It was a dilemma I was never expecting to deal with, but one that I fortunately was able to face.
It was one of those things that I never thought I would be tempted with in my lifetime. But luckily, I had planned ahead; I had taken the forethought that, should the remote possibility like this ever actually happen to me, what I would do. And I had made a decision in advance. I was prepared with a response. Then, on the day that the opportunity presented itself, I didn’t have to even think twice.
I knew what I should do.
I should veer left.
And on Thursday night, it happened. The choice was presented to me. Imagine, a clean-cut Utah Mormon kid. I was presented with the actual, real-life opportunity. It was thrust at me.
I had one hour in Disneyland.
From 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm, when they closed for the off-season evening. And what did I do?
I entered the gates, and went through the tunnel on the right. That was more-or-less out of habit, and looking back it was perhaps a mistake. It actually caused me to waste a minute or so of travel time, as I had to fight through a narrow parade time walkway in front of the Main Street Train Station to get to the left sidewalk. I recovered though, and pushed through, then up Main Street, past those who had stopped and yielded to the temptation to take in the parade. About halfway, my progress was held up by some teenagers who had stopped in the walkway; a group big enough that I was forced to stop momentarily. Seeing that they were not going to move, I snuck around them and continued on.
At Refreshment Corner, I veered left, just as I had planned to do. I had only about 56-or-so-minutes remaining now.
I went straight for Indiana Jones.
The standby sign said 20 minutes. I looked around to judge what I could see of the crowd, and estimated that the time was probably high. I began my journey through the queue (I love that very well-themed queue). My instincts proved right; it was about a 10 minute wait. But just in case, I knew I had the fact that I was a single-rider on my side, and that bonus actually got me into the driver’s seat of our car – a position I had never-before ridden in.
After this, I continued on to New Orleans Square, where I saw that Pirates had hardly a line. I hurried aboard, and saw the cursed treasure.
Following that, time was very scarce. There would only be enough time to catch a ride on something very close. So I moved up the street and took a tour on the Haunted Mansion.
And sure enough, at the end of my doom-buggy ride, the announcement was made. Disneyland had ended its operating day. (Oh, but for my convenience, Main Street would be open an additional hour – how thoughtful!) I exited the park, feeling grateful that I had been prepared enough to plan ahead, and know exactly what decision I should make, so that I could make the best use of my time and my one hour in Disneyland.