Advice You Will Hopefully Never Need But I Give You Anyway

Should you ever find yourself in the position of having PROMISED to take your 4 year old daughter and six year old son to Disneyland before end of summer, and this promise was made just days before you discovered that your entire life was about to be turned upside down medically, I have some advice for you.

Do it.

No matter how awful you feel. No matter how humbling it might be to be pushed through the park, bald in a wheelchair at age 39. No matter how difficult it was to even get out of bed for five minutes the next day. Because you know what? Tony and Bella have a picture of their mom, scarf and all, coming down Splash Mountain with them that may have cost me an awful lot physically but will pay off in spades in some photo album somewhere until the end of time.

While I'm giving advice on this matter, I cannot fail to caution you in a few areas. If you happen to be going through whole brain radiation at the time (and I certainly hope you will not be!), do not, under any circumstances, no matter how neat your little handicap pass that gets you right to the front of the 90 minute line may seem to be, get on Star Tours in 3D. This is simply too much for the newly radiated brain to take.

Furthermore, do not go anywhere near Toon Town, particularly that blasted Roger Rabbit Spinning Ride thing. It almost killed me.

Stick with things like It's A Small World, once thought by me to be the most boring, repetitive ride in the park. A little brain alteration makes it the most soothing place on the earth, let me tell you. Similarly, Pirates of the Caribbean is just long enough for a nice nap and just dark enough so the kids did not seem to notice, and even a little drool on the shirt passed for some pirate war splash. It was great!

Disneyland is really very good at accommodating guests with special needs and I really appreciated their support in fulfilling this promise to my children. There was little I could think of that I want to do less than go there yesterday and it will take me literally days to recover from it, but aside from the few pitfalls noted above, I am going to give it a two thumbs up recommendation. Especially since no one told me (and I was braced for it all day given my bloated belly) that, sorry, expectant ladies could not ride. I might have gone a tad postal at that but happily did not need to experience it.

Make every minute count with your kids, because there is no way you will ever regret that. It's my advice and I'm sticking with it!