For the past two months, I’d been restraining myself from counting down the days until I was going to Disneyland. It was only on Friday, that I let myself go and finally said, “I’m going to Disneyland tomorrow,” as if it were 18 years earlier and I was a small five-year-old waiting to go to Disney for the first time ever.

Blogger’s note: It rained the last time I went to Disneyland and I was a very sad smol hooman because I didn’t get to ride the Dumbo ride one of the days because the line was too long. There is photographic evidence that I pouted about this in the park.

Of course, as life would have it this time around, I fell ill the week leading up to my trip. After celebrating my birthday last Saturday, I came down with a bad cold that got aggravated when I was at work because a cold draft blows down on my head and I keep warm by using a heater under my desk that blows dust into my eyes and nose.

As any other 23-year-older would be in my situation, I was very worried I wouldn’t be able to go to Disneyland because of my illness. (That thought, in and of itself, is enough to make me sick if I’m not already feeling under the weather.)

In a drastic attempt to get better in the last few days before the weekend, I drank 16 cups of water on Wednesday, 14.5 cups on Thursday, and at least 10 cups before I went to the airport at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Conclusion 1: Flushing your entire system with water is fairly effective. I am not a doctor, but I am happy to report that I was not a booger-y, sneezy mess come Saturday. That being said, my throat felt parched after just a couple hours of walking because I wasn’t able to guzzle water at the rate my body had gotten accustomed to in the days prior.

Also, I suspect my body was not exhibiting its usual cries of hunger because it was still trying to fight off the last vestiges of my sickness, so I didn’t feel hungry the entire day — not even when I sat beside Candle Boy (aka hooman) eating a giant turkey leg. He and his brother basically became free advertisements for the food stand beside us.

Although I didn’t feel particularly sick throughout the day, around 4 p.m., my body decided for me that it was tired and suggested that taking a nap in the middle of Adventureland by the entrance of the Indiana Jones ride was a fine idea. I almost fell off the tiny brick wall I’d been perching on, so after using the bathroom (for the umpteenth time), I found refuge in the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln museum and took a proper nap there.

Conclusion 2: When your body wants sleep, listen to it and sleep.

It wasn’t until nightfall that I started feeling a little poorly again. I’d begun shivering like mad, which was when Candle Boy reminded me that we’d walked at least 9 miles at that point and I’d eaten very little. I wasn’t quite feeling in the mood for fair food, so he fished out an ironically smushed Blueberry Crisp Clif bar from his backpack for me to eat. At that point, I stopped shivering.

Conclusion 3: If you haven’t eaten a lot in a long time and you’re super cold, your body might be in need of food.

Illness aside, Disneyland was just as magical as I’d hoped it would be. I’m not going to lie — it is tiring and tests your patience, but it will continue to be as enchanting as you would like it to be.