The Disneyland Dad I Look For
We’re about to go to Disneyland!
I know, right?
There are only two reactions I receive when I share that news.
I either get …
“OMG!” in a tone that makes clear Disneyland is the last place on earth the person I’m speaking to would want to be.
Or …
“OMG!!! That is AWESOME!!!”
Our kids get to pick between having a birthday party with friends or doing something as a family for their birthdays. This year, Isabella (who was born in November) said, “I want to go to Disneyland instead of having a party.” Disneyland is on the top of the expenditure list, so I said, “Maybe”. Hearing this, Malik (born in December) said, “I want to do that too.” So, I told them, if they combine their birthdays and wait until winter break (because I’m the kind of mom whose child typically has to have a convincing amount of vomit to miss a day of school) we can go to Disneyland.
We’ve been counting down the days until our trip. It’s been a few years since we last went. So many in fact, that Blu doesn’t remember ever going (she’s only 4 though). She does know that it will be OMG!!! AWESOME!!! She also knows which rides she will be going on and in which order because her older brother and sister have spelled it out for her.
There are many reasons I say OMG!!! This is AWESOME!!! Mostly, it’s because it is just a happy happy place. We don’t have to get on a plane to get there, it’s about an hour and a half drive. The fact that we can afford to go is also not lost on me. But, my favorite part of the Disneyland experience is seeing that dad.
The dad I seem to pay special attention to can be any race, any size, with any amount of bulky gold or silver around his neck and on his fingers. Probably sporting a tear drop near one eye, he most definitely has tats across his knuckles, and a name written in flowy, elaborate script across his entire neck. He may or may not have a spider web on one of his elbows. This isn’t a warn out back-in-the-day look. He is decidedly still ALL IN.
His gang attire is neat, clean, and unmistakably branded. His white shirt is crisp and his large pocket on his oversized shorts is certainly home to a rather large switch blade that was left in the glove box of his car in the parking structure before taking the most magical tram ride on earth to the main gate. His belt not only has the job of holding up his sizable shorts, but also has a very high likelihood of being a free range gun holster just near the buckle between his pants and his wife beater (that’s what the tight, white, tank-top shaped undershirt he is wearing is called).
He’s my favorite because of all the dads at Disneyland, he has come the farthest in almost every way to be there.
I usually spot him in a massively long line. The kind of line that has a sign announcing the wait time is 138 minutes (and scrolling up) so you’d better get in it quick. It doesn’t say 138 minutes for a 138 second ride – but probably should. Of course, everyone in line is excited for the ride, but every family handles the wait differently. This guy is always tough as nails. He isn’t going to falter or complain. His pride rides on his shoulders. You know by looking at him that if the two of you have a negative altercation for some reason at the non-property side of the crosswalk leaving Disneyland – it’s all fair game.
What I like best about this guy though (besides becoming current on proper gang attire), is that undoubtedly his four-year-old princess is in toe. She is in line with her dad for Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. She can see the magical clam shells just inside the door, floating down the track. Her delighted squeal makes clear that she just can’t wait to see Sebastian lead his friends in a round of Under the Sea. She’s picked out her shell. She’s hoping, please, please, please, that the purple one will stop for her.
But, there is a problem. They haven’t quite reached the clam shell yet and her little legs are giving out. She is tired because not only are her feet feeling the pain of her plastic sparkle princess heals, but her $150 Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique hair and makeup is pulled back so tight that her little head is starting to ache (BBB goer’s – you know what I’m talking about). She might even be tearing slightly because she has a tiny bit of pixie dust in her eye (glitter – it’s glitter).
He remains calm.
She looks up at her dad and reaches for him. He bends down and counts to three… something you can tell he’s done may times before … and she jumps exactly the right way to land squarely on those proud shoulders of his. It is then that I realize he is wearing Mickey Mouse ears. They fall to the ground as her body crosses over the top of his head. I bend down to pick them up and hand them to him. He nods and says, “thanks” while giving me one of those million dollar everything-is-fantastic Disneyland smiles that would never happen outside in the streets.
He is my favorite because I know that he knows that inside his heart there is this tender little spot. And, inside that tender spot lives a man who used his money to take his kid to Disneyland to have a good time. There is a man who, I’d like to think, if I was riding on the L in Chicago, or the bus in downtown LA or crossing the street in front of his car at a crosswalk somewhere, he’d see my Mickey Mouse socks peaking out between the bottom of my pant leg and my shoe. And then, he would smile that Mickey Mouse smile … maybe just on the inside … but we’d both know he did it.
And maybe, just maybe, that day will be a little softer … because the tender part of his heart is in there somewhere. It might not come out this year for everyone else to see. But I saw the day his guard was down behind the discrete, confidential, protective walls of the magic kingdom. So maybe, just maybe, some day, it will come down everywhere else too.
Roll your eyes if you want to.
Maybe he’ll never go soft round the clock.
But, I’m pretty sure if I’ve learned anything from Cinderella, it’s that, “A dream is a wish your heart makes…” so I’ll just hold onto my little dream. Because every once in a while, when you least expect it, dreams really do come true.
Great job Lizzy… I enjoy your description of a gang banger..
Yea! You’re back🖌 Big smile J
LOVE THIS! Yes, every once in a while dreams DO come true!
Wonderful. Disney is a complicated yet magical place. You’ve got it, as well as that Dad! After about 14-15 trips to Disney World, because I lived near there many years ago, everyone wants to go. So, we went.