Last Minute Trip Has Brought Perspective

[mchelle77]

We are here currently... Family of 5... Me, wife, daughter (7yo), son (5yo), daughter (2yo).

My kids are growing up disneyfied. This is the 7yo's 8th trip and 2 yo's 4th. We've only come before on what would be considered "slow times." We hate crowds, love the old fp system, and are rope drop - nap - return or hop for the evening type.

The 1st three months of 2015 have been a hot (insert appropriate expletive here) mess professionally and have caused a inordinate amount of time away from home. We literally made the decision to make a trip 17 days prior to arrival (the day after Easter). It had the making for no fp+ options, no adrs and lots of added frustration due a potentially busiest week out of the year (sans Christmas or July 4 week).

It is ridiculously busy. It has been stupid-hot. People are everywhere. I've NEVER experienced crowds like this. Oh, and did I mention my wife got ridiculously sick the day we we were set to leave, leaving me to do the 20 hr drive while she went into a "medicinally induced travel coma?" Miserable sounding trip, right?

Quite the opposite. We're having a blast. Here's a few reasons why...

• We lowered our touring expectation going in.
• We chose to hit the Water Parks this time around (a first for us and our kids LOVED IT).
• Somehow I got into Ohana for Supper 5 days out (something I haven't been able to pull of for three trips with months of pre-trip effor) and a character breakfast at Hollywood&vine before DHS opening
• As mentioned previously I hate fp+ And we had two weeks to try to book. But, I got every fp I wanted at EPCOT yesterday and have a perfect lineup for us tomorrow am at Magic Kingdom (all three mountains by 11:00 for the big kids, Peter Pan, Pooh and Cinderella for the littler one).
• Last night at Magic Kingdom was one of the most magical nights our family has ever experienced at Disney. It included TTS, COP, Wishes from Tomorrowland, Philharmagic, IASW, Little Mermaid, Barnstorme, and the Regal Carousel. Not the most impressive lineup, but had some great people-watching moment, some great cast member interactions, and several laughter-to-the-point-of-tears moments. Also, the Barnstormer ride wasy 2yo's 1st roller coaster experience. She screamed with joy through the whole ride.

The moment to sum it all up for me was as we sat and watched the Philharmagic. It's kind of become "the family attraction" for us. I realized as Donald finally got the hat from Jasmine that I had probably only watched 25% of the movie. Why? Because I was locked in on my 3 kids and their engagement, wonder, laughter, and singing along. It. Was. PERFECT.

My point? It hit me today as I reflected on that moment in Philharmagic. This Disney stuff is all about perspective. Granted, I want legacy fp, non-expiring tickets, and an end to "My Disney Experience" as much as the next guy, but when my focus gets so much on that I miss why I origianlly fell in love with this place ... Family and memories.

Don't get me wrong, everyone frustrated with the current state of things, I get it. I'm just choosing to lower some of my expectations (which I know some of you are going to freak out over) and embracing the moments with those I just can't put a price tag on. 4 of "those" are sleeping soundly in the hotel room as I finish typing this post.

Our last trip (Dec '13) I got so caught up in "Who knows when we'll come back? We're NEVER coming back at Christmas! I've got to cram it all in!" and jam-packed our WDW days. My husband, 2 days in, said he needed me to cancel whatever we had planned for the next day and just BE. We argued about it for a good 20 minutes (I was giving up an ADR I had been looking forward to) but I caved and switched our schedule. The three of us spent the ENTIRE day at the pool (snacking, drinking, floating, reading, hot tubbing ) and it was probably one of the best days all 10 days we were in FLA.

 

[grammimouse]

Great post !! So good to hear a dad really enjoying his family. Further evidence to the fact that ; Life is 1 % what happens and 99% how you you handle it. You are a wonderful example of that -- cool and easy. Enjoy the rest of your magical visit and best wishes for good health and safe travel home.

 

[elle101me]

Awesome! Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[ttintagel]

I'm sure having had all those previous trips helped - they removed the pressure to "do" as much as you can, because you;v already "done" a lot of it.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Best trip I ever had was booked 4 days prior to travel. Don't know how, but managed to get into Kidani Village. We had few bags, no plans, and were completely and entirely unprepared. And this is from someone who used to book Disney 18+ months in advance and bring print outs of every map with walking paths and even ordered those old disney maps they would send you with the rides labeled.

Instead we decided the night before which park we were going to hit next. Fastpassed the 3 rides we cared about (we had no trouble getting them). Spent a day at the resort hanging around the pool. Spent a day at downtown disney. Went where we wanted, when we wanted without being "driven" by a prepared plan and having to be at certain restaurants at set times, make shows, fall behind schedule and run to catch up or drive ourselves crazy.

It was completely and totally awesome.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Great post. My moment didn’t come on a last minute trip; but on the trip I spent the most amount of time planning. Our 2012 trip, the 2nd time we went. I spent about a year planning it and 9 months paying for it to have it invaded by a Tropical Storm that sat over Disney World for 4 days. Puddle splashing was almost as much fun as the rides. On the wettest day, which ended up being the most “magical” there was this huge puddle outside Magic Kingdom. A lot of people were walking through it and my daughter (then 9) decided to as well. She lost her flip flop and what a laugh we had as she tried to retrieve it. My son (then 2) pointed and said, “sister shoe a boat”. My sides were hurting from laughing. We knew we still wanted to be a Disney family with a decent amount of our vacations. But those moments just remind you why you planned it all in the first place.

Our first vacation after we lost dh we went to the beach and on our last day I was explaining to my daughter (then 7) why we take the time to do these types of things whether it is an evening out, a weekend or a week was because time where we only have the responsibility of being who we are to each other and no one else is so important. And I try to let that be the focus.


I hear you on Philharmagic. That is my “we are really at Disney” attraction. We love it and usually hit it multiple times. We could probably start a Philharmagic support group. My son still walks around for months after talking about how much fun he has watching Donald chasing the hat.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

Well said!

Our kids are now 18 (as of next week) and 15, and DW and I have been taking them to WDW since they were toddlers. DW and I both have high-profile jobs dealing with the public. From time to time through the years, there have been moments when "family time" has taken a backseat. That is beyond regrettable; in fact, I think it is a moral failure on my part. Anyhow, always -every single time! -we go to WDW the four of us are wondrously and magically drawn closer to one another. All the demands from outside just go away, and we are left to indulge our imagination and sense of adventure. I can't wait to do it all again next month. I could write a book with all the stories through all the ages! Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[sharadoc]

We are here currently... Family of 5... Me, wife, daughter (7yo), son (5yo), daughter (2yo).

My kids are growing up disneyfied. This is the 7yo's 8th trip and 2 yo's 4th. We've only come before on what would be considered "slow times." We hate crowds, love the old fp system, and are rope drop - nap - return or hop for the evening type.

The 1st three months of 2015 have been a hot (insert appropriate expletive here) mess professionally and have caused a inordinate amount of time away from home. We literally made the decision to make a trip 17 days prior to arrival (the day after Easter). It had the making for no fp+ options, no adrs and lots of added frustration due a potentially busiest week out of the year (sans Christmas or July 4 week).

It is ridiculously busy. It has been stupid-hot. People are everywhere. I've NEVER experienced crowds like this. Oh, and did I mention my wife got ridiculously sick the day we we were set to leave, leaving me to do the 20 hr drive while she went into a "medicinally induced travel coma?" Miserable sounding trip, right?

Quite the opposite. We're having a blast. Here's a few reasons why...

• We lowered our touring expectation going in.
• We chose to hit the Water Parks this time around (a first for us and our kids LOVED IT).
• Somehow I got into Ohana for Supper 5 days out (something I haven't been able to pull of for three trips with months of pre-trip effor) and a character breakfast at Hollywood&vine before DHS opening
• As mentioned previously I hate fp+ And we had two weeks to try to book. But, I got every fp I wanted at EPCOT yesterday and have a perfect lineup for us tomorrow am at Magic Kingdom (all three mountains by 11:00 for the big kids, Peter Pan, Pooh and Cinderella for the littler one).
• Last night at Magic Kingdom was one of the most magical nights our family has ever experienced at Disney. It included TTS, COP, Wishes from Tomorrowland, Philharmagic, IASW, Little Mermaid, Barnstorme, and the Regal Carousel. Not the most impressive lineup, but had some great people-watching moment, some great cast member interactions, and several laughter-to-the-point-of-tears moments. Also, the Barnstormer ride wasy 2yo's 1st roller coaster experience. She screamed with joy through the whole ride.

The moment to sum it all up for me was as we sat and watched the Philharmagic. It's kind of become "the family attraction" for us. I realized as Donald finally got the hat from Jasmine that I had probably only watched 25% of the movie. Why? Because I was locked in on my 3 kids and their engagement, wonder, laughter, and singing along. It. Was. PERFECT.

My point? It hit me today as I reflected on that moment in Philharmagic. This Disney stuff is all about perspective. Granted, I want legacy fp, non-expiring tickets, and an end to "My Disney Experience" as much as the next guy, but when my focus gets so much on that I miss why I origianlly fell in love with this place ... Family and memories.

Don't get me wrong, everyone frustrated with the current state of things, I get it. I'm just choosing to lower some of my expectations (which I know some of you are going to freak out over) and embracing the moments with those I just can't put a price tag on. 4 of "those" are sleeping soundly in the hotel room as I finish typing this post.

Thanks for this. We approach every trip that way. Nothing is important or crucial. We didn't get on Mine Train last trip and know that it's not going anywhere, so who cares? Our best moment was playing mini-golf at Winter Summerland right after a horrible thunderstorm. We were literally the only ones there so we were over the top silly, singing along with the goofy music, dancing and playing around as we golfed. We still laugh out loud at that time. We were a family, having fun, and just "being there." That's our goal - being together as a family in the greatest place that we love and having fun. Everything else is icing on the cake.

 

[kgoodb00]

Love this post!! I am so glad you are having a wonderful time! Our last whole family trip was filled with running all over the place because we felt like we would never be back, but we are gong back in June! And I have to say that we are going to stop and smell the roses more often! It seems like you made such amazing memories on this trip that will be cherished forever!

 

[cgmac121]

Loved this post. Brought tears to my eyes as I remembered my Disney moment with my family. Thank you for this and for totally putting to words the exact reason I love Disney so much!

 

[GotLabradors]

A little perspective can go a very long way.

 

[CarolynFH]

I teared up too reading your post! It's exactly what has kept us going back for 20+ years - family time, no matter whether just DH and me or with our now-adult kids and/or grandchild or even my elderly dad. Enjoy the rest of your trip, and keep making those memories. They're worth more than anything else in the world.

 

[egjlsmommy]

The moment to sum it all up for me was as we sat and watched the Philharmagic. It's kind of become "the family attraction" for us. I realized as Donald finally got the hat from Jasmine that I had probably only watched 25% of the movie. Why? Because I was locked in on my 3 kids and their engagement, wonder, laughter, and singing along. It. Was. PERFECT.

This made me cry a little bit. LOVE this! I could have written it myself. My kids were a bit older than yours our last trip, but that is exactly what I did. Just watched my girls watching the Philharmagic. It's a beautiful thing...

 

[bbak30]

Awesome post! I couldn't agree more. I have friends who hear me talk about Disney constantly and I think they go in with unrealistic expectations. We book some special things like the fireworks dessert party and BBB, but only because we have been a few times. Then they get upset if they don't have these reservations. There is so much to do! Take your time, enjoy it. Do what you want to do and not what you think you need to do.
Glad you are having a great time!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I uber planned our last trip months out, too, knowing every step we would make and the best day we had was the day we scrapped out fps, ADRS and other plans (even dropped BOG) and just did our thing. Best day of the trip!

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

This is my favorite Disboards post ever. So true! Thank you so much for sharing this. As I am currently packing for our trip where we will be with friends that we met on our Disney cruise in the Mediterranean last summer...they live in England, we live in Georgia...and the only planned event we have is dinner at Cinderella Castle, it's great to be reminded that sometimes the joy comes from just being together and making memories.

 

[jimim]

Great post. I came to that somewhat same knowledge last trip. We r there at least 2-3 times a year. We just don't worry anymore. We make plans but if we don't end up doing something or cx'ing an adr we just don't worry anymore. This has caused such a lower level of anxiety. Lol

I will say this year is our first sww and I'm kinda stressing. I love Star Wars and always wanted to go. My wife can care less but she knows is one is for me so she is humoring me pretty much, but I will say these sww fans are hardcore!

Glad you found the true magic. Even though you already had it, but stepping back makes you realize it again.

 

[larryz]

Don't get me wrong, everyone frustrated with the current state of things, I get it. I'm just choosing to lower some of my expectations (which I know some of you are going to freak out over) and embracing the moments with those I just can't put a price tag on. 4 of "those" are sleeping soundly in the hotel room as I finish typing this post.

Well said; it's just a shame we have to do that.

I call it the "Six Flags Effect." I go to a Six Flags park with low expectations, and I'm seldom disappointed (by my expectations, anyway).

 

[nooneshome]

Great post.

 

[BuzzinDownToDisney]

This is my first post reading on the Dis in a few months, and it got me a little misty. Great account of the Disney magic. We did a trip planned less than 30 days out this past December and it was amazing, and yes Philaharmagic is truly magical. Watching my kid trying to grab the jewels out of the air never fails to crack me up.