I never considered myself a resort person.
Let me clarify that – and I’ll try to be brief (on this point). Whether a cruise ship or destination, never having gone through the “resort experience,” I can’t and won’t judge. Maybe it’s stereotyping a bit, but when I think of resorts, I see visions of being bored while lounging around doing nothing or drinking at a poolside bar and wondering how long everyone has been there. Sure, there’s the convenience with everything you need or want at your beck and call. There’s the ease of pre-planned touristy adventures. And I suppose it’s a nice perk not yanking out your wallet every time you sit down for food and drinks. I prefer exploring and learning about places (on a tour or my own). Although there’s an argument to be made regarding the benefits of sitting on a beach or in a mountain cabin, relaxing with a few good books.
Oddly enough, as an adult, I can’t say I’ve gone to many amusement parks. I enjoy rides and games, have fond memories of seeing Disney Land during my family’s trek from the West Coast to the East Coast as a kid, and went to King’s Dominion more than a few times in my teens and college years. But visiting amusement parks in my “adulting years” was never been a big thing. I don’t know if it’s because I lost interest in them or was scarred from the lingering memory of a bad experience at King’s Island.1
No More Excuses
As a parent, I grossly underestimated the power of commercialism on small children.
Being a long-time Looney Tunes fan,2 I once hoped those cartoons would be more of an influence on my daughter Farrah; however, she was caught up by all things Disney pretty much from the moment she began watching videos and movies. I knew sooner or later she’d latch on to the irresistible siren songs of Frozen, and promptly did around her third birthday (so much for being spared the endless and repeated onslaught of Let It Go until she was in school).3 I’m writing this with a certain amount of hypocrisy since I pretty much doomed my parents into buying me just about every damn Star Wars toy there was back when I was that age, and probably made them sit and watch (or rewatch) Star Trek movies far too many times on TV. Farrah loves has an interest in kids-oriented videos on YouTube, especially several who film their own adventures or vacations – Disney World being among several of them.4 I suppose it was inevitable – sooner or later she would utter the words “Disney World” and the frequent suggestions requests threats of harm if we don’t demands to go would follow.
Of course, there were the side discussions about when to go. While Michelle (Mom) was all for going as soon as possible, I was heeding advice from many experienced parents I knew to wait. For one thing, it’s a little easier to travel with a child who’s past their toddler years (heavy emphasis on “little”), and if we took her as a toddler, she wouldn’t remember a damn thing. I’m not known for being the most resolute person in the world, but this is one argument where I stood my ground (and truth be told, still feel very vindicated about this, as you’ll read in later entries).
As the investment in that trip required some planning and saving, and it may sound odd to say this, but we kind of “lucked out” when the COVID-19 lockdown began in Spring 2020. It provided a ridiculously wonderful break for us as parents, while a bit of a heartbreak for Farrah. Even after resorts and amusement parks reopened, we were resistant to go, especially since Florida was one of the big COVID hotspots in the news. And it still took some explaining to Farrah about why we couldn’t hop on a plane because the “bad germs” were still making things too dangerous.
Eventually, the lockdown ended, everyone got their shots (or most everyone – personally, I believe anti-vaxers are proof of caves in the world missing their batshit), and we began to get past the “new normal” of a post-COVID world.5 Of course, for a certain little girl who was now finding her personality “sweet spot” (i.e., her mother’s force of will and my sense of humor), it was time to make Disney World a reality. Yes, with a worldwide pandemic beginning to move into history’s rearview mirror, finances working in our favor, and risking the wrath of a little girl if we didn’t go to Disney, it was high time to make her dream come true.
Planning to Plan
Ever since Farrah was still in diapers, the expectation of taking her to Disney World was always at the forefront of our minds. Day after day, month after month, Michelle was scouring the web for info, watching countless YouTube videos by parents for their sage advice and recommendations, and scrutinizing every blog for tiny details. Admittedly, I did my share of off-and-on research since my last Disney visit wasn’t in a good long while.6 A lot seemed the same, and from what I read, a lot was different, too. I think we both were in awe of the challenge that comes with managing the logistics of a Disney vacation – the website was convenient for booking tickets, but all the videos and articles we found kept digging up special deals and plans that we had a Hell of time trying to find legitimate links for.
We decided to aim for early October, timing it with Farrah’s birthday and Disney’s big Halloween festivities. Ever since she was a baby, Farrah has been fixated with all things Halloween – gravitating toward most any YouTube video touching on it (especially arts and crafts videos of involving creatively and rather ingeniously turning Barbie dolls and other toys into all kinds of monsters or horror-themed characters). For a good long while, she took an interest in Scooby-Doo, which pleased us to no end since that was one of my go-to shows at her age. She and I share the same excitement around Labor Day when the stores start getting the Autumn seasonal merchandise set up.
As time grew short, we needed to commit plans – airplane and hotel reservations were made, and park admission and special event tickets were purchased. There was some back-and-forth debate about how we’d get to Florida, including by train or driving. For me, there was no issue with renting a car down there, and since I knew a minimum 12 hour or two-day drive to Orlando would be Hell for a six-year-old (and her parents), I pushed for flying. If anything, it would be Farrah’s first plane ride and I was looking forward to seeing how she’d react to the experience. On the other hand, Michelle wasn’t so happy about planes.
Caution – Stormy Weather
As the date approached, bags packed and excitement bounded, our hearts began to sink thanks to some incredibly bad timing named Hurricane Ian. I’ve joked before about my plans for visiting certain places heralded or accompanied by shitty weather or acts of God, and it seemed Mother Nature wasn’t going to disappoint this time. The week before the trip, we intently watched the news to see what our friend Ian was going to do – at times it looked like we’d be spared the complications or adjusting plans around it, and other times we expected to be holed up in a hotel room as it ruined everything. My experience with hurricanes was limited to sitting through two that directly affected Virginia, and riding out the resulting rain and humidity from remnants of others that hit the U.S.7
We knew the storm was definitely a problem when Disney announced that the park was closing for a day or two. We looked at each other and began debating how we’d explain this to Farrah and that we may need to wait a while longer. However, as things progressed, the storm passed, Disney reopened and it looked like all would be well for the trip.
Disney World – Day 1 (October 2022)
Disney World – Day 2 (October 2022)
Disney World – Day 3 (October 2022)
Disney World – Days 4 and 5 (October 2022)
DISCLAIMER: Although I’ve shared pictures of myself in previous blog entries, I’m erring on the side of caution by not sharing any of my family to protect our privacy.
1 Since you may be wondering…I have two vivid memories from King’s Island. The first is being in awe from a display of an actual Bantha costume Hollywood draped over an elephant while filming Star Wars. The other is taking in a SeaWorld show. I was picked as a volunteer that included being tossed into a small raft and dragged around the pool by the dolphins. I screamed like a banshee and distinctly remember one of the dolphins bumping into the side of the raft that scared the almost literal piss out of me. My parents still remind me of this mildly traumatizing event with a little too much enjoyment.
2 Though considering how those cartoons aren’t aging well due to their marginally or outright offensive stereotypes, it may not be such a bad thing she didn’t get hooked on them.
3 One of my fonder memories about this movie is joining some friends at one of their homes for a Halloween happy hour in 2014. They set up a firepit in their front yard, we all brought wine and snacks, and spent the evening handing out candy to the neighborhood trick or treaters. We devised a drinking game where we took a drink for every girl up dressed as Elsa or Anna. Believe me when I tell you, we all needed to sober up before going home.
4 Among Farrah’s favorites or tends to gravitate toward (sometimes unfortunately) are The Thumbs Up Family, Like Nastya, A for Adley, Slick Slime Sam, Rebecca Zamolo and lately Aphmau, SSSniperwolf and Anything Alexia. My mentioning them here is not an advertisement or promotion since I have mixed feelings about all of them, at best.
5 Unlike many, I work in a field (government contracting) that wasn’t as dramatically impacted as other career paths. That being said, my role as a proposal specialist typically involves an in-person working environment (i.e., everyone in the office). The need for social distancing and working remote created quite a bit of confusion and frustration, trying to reengineer or improvise a normally hands-on proposal process. The added bonus for me as an introvert was a very real reason for not being around people all the time, though I experienced fleeting moments of missing regular interaction with my coworkers…but I managed to get past those moments.
6 My last trip was a semi family reunion to celebrate a cousin’s birthday who then worked at Disney World. My main memories of it were 1) Florida being hot as Hell, 2) having more fun than we expected, and 3) a side trip over to the Kennedy Space Center that was sadly not as thrilling as I hoped.
7 I still find it a little funny that my first experience was with Hurricane Isabel, a storm sharing the name of one of my grandmothers and with a personality to match. I remember sitting on my balcony as the storm’s eye rode through the area and only going to bed because the power finally went out (for all of 12 hours). My second experience was with Hurricane Sandy, which mainly grazed by the D.C. area, but still caused enough turmoil for the Federal Government to shut down for two days. The company I worked for at that time was submitting a hardcopy proposal due to a federal client on same day Sandy was passing through. The powers that be insisted I deliver the proposal, naturally making me face the danger that they were all too happy to avoid. Somehow, against my boss’ protests, they convinced me to go, and shockingly no one was at the client office to accept the proposal package. This experience is part of my foundational beliefs that good management “leads by example” and never giving an order that you’re not willing to do yourself.
WineAbout 