Sunday we met some of our friends at Disneyland for a day of rides, food & fun.

THE GOOD….
Theresa JJ & I arrived earlier than everyone else. We arrived at the park around 10 am. The first thing we did was get a parent pass for Space Mountain for later use. Following that we decided to take JJ on the Buzz Lightyear ride. As we are standing in the TEN MINUTE line, Theresa noticed 2 Disney employees standing in a little grotto with a big bag handing out something to a few passing guests. Quickly remembering that one of the special gifts for the Year of a Million Dreams promotion is a DreamPass (a fast pass for every ride in the park that accepts them), she jumped out of line signaling for me to follow. Lo & behold, they were Dream Passes — SCORE! They gave us 3 - one for Theresa, JJ & I each. Although JJ cannot go on most of the rides — nor does he even need a ticket — we were not complaining.

When the other 4 people arrived, we shared the good news & formulated the perfect plan….

Many people are not aware of the PARENT PASS for Disneyland. Putting it simply — it allows half of a small group with a young child to get in line. The other half is given a go-to-the-front-of-the-line free card & is supposed to wait at the end of ride. When group 1 gets off the ride, group 2 goes right to the beginning of the line & gets on.

With six adults, 2 children & 3 Dream Passes, we were able to approach every ride, get parent passes for half of us & let the other half walk right in to the Fast Pass entry. Although a couple had to split up for some of the rides, it was still one hell of a time.

THE BAD…
JJ got his hands on our digital camera & broke the LCD screen on it. We have been told that we should be able to replace it very cheaply though. Hopefully this will prove true. We took pictures blind for the rest of the day, but have finally learned our lesson on JJ’s toys vs our toys & are firmly drawing the line now.

THE DISTURBING…
Theresa and I were standing at the gates to the Indiana Jones ride. The group in front of us had just gotten on, but the car was not moving. In the row in front of us, a woman and her 2 young teenage boys had boarded. One of the boys was scared — really scared. He got off the ride & was crying & pleading “I don’t want to go. I’m scared.” A kind parent would have stepped off the ride & waited with the crying child while her other son went on the ride. This woman got off the ride vehicle & chased her son down the exit ramp to try to force him to get on. At this point — other people waiting started loudly pleading to the woman, “don’t make him get on.” She gets back on the ride, points at her son & says “Don’t you move on inch from that spot or so help me…” I was rather shocked by the whole scene & how selfish this woman was being. It was a true sample of parenting at its finest.