Disneyland On The Other Hand

I got the dreaded call from the back bedroom the other night. "Can you come here???" Never mind the fact that I was right in the middle of ESPN's Pardon The Interruption - the call was made and off I went to answer Mrs. DisneylandTraveler's summoning.  This wouldn't have happened back in my dad's day. My mom would have never bothered him during his Bonanza or Gunsmoke viewing.  One little invention changed everything - the Pause Button.  Just about everything in life can now be set to pause.

Anyway, with my show on pause, it was now time for third degree questioning.  For our upcoming Disneyland trip, what did I want to do?  Where did I want to eat, and where should we make reservations? Disneyland is now like it's WDW counterpart, insisting on a credit card to secure the reservation rather than the honor system.  Apparently, credit cards work better than the simple "I promise to show up (unless I have better things to do)" approach.

I'm not really a detail guy.  Mrs. DLT is free to pick out every meal if she wanted to.  I'll show up.  The choices just better be good.  That's the unfair part of it.  If a meal sucks, the blame is best shared.  Luckily, after years of trial and error, we do pretty well picking out places to eat.

So while my life was still on pause - it became Monday, lunch at the Carnation Cafe and a chance to once again have a cordial exchange with Chef Oscar, Disneyland's longest tenured cast member somehow surviving around 58 years. I'm not really sure what Chef Oscar's job is anymore other than making sure everyone around him feels valued and welcomed - an admirable quality in any job.

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Tuesday is the Carthay Circle (bucket list item), Wednesday - Steakhouse 55, Thursday - Cafe Orleans (we tend to alternate between Blue Bayou and Cafe Orleans) and finally Friday, (don't laugh) - Big Thunder BBQ.  Really it's not that bad and there's plenty of food.

So food plans are made. Christmas celebration plans are made, joy is everywhere and I am back to the TV in about 45 minutes.

And then the changes begin. My sister and her husband want to join us for a few days.  Of course that alters the plans already in the books but not necessarily in a bad way.  Mrs. DLT and I love taking trips to Disneyland by ourselves.  Eliminated is the constant battle of competing agendas and hurt feelings. But here is the real deal...

When Mrs. DLT and I go on our trips by ourselves, we come back with pocketful of Disneyland memories. When you come back from going with others, you come back with stories. Sure sometimes the stories get embellished a bit, but they tend to have a way to make it into personal Disneyland legend and lore. 

If my sister wants to come, God bless her. We'll have a great time even if four people do end up fighting for the same shower time.