7 Lessons I Learned at Disney World

Two weeks ago, we traveled to Disney World for the first time. None of us—my husband or sons—had ever been there, and we had never planned to go.

But our older son was traveling there with his high school band, and we thought it might be nice for his younger brother to experience it at the same time. So, we decided to tag along as a family.

Here are a few things I learned along the way.

~1~

Be open to the journey. My one wish was to see our son playing his trumpet in front of Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom. I didn’t make any other kind of bucket list, and I didn’t do any research in advance. That might not work for you, but to me not making a long list of expectations meant the trip was full of wonder.

I entrusted the planning entirely to the band director and the travel agency. And you know what? We found something new around every corner. I loved almost every minute of our time on the Disney properties. I didn’t worry about which rides we rode or how many we rode, which characters we saw, or what we discovered. It made for a magical trip with no “I wish we’d had a chance to…” afterward.

Mileage varies. That might not work for you. But it worked well for me.

~2~

You always run into someone from Baltimore. It doesn’t matter how far you travel. You will find someone who lives in Baltimore. When we traveled to China to adopt our second son, my husband wore a Natty Boh T-shirt. Not many people recognized Natty Boh, but of course someone did—and we talked Baltimore.

This time I was carrying some grilled cheese sandwiches toward the Disney train station building when I spotted my husband chatting with a woman and her two teen daughters.

When we exchanged introductions, I realized they were from Baltimore. They live two blocks from my parents’ house. It took less than a minute for us to identify friends we have in common. Of course.

As Walt would say, “It’s a small world after all.”

~3~

The Disney cast members are rock stars. My younger son and I were sitting together on a bench watching people pass for a few minutes, and then we got up and headed back down the street.

Within 10 minutes, my phone was ringing. It was a Disney cast member. I had left our son’s backpack at the bench, she saw the phone number on the bag, and she called us.

I went to pick it up from her, and she gave me the backpack and the biggest smile.

“Where are you from in Maryland?” she said. “I’m from Havre de Grace.”

Naturally.

~4~

Your children might be just the right age for Disney World. Disney must be fun when your children are little, but you know what’s magical? Going when they’re old enough to go on rides themselves, get themselves to the restrooms, and gasp at the price of mouse ears.

I have no regrets about waiting until our children were 13 and 15 to go. We didn’t really wait, of course, since we never planned to go. But they had an absolute blast, and since they’re boys, I’m not sure we would have been bippity boppity booing much anyway.

I watched so many parents handling their un-napped toddlers, and I’m sure they made some wonderful memories, too. But if I could wish upon a star, we would go right when we did.

~5~

You can go to Disney and not know the characters and the stories and still have fun. I was absolutely intrigued by the lack of context provided. We were just immersed in everything.

Characters would be dancing on floats, and a large dragon would be breathing fire in the middle of the street, and I would be thinking, “Who is that…?” But I’d also be reaching for my phone to capture a photo.

I love the idea that by entering Disney you become part of a story.

You feel that, especially if you stay for the fireworks. I still can’t get over the beauty of the fireworks and the lights on the castle—and the pleasure of watching our 13-year-old capture it all with my phone.

~6~

Nothing is more fun than seeing other people’s wishes come true. My husband loves trains and dark rides, so he was excited about experiencing the Haunted Mansion.

Riding the Walt Disney train and the monorail were great fun, and the Haunted Mansion ride was a blast. I have been on a few dark rides in our 18 years of marriage, and it was more entertaining than scary.

One of the small sadnesses of the trip was realizing that our children are so grown-up they don’t need to hang out with us in amusement parks. But it was also one of the great joys to see them navigating the spaces themselves with friends, exploring, and staying in touch in responsible ways (or letting me find them on Life 360 when I hadn’t heard from them in a while).

One of the best parts was finding that John and I had all this date time together. I never saw that coming when we were looking forward to the trip, so that was an unexpected treat.

~7~

Nothing tops seeing your child doing their thing. You can keep your castles and your magical everything. Give me the chance to see my son marching and playing the trumpet and loving every minute of it. He and his band (the Calvert Hall College marching band) played The Avengers theme song as they marched down Main Street at Disney. Then I ran down the sidewalk and watched them play “Danny Boy” as they circled the little park in front of the train station.

As I stopped recording and they marched away, I realized my eyes were full of tears. I was so, so proud. I was wishing that all the people who love and believe in our son could be there to see him doing his thing. And I was full of joy.

I turned toward the sidewalk and saw one of my fellow band moms wiping away tears, too. We exchanged one of those smiles between mothers—mothers who have traveled all the way to Florida to see their sons perform. Mothers who know the challenges you face on the journey to finding your thing. Mothers who are always learning the careful balance of walking with a child and walking near a child and then letting him fly. Mothers who’ve been cheering children on at every milestone along the way.

In that moment, dreams come true. Magic is real. And God is smiling, cheering us on, knowing this is just one piece of the story.

~Birthday Bonus~

These takes are written in honor of my niece “Elise,” who celebrates her 16^th birthday today. A fellow third-child niece, she has always been a big fan of my quick takes, and she just made her first trip to Disney World the week before we made ours. Happy birthday, Elise!

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