Disaster Mouse!

"If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.” is something I once read in a book. Well, actually it was every night for about two months (sometimes twice) to my daughter until I told her the book didn’t work anymore and needed a rest. It’s hard to write an article without the existence of the article hinging on “this economy”, so I’m trying something different.

Officially, my story is that I did this all on purpose to test just how badly prepared someone could be and still have fun at Disney World. As long as you have a sense of humor and think happy thoughts. I’m pretty sure my experience had nothing to do with me not making my usual list of things to pack and starting the list a couple weeks ahead of time. In fact, the experiment was a double blind, so that not even I knew what it was I had (purposely, I insist) forgot. That way I could have the same sinking feeling as everyone else.

So, my feelings were quite realistic when I realized that the stroller for the four-year-old on medication in which a side effect is tiredness was at home in the car trunk. And my feelings were exactly as you might expect when I went to put on my zip-up hoodie in 20 degree Florida weather and it wasn’t there. (It was supposed to be in the 60s!) Of course, being the Disney World expert that I am, I had calculated exactly what would be the absolute worse things to leave at home. And, for the record, the absolute worse things to leave in a resort room are your keycard/park tickets. Which I did not almost do and remember just as the door was closing.

Add onto that, a large number of smaller unlucky incidents of the kind which normally makes for a horrible, rotten, no good day. (Like the hand sanitizer leaking, seeping into the lip balm and then the fire of stinging as it’s applied to chapped lips.) The trip could very easily go downhill from there. It’s pretty easy. All the people seen in the Parks, yelling, crying, screaming…things didn’t go perfectly. Maybe even they went very badly.

So, how does someone still have fun in the face of adversity? Try to see it as funny. Anyone can have the perfect Cinderella dream vacation. They sort of meld into each other, though. It’s the ones that have something truly memorable happen that sear a vision forever in your brain.

I certainly know I will never forget running through Hollywood Studios carrying a freezing, strollerless child in the throes of a potty emergency while passing a cascading fountain that causes the child to scream in terror and panic just as a long line to the restrooms loom into view. I’m still laughing about the scream as the first splash of cascading water reached our ears. And hey, the Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage performance was pretty good. It all ended well. The guests in line rushed us to the front. Sure, Gertie the Dinosaur’s Ice Cream of Extinction being closed almost eclipsed this tremendous show of good will. But then we got to see Darth Vader beating up on some little kids.

Really, any vacation is going to go badly if there is a preconceived notion of setting up “special moments“. Disney World, of all places, is one of unforeseen moments. Sometimes sipping free hot chocolate next to a giant water wheel listening to piped-in jazz music can be one. Sitting back and just letting things happen can make all the difference between a bad trip and a good one. If it’s one piece of advice I can give, it’s forget the Picture Spots or trying to get a big family photo in front of the Castle. Stop walking through the Parks with a camcorder in front of you. Don’t plan every moment and every meal for every day that you are there. At the very least you’ll burn out, even if all goes well.

Of course…this was just Day One of the experiment…

Quote taken from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Doctor Seuss