13,000

I almost thought this day would never come. On March 10th, 2020, I reached 12,737 times on Radiator Springs Racers. On March 14th, they shut down Disney California Adventure and Disneyland. The worldwide pandemic was the cause.

The parks reopened at the end of April 2021. My first day back was May 10th. It was almost 1 year and 2 months since I’d gotten on my favorite ride. It was great to be back. I miss the attraction and seeing my cast member friends.

Little by little I kept adding to my ride total. And on Monday, January 31st, I reached 13,000 rides on Racers. I hit 12,000 back on 8/6/2019. That’s 2 years and 5 months to go from 12,000 to 13,000.

I got to Disney California Adventure when the gates opened at 7:30 am. I met my friend Natalie. We went on Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout a couple of times. I saw my friend Andy working the ride. He is one of the original Racers cast members. We walked over to Web Slingers. I got to say hi to Rosanna and Jason. They too worked at Racers before coming to Avengers Campus. Natalie and I went on Guardians one more time.

At 11 am, I met Heather, Natalie, Carlene, and Cameron in front of the Racers entrance. We got in the standby line. Amanda met up with us before we got on. As we were in standby, the ride went down for a few minutes. We got in line at 10:56 am and got in our car at 12:20 pm. We were in Red 6. We got Ramona’s side for the race and won the race. Number 13,000. All the girls wore masks that had my face imprinted on them.

After we took some pictures, I went over to Disneyland with Heather, her boyfriend Elliot, and his kids, Ella, Jack and Archer. We were also joined my Heather’s mom Dorise and her boyfriend Bill. They took me to the Blue Bayou for lunch. It was a very nice gift on my 13,000th day.

We then all went on Big Thunder Railroad then headed over to Rise of the Resistance. It went down before we could get in the standby line. So we headed over to Smuggler’s run, the sign said only a 20-minute wait. We got in line and the ride went down. The 20-minute wait turned into 60 minutes. Still fun for my 105th time on Falcon.

I’m glad I was able to continue following my dream. This time I was lucky to ride with my close friends Carlene, Amanda, Heather, Natalie, and Cameron. The cast member family and friends I’ve made along the way, have really helped keep me on my path to more rides. Their encouragement has made the journey extra special. Without them, I may have stopped a long time ago. Onward towards 14,000.