Disneyland City Hall, Anaheim

9/5/13

We'd been planning our Disney trip for my husband's 30th bday for a few months. One month before the trip, my cousin asked if he could join us. It was his 36th birthday and we had driven down to celebrate it with him. Our entire family attended his birthday party, because just days before he had been told he may only have a few days to live.
At this point it could be weeks or months, but it's very unclear.
(RIP Erik Halonen 1977-2014)

So we of course wanted to spend our time at Disney with him. My little cousin Staci also joined us and being a seasonpass holder, she knew all things Disney. She first had us rent a wheelchair ($32 including a $20 deposit) from outside the park. Then, upon entering Disneyland, she told us to stop at City Hall. This is where you can get a pass for front of the line.

I'm told people abuse these, and it makes sense: the waiting in lines is significantly less. There are stories of wealthy OC Moms paying handicapped people in wheelchairs to join them at Disney. And you know what, that's selfish of those people taking advantage, but probably really great for the person in the wheelchair, so I have mixed feelings. There was no way my now very-ill cousin would have been able to wait in the sun while standing in line. He becomes exhausted after walking a few feet.  It was exhausting to him just to be pushed around in the wheelchair. The hundred degree weather took a lot out of him and he was in considerable pain most of the day.

The lady who helped us at City Hall was very nice about giving us the pass. Perhaps she could see the pain in his gaunt face. And who's going to lie about stage 4 cancer? (hopefully nobody!) I saw several people rolling their eyes as he stepped out of the wheelchair to get onto rides. Annoyed expressions that "this guy can walk, he's cutting" because they couldn't know that this might be his last trip to Disneyland and this was the only way he would be able to do it.

We made it on almost all of the low-impact rides. There's no way we could have done this without the front of the line pass. My cousin is really positive and had a great day. Positive attitudes real affect your degree of healing so I hope he can maintain it through the hard days. It was a wonderful trip to be able to share with him and keep in my memories. And it was wonderful that Disneyland makes their park so accessible to the people in need of wheelchair assistance.