I tend to only talk about the positive aspects of a Disney Vacation. I am, after all, hoping you'll book a trip through me and have an amazing time! But I know that no trip is ever perfect from beginning to end. You'll hit some bumps along the way - but after reading this, I hope you'll see that the highs completely outweigh the lows.
The HIGHS!
This kid. This kid right here made my whole week with one amazing morning. We ran the runDisney Half Marathon together. It could have been a disaster. He had a broken toe and a hurt arm in the weeks leading up to the race. With that and his school/sports schedule, he didn't get in many long runs.
And then the worst happened and 2 days prior to the trip, we all got the nastiest stomach bug I've ever encountered. I wasn't sure he'd be able to stand up on Saturday, much less run 13.1 miles. On the monorail to the race, I kept looking at him thinking he looked pale and tired and it was never going to happen.
We hadn't slept much the night before (you have to be on the monorail by 3:30am) and then we had to walk 1.5 miles to get to the start line. As if that wasn't enough, we stood in frigid temperatures (34 degrees) with shorts on (I'm Mom of the Year and didn't think we'd need tights) for a couple of hours waiting for the race to start.
Having also not eaten much for days, it's a wonder we made it to the race. But when we crossed the start line, Ryan ran his heart out. We only stopped for a restroom break once and we'd walk while we took a sip of water. Other than that, we ran the entire race.
I'm still amazed at him. I KNOW he was tired and hurting but he never complained. And with a half mile to go, he actually said, "Mom, I'll let you cross the finish line first if you want to beat me."
I felt like crying - and you know I'd already gotten teary-eyed running through the castle! I didn't let him let me win - how embarrassing for your 46-year-old mother to beat you. But it was so sweet that he was willing to do that!
There may have been a bit of complaining in the next couple of days about sore feet but that was a tiny little low compared to the high of him running his first half marathon with me!! I'd had dreams of running a race at Disney and thanks to him, I did it.
Kid #2!!
I always feel a little guilty taking Andrew to amusement parks. He goes and he says he has a good time, but he just doesn't like to ride most of the rides. So he stands in line for quite some time with us and then goes out the exit when we get on the rides.
A lot of people - scratch that - MOST people would complain about the waits or about standing in line for a ride they're not interested in, but he really doesn't. He willingly holds all of my stuff - my heavy backpack and camera. And he'll even try to get a pic of us on the ride - like this awesome one here:
He was such a trooper this trip. I wanted to hit 4 parks in one day and he was up for it. I wanted to stop a take a picture with Peter Pan. Fine by him. I wanted to ride Small World one last time. No complaints. So thankful for the good attitude and sweet spirit in this boy!
Kid #3!
When we started planning this trip, I mentioned to the boys how much I'd like to go to eat in the Castle. With all boys, I'd never considered eating a meal where 5 different princesses come by your table. Luke went through the "Rapunzel love" phase when he was 2, but he's 10 now. (Do yourself a favor and look at his Rapunzel phase here!) I suggested they go play golf and I would just be that weirdo eating by myself in the castle.
But Luke offered to go with me. I know he wasn't a huge fan of it. This pic of him with Cinderella is quite different than his past pics with Rapunzel.
When the princesses came around during breakfast, I told them he was my photographer so he took all of the pics of us. I think he enjoyed that much more than being fawned on by pretty girls! Again, there was no complaining! He was happy to take the pictures and I'll forever appreciate his company on our Castle date!!
Kid #4! Ok, so I don't have 4 kids. But I do have to give credit to the guy who took us to Disney. This may shock you but Don isn't the Disney fan that I am. He really doesn't like crowds or standing in line or public transportation which doesn't help. I know he'd rather go on a camping/fishing/skiiing/lake/anything else trip so I appreciate him going on this trip with us! Not only did he pay for it, he had to take off work to go on his not-so-favorite trip. And did I mention the stomach bug? Yep, he also got to fly on a very queasy stomach. Maybe a bit of eye-rolling that he didn't think I saw, but there wasn't much outward complaining.
I'm thankful to have a husband that gets that I'm a super Disney nerd and puts up with me!
The LOWS...
All-in-all, I don't have much to put here. The crowds last week were much higher than historically encountered this time of year. So lines were longer and people were just everywhere. I think in the past, we had been lucky to be at off-peak times and were a bit spoiled. One thing I learned this trip is that it's ok if we all aren't together all the time.
A few times Don and one or two of the boys went back to the hotel for down-time. Although I want to spend every second in the parks, I get that they needed to do that. I think that made our time together ever better.
We had sore feet for sure. The day of the race, I got in more than 50,000 steps! But if you go in knowing that you'll be walking and prepare for it, it's not such a big deal.
Also with the crowds so high, it helped that I had planned ahead and made dining reservations and secured FastPasses. You'll have plenty of Lows if you have to wait in line at each and every turn.
The sore feet and eye-rolling will not be what I think of when I think back on this trip. The fun memories and great pictures will be all that I remember - and I will remember it often!!
I'd love to help you plan a trip with a bunch of HIGHS and a few tiny LOWS. Call me and let's talk about it!!