I had this epiphany a few weeks ago that I HAD TO TAKE MY GIRLS TO DISNEY WORLD THIS YEAR! Okay, maybe not an epiphany – but it was my 7 year old saying “Mom do you think that the real Cinderella lives in the castle at Disney?” and her 9 year old sister saying “Um, I’m starting to believe that those princesses are completely made-up” and my 7 year old responding with “You don’t know anything, Eloise. They are magic!” and my 2 year old saying “If I evah see Mickey Mouse I’m gonna hug him and give him the biggest kiss evah!”
Which made me spend nearly a week of my life on-line trying to see if a Disney World vacation was possible. We’ve never been. In all honestly(don’t tell Walt) but I’ve never wanted to go. We talk about trips to Europe, Africa, South America and Asia…but never Disney. But now I’m thinking we need to go just this once…before the magic of a little girl’s imagination burns out and we start watching Cops reruns, DVR Teen Mom, and they are signing up to be on the Bachelor instead of sweetly watching The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Right?
So I bring you the last two weeks of my life – or what I like to call my 5 Stages of Planning a Disney Vacation:
1. Denial- We are not going to Disney. We don’t need to go to Disney. What’s Disney? Don’t talk about Disney! I’m pretty sure Disney World is a made-up place..just like Florida. Disney who? How about Paris? Kenya? Costa Rica?
2. Anger – We cannot afford a Disney vacation! Everybody goes to Disney but us! What does Mickey Mouse have to be so cute! Cinderella is using subliminal message in her movies! We are NOT going to Disney! We will be different from everyone else and go to see the largest ball of twine instead! Who needs Disney! Cinderella IS NOT REAL!
3. Bargaining – If we skip all other vacations for the next three years we can totally go to Disney. If we sell one child we can go to Disney. Braces? Braces can wait until you’re an adult – we need to go to Disney!!! My kids really want to go to Disney – am I a bad mom for never taking them to Disney? Maybe if I dressed-up as ‘Tinkle Bell’ that would be enough for them? I can sing and dance. If I didn’t buy a new pair of shoes for two years can we do it?
4. Depression – Disney may not be in our budget. If I cannot give kids Disney will they hate me forever? Will future counseling from lack of Micky Mouse be more expensive than the actual original Disney vacation? OMG no new shoes? Wine. I need wine.
5. Acceptance - Fine, money can’t buy love or happiness but it can buy magic evidently! This is the perfect time/ages for us to take the kids. It will be totally worth it, right? Off to spend another week planning…because Cinderella lives!
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So according to my kids we are the “last people on Earth that have never been Disney” (which I’m hoping is a slight exaggeration) – have you been? Say no so I can tell my kids there are more out there like us.
We haven’t been yet either and so want to!
Soon.
After you, though.
So we can LEARN.
Duh.
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We live just a few hours away from Disney, and have somehow managed to avoid it thus far. But somehow the idea of taking our daughter there for her 4th birthday came up, and it’s all she can talk about. She wants to go to the Bippidy Boppidy Boutique and be transformed in to a princess.
Kill me now.
We are looking at early January, and started the planning process this week. In June. I had to walk away from the computer; I was so overwhelmed by it all.
I know that she will have a blast. And we will enjoy watching her have so much fun. That is what I try to keep focusing on…
Oh she will have so much fun. It’s a huge dream of my middle daughter’s to go. I hope we can swing it – if the planning doesn’t kill me first. xo
Honestly, WDW is an amazing vacation and for the record I’m a former catering director so I’m verrrrryyy fussy about both hotels and food. It’s also an excellent value.
Disney always has room discounts or free dining, so you will save considerably if you stay on property. While we always stay at Wilderness Lodge, the value resorts are actually pretty cheap. If you add the dining package, you’ll save on food (and overall, their food is great)and remember, all your ground transportation is included if you stay on property.
Park tickets also go down a lot the longer you stay, so if you do go, you actually get more bang for your buck by staying longer. And really glasses of wine are neither $20 (unless it’s something really nice) nor generally served in plastic. In reality I’ve noticed my local zoo and sports arena charge much higher concession prices.
Yes, you do need to make your table service dinning reservations way in advance, but you can do that all online or if you use a travel agent, most will do it for you. Speaking of travel agents, a lot fo them will give you presents for booking through them (mine gave us a $20 gift card AND a gift bag from Disney Floral, snazzily delivered to our room).
To get past your initial sticker shock, look at the total package price—in reality you’d probably spend about the same for a “cheaper” vacation. BTW, there are plenty of non-ride, not particularly Disney-ish things to do there too.
As for the waterparks, they’re two of the best themed ones in the country!
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