Several weeks ago I wrote a post about the many things I learned by taking four kids under the age of 10 to Disneyland. It was inspired by the 10+ hour day R and I spent with his sister, brother-and-law and their four kids under the age of 10.

Today I’m filing a different post on a similar theme. This time it’s a reflection on my experience taking two people over the age of 50 to Disneyland, and it’s inspired by the 6+ hour day R and I spent with his parents.

For the record, we get free admission through a work situation…

Here we go:

• The night before the big day you’ll discuss leaving at 11AM then decide that’s way too early and settle on 2PM.

• You don’t have to tell them to go to the bathroom before you leave, or really at any point throughout the day. In fact, it’s more likely that they’ll remind you.

• Rather than scream and squeal at the costumed characters or plastic light sabers they see as they walk down Main Street U.S.A, they’ll wax nostalgic about how similar the paint colors on the buildings looked like in 1972.

• If you say, “so, the line is 45 minutes long…” they’ll say, “that’s okay. We’re here to go on a few rides and have a nice time. If we wait, we wait,” not, “45 MINUTES?! That’s like an HOUR!!!”

• While on that 45 minute line they will not require Angry Birds, Brick Breaker or any other smart phone game to pass the time, instead favoring things like conversation about when you were little and/or the current price of crude oil.

• They will love that ride with the same audible energy, enthusiasm and excitement as any kid under the age of 10. The reaction will be a little less, “MAN, THAT WAS AWESOME!” and a little more, “THAT INDY RIDE IS REALLY SOMETHING!!” but the spirit is identical.

• One among the two may need to stop for a snack, but it will be a strawberry Froze Fruit not a Mickey Mouse pretzel. It is possible that that’s only because he didn’t see the pretzel until later on…

• There will not be one instance in which you need to yell ahead to tell them to stop running so they don’t get lost.

• They will, however, get lost inside the Disney store in pursuit of the perfect souvenir.

• Even though you set out to treat them to a full day of whatever their hearts’ desire, they’ll turn that around and take care of you just like they did when you were 10-years-old.

• But that parenting instinct won’t stop them from holding hands like teenagers as they skip around the park like school-aged kids with eyes as wide as a toddler have when they see Disneyland for the very first time.