{"id":5024,"date":"2021-12-25T18:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T18:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/updates.xephalon.net\/?p=5024"},"modified":"2022-01-29T17:55:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T17:55:23","slug":"happiest-place-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/2021\/12\/25\/happiest-place-on-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Happiest Place on Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>It was hard not to be swept up in the excitement of a Disneyland holiday vacation after learning that our friend Lisa was bringing her family. With some last-minute planning, I finished clinic early, donned our N95 masks, and boarded our evening flight to LA on Wednesday. We drove to Anaheim in time to pick up food at Pho Ha Plus<\/a>, and after a mix-up between Hyatt Place and Hyatt House<\/a>, settled in to put our 5-year-old to bed. Next morning, we filled on hotel breakfast and walked to meet our friends at the Grand Californian<\/a> for their private entrance to Disney’s California Adventure Park<\/a>. After an unexpectedly intense drop ride at Mission Breakout<\/a>, we sped through Radiator Springs Racers<\/a> for a photo finish with Lightning McQueen, before relaxing a little with Ariel’s Undersea Adeventure<\/a> and Golden Zephyr<\/a> on the way to fair games at Pixar Pier<\/a> and a rope course at Redwood Creek<\/a>. We refueled with banh mi in our friends’ hotel room, then picked up a Cheshire Cat canvas<\/a> en route to the Monsters, Inc<\/a> dark ride, Soarin’<\/a> IMAX experience, and Web Slingers<\/a> adventure, where Westley managed to beat both our scores. We lounged at their hotel lobby with cookies and conversation while Westley watched cartoons over their kids’ shoulders, then headed to Jo Won<\/a> for jajangmyeon, jampong, and giant dumplings for dinner. We caught the ART<\/a> bus to Disneyland<\/a><\/span> early next morning to line up for opening. Our day began with Star Tours<\/a> and Astro Blasters<\/a> on the way to Autopia<\/a><\/span>, where Westley got a license for surviving his first traffic jam driving a gas-engine car. We encountered the abominable snowman at Matterhorn bobsleds<\/a>, and enjoyed a holiday-themed It’s a Small World<\/a> ride, although Mickey’s Toontown seemed deserted except for Gadget’s Go Coaster<\/a> and Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin<\/a>. Our Genie Plus<\/a> pass did not save us from the lines at the Alice in Wonderland<\/a>, Mad Tea Party Cup<\/a>, and Storybook Land Canal Boat<\/a>, necessitating a lunch break at Red Rose Taverne<\/a> for burgers and leftover dumplings. After more nostalgic dark rides with Mr. Toad<\/a>, Peter Pan<\/a>, Snow White<\/a>, and Pinocchio<\/a>, we arrived at Galaxy’s Edge<\/a>, where the live-action stormtroopers, full-scale X-wing, and custom droid and light saber shops kept us immersed in the Star Wars universe. Our Smuggler’s Run<\/a> was bumpy with Westley as my co-pilot, so we unwound with dioramas at Sleeping Beauty castle<\/a> and songs at the Pirates of the Caribbean<\/a> before our Christmas Eve dinner of Roscoe’s<\/a> chicken wings, livers, and waffles. The crowds did not abate on Christmas day, as we joined the early dash to the Rise of the Resistance<\/a>, which had us flying through space, escorted by guards, and riding trackless with a droid through an imperial starship. The rain kept us moist at Winnie the Pooh<\/a>, Splash Mountain<\/a>, Haunted Mansion<\/a>, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad<\/a>, and Jungle Cruise<\/a>, before we shared an otherworldly tonkotsu-pesto noodle soup and kid’s meal at Docking Bay 7<\/a> for lunch. We spent the afternoon shopping for a sad porg for Melody and shoulder porg for Westley, then watched the holiday parade over an ice-cream sundae<\/a>. We ended our Disneyland visit with railroad<\/a> and monorail<\/a> rides to Downtown Disney<\/a> to behold the merchandise machine that keeps the lights on at the happiest place on earth, as we prepare to drive back to LA.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was hard not to be swept up in the excitement of a Disneyland holiday vacation after learning that our friend Lisa was bringing her family. With some last-minute planning, I finished clinic early, donned our N95 masks, and boarded … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5024"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5101,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5024\/revisions\/5101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}