We had a wonderful trip to Disneyland. I can't believe I'm saying that unequivocally. I have less glowing memories of our trip to Disneyworld two years ago--me nearly passing out from the heat, terrified David refusing to go on any rides, Rose refusing the gluten pizza I worked so hard to get for her--no that trip had some pitfalls. This one did not.

Mom wanted to get somewhere warm in February, and she had the fabulous idea of taking all of us to Disneyland during mid-winter break. All of us includes me and the kids, my sister and her kids, but not the dads who had to work.

surviving without Daddy

The most discombobulating parts of the trip were when I had to do John's typical jobs. Not that they were hard, but I'm just not in charge of setting the temperature for the hotel room, making the dvd player work, or lifting David up to see the fireworks. I lifted him. My back did not go out. The room was too hot the first night, and we survived.

everyone's happy in the magic kingdom

I think one of the most magical things about Disneyland is everyone enters prepared to have a magical experience. There must be a big sign out front next to Mickey: No cynics allowed. So there's just a general spirit of bonhomie. The grandparents, the little kids, the teenagers--they all dig it. David is now old enough to dig it. I'm not a Disneyophile (sorry Jane), but I absolutely entered into the spirit and let myself be awed.

my favorite rides

I was particularly awed by Star Tours, Space Mountain, and Thunder Mountain Railroad. They were all variations on the medium level roller coaster--no huge hights, which terrify me, but lots of great visuals, twists and lifts. Star Tours is now in 3-D. That's probably the closest I'm ever get to going into hyperdrive. So cool. I only went on Space Mountain because my seven year old niece really wanted to go. I thought it would be too much for me. But, because I couldn't see the drops coming up, I didn't get scared. Well, I screamed the whole time, but it was a fun kind of screaming. We did Thunder Mountain Railroad in the day, at night, every day. We just love this little old roller coaster.

working the system

All you old Disney hands know about the fast pass system. Instead of standing in line for hours, you get a chit that makes you wait several hours, but then jump to the front of the line. My sister was the runner, and she grabbed fast passes all day long. We ended up only standing in two lines over half an hour. The kids entertained themselves playing the A my name is Alice game. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think there was no whining in line.

break down points that did not break down

I'm always stressed traveling with the kids because they do no go to sleep well, at least not the first night. Well, maybe keeping them up two hours past their bedtime made them too tired to fight it, or they had just decided to work with me. But I had no bedtime issues. This was good because I had no Daddy to trade off with, and I was pretty much a zombie myself the first night.

Did I mention the two hours late to bed the first night? It didn't get much better after that. We ran those kids ragged, and they hung in.

Food is always an issue because of my picky eaters and the gluten-free factor. But we had done a lot of prepping for it. I packed sandwiches that David would eat and promised Rose hot dogs with gluten free buns. Then I spent 45 minutes scouring the park; there were not hot dogs with gluten free buns. Rose was shockingly completely generous about it. She tolerated a turkey sandwich the first day and loved the pizza after that. I managed to find David so many quesadillas that I had lots of left over sandwiches.

staying at yes

I've noticed that at transition times, my children seem to lose several years of maturity. The clinging, whining and bickering reach my boiling point. That happened for the first few days of break, and then the pendulum swung the other way on the trip. I felt like they suddenly became way more cooperative, understanding, and flexible than usual. We all worked on yes. I said yes to popcorn; David said yes to the next ride I suggested. I said yes to doing one last ride before we left the park; David did not flip out when Rose wanted to ride alone. Disneyland was a great big yes.