather than a meal. Tonight, he orders and demolishes a double cheese burger!

As we see the crowds gathering (Massing?) for the "Lignts Fantasmic" show, it occurs to us that we have an opportunity to high tail it for the "Rocket Rods". It worked! There was only a 30 or so minute wait and we got our ride!

One of the operators was a bit snappy with Patricia, and that lessened the ride for us - Colt heard the snap and I saw the glare.

Beyond that, we were able to make it to the light show and catch most of it, although - of course - we weren't in the premium spots.

The line for Splash Mountain had shortened and we convinced Patricia that it would be gentle and relaxing ride. She bought into this - until the last minute. The photograph tells the tale of sheer terror.

Our last ride was an almost deserted Indiana Jones. It was so deserted that once it was over, we were able to "switchback" to a deserted intake line. A double header!

With that, the day is over - the Park is closed. Boys in bed by 10:30 but not asleep until midnight. Whew! What a day!

Monday October 11, 1999