My Disney World Adventure

Is it every parents and grandparents dream to take their children and subsequent grandchildren to visit a large mouse in Florida at least once in their lifetime? Judging from what I saw in Florida this past week, I believe this to be a true statement.

I took my kids twice, the first time was back in the mid 80’s when they were all little and again in the early 90’s, it was our last family trip before my oldest began college. Of course, those trips took place before the age of electronics, we had to navigate the park with a paper map, this was long before the magical Disney app with the interactive maps and up to date wait times. We still managed to have make some great family memories and it was nice that I was able to return with one of my children and my two youngest grandsons in tow.

I lost count of the number of groups I saw in the magic kingdom wearing matching t-shirts, everything from the ordinary Family 2019 trip, to Birthday kid and I’m with Birthday kid, and I’m birthday kids brother/sister/aunt/uncle…to the Cheerleading groups, the youth groups, the middle school music groups and on and on…the best one I saw was the Thing One and Thing two shirts on a group of about 20, it was a large family and grandpa was in a wheelchair being pushed around by one of his many grandchildren.

I also saw a few moms in wheelchairs with bandannas to cover their bald heads…I can only imagine how emotional on so many levels a visit to this special place meant to them and their young families.

I do believe that the Magic Kingdom is one the happiest places on earth. So it’s raining, let’s have a rain parade, it’s no big deal, everything’s ok….continuous parades and happy music..screaming kids, it’s ok..you’re at the Magic Kingdom.

I am amazed at the unbelievable coordination at every single level to make the visit as enjoyable as possible, from the easy entry, to how skillfully the lines are arranged so standing on your feet in 89 degree heat doesn’t seem so unbearable. The occasional fans, the interactive activities for the kids, each designed with the intent to make the experience pleasurable. The wristbands should be mandatory for every theme park, they truly are like Magic.

For a long time I had a wish to bring all our six kids and grandkids together for a trip to Disneyworld, maybe I just wanted to be part of the group with the t-shirts….we tried several times but we could never manage to come up with a date that would work for everyone…go figure

What I’ve learned as I’ve aged is that you can plan to your hearts content but sometimes your well intentioned plan and reality get together behind your back and make their own plan…and in this case it couldn’t have worked out any better for me.

So I’m chillin in my golden years…not getting too worked up if things don’t go as I’ve planned because my unplanned stuff has been pretty amazing, so reality and well intentioned plans can have at it anytime as far as I’m concerned, I’m always up for a good surprise or two.