Disney Adventures

Lyn's days at Disney can only be classified as a huge success.  She was captured by "The Happiest Place on Earth" and was able to direct where she went and what she did.

We arrived pretty early on Saturday.  (Please ignore the Sun position above. I took that picture at the end of the day).  It was our one day to spend together before my conference began.  I wanted to make the most of it and the few goals I had set without consulting Mom and Lyn were within the realm of possibilities; meet a Princess, ride the carousel, have fun.

We started off with a quick check in at City Hall.  This allowed us to secure a disability pass for Lyn. While we didn't use it for timing our arrival at the rides, we quickly learned that we could show it to an employee when ready to board a ride to alert them to Lyn's mobility issues.  Her lack of depth perception and her shuffling gait require an extra hand or three when boarding or debarking rides.  

The very kind clerk in City Hall realized we were first timers to the park and whipped out buttons that declared it was our first time there.  The buttons caused every employee we met to congratulate us on our first visit, ask us what we've enjoyed so far and generally make a small fuss over us.  Lyn loved the attention and started approaching staff about half way through the day to declare "Today is my first time here!"  

After City Hall, we rode the Omnibus over to Cinderella's Castle.

Lyn dutifully posed for a picture in front of the castle.

From there, we went to the Royal Hall in search of a Princess before riding the Jungle Cruise.  (More on the Princess encounter on Friday.)  

Lyn needed an extra hand getting in and out of the boat.  She enjoyed the ride and laughed at some of the jokes.  Mom was excited about the Jungle Cruise as well, having wanted to ride it ever since she was a kid and Walt Disney would give weekly updates on the construction of the park in each Sunday's Wonderful World of Disney television show.

When we perused the souvenir shops, Lyn played along when we asked her to put on some ears.  She didn't want to buy any, but she did let me take a picture.

She humored my request to ride the carousel and the train.  

We even got her to go on the Mark Twain paddle boat.  She wanted to go on the Pirate ship but that had to wait for the next day.

Not long after this picture was taken, we decided it was enough for one day and headed out of the park.  The second day followed much the same way.  The third was spent at Disney's California Adventure park which was right next to Disneyland.  While I was not there with them for the second and third day, they had a wonderful time at each.  

Tomorrow, we'll look at the character encounters Lyn experienced and Friday, we'll wrap up with the Princess story.