Personal Memoir
By: Zach Stickley
I remember the day like it was yesterday... all of the lights, the music and the food... It was the first time I had ever been to Disneyland with my Grandparents and my cousins. On the plane my cousins and I could not stop moving we were so excited we felt like exploding, I can't even imagine how the other people on the plan felt about us. We were only 8, 9, and 10 and it was the most exciting moment of our lives when we landed in California. When we got to the hotel that night none of us could sleep good, we could not wait any longer to go to the park. The next morning me and my cousins woke up and we headed to the park. I remember the smells and the sounds when we walked into Disneyland. It was the most excited I have ever been in my life. The first thing my cousins and I wanted to do was ride splash mountain. The line was long but we didn’t care one bit, we would have waited 10 years if we had to. When we got to the front of the line we were so excited! When we got to the top of the mountain it felt like we were at the top of mount everest. It was amazing! When we got off of the ride we looked at the picture we were all screaming and had the biggest smile I have ever seen. After we went on splash mountain we wanted to go on star tours! We all loved the star wars movies and we wanted to know what it was like in real life. When we were in the starship it actually felt like we were in space and fighting in the star wars universe. We saw C3-PO, Darth Vader, and chewbacca. When we got off of the ride the store you go in after the ride was like heaven to us; it had star wars, star wars, and more star wars. After we were allowed to look in that store and pick a prize, we headed to Main Street and went to the candy store. Even just walking in that store smelled so good. They make homemade fudge, candy apples, rice crispy treats and many more delicious treats. I chose a caramel apple and ate it up right away. We decided to ride Autopia next. On this ride you get to drive cars around a track. When we were waiting in line, I put my arm through the stair railing and it got stuck. My grandma tried and tried to get it out, but it was really jammed in there. I thought the fire department was going to have to come cut the bars away from my arm. All of a sudden, a woman walked up and she said she would help. She was a nurse and was able to keep calm and somehow she managed to get my arm free. My arm was a little sore after that but it was fine. We were all so relieved and thankful that she came to help. We went ahead and drove the cars and at the end we got to make driver’s licenses in a machine. During the trip, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean many times and it was instantly our favorite ride. The reason we loved it so much was because we had always wanted to be pirates and fight with big, shiny swords. That ride also has a certain smell that everyone remembers. One of the scariest rides was Tower of Terror in California Adventure. You ride up in an elevator and drop numerous times very fast as if the elevator was broken. The decorations in the ride made you feel like you were really at the Tower of Terror Hotel. At night we loved going to parades and Fantasmic! Seeing all of those lights and Disney characters sparked our imagination. The whole sky lit up with so many lights and you felt like it was never going to end. In Fantasmic the characters come to life and Sorcerer Mickey fights the evil dragon. There is a water rapids ride named Grizzly River Run where you ride in a giant raft and head down the rapids. You twist and turn and somebody is bound to get soaked and sure enough my Grandpa got drenched. There is a really neat gift shop that is mountain themed that my Grandma could not leave. She loved the atmosphere and all of the animal stuffed animals. Our favorite treat was churros that they sell all over the park in little stands. They are a long stick kind of like a donut covered in cinnamon. On our last day of the five day trip, we were so sad to leave. We still had an amazing, fun day but it was hard to say goodbye. I’ll never forget this time I spent with my grandparents and cousins. It has become a family tradition that we try to go visit Disneyland at least once a year.
By: Zach Stickley
I remember the day like it was yesterday... all of the lights, the music and the food... It was the first time I had ever been to Disneyland with my Grandparents and my cousins. On the plane my cousins and I could not stop moving we were so excited we felt like exploding, I can't even imagine how the other people on the plan felt about us. We were only 8, 9, and 10 and it was the most exciting moment of our lives when we landed in California. When we got to the hotel that night none of us could sleep good, we could not wait any longer to go to the park. The next morning me and my cousins woke up and we headed to the park. I remember the smells and the sounds when we walked into Disneyland. It was the most excited I have ever been in my life. The first thing my cousins and I wanted to do was ride splash mountain. The line was long but we didn’t care one bit, we would have waited 10 years if we had to. When we got to the front of the line we were so excited! When we got to the top of the mountain it felt like we were at the top of mount everest. It was amazing! When we got off of the ride we looked at the picture we were all screaming and had the biggest smile I have ever seen. After we went on splash mountain we wanted to go on star tours! We all loved the star wars movies and we wanted to know what it was like in real life. When we were in the starship it actually felt like we were in space and fighting in the star wars universe. We saw C3-PO, Darth Vader, and chewbacca. When we got off of the ride the store you go in after the ride was like heaven to us; it had star wars, star wars, and more star wars. After we were allowed to look in that store and pick a prize, we headed to Main Street and went to the candy store. Even just walking in that store smelled so good. They make homemade fudge, candy apples, rice crispy treats and many more delicious treats. I chose a caramel apple and ate it up right away. We decided to ride Autopia next. On this ride you get to drive cars around a track. When we were waiting in line, I put my arm through the stair railing and it got stuck. My grandma tried and tried to get it out, but it was really jammed in there. I thought the fire department was going to have to come cut the bars away from my arm. All of a sudden, a woman walked up and she said she would help. She was a nurse and was able to keep calm and somehow she managed to get my arm free. My arm was a little sore after that but it was fine. We were all so relieved and thankful that she came to help. We went ahead and drove the cars and at the end we got to make driver’s licenses in a machine. During the trip, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean many times and it was instantly our favorite ride. The reason we loved it so much was because we had always wanted to be pirates and fight with big, shiny swords. That ride also has a certain smell that everyone remembers. One of the scariest rides was Tower of Terror in California Adventure. You ride up in an elevator and drop numerous times very fast as if the elevator was broken. The decorations in the ride made you feel like you were really at the Tower of Terror Hotel. At night we loved going to parades and Fantasmic! Seeing all of those lights and Disney characters sparked our imagination. The whole sky lit up with so many lights and you felt like it was never going to end. In Fantasmic the characters come to life and Sorcerer Mickey fights the evil dragon. There is a water rapids ride named Grizzly River Run where you ride in a giant raft and head down the rapids. You twist and turn and somebody is bound to get soaked and sure enough my Grandpa got drenched. There is a really neat gift shop that is mountain themed that my Grandma could not leave. She loved the atmosphere and all of the animal stuffed animals. Our favorite treat was churros that they sell all over the park in little stands. They are a long stick kind of like a donut covered in cinnamon. On our last day of the five day trip, we were so sad to leave. We still had an amazing, fun day but it was hard to say goodbye. I’ll never forget this time I spent with my grandparents and cousins. It has become a family tradition that we try to go visit Disneyland at least once a year.
The process I went though to make my personal memoir was first I thought of the memory that came to my mind first and wrote about it. This memory would turn out to be the memory that I could write best about. Something that I could have improved on was adding natural transitions to my writing so it would have flowed a little better. Something that I really enjoyed about finishing my piece was knowing that I can actually write something good and that I actually like. Overall I really like my final work but I still realize there can be improvements.