Going Through Some Old Photo Albums...

...and found a bunch of things I need to get scanned and onto the computer. One of them was this gem (this is a photo of a photo, sorry):

Yup, Dopey's peeing.

Taken at Disneyland years ago, in Snow White's Grotto they have these little frogs that spout water. If you laid on the concrete walkway in just the right spot, and timed it juuust right...this is the picture you got.

Juvenile, but it still gives me a giggle...

Fun With Found Objects!

The other day we were visiting Disneyland and found a little girls' Disney autograph book near the telephones. I think she'd lost it early on in her visit that day as it only had a couple of character autographs in it.  We waited for a few minutes but no one returned for it, so seeing that she had been smart enough to write her name and address (in Las Vegas, Nevada) in the book, we thought we'd drop it in the mail to her.

But first--!
We took it around The Park with us, posing it with some Disney characters and taking pictures as they signed it--Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale and Goofy.
The letter we sent along with it...

The Magic Towel is a supercompressed washcloth that unfolds when you get it wet.  Today I mailed the book, pictures and all the stuff to her, hopefully she'll get a grin out of it!

The stuff...

How wonderful is it when you get back something you thought was lost forever?  Yay for mystery packages!

I Dooooooo......

To our surprise, the Attic in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland has undergone some changes.

'The Bride' was always a fixture there, with her glowing red eyes and beating heart. For years I couldn't understand the low moan that was clearly saying something...until I realized it was The Groom saying, "I doooo.....". I always loved The Bride and plan on adding one just like her to my Halloween yard display this year, with a thrift store wedding gown, beating heart sound effects and some red lights.

New to the Mansion attic are portraits of The Bride with her husbands (she's had several, ya know, just has some kind of bad luck with her men and that pesky ax), in which the mens' heads disappear from the portrait. The NEW bride has relocated across from where she used to stand and is now a projection with cool effects rather than a mannequin in costume.

I wonder what they did with the old one...? I think the old one was MUCH creepier....

Random Cruelty From Strangers

Interesting event at Disneyland the other day, when we took N. for a last visit before school started. Since I just had another surgery on my left ankle--number 3 of 6 needed--and am still in the Frankenstein-esq orthopeadic boot, I was in the wheelchair--extended walking still being a no-no for the present.

Firstly, no one, but no one looks out for wheelchairs at The Park. I've never had so many people run into and/or trip over me as I did that day. J. was muttering seriously about installing a sharpened cowcatcher to the front of the chair. Also, since J. was pushing the chair, N. walked beside me and held onto my hand so she wouldn't get lost. Those people that DID allow room for the chair refused to allow the child to get by. It was weird.

Then there are the parents who I swear, go to Disneyland specifically to lose, injure or kill their own offspring. Unattended kids were the worst for running into the chair and hurting themselves. One little boy of around 3 even walked beside the chair for a bit, staring at the wheel. I could see it coming, and his mother was looking the other way, oblivious. "No!" J. and I both told him as he stretched his hand out. Yup. He did it anyway, stuck his little fingers right in the spokes of the chair. By then I was SHOUTING "No!". Luckily J. knew what was going on and stopped the chair fairly quickly, but the kid still got his fingers pinched but good. Mother finally did turn around and grab him by the hand and haul him away. Incredible.

But that wasn't the worst.

I waited for J. & N. to ride Roger Rabbit, then we all went out through the standard exit, J. pushing the wheelchair. At the exit was the Goofy unit, comprised of Goofy and his handler, a girl named Shannon. No one I knew at all. Shannon spotted me, immediately pointed at my injured leg, laughed loudly and yelled, "Hey, can I kick you in the other leg and make it even?"

I was so shocked I couldn't speak, and J. just looked at her and angrily kept us going. NEVER in my life would I have expected anyone to say such a horrible thing to someone in a wheelchair, much less a stranger.

It was so cruel, so unexpected, so unprovoked that it literally took my breath away.

She, of course, had no idea why I was in that chair, or if it was temporary, or forever. To say that the last 6 years have been agonizingly painful, frustrating, stressful and depressing is an understatement. It's been a VERY long road so far and the end is still not in sight. The work they'll have to do to restore even partial use of my left ankle is complicated and has only a partial chance of success.

Shannon's bizarre comment, unfortunately for me, opened up the floodgates of all the emotions I've been trying to hold back for years, trying to look forward and hope for the best. We didn't even get out of Toontown before I was crying, and J. was trying to both comfort me, shield me from staring, curious people and explain the situation to N., who was very upset that I was crying.

We did stop at City Hall and file a complaint against Shannon, and the guy at the desk was very sympathetic.

We got out of there as quickly as possible, the day ruined. Sometimes people are just no damned good.

Just TOO Cool!

Gotta thank my sister H., our gal in China. She just sent N. the neatest envelope...inside was a fun note telling N. all about Auntie H.'s adventures over there, plus some Chinese coins...AND the coolest part, her Dland business card in English and Chinese, and two maps of Hong Kong Disneyland!

Thanks Auntie H., you are the best! N. couldn't be more thrilled, and we've placed all those things away very carefully for her to have always. We had trouble getting N. to stop jumping up and down and waving her hands (her outlet for Big Fun and Excitement) long enough to go over everything with her. She played Chinese Disneyland the rest of the afternoon. :)

This Week's Giggle...

...was courtesy of the man at Disneyland stomping his way bombastically through the Park, being chased by a Park employee who was struggling to maintain a professional demeanor while obviously trying to figure out HOW she was going to tell this guy that he had a 10 inch ribbon of toilet paper trailing like a banner from his right heel.

*giggle, snort*

Sometimes life IS just like a sitcom!

Circuit Boards, Spoiling The Child And A Permafrost Behind

I've decided to spoil my child. Thoroughly and completely.

Not in that horrible, out-in-public-screaming-because-she-didn't-get-her-way spoiled...just...kinda indulged. If she suddenly suggests stopping the ice cream truck, so be it. If she wants to go outside and dig in the dirt, where's the harm in that? I plan on keeping her out of school now and then to go to the beach and toss stale bread to the seagulls. My dad used to do this for us once in a while and it's one of my best childhood memories. She's the only child I'm ever going to have, and I want her childhood done right. The one thing I draw the line at is TV and electronic games, both of which suck IQ points away in my opinion.

Yesterday, for example, we decided to go to Disneyland for the evening. We got there at 7PM and kept the kid up WAY past her normal bedtime. Normal bedtime be damned where Disneyland, fireworks and the Electrical Parade are concerned. Every kid should be taken to Disneyland at least once in their lives, stopped by their parents at the front entrance and asked, "What shall we do first?" And then do it, by God.

Her first idea was to go on Grizzly River Run in California Adventure. We had been on it twice before and enjoyed it, and the kid loudly stated, "It's my favorite!" Of course it is, until you mention Star Tours...Roger Rabbit...etc. You get the picture.

However, this was the first time for one unknown feature of this ride. The line was nonexistant and we three had a raft to ourselves, which had us grinning. We whined and laughed at each other for getting splashed.

Until the end.

Until the geyser.

Hey, did you know that every so often the picturesque fake geyser at the end of the ride is turned onto some poor dumb smucks in a raft? And that it is roughly akin to standing in the way of a fire house turned on full blast for about 5 or 6 seconds? To say we got wet is like saying the Mohave desert is a tad warm. Even though my motherly insticts clicked in and I threw myself over my child to shield her from the worst, we were all thoroughly drenched. All we could do was stare at each other and spit water.

Yeah, great idea kid.

Now that we were wet, we decided to share it and see some of the shows. We sat through the Bug's Life stage show (cute, and to my kid's credit did not scare her), the Muppet 3D show, also cute and featured a live chicken!

Next it was over to Disneyland proper for the fireworks. I haven't seen them in years and they have changed a bit, fewer colors but more "ooh-ahh" value. Still very cool and the kid loved it. At the end of the show we were right in front of "It's a Small World" anyway, so on it we went.

Forgetting for a moment how soaked we were.  'It's A Small World' is one of the coldest rides in the park, chilled to approximately 30 degrees.  And it's a leisurely 20 minutes long.

OK, at the end of it my behind is beginning to resemble permafrost. I am beginning to doubt if I will EVER dry out and/or warm up, but at least I had a dry sweatshirt squirreled away for the kid so she is OK. Next we toddle over to the River and grab one of the last primo spots for Fantasmic, another show my kid hasn't been awake late enough to catch yet. Again, to her credit she covers her ears (it's REALLY loud) but gamely enjoys the show. The little girl whom we did not know but invited to stand beside my daughter during the show to watch, lost her nerve halfway through it and scooted back to her dad.

After this it's time to go. 11PM and the kid is claiming NOT to be tired. Yeah, OK. Well, we ARE so it's still time to go, besides which they are closing the park and smilingly but firmly booting everyone the Hell out.

Get everyone home and thaw out first the child and then myself with a warm shower and jammies, and into bed. For a bedtime snack I've gotten a glass of milk and pilfered one of the kids' fruit rollups.

These particular ones feature a 'tongue tattoo'--designs like stars, wavy lines, hearts, etc. printed over the fruit leather in green food color. Lay it on your tongue and it transfers. I unroll this one to find...

A circuit board.

Huh?

Yeah. OK. I lie there, my tired brain trying to discover what the Hell a kid would find 'fun' about a circuit board. My brother-in-law the sound engineer might find it mildly entertaining, but a kid?

Never mind.