Disney World

I have distinct memories of visiting Disney World when I was 3. It was so magical. Some thirty years later my take on the Magic Kingdom is, less simple, to say the very least.

P has had little Disney exposure so far. His grandparents introduced him to the joy that is Buzz Lightyear. And during the blight that was February we all watched Peter Pan to quench his recent thirst for swords and pirates. We also saw a (non-Disney) Cinderella production at the local marionette theater. P Adored it. Cinderella entered our play-world, and fueled by our Cinderella record, she hasn't left since. (My personal favorite so far is Phoenix deciding to buy her a dishwasher so her stepmother would lay off :) We also have a Sleeping Beauty record set to Tchaikovsky and a Snow White record, both of which get play time. But Cinderella, oh boy, she and P are Tight.

So I struggled with the decision. Should I take a kid who doesn't have a clue about Micki Mouse to the Magic Kingdom? A life size castle, dancing bears, twirling tea cups and tree houses? All right, I didn't struggle that hard. I promptly gave my lefty, anti-corporate tendencies the boot and voted for over the top family fun. P seemed to sense it was something special when I mentioned the word "castle." But mentioning that it was Cinderella's castle, well now. The child was on fire to meet this girl. Whoops. How am I going to work that?! So I mentioned that Cinderella might be busy cleaning, but we could definitely see her castle. No, he told me, she doesn't clean in the castle.

Then we got sick and postponed our trip. As I'm talking to our travel agent on the phone I hear P moan, "we no go to Disney world now?" So even though our rescheduled trip occurred during half the country's spring break, we Were Going to Disney World. My mom bravely came along.

If going during Spring Break wasn't enough of a handicap, P's exhaustion tipped the scales. He'd had so much fun at the aquarium the day before with Gramps that he had zonked right before dinner, only to then be up half the night. The 90 minute drive that had seemed a cakewalk during my planning stages transformed into a squeel-fest from the back seated tyrant. 'Turn the car Around and go get More mint ice cream like Gramps did Yesterday. Now.' He was too tired to understand distances and too amped about castles to sleep, so we validated and nodded for the last 30 minutes, praying for free ice cream with our tickets.

We finally entered the park (tram ride, ticket purchase, monorail ride and security check later) and he saw the castle. Ahhhh. All will be well. "I want mint ice cream." Such is life with a focused three year old. The place was more packed than Times Square preparing for New Year's. But once P had his ice cream things started to look up.

A huge parade passed right by us - with Cinderella atop a huge pumpkin coach float. Thank gawd. She wasn't cleaning after all:) Snow White was there too with a couple of dwarves. Hook and Pan soon followed. The best show for my mom and I though was Phoenix. He didn't smile and wave or look excited. Instead, he had this frown (see pictures above) that clearly said "How the hell?" And when the parade was over, that's exactly what he wanted to know. "Mama, how they in our world?" Ugh. One of those tricky Santa Claus moments. So I told him the truth, people in costumes etc. He was quiet for a while and then later told me that he thought he had the solution. "Maybe the characters came to our world with magic." :) What can you say to a child who wants to believe, other than, yah, maybe...

The lines for the rides were unbearably long. We did less in a day at Disney World than I've ever done there in about an hour. But Its a Small World seemed to be worth it. He tried using the cool frown again, but just couldn't swallow down the grin and point reflex. He wanted to make sure Baby Brother was looking at everything and that BB was scared of any tunnel-like parts. As soon as our feet touched land P wanted to go on it again. As we exited and he saw the enormous line he turned tail and took off. I had to chase him all the way back down to the boats where he was determined to "just get back on."

We took a break at the 100 acre woods playground. Seeing Pooh's house (he called it Piglet's since Piglet was hanging out of the window) and entering its small door had him reallllly working to hide a goofy grin. He kept shaking his head in disbelief that he was Really There. He "ate" honey from the pots sitting around and walked in and out of the small home a hundred times.

Then we went on the Pooh ride. It was dark and supposed to be spooky and P Loved it. He kept laughing and shrieking "you Scared Baby Bwother?" (BB is scared of both tunnels and darkness). After 40 minutes in line and 5 minutes of laughing, P wasn't quite ready for another ride. He started to notice all of the kids walking around with toys and decided it was time to go shopping :)

He'd seen a number of pink pyramid shaped princess hats and requested one a couple of times since entering the park, but I figured a Buzz or Cinderella toy would would win him over. We went into Tinkerbell's shop and P pounced on a princess hat. Personally, I had no problem with it (and would rather see it on my son than daughter, hehe) but I wasn't sure about my mom. Silly me - whatever her grandson wants:) He also picked some figures to act out story lines and happily pranced out of the store in his tough boy camo shirt and pink hat. And promptly fell asleep in his stroller.

I carried him through the Buzz Lightyear line and woke him when we reached the ride. We climbed in our space ship and shot our lasers and twirled our rocket. He was so focused he barely mentioned BB. It was the perfect ride for him and the perfect test for me. I had to let go of all of my overanalyzed theories and hangups and just enjoy his joy.

My mom was a trooper. Carrying whatever I threw her way, producing an umbrella when the sun hurt P's eyes, driving during screams and squeels, and being infinitely patient with how the day unfolded. Then she drove all the way home while P (loudly) teased Baby Brother about monsters in the dark fields and demanded Grams pull over into said field and turn the car off to scare BB. Reaching the ranch, not 30 seconds from the home she had to be Very ready to return to, she turned the car off to patiently let P enjoy the darkness.

P took a Long time to unwind and want bed. When he was finally ready he brushed his teeth and put on his princess hat to nod off to sleep.