My family and I were invited to spend the day at Disneyland with a number of other parenting bloggers and their families on Saturday, and we had such a blast checking out all the "Halloween Time" excitement. You won't be able to get me to shut up about it this week because we had such a great time!
While some of the other mom bloggers will be sharing their thoughts on younger kids and Disneyland, I'm coming from the perspective of teens and tweens. And my teen and his buddy definitely weren't disappointed in Disney's ghostly changes.
I have to admit, when I told Matt that his favorite ride, Space Mountain, was temporarily being transformed into "Ghost Galaxy," his first reaction was to say (insert jaded teen mumble here) "So, are they going to have some glow-in-the-dark pumpkins floating in space, or what?"
Let's just say Matt's socks were sufficiently knocked off (check out this photo of the view you have from the ride!) that he and his friend, Nick, went on Ghost Galaxy FIVE times over the course of the day. (OK, the day and NIGHT. Did I mention that we Senas arrived at 8 a.m. and didn't leave until midnight? The Sena men are lunatics committed when it comes to all things Disney. Me? I love it all, too. But we're talking 16 HOURS on your feet here!)
My dogs started barking after the first, oh, 12 hours, and I did request Diet Cokes now and then (plus a lunch break with Billy Hill and The Hillbillies at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon), but I made it 'till midnight! Must have been that smooch with the hubs on the Jungle Cruise (or was it the smooch on Pirates of the Caribbean?), while Matt and Nick were hitting Ghost Galaxy for the fifth time, that kept me going. That and the wonderful BBQ dinner we had at Big Thunder Ranch Round-Up.
Speaking of dinner... We had never eaten at the Big Thunder Ranch Round-Up, and now I see we've been missing out all these years. Matt keeps talking about the "bucket of meat" that was delivered to our table. (You know me. I had to take a picture. But see what I mean? Bucket. Of. Meat.)
The dinner included "all-you-care-to-enjoy" (nicely worded) ribs, chicken, sausage, cornbread, coleslaw, and baked beans, served family style. There's live entertainment on stage, and little ones are invited to get up on stage and participate.
Halloween Time at Disneyland lasts until Nov. 1. I think Matt would suggest checking out Ghost Galaxy, oh, half a dozen times.
After that? Pardner, you'd better just order up a bucket of meat.
P.S. While Matt, at 13, LOVED Ghost Galaxy, young kids may be pretty freaked out by it. I know Matt would have been when he was younger. Disneyland has signs posted both inside and outside to warn parents that this ain't your usual Space Mountain. And blogger Suzanne Broughton over at Alive in Wonderland says "though it is a cool ride, it is VERY scary (particularly the soundtrack) and if you have a sensitive kid, have someone take them on Buzz Lightyear while you get the bejeepers (it's a word) scared out of you on Ghost Galaxy."
