What It Was Like to Grow Up Right Next to Disneyland
I grew up in Anaheim, California. We lived in three different places during my childhood but all within a couple miles of Disneyland. When we first moved there, I could literally throw a baseball onto the hotel property. I went to the three schools closest to Disneyland-- Palm Lane, Ball Jr. High and Loara High School. Of course, as a kid you don't always realize the significance of things. I didn't know that I was growing up in a really great place because I didn't know any different. We would go to the beach once a week in the summer, we would play "ditch" in the summer in our neighborhood and then watch the Disneyland fireworks at 9 pm and afterwards we knew it was time to go home. I have often been asked, "Wow, if you grew up next to Disneyland, then you probably went all the time?" No, not really. Disneyland was (and even more now) expensive and I grew up in a broken home. I probably went as often as any other kid in southern Cali