When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Go To...
DISNEYLAND!
Yes, believe it or not, your old friend Tom is on his way to Uncle Walt’s Magic Kingdom this Saturday. I’ll spent 4 glorious days and 3 fun-filled nights in Anaheim with my pals Mickey, Donald, and the gang.
How cool is that?
I’m really excited to go – I haven’t been to Disneyland in almost 8 years, the longest stretch of my life between visits. (I know, I know. I’m sorry, Uncle Walt. I really am.) Oh, sure – we’ve been to Walt Disney World 3 times since, but D-Land? That’s where I first fell in love with all this Disney jazz.
I was 7 the first time I went. I don’t remember much, except for being scared to death on the Matterhorn. My picture in the corner is from that trip – me, Mickey, and my snazzy yellow plaid circa 1972 pants.
We went back when I was 10 – it was my 10th birthday, in fact. They were doing bicentennial red-white-blue fireworks that year. I convinced myself that the fireworks were in my honor. I still believe that.
We went back again right before I turned 12. That was the year I got to go on the backstage tour at the Disney Studios in Burbank. We got to ride in Herbie the Love Bug, watch them editing a movie, and tour the prop house. By this point I was fully addicted to the stuff.
My next trip to Disneyland was in 1982, with my two sisters. My older sister arranged the trip on a shoestring budget, which meant a Motel 6 in Pasadena and lots of PB&J sandwiches in a small cooler, but I still managed to have a great time.
How cool is that?
I’m really excited to go – I haven’t been to Disneyland in almost 8 years, the longest stretch of my life between visits. (I know, I know. I’m sorry, Uncle Walt. I really am.) Oh, sure – we’ve been to Walt Disney World 3 times since, but D-Land? That’s where I first fell in love with all this Disney jazz.
I was 7 the first time I went. I don’t remember much, except for being scared to death on the Matterhorn. My picture in the corner is from that trip – me, Mickey, and my snazzy yellow plaid circa 1972 pants.
We went back when I was 10 – it was my 10th birthday, in fact. They were doing bicentennial red-white-blue fireworks that year. I convinced myself that the fireworks were in my honor. I still believe that.
We went back again right before I turned 12. That was the year I got to go on the backstage tour at the Disney Studios in Burbank. We got to ride in Herbie the Love Bug, watch them editing a movie, and tour the prop house. By this point I was fully addicted to the stuff.
My next trip to Disneyland was in 1982, with my two sisters. My older sister arranged the trip on a shoestring budget, which meant a Motel 6 in Pasadena and lots of PB&J sandwiches in a small cooler, but I still managed to have a great time.
I went back in 1988 with the X. It was one of the few times we actually got along for 3 straight days without arguing once.
My next trip was in 1990, courtesy of McDonalds restaurants. I won a 3 day, 2 night trip in a radio contest called “McJingle Your Way to Disneyland.” I had to write (and sing) a song about the joys of eating a fat-laced, heavily salted breakfast at Mickey D’s. Oh, the ethical dilemma. But c’mon - for a free trip to Disneyland, I would’ve sang that McDonalds was manna from Heaven. The X and I took Miss Katie for the first time on this trip – she was 3 – and I about cried every time she got to experience something new. I was passing along my love of Disney to my little girl – a gift I was glad to share. And oh, the X and I didn’t make it through this trip without arguing. So much for that...
One year later, in October 1991 I won the McJingle contest again. Hooray – two for two! This time my song was set to a Billy Joel tune – “It’s Still McDonalds For Me.” For this trip I took Miss Katie with me, and we left the X at home. We all had a great time. Miss Katie was now tall enough to ride Splash Mountain, so we must've gone on it a dozen times each day.
My next trip was in 1990, courtesy of McDonalds restaurants. I won a 3 day, 2 night trip in a radio contest called “McJingle Your Way to Disneyland.” I had to write (and sing) a song about the joys of eating a fat-laced, heavily salted breakfast at Mickey D’s. Oh, the ethical dilemma. But c’mon - for a free trip to Disneyland, I would’ve sang that McDonalds was manna from Heaven. The X and I took Miss Katie for the first time on this trip – she was 3 – and I about cried every time she got to experience something new. I was passing along my love of Disney to my little girl – a gift I was glad to share. And oh, the X and I didn’t make it through this trip without arguing. So much for that...
One year later, in October 1991 I won the McJingle contest again. Hooray – two for two! This time my song was set to a Billy Joel tune – “It’s Still McDonalds For Me.” For this trip I took Miss Katie with me, and we left the X at home. We all had a great time. Miss Katie was now tall enough to ride Splash Mountain, so we must've gone on it a dozen times each day.
Jump ahead to 1998 for my next trip. This was for the Disney Store’s National Trivia Showdown. They used to send the top 8 trivia minds in the country to Disneyland for the finals of the contest. I was tied for 8th place with two other people, so they had a tie-breaker round, which I won. Yeah! I ended up finishing 4th in the contest, but I still had a blast. They gave us a parade down Main Street, a backstage tour, lunch at Club 33, two days of park tickets, and a room at the Disneyland Hotel. As much as I’d always wanted to stay there, I’d never been able to afford to stay at the DL Hotel on my own, so it was a dream come true to be able to look out my hotel window and see the park. Very, very cool.
A couple of weeks after the 1998 contest the Lovely Mrs. G. and I were back in Hollywood for another contest that I’d won. (Lucky man!) We were supposed to go to a taping of The Tonight Show, but instead we blew it off and went to Disneyland instead. It was supposed to be a good time for us, but we both had nasty head colds, and by the time the sun set over the Magic Kingdom we were both well on our way to collapsing from the flu. I remember sitting with my lovely bride at the Plaza Inn restaurant, trying to muster up excitement for the fireworks. We both gave it our best effort, but by the time we crawled out of the park, we were both running pretty major fevers. Hence, I really don’t remember much about this trip. In my fever-induced delirium I even locked up my camera in the locker that day, so I don’t have a single picture to remember it by. ‘Tis a pity. Still, I got to go to Disneyland with the Lovely Mrs. G. for the first time. That part was okay.
One year later I was a Disney Store trivia contest finalist again. This time I won it all. Yee-haw! I brought the Lovely Mrs. G. and Miss Katie out to Anaheim to watch the contest, then we spent a couple of days afterwards playing in the park. I have a lovely photo of the three of us screaming down Splash Mountain (along with two petrified Japanese tourists in the back seat, holding on for dear life). It was a great weekend with my family.
And that’s it. I haven’t been back since.
But that’s all about to change. In about 48 hours from right now I’ll be on my way back out, for a trivia reunion with some of my fellow Disney Store trivia nerds – oops, I mean enthusiasts. It’ll be strange being there without my family, but I know that it won’t be long until Miss Emmy will be old enough to visit the parks, and I can have the fun of introducing another future Disney addict to the magic.
So now it’s time to say goodbye to boring old Iowa, and hello to Mickey & friends. Look out, here I come.
See you real soon!
2 Comments:
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By
Steve, at 11:31 AM
Who was that "news" guy? Should have been me. Tell them I said hello instead of him! :)
By
Monty, at 11:32 AM
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