Over this last week, I’ve been following along on social media as a handful of my friends have been exploring various Disney parks with their families and friends. Naturally, it has me reflecting on both my childhood trips and taking our kiddos there years back as well.
What I remember from my childhood trips to Disney have very little to do with the rides or the food or the magic of it all – but really about the funny family moments that happen in between all of those other bigger adventures. Obviously, my parents took us WAY before fast passes were a thing so standing in line with my parents and 3 brothers (one older and two way younger than me – just babies it seemed) took up hours and hours of these trips. We often bring these moments up about my younger brothers being incredibly entertaining to us in line by singing songs (usually atop my older brother’s shoulders) and cracking jokes to all that would listen. It is really a shame that we don’t have pics and videos from this time saved for all of time on social media (their current wives and partners are probably sick of our stories and would love to see it in real time).
Other vivid memories I have from my childhood trips:
– character breakfast
– the Disney waterpark (Blizzard Beach I want to say?)
– exploring Epcot on my own with my brother (we were teens) as my parents let us be on our own for a bit….and me really thinking I was hot stuff making eye contact with other teen boys doing the same thing
– visiting different countries at Epcot (we didn’t travel a whole lot so this was eye opening for me and loved seeing bite sized cultures in this way)
– eating at the Germany Oktoberfest spot (all the pretzels please)
Memories I don’t have but am thankful for:
– my parents (Mom mostly I’m sure) planning for, saving money for and taking 4 crazy kids on a road trip, Disney adventure
– getting up early and then closing the park down so the magic never ends
– Mom master planning the schedule so we didn’t miss the parades and the good stuff
So I suppose the moral of this story is…..THANK YOU MOM for your sacrifices in making these trips happen – I appreciate all of that so much more now that I’m a parent. HEY DISNEY PARENTS – it’s not all about the sites and the rides but the in between moments that mean the most….try to stay calm and enjoy those too without stressing about getting to the next thing, micromanaging your kiddos’ moods and getting the perfect photos (PS this is also a pep talk to myself on every family vacation).
Stay tuned just in case I track down photos from my childhood trips (then my bros should really be scared)…..hehe.