Originally Posted By 73baloo ni_teach, I totally understand. My son and his wife (before kids) use to just go to the park in the evenings and have a churro and hot chocolate and sit and watch people. They live in Vegas but he surfs so they head to the beach quite often.
Originally Posted By threeundertwo >>I think I smile more times in one day at Disneyland then I do in three or four days at home.>> I think that describes me as well, and I do smile a lot at home!
Originally Posted By myinnerpeterpan Okay, now you’ve ALL done it!!!! YOU MADE ME CRY…GEEE THANKS! I currently live in Colorado and we have our home on the market with hopes of moving to San Diego by September. I’ve been unbelievable stressed out with health issues, work, house showings, pathetic offers and school concerns for our teenagers. I was telling my husband and kids on Father’s Day that I’m suffering from a now terminal case of “Disneyland Withdrawals†and the only cure is a vacation to DL. I miss the music and smells and just…everything! When I walk under the bridge to Main Street and smell the wonderful smells, hear the music and see all of the beautiful flowers, it’s as if Walt is putting his hand on my shoulder and saying, “It’s okay now…go play…go have fun. Your troubles don’t exist here.†Everything seems brighter at Disneyland and the smells are sweeter, the moon is brighter, and even the single ply TP seems softer…why? Because it’s Disneyland!!! Any time I smell a churro (SP?) I think of the Haunted Mansion and our first Christmas vacation with our kids. When I get a small wiff of a “musty smell†I instantly think of POTC and how much I love snuggling with my husband on the ride as we strain to look at every little detail that went into such a magnificent attraction. When there’s a full moon out at night and the crickets are chirping, I always think of walking behind “Big Thunderâ€. It’s so quite and peaceful there at night. When I was a teenager, I went to DL twice a year and had a blast every time I went, but I don’t think that I truly appreciated it the way I do now. As an adult, I see DL in a completely different way. Yes, it’s an amusement park in the eyes Webster’s dictionary but to the average addict, it’s so much more than an “amusement parkâ€. DL is a place where adults are given permission to be children again and “playâ€. It’s a place where you can put the stress and expectations of adulthood aside for a few hours and just live and laugh with those around you. It’s a place where laughter isn’t uncommon and tears of joy (by adults and children) are common place. Every place you look there’s a something to remind you of your childhood. To me, DL invokes so many incredible feelings and memories that it’s nearly overwhelming. I’m sitting here at work listening to the “Tiki Room†soundtrack and desperately trying to cope with the reality that I need a Pixy Dust Fix and can’t have one right now. I can openly admit that I’m an addict and in need of a Disney-aholics support group (I’m with you eigthdwarf). Yep, sitting around talking about how “miserable†we are and how Walt has cursed us all, truly sounds like a lot of fun! Te he ha ha. Hearing from others on how “tormented†they are remembering their first time on “Splash†or how their kids lit up like Christmas trees when they first saw Mickey Mouse walking down Main Street, sounds awful doesn’t it? Back to work now :0(…….
Originally Posted By 73baloo myinnerpeterpan - Wow, you brought tears to my eyes...I know exactly what you mean. On my last night at the park on each vacation I sit in the Town Square, look at the light in Walt's apt and tell him thank you for such a wonderful place and to keep it safe until my return. Corny...I know.
Originally Posted By grammy954 DL is my happy place. A ride on TOT, a few minutes with Billy Hill, and a corn dog, and I am just a new person !!
Originally Posted By myinnerpeterpan Thank you 73baloo and Main Street Dad. This is one place that I feel comfortable expressing my feelings and opinions about Disneyland and the magic that it holds for me, and I don't have to worry about someone thinking I'm a freak. That's always a big plus. We have so many worries, concerns, stresses and responsibilites as adults and parents, and I know that Walt knew this (my gosh, look at what he endured to create DL). I feel that DL wasn't constructed with only young children in mind but ALL children in mind (very young and older young). In a way I feel that DL was made as a wonderful sanctuary or a kind of shower (if you will) for adults to wash away the stresses, cares, pressures, and responsibilities of our lives for a time, and to remember what is was like to have fun and to be a kid again. My dear Papa (who's 84) is a "true grown-up" and has lost sight of his inner Peter Pan and misses out on the fun and excitement that life has to offer. I don't want that to happen to me because life (like our childhoods) is much too short. I don't give a Micky's back end how old you are, NEVER deny your inner Peter Pan! To do so, is to kill the child within and what a sad thing to do. My gosh, what would Walt think!?!?!? I am so thankful for Disneyland and for the fantastic job that Walt and his entire team has done (and are still doing) and for giving so many adults a place to escape and to be a child again!!!! What better legacy could you ask for? Can you tell I'm a bit stressed!?!!? Thanks everyone, it's nice to know that I'm not alone in my rubber room.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney <<The next year we went to San Francisco and it just wasn't the same.>> Man, that's why Disney built DCA . Now, you can 'visit' San Francisco with the same magic of a Disney park...at least that WAS the idea ;D. I agree with all of you here! DL can recharge the batteries for me as well and I'm like a lot of you freaks, I don't even have to ENTER the park, just as long as I'm in the area, then it's great!!! When I was little, we went to go to DL every year, usually stayed at the DL hotel, things like that and I only lived about 40 minutes away, but for most SoCal kids, that was our vacation . Anyway, sometimes out of the year when we didn't have the money (we were poor), we use to just go to DL hotel and walk around it. When you're 10, that is almost just as good, espcially when they had the shops and the monorail cafe to eat at. It was funny how we would make excuses (including my mother) to just go AROUND the area lol. Now, I'm much older of course and anytime I'm in the states, I make it a priority to visit the park anytime I'm there. Hell, I'll be there in August for a few days (with my mother ). Also, that's why I LOVE DTD is around! There is no longer an excuse to go and just snoop around. You can just go just to go now, even you do nothing more than buy a cup of coffee and walk around . See a movie, dinner, whatever, its just cooool to be so close to the magic while you're doing it . It beats the old days when we use to go to Tiffy's restaurant across the street from the parking lot and beg the waitress to put us next to a window seat so we can just look at Matterhorn mountain while eating our burgers . I miss DL *sniff*
Originally Posted By 73baloo Thank you all for responding...always nice to know one is not alone. I too love DTD. Makes the walk to the hotel seem so short. I remember when my kids were young and the tram so packed at closing that I would carry them across that long parking lot. Oh, for a little of that energy now. The magic is just amazing.
Originally Posted By ShivaThDestroyer Main Street Dad, I lived in Casper when I was young. Never could figure out why my aunt and her DH had a bomb shelter built in the one place that was probably safe from a nuclear strike. My Mom lived there until about four years ago, when she passed. I still have family back there though. I did the opposite of sdlovesmickey, moved from Casper to S.D. I was lucky enough to have an uncle who took me to DL for the first time in '68. I wasn't an addict at that point, it took a couple more trips. My DW and I really understand the word "recharge". We are AP'ers and now live about 6 hours away fom DL. We do visit the park about every other month for about a week each time but it's just not enough. Our first day back is just the start of the countdown until the next trip. We're usually good up to about 30 days but after that withdrawal sets in and we know we'll need a DL fix soon. The best part of LP is that just about everyone here can identify and they make us feel so normal. We all have friends that are non-Disney personalities and they will never understand our love for the park and how we are able to feel the magic. I'm just glad to be a part of the LP family, where we all understand each other. ni teach's comment <just entering the park makes me feel good.> says it as well as anything. I love the castmembers, the attractions, the music , parades, plays and everything that is Disneyland but the most important part, to me, is just being there. It's almost like a hug from your Grandma, that makes you feel safe and loved.
Originally Posted By ChurroMonster Everyone finds comfort in something, be it religion or yoga, sports or sex, or family or Disneyland. We are only weird to everyone else.
Originally Posted By Main Street Dad <<Never could figure out why my aunt and her DH had a bomb shelter built in the one place that was probably safe from a nuclear strike.>> Lol. No kidding. Or how about Natrona County "International" Airport...
Originally Posted By ShivaThDestroyer ChurroMonster, Is there the possibilty that we are the only normal ones and everyone else is weird?
Originally Posted By jodiefra I had to chime in on this board, too... I think it's ENTIRELY possible that we are the normal ones!! I live in Colorado also, and we generally go to one coast or the other each year as budget allows. People always ask me which Disney park I like better and I tell them the two don't really compare, and now you all have put a finger on why. WDW is awesome and has some rides and shows I absolutely love. We spend a week to ten days there and never get to everything we want to see before our feet give out. On the other hand, DLR is where I relax! We are in the (somewhat expensive!) habit of staying on property and spending 4 - 5 days at just DLR. We don't worry about driving anywhere, and we definitely don't worry about seeing everything. There's plenty of time for rides, shows, and sitting on the curb with an ice cream cone waiting for a parade. The place is incredibly clean, the music is amazing, the people are usually very respectful to each other, and even the crying babies just make me smile because mine are growing up so fast! We're on the plane in 89 days for a stay at the Disneyland Hotel with friends and some relatives from NoCal. I can get through a lot of daily grind knowing that's coming up!!
Originally Posted By Disney Joy Disney is my yearly therapy....Serious I have to go once a year.....or I don't know what I would do. I have the biggest smile as I walk thru the gates - even when I arrive at the airport - I tell myself in amazement that " I'm at Disneyland " and I need to pinch myself to make sure I'm really at John Waynes airport. My FIRST solo trip things were ok - I rode TOT "up and down" as my grandson calls it AND it hit me - and I told myself "You're at Disneyland" and cracked up laughing. It was one of the most fun days of my life. For a few minutes I couldn't stop laughing ~ ALL BY MYSELF ~
Originally Posted By ShivaThDestroyer Disney Joy, isn't it funny that for people like us that sense of excitement, about just being at Disneyland, never goes away. My DW and I have been visiting for 40 years and each trip still has the same sense of excitement as our first time. A couple of trips back we were on DLR with a young couple from Lake Tahoe, they made the same comment. I just know they'll have a long and happy marriage.
Originally Posted By sdlovesmickey Main Street Dad, yes I am moving by Rock Springs; to Green River to be exact! Close on my house on Thursday and then a quick trip back to SD with my sister and brother in law to load up my uhaul and move. I will be living by family and closer to Disneyland so you can't beat that. I am at 30 days and counting for our next trip and I can't wait. I am all set to buy that AP so we can go much more often than the annual trip I have been taking. I had a friend ask me the other day why I don't go other places....they just don't understand. That feeling you get the moment you cross the street onto Disney property. The sights, the smells, the magic. I will visit other places, but Disneyland is truly my happy place
