Our Great Disneyland Adventure

Our Great Disneyland Adventure is over, and things are starting to return to normal around here. Pahtah, Nana and Gavin all had a great time, but Pahtah is definitely satisfied to be back home and settling into a less rigorous routine.

After all, this old heart can only take so much fun at one time. Considering that Song of the South has always been a favorite Disney movie and Brer Rabbit, a favorite Disney character, perhaps it’s not entirely coincidental that one of my favorite places in Disneyland was:

Yes, that’s Brer Rabbit’s briar patch, and here’s a picture of us as we were descending into that there briar patch the first time:

As you can probably tell, the emotions that at least two of us were feeling at this point in time were not exactly feelings you’d expect from finding your “laughing place.” Once we were down, though, we spent more time laughing and returned three different times to this ride. Of course, for some reason the grandpa always managed to get the front seat.

Strangely enough, Gavin never seemed particularly frightened by Splash Mountain and adored Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which surprised me. Suprisingly, he was terrified by It’s Tough To Be a Bug!and Jim Henson’s Muppet Vision 3D. He literally ran out screaming from the Bug’s Life film, apparently not an uncommon experience judging from the introduction to the film.

Despite the fact that Pirates of the Caribbean was one of his favorite movies, he refused to go on the ride more than once. It turned out that he was frightened by a small, mechanical crab that was part of the exhibit, though he didn’t seem at all disturbed by the skeletons laying around or the cannons firing overhead, which just goes to show how difficult it is to predict what a child will or will not be frightened by.

3 thoughts on “Our Great Disneyland Adventure”

  1. You and Gavin look wonderfully related in the photo.

    It is strange, isn’t it, what sort of things stand out for a child? I can think back in my own life to the oddest little instances that, for some reason, made a tremendous impression on me when I was young, and that, talking to my parents now, were really just passing comments, or innocent accidents. I have no idea what that means, and, like you, know idea how to predict. I thnk it’s partially evidence that childen are less malleable and more uniquely themselves than we’d like to think. We’re individuals from the get-go: even the most controlled enviroments can only shape a child so much.

  2. Actually, you and Gavin do look alike from this photo. Looks like you had a lot of fun.

    Too bad about Pirates, and sorry to hear Bugs scared Gavin, but I’m glad you agree on Bear (Splash) Mountain. That’s my favorite, too.

    BTW, did you visit A Small World?

  3. Yes, we visited A Small World, too, Shelley.

    In fact, I don’t think there was much, except for some very scary adult-type rides that we didn’t visit.

    We put a lot of miles on everyone’s feet crossing and criss crossing Disneyland and Californiat Adventure.

Comments are closed.