Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Where to Meet if We Got Separated

While Kimberley, Kristine and Adele were most obedient throughout the whole day, and night in Tokyo Disney, never out of my sight, there were twice when I thought Adele was lost, both at night fall.
First was an innocent 'I need to go pee' request from Adele towards the end of a massive parade at night. While it was still in progress, most spectators were stationery and sitting down. Before Adele could return, the parade ended and suddenly there were people everywhere, moving in all direcitions. For the whole day when the kids went to toilet, they went together and I would wait for them outside. This time, I had Kimberley asleep on my laps and I was sitting on thr ground, and the toilet is less than 100m away, so I thought it was safe. After an anxious wait, she returned.

Second was as our dinner was finishing. Kristine and Adele had wanted to try Space Mountain the whole day. As I was packing my backpack and waiting for Kimberley to finish her food, I said to Adele and Kristine to start walking toward Space Mountain. They were about 100m ahead when Kimberley and I left our dinner table. Suddenly there were fireworks and water canon displays at Cinderella Castle. Kristine and Adele started running in that direction. Kristine stopped and walked back to us after a few steps but Adele disappeared. We hurried (an impossible task with Kimberley holding my hand) to the Castle but one look and it was obvious that was how missing child go missing. We walked around a bit and I felt we had a better chance of finding her if we returned to our dinner table, thinking Adele would return once she realised we didnt follow. On way back to the dining courtyard, Kristine said,"I think Adele ahs gone over to Space Mountain". We hurried over to Space Mountain and indeed she was there!!!!

Hence Space Mountain became our meeting place should we get lost again. I should have made clear to Kristine and Adele very early on. The risk of being separated exists throughout the day, but the risk is even higher at night with even more crowd coming in specifically for the evening performances. Selecting a wellknown spot central to the park is an important task to clarify upon entering the park with three kids.

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