Three years ago, give or take a few days, my husband Shawn took me on a spring vacation and made one of my dreams come true.
Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, I was a little girl predisposed to dreaming about the cliché princess’ and there’s no place better for a princess-at-heart than Disney, in Orlando, Florida.
The problem then, of course, was that I lived thousands of miles away. The dream and the chance to realize it was extremely remote. Even after I had met and married Shawn, we simply couldn’t afford to visit Disney until one dreary, cold and rainy early spring weekend.
The weather was the furthest thing from my mind as we were driving underneath the bright, multi-colored sign with the worlds that made my heart skip a beat: The Magic Kingdom. Everywhere I looked, against the gray day a rainbow of every color possible sprinkled a lack-luster morning with the iconic symbol of the castle looming in my sights as we made quick time from parking lot to the river boat.
To say that I felt a little like a kid again right at that second as water sluiced against the white hull of the boat that took you from parking lot to the Magic Kingdom is a lot like saying the Pope may be a little Catholic. I felt my eyes begin to take on the stupefied, wide-eyed childish wonder at every thing I saw.
It was cold. It was ridiculously cold for a day in Florida, spring or not. I couldn’t feel my cheeks (which were curved upward permanently in Disney sugar coated excitement), my nose, or any of the ten fingers I was wriggling about in a poor, twenty six year old’s rendition of ecstatic puppy-wriggling excitement. We hadn’t planned for the rain and had forgotten our raincoats. Lucky for us, Disney supplied these plastic ponchos with happy little Mickey’s all over them so that I could run from one end of The World of Tomorrow to the other cackling with glee.
I was beside myself, and I wasn’t disappointed with anything. Not once—not even for a split second.
Now, some times I hear mumblings from unhappy little mouseketeers—Disney really is just a tourist trap, Disney isn’t that great, Disney is a horrible giant splash of marketing and isn’t what it used to be….And to those grumpy dwarves, I say take a flying leap from the top of the Swiss Family Robinson tree.
It’s an amusement park, of course it’s a brilliant splash of marketing, that’s how they make the money that delivers a one-of-a-kind experience to you. But, I can tell you with assurance and good authority that Disney is beyond freaking awesome at doing exactly what it promises to do: making your dreams come true. Everything around you is most likely for sale—but Disney isn’t cramming it down your throat and twisting your arm to buy that pink and blue Tinkerbelle hat with sparkles on it. Ahem. It’s there, but it’s not screaming. The Magic Kingdom is absolutely serious about making sure your dream remains true.
Next spring? We’re going again. I’ve been carefully, studiously preparing by letting myself get wound up at odd hours of the day, responding to half of what Shawn asks me with a hearty, “DISNEY!”
“Hun, have you seen my work shirt?”
“DISNEY!”
“Mel, do you know where I put the keys I—“
“DISNEY!”
“Are you excited about going to—“
“DISNEY!”
If you’re thinking about visiting Orlando, Florida to finally make that dream come true and visit the happiest place on earth, I recommend it. I recommend it so hard.
Don’t put it off until it’s too late. Start thinking about booking a dream vacation and follow through. You can even start with Trusted Tours & Attractions which can assist you with things to do in Orlando, Florida. And if you have enough time, there are a million other things for you to see in Orlando. Book a few sight seeing tours and visit Sea World, Discovery Cove, Medieval Times, Arabian Nights and just downtown Orlando in itself is a plethora of sights and memories awaiting to happen. While you’re in Orlando and thinking about branching out even more in an adventurous spirit, I suggest Miami and visiting the Miami Seaquarium.
Sign up for Trusted Tours & Attractions newsletter while you’re visiting and checking out their site, just for signing up you’ll be entered to win a handheld GPS before the offer ends on April 10th of this year.
Don’t let your dreams get muddled up in bills, the kids, and work. Take the time to make a memory that will last a life time. I did, and I can’t wait to do it again.
DISNEY!
2 Responses to “Don’t put your dreams on a shelf.”
Ooooh, nicely written! I’ve promised Aya that when she learns to read (to my satisfaction), we’ll take her to Disneyland again. The last trip down south didn’t have a lot of Disney magic, since I felt like crap and it was the most crowded time of year. I don’t do well in crowds at all. However, now I am totally jazzed about WDW – and I’m going to broach a trip to Orlando instead of Anaheim to the rest of the family.
Thank you!
And I think if I were Aya, I’d be reading everything I can get my hands on. Part of me is a bit envious of the children that get to go, I wonder what sort of impact Disney would have made on me had a I been younger the first time I walked through those bright gates.
But, the more I think about it and reflect, the more I am sure I would have done the exact same thing as I did then–run around like an idiot, despite being exhausted at the end of the day, shouting, “DISNEY!”
Man, I’m so sorry you were feeling like crap, that can make the happiest place on earth the not-so-much. And, yeah, there are times when I hear it’s just crazy there. Any major holiday is a bad time to visit–but you know, the rainy awful day we visited, was actually a good choice. There weren’t very many people willing to go out and about on a not-so-sunny day.
If and when you go again, I hope to see a million pictures! :D