I'm still finding it hard to believe but two weeks from today, at this very minute that I am writing this, I will be sitting in a hotel room at the Candy Cane Inn on Harbor Blvd. drinking a cup of coffee and lamenting the fact Disneyland doesn't open until 10 am. Darn it! Where are those 8 am park openings when you really want them? Oh well, two weeks from today I will be in Disneyland. I will get to walk down Main St. again; take the "grand circle tour" on the Disneyland Railroad; take my rightful seat on a Pirates of the Caribbean boat. Of course, something could happen between now and then that would prevent this little adventure from happening. There is a lot going in real world lives of Mr. and Mrs. DisneylandTraveler right now, much of it semi-unpredictable. But we both have decided that getting away to our favorite place is the right thing to do.
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If you are the occasional Disneyland visitor or vacationer, the two weeks and counting mark is when the real trip planning begins. You begin thinking about what to pack and what you're going to do when you get there. Anticipation and excitement build as you pour over all the Disneyland information that you can get your hands on to see just how you are going to put your adventure together. For me, two weeks is not the point where the preparation begins. If you gave me 2 days to pack and prepare, that would be more than enough time. Heck, if you gave 2 hours to get ready, I could even do that assuming that all my laundry is done. For Mrs. DLT and me, our preparation is never hurried or stressful. We know exactly what we need to do and when to do it. Experience is a good teacher but I must say I am a bit envious of those who build with anticipation weeks in advance of their Disneyland trips. Please note our preparation for our trip to Disneyland is a complete 180 from when we tried to prepare for a trip to Walt Disney World a few years ago. Preparing for a trip to WDW defines the word stress because of all the planning involved. We finally had to get a travel agent to do it for us.
So right now everything is easy. Yesterday, I had the Boy find me the movie camera that he had borrowed last summer. I haven't tested it to see if it still works. I know Mrs. DLT has our regular digital camera somewhere because she used it to take pictures for some stuff she sold on eBay. I asked her about the camera's whereabouts but like a lot of things I ask her about, I know it will take a couple of more reminders until she actually gets around to look for it. I've checked the park entertainment schedule to see when the parks actually open and close, what shows are playing on what day, and of course everyone's favorite - what rides are closed for refurbishment.
I'm a little bummed that the Mark Twain, which was due to open today after a lengthy refurbishment, has had its closure extended to the middle of our trip - April 17. At least it will open while we are there. A trip to Disneyland would be lacking something if I could not make that trip around the Rivers of America at least once. Looks like the Matterhorn Bobsleds will be closed. Even though I haven't been on the ride since they replaced the sleds (with sleds no one seems to like) I've been on the ride enough to be able to replay the whole experience in my head right now so its closure is not a big deal to me. The Thunder Mountain Railroad closure is a given. It's one thing to close a ride for a few weeks and just have the bad timing for it to be down while you're there. When a ride closes for practically a whole year like TMRR, that's something completely different. I really don't even think about missing it.
What I'm going to think about most at least for the next week is the hundreds of pictures I plan to take. I'm going to focus on that. And I'm also going to think about food. On our last several trips, Mrs. DLT and I have eaten quite a few of our meals at Disneyland and DCA's table service restaurants to the point where its been several years since I last visited certain counter service dining facilities. I think we will make those a bigger point of emphasis this time around.
Excitement and anticipation, I think I can talk myself into it.
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