Happiest Place on Earth

Did I mention that we went to Disneyland last week? We did and we took our twin grandchildren, Steven and Abby, 9 years old and that's the perfect age for your intro to the Magic kingdom. Our son and his girlfriend accompanied us to help with parental duties...and to enjoy the trip as a family!

We stayed at the Grand Californian as that hotel opens directly into the park. It also had a multitude of pools and the kids enjoyed them all. (I'm so glad we gave them swimming lessons.) But, onto the park...

The twins were wide eyed at every attraction. And they tried almost every one in the park. Of course they had some favorites; ones that they had heard their friends talking about. Those were some of the first ones we went to...Autotopia, the Submarines, and Space Mountain. Some of the rides weren't as popular because of the age level and they soon learned to avoid rides where there were strollers were parked three deep.

I downloaded an app for my phone and it would report the current waiting time for a ride and it's distance from us. That was very useful! Despite the fact that we were in the park during a school week, there were crowds of children (and parents) and some rides went to a one hour waiting time; we avoided them until the we saw the number drop to thirty minutes or less.

Of course the park is beautifully maintained in the usual Disney manner. There is no litter. There is an army of people sweeping and even polishing the trash containers. All of the attractions seemed to be freshly painted. The beautiful garden areas contain real flowers and they are in full bloom.

Three days in the park were a little too much for my hip and back and I was dragging by the time our shuttle arrived to take us to the airport. Once more we gave the twins the window seats and they enjoyed the sight of Los Angeles at night; a million lights!

Now at home we realized that we have no more grandchildren to take to Disneyland...the others are growing up fast and the twins were the youngest. Sad. But we do have some great memories...especially the one of our taking the first seats in the first car on the California Screamin' roller coaster. Now that's fun!