My thoughts on Disney World

We took the kids to Florida last week to spend a vacation with my in-laws at their time share resort, which had a mini-water park at it.  We spent two days at Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, respectively.  We also went to Sea World.  (My thoughts on animals forced to do tricks for our amusement later.)  We went to two Phillies spring training games (one against the Blue Jays and one against the Yankees, they lost both (10-1 and 5-3, respectively)).  We also went to a state park and canoed with my uncle and his girlfriend one day, which was by far the most relaxing of the days.  But back to Disney.

As an adult and someone who rarely watches commercials any more I had forgotten how gross the advertising to children is.  At some point some advertising agency figured out that if they appeal to children's psyches they'll bug their parents enough to make the moms and dads buy whatever they're selling for their nagging children.  I don't know if this has always been the case, but I am guessing it's been going on for generations, however I do think that the height to which it has reached is higher than ever.  I had never been to Disney World (my father defensively informed me that we had tried to go one year over Christmas break when we were in Florida visiting his brother and family, but they had reached capacity and we were not allowed to enter).  For anyone who hasn't been there the complex is enormous.  The parking lot is far enough away from Magic Kingdom's entrance that you have to take two trains to get there.  Once inside there are characters abound, a long line to wait in first, but characters none-the-less.  Doodle and I waited in line to meet Pluto for only about 15 minutes.

Pancake, Grammy and I waited for 35 minutes (at least that's what the sign said when we first got in line) to meet Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Cinderella.  Pancake was overjoyed and excited.  She was in complete awe.  It was pretty incredible to watch her.  I was glad that she was so happy but knew that this was the beginning of the end of my half-hearted attempt to not have my daughter be princess crazy.  She is indeed princess crazed now.  We were at a store today and there were gift bags with varying combinations of princesses on them.  She has always noticed these types of items, but they have a whole new meaning for her now.  She wants princess dresses for her birthday.  She wants a princess cake.  Now that we have exposed her to the ultimate princess extravaganza at Disney World we can't say no to her requests for birthday gifts and cakes.  I could make a generic princess cake, but I know she will either be upset that it's not a specific princess or she'll pretend that it is one.  My only hope at this point is that it's a phase that doesn't last long.

In the car on the way to Disney Doodle was throwing a fit about having to go there because Pancake was wearing a Cinderella dress (given to her by Mr. D's aunt the night before) and was so worked up about seeing princesses that Doodle was convinced that the whole thing was "for girls," even after we informed him that there were fun rides and lots of cool things "for boys."  He was being really mean to Pancake, telling her that she looked dumb in her dress and that Disney was stupid.  We scolded him but the damage was done.  I felt bad for Pancake and didn't want her day to be ruined because of her brother.  Of course, Doodle had a fantastic time on Splash Mountain and the Pirates of the Caribbean rides and driving a race car around a track and everything else he did.

Given what we had all witnessed in the car on the way to the park I was especially emotional when Pancake was given such attention from the princesses both during parades and at the meet-and-greet.  We were caught by surprise when a parade with all the princesses and other Disney characters went by while we were on our way to another attraction.  Belle and Cinderella and literally every other character looked at Pancake from their floats and mouthed hi or happy birthday (she was wearing a birthday button) and blew her kisses, which she happily caught and returned a kiss of her own to them.  It truly was an enchanting experience.  She was completely drawn in, and so was I.  The difference is, as an adult, I don't care about buying princess memorabilia.  Though I was impressed by the parade and thrilled with how special Pancake felt I am able to break the trance the second I walk away, but Pancake's young mind has been impressed upon forever, or at least for many years to come.  Though we will not be buying everything she asks for, we will buy her princess marked things for as long as this phase lasts, and thanks to our bringing her to Disney, I'm afraid it will last a while.

I'm not sorry that we went, it was worth it to see her excitement and wonder and awe, I just wish there wasn't a hidden agenda. 

Animal Kingdom, by the way, was much more worth the ticket price.  We saw three shows (It's Tough to be a Bug, which was a short 3-D film; The Lion King, which was a musical with both animatronic animals and real people singing and doing acrobatics; and Finding Nemo, which was like a mini Broadway show with incredible sets, props and puppets).  Those shows alone were worth the price.  There were also rides and a safari where we saw animals roaming free in the reserve (lions, elephants, antelope, crocodiles, giraffes, warthogs, etc. . .).  We also saw a pretty cool parade, very different from the two we saw at Magic Kingdom.

I would write more about the rest of our trip, but Pancake is bugging me to get her a snack.  So I'll leave it here for now.