Alone at Disney
On a recent excursion to Disneyland, I decided to do things a little different – I went alone. My brother would meet me a few hours later, but I was looking forward to the peaceful serenity of exploring the theme park alone. I go to school in Irvine, so it’s just a short train ride or Uber away compared to the longer trip from Los Angeles, where my brother and I are from. I planned to go to Disney all of the time that I’ve been in Irvine, but I never got a chance to get around to it. Now, with only 2 weeks left of living in Irvine, I figured now’s a better time than any. I got to the park at around noon. When you are alone in such a big and busy place, a burst of ideas of what to do comes rushing in. So many rides and restaurants, and for some reason, I felt it was necessary to complete as much as I could in the time I had with just myself. So, I started with a bowl of clam chowder at 1:00pm, and was then ready for the day.
One thing I will say about being in the park alone is how fast you can get around. No one to drag along or stop for, you just find the quickest route and go. In a way, it made the trip feel like more of a task than a leisurely activity. Then again, maybe I was just going way too fast, and I should've stopped every now and then to appreciate my surroundings.
One thing I was looking forward to going on was the Railroad, as boring as it might be. It seems like this ride was always something at the back of my mind when I’d go to the park with friends or family, but it was never tempting enough to steer away from the more widely liked rides (Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, etc.). It was never worth more than a 10 minute wait, so I would never get around to doing it with other people.
The line was practically a walk-on when I went to the queue, and the conductor gladly welcomed me to my seat.
Although it’s a ride that usually has at least a bit of a wait – 20 minutes or so – it seemed like the workers on the train were gleeful to have people interested in such an old–fashioned ride. The gloomy sky overlooking New Orleans square made the scene gray and comforting, with the bells of the train marking our departure.
As I sat alone on my corner of the bench, all I could think about was getting off. The stops took forever, and most of what we saw were trees. Long-awaited, but alas, nothing special. Gladly, I hopped off before the full circle around the park, and made my way to Big Thunder.
Now here comes the drama, the climax of our story. Well, not really – but for me, at least. I never see any sort of excitement at Disneyland, and not the usual Disneyland excitement of rollercoaster rushes or screaming children – the kind that makes people hush.
However, that day, as I stood alone in line, I heard some of that excitement. You know, the kind that makes people want to take out their phones to record. I didn’t get much of the story, so my retelling is vague.
Basically, to my understanding, a man and a kid got out of line and the guy was yelling at some people in line. Those people remain unknown, since they weren’t yelling anything back. The man, however, did not shy away from letting out his thoughts.
“YOU NEED TO BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES! LOOK WHAT YOU’RE DOING THIS KID” – the kid was sobbing, by the way –
“YOU GUYS ARE CURSING AT A KID, YOU NEED TO LEAVE!” Then, out of nowhere, a woman right behind me starts yelling in that direction as well:
“YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! SOMEONE GET THEM OUT OF HERE! YOU ARE HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE PEOPLE!”
Here’s the real catch – this kid was like 12. This was no little 5-year-old sobbing at Disney, this kid was hurt in some way. Maybe the kid was being annoying and some childish adults started cursing at him, maybe a situation escalated way too far. The cause remains unknown. However, what we do know is that if my parents were making a scene at Disneyland when I was 12 and announcing to all within our vicinity that I was crying, it would definitely make me cry more. This kid was doing a sort of screaming crying, and I doubt this scene was making him feel any better.
Safe to say, this really hushed the Big Thunder line. For the rest of the 30 minutes in line, all that was heard were people muttering about the male and female Karens that they just witnessed. For the rest of that day, that’s probably all they could think about. And here I was, alone, just to stand awkwardly while everyone else talked to the people beside them. I instantly whipped out my phone when the yelling began to text a simple “omg” to my brother.
With all of the drama behind us – or until my brother got there, when I gave a full dramatized telling of the incident– I then headed to Splash Mountain. I bought a poncho to save myself the embarrassment of getting drenched while by myself, but in the end I just felt some embarrassment for wearing a poncho nonetheless.
The last time I was on this ride, I got insanely soaked. Luckily, at the time I was staying at the Grand Californian, so I rushed over to change clothes. Considering this was a cloudy day with no sun to quickly soak up the water, I took no chances and splurged on a $12 poncho. Immediately after the ride ended, I unbuttoned and threw it away. I made my way over to Adventureland, where I would meet my brother at about 3:30pm
It was a cloudy day at Disney, which felt somewhat out of place yet still magical. No worries of sunburn or sweating, it was the perfect day – or a few hours, at least – to spend Disney alone. I'd love to do it again sometime, but instead of focusing on getting every thing done, I would sit on Main Street and do some people-watching as I drink my Starbucks. I wonder, if I sit in the same place long enough at Disney, if perhaps I'll be lucky enough to see some more drama happen. I'm telling you, a scene at Disneyland is absolutely unmatched to any other kind of scene you'd see any where else. It's just so out of place and unusual, I love it.
Ratings of what I ate that day:
Clam Chowder (Harbour Galley): Two thumbs up
Pickle: A slight smile, nothing more
Pork Skewer (Bengal Barbecue): Devoured in 4 seconds; Amazing
Cheese slice (Alien Pizza Planet): Absolutely mediocre
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (Jolly Holiday): Ol' reliable
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