We experienced Disney for the first time as parents last year for a long weekend with the twins --to try to squeeze it in before we became of family of 6. We were fortunate enough to go again this year in conjunction with a work conference, this time with a crowd. Ryan and I, and a few of our friends--Jessica and Jason, their 3 year old daughter Campbell and Eric and Melissa and their 4 year old daughter Adelyn planned a trip to Disney World. We were smart and ditched--I mean arranged childcare--for our younger and coincidentally male children (Ben, Jack, Cole and Oliver, we love you very much but you all are still wildcards). We made it a surprise trip for the girls, mainly because we didn't want to answer 'how many sleeps until Disney?" every hour on the hour. So we packed our bags with wands, princess dresses, crowns, autograph books and snacks and we set off to the house of the mouse.
How was it? In short, it was awesome. Mickey did not disappoint.
However, in keeping with the general theme of the true grit of parenthood blog that I intermittently keep, I must give you all the details. The good with the bad.
You have seen the commercials for Disney World, right? Everyone is laughing, smiling, spinning and dancing--usually with a character or two (I apparently missed the line for the 'galavant around with Mickey and Minnie' ride). Here is the full disclosure part for those Disney virgins out there--there is some false advertising going in those commercials. Yes sir. Any parent that has been to the big D knows that those magical moments do in fact occur--otherwise why would we do it? I'll get to those later, BUT the glamorous commercials are missing some key components to what actually goes on at Disney. For obvious reasons they have omitted what I like to call the un-magical moments of Disney. The sweaty munchkins passed out cold in strollers or on their even sweatier parents, mickey ears askew, legs splayed out, remnants of a Mickey ice cream bar dried onto their tear streaked faces. They edited out the tantrums. They must have one heck of an editing team because the tantrums are quite ubiquitous. There is an official ratio of 4 crying kids for every 1 happy commercial kid. I did the math. They aren't just your average check out line tantrums either, they are of epic proportion. It makes for some pretty darn good people watching. I secretly find pleasure in watching non Battles children melt down, and when they are clad in a couple hundred dollars of disney paraphernalia that ratchets up the entertainment factor for sure. I'm pretty sure I saw a mom walk away from her insane toddler, sit down and burst into tears. I wish we could say that our little entourage was immune from this un-magical side and only the most picture perfect times were experienced by our young tourists, but alas, we definitely had very edit worthy moments that would end up on the Disney cutting room floor. I have blocked out most of them but a couple of the most comical include:
-The morning of the anticipated (and costly) princess breakfast arrived and my little princesses were beside themselves with grumpiness. I could hardly get them out of bed. Lydia was in tears because Grace had used her toothbrush (they are exactly the same and were in the same cup so I'm not sure how she determined which one was hers). Grace was in tears because of who knows what and soon I was grabbing their little upper arms and whispering furtively (lest we wake up other grumpy princes and princesses in our hotel) "Mommy and Daddy have a very special morning with princesses planned and if you continue to act up I will punish you right in front of Cinderella, I don't even care!"
-Campbell nearly had a melt down because when we met Ariel (the little mermaid) the second time she had legs and not a mermaid tail. This was not cool in Campbell's book and Ariel had to do some pretty fancy footwork (pardon the pun) to talk her off of the ledge.
- Addie instantly escalated into full tears and wailing mode when young Campbell (who has yet to see the movie Mulan) innocently yet confidently stated to Addie (who currently has Mulan ranked as #1 princess) "Mulan is a witch!". Addie's 4 year old heart was shattered into a million princess pieces and her tears about Mulan's reputation then triggered Campbell's tears and wailing. Thankfully Grace and Lydia were busy hitting each other with their glow wands or we might have had quite the brawl.
-Lydia, during a moment of defiance about who knows what, yelled "I am just like Merida (from the movie Brave) and I WILL NOT LISTEN TO MY PARENTS!" How is that for a role model? Lydia apparently forgot that Merida's disobedience caused her mom to be turned into a bear--or maybe she thought having a mother as a bear was small price to pay for being her own boss. Who knows.
I hate to say it but there is some truth in advertising with those commercials. Granted, we did not get to run through the park with Mickey and Minnie and the gang but we definitely had our share of 'magical' moments. How could you not with 4 little girls waltzing around if full princess attire? That alone was pretty fun to see. Watching the girls all dressed up, beaming from ear to ear, waving their little arms and yelling their hearts out to the princesses on the parade floats seems ridiculous to be sentimental about but I have to honestly say it practically brought tears to my eyes! Sounds crazy but I think it is because a place like Disney really captures the essence of the innocence, imagination and pure joy of childhood. They are at an age where they still like to dress up, to dance without any hint of self consciousness, to pretend, to imagine--and as a parent I find myself holding tight to this phase--afraid that it will slip from my grasp all too quickly. So, to be at Disney was to be at a place that really embodied this age of 'enchantment' and I truly savored watching my little girls get to be just that--pure, innocent, princess loving, twirling, smiling little girls--that's where the commercial gets it right. Though we all know that with any trip, or vacation or even a stage of life there are those un-magical moments that challenge and frustrate us but it's the 'magical moments'--the ones that are unique to each stage and phase of life that truly outweigh and outshine(or at least this trip they did) the 'un-magical' ones (though they do make for some funny stories).
How was it? In short, it was awesome. Mickey did not disappoint.
However, in keeping with the general theme of the true grit of parenthood blog that I intermittently keep, I must give you all the details. The good with the bad.
You have seen the commercials for Disney World, right? Everyone is laughing, smiling, spinning and dancing--usually with a character or two (I apparently missed the line for the 'galavant around with Mickey and Minnie' ride). Here is the full disclosure part for those Disney virgins out there--there is some false advertising going in those commercials. Yes sir. Any parent that has been to the big D knows that those magical moments do in fact occur--otherwise why would we do it? I'll get to those later, BUT the glamorous commercials are missing some key components to what actually goes on at Disney. For obvious reasons they have omitted what I like to call the un-magical moments of Disney. The sweaty munchkins passed out cold in strollers or on their even sweatier parents, mickey ears askew, legs splayed out, remnants of a Mickey ice cream bar dried onto their tear streaked faces. They edited out the tantrums. They must have one heck of an editing team because the tantrums are quite ubiquitous. There is an official ratio of 4 crying kids for every 1 happy commercial kid. I did the math. They aren't just your average check out line tantrums either, they are of epic proportion. It makes for some pretty darn good people watching. I secretly find pleasure in watching non Battles children melt down, and when they are clad in a couple hundred dollars of disney paraphernalia that ratchets up the entertainment factor for sure. I'm pretty sure I saw a mom walk away from her insane toddler, sit down and burst into tears. I wish we could say that our little entourage was immune from this un-magical side and only the most picture perfect times were experienced by our young tourists, but alas, we definitely had very edit worthy moments that would end up on the Disney cutting room floor. I have blocked out most of them but a couple of the most comical include:
-The morning of the anticipated (and costly) princess breakfast arrived and my little princesses were beside themselves with grumpiness. I could hardly get them out of bed. Lydia was in tears because Grace had used her toothbrush (they are exactly the same and were in the same cup so I'm not sure how she determined which one was hers). Grace was in tears because of who knows what and soon I was grabbing their little upper arms and whispering furtively (lest we wake up other grumpy princes and princesses in our hotel) "Mommy and Daddy have a very special morning with princesses planned and if you continue to act up I will punish you right in front of Cinderella, I don't even care!"
-Campbell nearly had a melt down because when we met Ariel (the little mermaid) the second time she had legs and not a mermaid tail. This was not cool in Campbell's book and Ariel had to do some pretty fancy footwork (pardon the pun) to talk her off of the ledge.
- Addie instantly escalated into full tears and wailing mode when young Campbell (who has yet to see the movie Mulan) innocently yet confidently stated to Addie (who currently has Mulan ranked as #1 princess) "Mulan is a witch!". Addie's 4 year old heart was shattered into a million princess pieces and her tears about Mulan's reputation then triggered Campbell's tears and wailing. Thankfully Grace and Lydia were busy hitting each other with their glow wands or we might have had quite the brawl.
-Lydia, during a moment of defiance about who knows what, yelled "I am just like Merida (from the movie Brave) and I WILL NOT LISTEN TO MY PARENTS!" How is that for a role model? Lydia apparently forgot that Merida's disobedience caused her mom to be turned into a bear--or maybe she thought having a mother as a bear was small price to pay for being her own boss. Who knows.
I hate to say it but there is some truth in advertising with those commercials. Granted, we did not get to run through the park with Mickey and Minnie and the gang but we definitely had our share of 'magical' moments. How could you not with 4 little girls waltzing around if full princess attire? That alone was pretty fun to see. Watching the girls all dressed up, beaming from ear to ear, waving their little arms and yelling their hearts out to the princesses on the parade floats seems ridiculous to be sentimental about but I have to honestly say it practically brought tears to my eyes! Sounds crazy but I think it is because a place like Disney really captures the essence of the innocence, imagination and pure joy of childhood. They are at an age where they still like to dress up, to dance without any hint of self consciousness, to pretend, to imagine--and as a parent I find myself holding tight to this phase--afraid that it will slip from my grasp all too quickly. So, to be at Disney was to be at a place that really embodied this age of 'enchantment' and I truly savored watching my little girls get to be just that--pure, innocent, princess loving, twirling, smiling little girls--that's where the commercial gets it right. Though we all know that with any trip, or vacation or even a stage of life there are those un-magical moments that challenge and frustrate us but it's the 'magical moments'--the ones that are unique to each stage and phase of life that truly outweigh and outshine(or at least this trip they did) the 'un-magical' ones (though they do make for some funny stories).
First Rollercoaster!
Fireworks!
Lydia is singing in this pic
First Rollercoaster
Fairy godmother
Jason feeding ice cream to all of the princesses
