Are We There Yet? - 2. Chapter 2

“Daddy, Daddy, look!” Jake grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the ride. “Can we go on it, please?”

“Sure.” I smiled at his excitement and looked at Tony as we got closer to the ride. “You want to ride with him or want me to?” We’d been taking turns so that one of us could take pictures. We stopped just short of the Dumbo ride.

“You go ahead.” Tony reached for the camera. “I’ll try and get a couple good pictures of you two together.”

“C’mon, Daddy!” Jake tugged impatiently on my hand.

“Okay, okay.” I followed him to the end of the line. “What color Dumbo do you want?”

“The purple one!”

“Okay, we’ll have to see if we can get a purple one.” With the number of people both in front of us and already lining up behind me, I didn’t hold out much hope, but we’d try. I kept hold of Jake as the line moved forward. It took two more tries before we were up to the gate.

“I hope we get the purple one!” Jake was nearly jumping up and down.

“We’re first in line, so we should be able to.” I looked at the gondolas hooked to arms and frowned. There was one left, and it wasn’t purple. I hated to disappoint Jake.

“We’ve got one more.” The guy running the ride came over to let us through the gate.

Jake went to dart through, but I held him back and motioned to the people behind me. “Let them go first; my son has his heart set on a purple one.”

The two kids behind me were motioned past us, and I looked down to see Jake look like he was ready to cry.

“What’s wrong?”

“It was my turn.” Jake looked over at the ride as it started.

I crouched down so I was on his level and looked in his eyes. “You wanted a purple one, didn’t you?” Jake nodded. “Then we have to wait for the next one. There wasn’t a purple one left.”

He didn’t say anything, just stood there. My knees cracked as I stood and watched the ride go around and around. Eventually it started slowing to a stop, and I kept an eye on the Dumbo with the purple hat. One stopped not too far from us.

“We’ll go for that one, right there, see it?” I pointed it out to Jake.

“I see it, I see it.” Jake jumped up and down and pointed.

By the time the operator came back to the gate, Jake was nearly beside himself. The gate opened, and I hurried alongside him to the gondola he wanted. I helped him in and climbed up next to him. Once we were situated, I looked around and found Tony, taking pictures.

“Wave hi to Tony.” I showed Jake where Tony was, and we both waved as Tony snapped another picture. He lowered the camera and waved back. The ride finally started, and we were flying through the air, a purple hat in front of us, the sound of water below us, and circus music playing. Jake’s laughter and giggles were music to my ears. I hoped Tony was getting some good pictures. We slowed down, and the ride slowly came to a stop. I lifted Jake out, and we went to find Tony. He was waiting for us not far from the exit gate.

“Did you have fun?” Tony smiled at Jake and handed me back the camera.

“Did you see? Did you see? I was flying! Can we do it again?”

“Well, you can, but then you might miss out on a different ride.” Tony looked at me. “There’s a Dumbo gondola on the other side that you can take pictures in. I thought maybe we could take a couple there so we know we have some good ones.”

“Sounds good.” Tony took hold of Jake’s hand and led us to the gondola. There was a line, and we had to wait for a bit, but it was worth it. I had pictures of Jake and Tony together in the gondola, one of each of them by themselves, and then Tony took one of me and Jake together and then one of just me.

“So, where to next?”

We wandered around, Jake going on a few more rides as we worked our way to another section of the park. My feet were starting to hurt, but all that was forgotten at Jake’s squeal.

“Daddy, Daddy, look! It’s Donald Duck!” Once again I found myself being dragged.

I heard Tony chuckle behind me and glanced over my shoulder to see him shaking his head as he followed behind. Jake had to wait as there were other kids wanting their picture with Donald, but finally it was his turn. I let go of his hand, since I was right there, and he ran up and threw his arms around Donald.

“I watch you all the times!” Jake was rambling, and I only caught the occasional word or phrase.

I smiled, snapped a couple pictures, and motioned Tony to join them so I could snap a few more. I was snapping away when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and saw a mother and her kid waiting to see Donald.

“Would you like me to take a picture of all of you?”

I debated for a second before handing the camera to her and going to join Tony and Jake. We didn’t have many pictures of the three of us together, though we had already gone through Mickey’s house and had a picture of the three of us with Mickey and Minnie. Since she was waiting with her little girl, I didn’t figure she’d take off, and I really wanted more pictures of all of us together. She snapped a couple pictures, and I went and got the camera from her.

“Thank you so much.” I didn’t see anyone with them and motioned toward her camera. “Would you like me to take a couple for you?”

“If you’re sure you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” I took the camera she held out and waited for her and her little girl to get in position. I snapped a half a dozen pictures, walked over, and handed her camera back. She thanked me, and I moved to where Tony and Jake were waiting.

Even more rides and pictures with characters later, we were standing in front of the Haunted Mansion.

“Jake, I don’t think you’ll like it.” I had never been in the haunted house and wasn’t sure how scary it was.

“Please, Daddy.” He looked up to Tony and stuck his lower lip out. “Please, Tony. Tell Daddy I can do it. He listens to you.”

“Jake, I really don’t think—” Tony tried, but was interrupted.

“Pleaseeeeeeeeeee.”

I tried one last time. “It’s got a really long line. Are you sure you want to go in there?”

Jake nodded. Tony shrugged his shoulders, and I sighed as we headed for the line. At least there were other young kids, so it couldn’t be too scary. Right? It took nearly twenty minutes for us to make it through the doors and into the foyer of the haunted house. Jake immediately froze, and his hand tightened on mine.

“Daddy, I don’t like this.” He pressed closer to me. “It’s scary.”

I looked around the room we were in. There were candelabras flickering on the wall, and there was a bit of doom and gloom atmosphere, but nothing too bad. Of course, that’s when the voice started, and I felt Jake jump beside me. I went to pick him up, but Tony beat me to it.

“How about if I hold you while we go through?” Tony ran his hand in circles on Jake’s back as Jake clung to him.

Jake shook his head and buried his face against Tony’s neck. “I don’t want to.” He sounded like he was ready to cry. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please, please.”

There were still people coming through the doors, and as much as I hated having wasted the twenty minutes in line, I knew I wouldn’t make Jake go through the house. I met Tony’s eyes in the dim light and shook my head. We managed to make it back to the doors before they were shut and slipped out, apologizing to the guy holding the door.

“It’s okay, buddy.” Tony kept whispering soothing words to Jake. “We’re not going through it. I promise, it’s all right.”

Jake finally lifted his head and glanced around. His gaze landed on me, and I held my arms out. He let go of Tony and reached for me. I held him close for a minute before pulling back to look at him. “How about we go find a ride for you and Tony to go on?”

Jake nodded. His smile was still shaky, but I’d take what I could get. I also knew another way to make him smile and get a little payback with Tony for his finding me getting dragged around humorous.

“You know, I bet if you ask really nicely, Tony will give you a shoulder ride.” I smirked at the look of disbelief on Tony’s face.

Jake’s gaze shot to Tony, and he grinned. “Please, Tony! I won’t wiggle at all, I promise!”

“Uh huh.” Tony made a big production of sighing and then reached for him. “C’mere, rugrat.” He lifted Jake up on his shoulders and kept hold of his calves. I stepped away and snapped a couple of pictures. With the exception of the haunted house, Jake had been having a blast.

Coming to Disneyland had been a good plan.