We took our time getting out this morning and didn’t try to get to Disneyland for their “rope drop” at 9AM. Before yesterday, I didn’t even know what the concept of a “rope drop” was. We are not Disney people.

We had some trouble with the trains (a line got cancelled last minute for some reason) and we arrived at about 11. This was 9.5 hours until the thing Millie was most interested in: the fireworks show.

The first ride we saw was Pirates of the Caribbean and the line was only 15 minutes so we got on it. We didn’t account for how many skeletons there would be, and how scared of skeletons Millie is. She looked at us halfway through and said “if I have nightmares, it’s your fault for bringing me on this ride.”

After this we went to a Lilo & Stitch show and then she and Nick went on It’s a Small World while I waited in a stupid long line for some popcorn.

It started pouring and we waited once again to get up to into the castle.

By this point Millie was super over the lines and all the remaining rides that sounded fun had lines that were well over an hour. Disney got me and we paid for a couple of “skip the line” tickets. We rode the Beauty and the Beast ride and Splash Mountain. We all loved both.

We rode some other, kind of boring, rides to kill the time — Peter Pan and Snow White. We waited in line for some mediocre and overpriced dinner. I ordered seafood pasta which was full of clams and soon made me full of regret. Disney clams, bad choice.

We looked through all the shops to stay warm until the fireworks were set to begin at 8:30. We were all exhausted. Millie wrote some postcards and got a balloon she’d been asking for all day.

At 8:20 we lined up for the fireworks and at 8:25 they made an announcement that they were cancelled tonight. Argh!

I spent the whole day jumping between three different states.

1. Joyful (20%): Look at these families making memories! My child is having so much fun! This really is the most magical place on earth.
2. Analytical (65%): how did they engineer these rides? How do they decide which Disney franchises to invest in? Which are more popular for Asian markets and why? How much are they bringing in per day? How often to kids get lost?
3. Cynical (15%): this is manufactured joy to get us to spend money. There is a store at the end of every ride selling us things we don’t need. So much unnecessary trash and waste is created here.

We still aren’t Disney people but I think it persuaded me enough that we should visit the one in Florida in a couple of years.

We rode the subway home and didn’t get Millie to sleep until about 10:30. I’m hoping she dreams of churros and not skeletons, and sleeps in.