The next 8 weeks The Lounge will chronicle one lucky family’s trip of a lifetime to Disney World. This exciting adventure will start with our guest blogger, Karen’s, decision to travel to the land of Mickey Mouse, her adventures in the Magic Kingdom through to her recommendations and reflections post-Disney. Here is the first installment of our Disney World series.
Disney World Here We Come!
Perhaps not every kid fantasizes about Disney, but that was certainly not the case in our house.
It all began with our 5 year old daughter fantasizing about Disney princesses and for 3 years parading around on Halloween as Cinderella. Then came the questions – “why were Minnie Mouse’s shoes so large” and finally built to the inevitable “Mom, when can we go to Disney World?”
Well if you are like me, I dreamt about family vacations with my kids on beautiful beaches, skiing down the Rocky Mountains or sitting in cafes along the Champs d’Elysees. The idea of crowded theme parks and an infinite number of screaming children was not high on the priority list. So, to buy time, I turned to my 5 year old daughter and 3 year old son and made a solemn promise that “Mommy and Daddy WILL take you to Disney when you are 10 and 8”.
Fast forward 5 years – and oh how fast they went – to Feb, 2007 and the very gentle reminder from my daughter, “Mom, do you remember the promise”? Ahhhhh memories like Elephants. “Yes, I said, I will give it some serious thought”. Little did my daughter know that for my, yes MY Birthday, I had been planning a surprise trip to see “Walt and the Gang” for the whole family.
So, why the change of heart you ask? I started reflecting on the incredible memories I have of our family vacations to Disney World when I was a child. As cliché as that sounds, thirty years later, I laugh out loud at memories of my mother, sister and I screeching and hollering on Space Mountain, or my little brother’s empathy for “Bashful” who was too shy to have his picture taken with all the other dwarfs. Or maybe it was the vision of my Dad plugging his ears as we went on “It’s a Small World” for the 8th time! These memories I will have forever and I wanted to give my kids the opportunity to experience something similar.
The planning is now complete and the excitement is mounting. Perhaps because we are leaving for Walt Disney World tonight and the kids DON’T KNOW YET! That, my friends, is our biggest parental achievement to date!
Off I go to pick up the kids from a regular day at school, hustle them home to finally spill the big news and make plans for Trick or Treating in the Magic Kingdom with Mickey and the Gang.
Stay tuned next time for the Big Surprise!
Karen is an urbanmoms.ca member and a Toronto based mom of 2.
Congratulaions!!! My huband & I also took our 3 kids to Disney World & man, talk about magic!!! My eldest was almost 10. My problem now is, I promised that I would take them back there before Willow (our middle child)was 10… that’s next September! Mommy never breaks a promise… I hope the dollar stay high for a while! I need all the help I can get!
What a great family trip !! I can’t wait to read future posts !
I LOVE the surprise idea! I wish I could keep a secret that long. I think I would explode!
I also love Disney. We went a number of times when I was a kid and it was really magical. I hear that even as a grown-up you can’t help but get into it. Looking forward to hearing how it went.
Wow…that is sooooo cool Karen! I would LOVE to spring a surprise like that on my kids. Let us know how it went over!