We walked through the gates of Magic kingdom, and all I could think was “we had finally made it to Disney.” After a year of saving and planning, and years of talking about it, we had finally made it.
At first I was a bit overwhelmed by all of the people. I’m not really a “crowd” person… in fact usually it sends me into a bit of a panic.
But all of those anxious feelings soon began to melt away as we made our way through Main Street and the beautiful buildings caught my eyes and yummy smells filled the air. And before I knew it, we walked up to street performers all dressed up and signing and dancing right in front of Cinderella’s castle and it was, well pretty stinkin awesome.
The kids watched with smiles on their faces, but I could tell my oldest son wasn’t convinced Magic Kingdom was going to be amazing. He was excited to be there but he wasn’t thrilled to be wearing a Mickey shirt and hat, and wasn’t sure about taking time to see characters. Because after all “he is 9, and too big for that.” And to be honest I kind of understood. I may have been wearing a Minnie shirt but it certainly wasn’t because I loved Minnie. I guess in a way it felt kind of like “the thing to do” so I figured, hey why not? I even got my dad in a Mickey shirt!! 😉
As the performers slowly cleared we were able to make our way to in front of the castle to get pictures* of our family. My kids smiled for a few pictures but both my sons got over it pretty quickly and asked if they could be done, while my daughter hammed it up in front of the camera for another 5 minutes.
We finally made our way to our first ride, the Jungle Cruise. I could start to see the excitement build in all three kids. A glimmer of “maybe this is cool after all”…As the day went on the joy only grew, in all of us. Not only did Disney have amazing rides, but they also had amazing food! A sure win for my sons.
Over the next few days (we spent 3 days in Disney:2 days at Magic Kingdom and 1 day at Animal Kingdom), I began to see all three of my children fall in love with Disney, and truthfully so did my husband and I. All together we finally understood what “Falling In loving Disney” actually meant.
My children would go to bed at night and I could hear their whispers of what the coolest ride was of that day, or how neat their Disney souvenir was. All while my husband and I were in the next room reliving every moment of our special day too!
We would stop for a midday snack and I would see my kids giggle as they all tried each others ice cream sundaes, and I soon began to watch a connection grow between them that I had never seen before.
When you have three kids, with a span of five years apart, it’s often hard to find something they all love together. It’s sometimes hard to find common ground at all. But Disney did that for us. Each ride they would decide who would sit with each other, all taking turns to sit with one another.
Each restaurant they would be excited to see which character they would see or what dessert they would eat (because most kids meals came with dessert!! Double win!!)
Even when waiting in line* they found fun games to play and had fun squirting each other with their water bottles**. Some rides like Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo had interactive lines (places for them to play while we waiting in line) and they would run off together laughing and holding hands, something I don’t often see anymore. It was like Disney gave them time to just be brothers and sister. No age separating them. No electronics distracting them. No sports to run off to, or homework to tend to. They could just be kids, together.
But it wasn’t until the spectacular firework and light show on Cinderella’s Castle, that it all really sunk in. My kids all stood there in awe. My youngest squealing with glee, my middle son smiling ear to ear while looking back at me every time he saw something amazing. And my oldest, grabbing my hand and whispering “this is amazing, thank you Mommy for this trip”… I am fairly certain he even had tears in his eyes (I most certainly did because it was captivating and one of the most incredible things I had ever seen!!)
It was moments like that, that truly made Disney magical. It was like you were in this world that was always happy, light hearted, peaceful (even with tons of people there!!), clean (I am fairly certain we used every bathroom in Magic Kingdom and I didn’t see one that was dirty) and just absolutely joyful. Everything was thought of and relatively seamless (if you planned ahead).*A friend of mine said, if you don’t like Disney, then you didn’t plan right and boy was she correct!! Between the planning we did on our own, and the planning that Disney has clearly done for years upon years, it was truly a trip of a lifetime.
It was a trip I will forever cherish in my heart forever. It brought our family together in a way we had been longing for, for a quite time. It took away all of the worlds rush to make kids be older than they actually were. It gave us a few more days for our kids to be on the same level and remember how they loved to play together. It let my kids all just be little.
By the end of the trip my kids had all fallen (back)in love with Mickey, and Pooh and all the Toy Story characters. They were eager to take pictures with Buzz Lightyear and delighted to get a hug from Minnie. They even all were in a little bit of amazement by the beauty and grace of sweet Cinderella and the Corkiness of Aerial (she was brushing her hair with a fork, but of course!) Just another example of how every little detail came to life. The characters effortlessly knew their parts.
They even had people doing street art with water on the pavement around the park. It was the neatest thing!! There was small touches like this everywhere. From hidden Mickey Mouse heads, to floating bubbles in the air, and each cast member referring to my daughter as a princess… they truly thought if everything. There was details inside of details.
Is Disney expensive? Yes, it is, just like most trips. But the difference here was that there was so much to see and experience. And there were more free or cheap things to do than I honestly expected (more on that to come!)*
So all that to say, Thank you Disney, for showing us exactly why it is called the happiest place on earth! We were truly filled with happiness through and through.
*Read: “Falling In Love with Disney- Part Two: 10 Disney Tips.
**Read: “Falling In Love with Disney- Part Three: 10 Must haves for Disney
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