Page 142 of Daddy's Pride
“Silly boy. It’s still early, do you want to hit Downtown Disney? Our park tickets are for tomorrow, but we could check this part out tonight.”
“Yes, please.” He jumped up and down.
We took a stroll through Downtown Disney and of course ended up in the largest Disney store known to man. Straight to the Sorcerer’s Apprentice display Jamie went. “Daddy!”
“I know, grab the one you want.” No use arguing about stuffies. “Grab the matching beach towel while you’re at it, too, and you can use it at the pool.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
We picked up a couple of things for Henry and Chase and I also purchased a Disneyland picture frame. I had picked up one from each park so I could put a favorite picture of us in each one to display at home. From there we picked a restaurant and ate and after dinner, we bought some sweet treats from the chocolatier before returning to our room.
“Jamie, here’s the map of Disneyland.” He hopped up on the bed beside me to see the iPad. “What do you want to see first?”
“Let’s do a circle again. Start to finish so we can see it all. What about you, Daddy? Where do you want to go?”
“Star Wars Galaxy Edge for me. Those are the movies I can watch over and over.” I remembered my parents introducing them to me when I was younger. I’d been a huge fan ever since.
“That will be so much fun. I’m excited for Main Street where they have the parade and toon town. But I want to see everything.”
“We will do our best, sweet boy. Now, it’s time to sleep. We have a big day ahead of us.”
* * *
There were no words for the madness we entered. This was every child’s dream and every parent’s nightmare. From the long lines to get into the park to the wall of bodies you had navigate your way through. Never had I been happier to have a boy that didn’t ride any rides. Those lines had two-hour waits for them.
“Jamie, please hold my hand.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
I swear we stopped in every store, every candy stand, every everything. We took pictures in front of the castle and with characters but when we got to my stop it was like I had become the Little.
Jamie laughed. “I like Little Daddy.”
“This is my jam.”
“Your jam? Nobody says that.” Jamie rolled his eyes. “Silly Daddy.”
We snagged the last spot to make your own light saber and I swear that was one of the coolest experiences I had ever had. My saber would hang on our living room wall like a piece of art. Jamie took my picture in front of the Millennium Falcon and with a stormtrooper and we had lunch in the Cantina. I was in heaven.
“I like smiley Daddy.”
“Thank you for humoring me during the wild trip through my childhood.” I had purchased a couple of souvenirs for home, including a killer coffee mug that was designed to look like the interior of the Falcon and easily held two cups of the magical elixir.
“On to Toon Town!” Jamie announced as we finished lunch.
My cute Little popped in and out of every house and posed for pictures the entire time. I had too much fun taking them. We breezed through Fantasyland, but Tomorrowland he stopped to pose for pictures with Buzz Lightyear and Woody. The plan was to stay for the parade and watch the fireworks and by the time we got through every section of the park they were setting up Main Street for the after party.
As we watched the fireworks that lit up the castle, my sweet boy turned and hugged me. “Someday, Daddy, I’m gonna marry you right here in front of the princess castle and all our friends will be with us.”
“You are, are you?”
“Yup, I am.”
I couldn’t wait for the day to make that dream come true and wondered what it would take to make it happen
THE END