I WAS headed to the US sans family. My sister, a friend and
I had decided on a US adventure and we’d all decided Disneyland was a must do,
despite the fact that my kids weren’t coming on our trip.
“Why would you
go to Disneyland with no kids?” A close friend asked.
Did I really
need to answer that? After all, it’s Disneyland, ‘the happiest place on Earth’.
Did I need any other excuse to go there?
After a 13-hour
flight, a typically US oversized rental car and some interesting driving on the
wrong side of the road, we were checked in. Once we were there I wondered
whether my friends back home were right, there were kids everywhere I looked.
At
breakfast the first morning the three of us were surrounded by families. The
kids were talking about their beloved Disney movies and asked their parents
optimistically if they would get to meet their favourite characters.
We packed our
things and headed down the road to the main gate.
It was insane.
Without kids the
line didn’t drag. No one tugged at my pants asking me how long it would be
until we got inside and no one conveniently needed to pee when we were two
people from the front.
With no kids in
tow we knocked over a few rides in the first hour.
As we walked up
to California Screamin’ I looked around. There was always one parent left to
either hold the bags or hold the kid too young to ride. With no pram or child
to worry about we walked straight up to the fast pass line and enjoyed our ride
on the coaster. Though, I should probably disclose that my scream might have
rivalled the 10-year-old’s in front of me.
Half the
day had past and we’d fit in everything we wanted, including Cars Land with
Radiator Springs, and we were headed over to Disneyland Park ready for a late
night of rides and fun.
At this point
the families around us were either dragging their kids to the next ride or they
were asleep in the pram missing the action anyway.
After entering
we had a leisurely lunch that wasn’t dictated by which outlet sold chicken
nuggets. We grabbed our fast pass for Space Mountain and scooted off to fit in
as many rides as we could before then.
As I looked
around I noticed two scenarios. The first being the young kids dragging their
parents on every lame ride that had no height restrictions and the second was
pre-teen kids begging their parents to take them on the bigger rides they
weren’t allowed to go on.
I looked as the
couples silently turned to each other and rolled their eyes ‘why did we do this
again?’ I could hear them asking in their heads.
A few
hours later we’d conquered most of the major rides like Space Mountain, Indiana
Jones, Splash Mountain and the Matterhorn Bobsleds along with a heap of minor
rides.
By the time you
could start lining up for the famous Disney parade I could see the children
begging their parents for a place to sit. They were clearly exhausted.
We stood back
from the barricade and enjoyed not being pestered by kids saying they couldn’t
see.
After the parade
I saw hundreds of parents call it a day, while others with slightly older kids
were talked into staying for the later fireworks show.
As scores of
kids left the park in their parent’s arms in tears we took the time to duck
around to a few rides we’d missed and bid farewell to our favourite Disney
attractions.
The crowds had
left by the time we hit the souvenir shops and it was easy to grab a few things
for those at home.
As I threw
myself on the bed of the hotel I smiled as I thought of all the other parents
still forcing their kids to go to sleep and then probably being woken up just
hours later. We’d smashed the Disneyland parks in a day, had a blast and we’d
be sleeping the whole night through.
Who said
Disneyland without kids wouldn’t be fun?
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