Nothing else matters

Goofy's Kitchen was fun -- once we were all there -- and now we move on, back to the parks.

Several in our group have ducked into the hotel lobby to find a restroom, and others are sitting on a concrete bench/wall/planter place in the shade to wait. Brandon wants to go to the hotel gift shop ahead of us, and that’s fine with me. We do have a bit of $$ on our Disney Rewards card, so we’ll have to hit the stores eventually.

Benjamin comes along, too, and the three of us look at Disney pins and hats. I usually buy a new Disney cap as a souvenir, though I did not on our last trip. None of them at this store are that appealing to me. And while the three of us see a few cute Disney pins, none are exciting enough for us to want to buy. We leave without getting anything.

Not all of our party is back together, so I sit in the shade. My Aunt Kay has a park map with the events schedule, and she’s suggesting that we go to the Aladdin live show in California Adventure, which starts at 1:50. Hmm. I hadn’t really planned on visiting California Adventure today – I guess I just automatically thought my first park visit with my parents would be to Disneyland itself.

Of course, we’ve all been in Disneyland today already, and we’re for sure going there tomorrow for Club 33. Then Kay points out that, according to the schedule, the Aladdin show is only running from Thursday through Sunday, meaning that today is the last day we’ll have a chance to catch it. Okay, I can handle that reasoning.

Everyone is reassembled, and all are in agreement to head for the Aladdin show. Now the problem is getting there. We only have about a half hour until it starts. Taking the monorail is not really an option, because it will deposit us in Tomorrowland and then we’d have almost as long of a walk out of Disneyland and across to California Adventure. The only good option is to walk right there, going through the Downtown Disney shopping district and into the park. I just hope I have the lung power for it.

We start off towards Downtown Disney. As we continue back past the ESPN Zone building, it becomes clear to me that the prolonged time sitting at Goofy’s Kitchen has not improved my breathing. If anything, it's worse. After only a short time of walking, I have to find a bench and sit.

The group of the ten of us has spread out a bit, so we call ahead to some of the others to wait a bit. No one seems bothered by my needing to take a break just a short distance into our walk, but I hate slowing everyone down. I don’t want to make the group miss the show.

After a short time sitting, I push myself back to my feet and trudge on. I’m able to make it just a couple hundred more feet before I’m gasping for breathing. This is Not. Good. I find a bench and sit again. My aunt and uncle are taking things slowly, too, but not to this extent.

Again, I don’t feel panicked or that I’m going to keel over. I just can’t go very far with only about a fourth of my normal lung capacity! A few minutes rest helps out each time, but just a little more exertion brings back the gasping and wheezing.

Didn’t the Lung Association have a slogan a few years back, “When you can’t breath, nothing else matters”? I could be their poster child.

We go on through Downtown Disney. And again the breathing becomes a struggle. Suddenly I’ve had enough.

I tell Becky and the others to go on without me.