Disneyland

My nephew, who is 24, is in San Diego with the Navy for a few weeks. He's coming up this weekend to go to Disneyland with my daughter, my son and me. He said he's never been there, and he's never been to Walt Disney World in Florida either.

I can't imagine.

I grew up as a Navy brat, with my dad being stationed in San Diego for ten years, alternating shore duty and sea duty at the different bases there. So our family went to Disneyland nearly every year on Navy Night, plus once when my grandparents came for a visit. I learned at an early age that if you want to ride the good rides, you have to get there early and wait by the ropes, and when the ropes were dropped at the official opening time, you run for the ride that will later have the longest lines. If you're lucky, you can ride it and go back in and ride it again. Life doesn't get any better than that.

Disneyland is part of normal life here in Southern California, like the beach and the mountains. I once carpooled to the corporate world with four other people, and all four of them had worked at Disneyland when they were younger--one who swept up the trash, one who cleaned out the Small World waterways at night, one who was a bartender at Club 33, and I don't remember what the fourth one did. Working at Disneyland was (and may still be) an Orange County teenager's rite of passage.

One of my favorite parts of Disneyland, since I've been there so many times, is to sit on the good rides by people who have never been on that ride before. Being next to someone on Star Tours as we crash through the comet is priceless. I think I'm going to have a great time with my nephew.

Unless he's been jaded by the monster roller coasters at other theme parks and is underwhelmed by Disneyland's charm. It's possible, and I have to be prepared. But even if he is, the thrill of Disney magic is enough to keep me filled to the brim. I can't wait.