The Road to Disney World: Part Three |
To say Christmas day was exciting at the Willliams’ household would be the understatement of the year. Christmas morning came and the usual first wave of childhood hit our bedroom at about 4:30 am when my 8-year-old daughter Emmy announced it was time to get up. We told her she was mistaken and after about 15 minutes of negotiation we all fell back to sleep.
The second wave of Christmas morning attack appeared at a more reasonable 6:45 AM when our 6-year-old son Sam came marching into our room to announce that Santa had indeed been to our house because the cookies and milk were gone! After a sound and understandable berating from my wife for not having the coffee maker set up the night before, I started a pot of coffee and we headed downstairs to see whether we had landed on the naughty or the nice list this year. Apparently we had been very nice this year as there was a virtual cornucopia of gift hood dwarfing our Christmas tree in the family room.
Once the gift giving had ran its course and we had enjoyed our breakfast (which included
a few glasses of Champagne & orange juice for mom and dad) we decided it was
time to unveil the REALLY BIG SURPRISE - the trip to Disney World that my wife
and I had somehow been able to keep secret for quite a few months now. We took
the kids into our front room and sat them down on the couch. At first I think
they thought they were in trouble and didn’t know what to expect. We gave our
daughter an envelope with the following pieces in it – U – R – green light attached
to ING – 2 – picture of Magic Kingdom. “You are going to the Magic Kingdom”.
At first she read it out loud several times and neither her nor Sam understood what it meant. I think their minds truly found it too hard to believe that they were actually going to this incredible place of wonderment that they could only have dreamed of even really existing before now. So I announced to them (in my best Bob Barker voice) that they were indeed heading to Walt Disney World for a whole week. There was a brief pause and then the screaming began! They hugged, they laughed, Helen and I cried (we are big softies) and just as all of our heart rates were returning to normal I announced, with great timing I must say, that we were going to Disney World by plane. As the kids have never set foot on an aircraft, that announcement brought the excitement level to a whole other crescendo, especially for Sam who has quizzed me relentlessly in the past about what it is like to fly on a plane.
We
produced a bag of great Disney goodies that we had been holding back on. It
included Disney t-shirts and software among the many fun things packed away
that were all Disney-like. But the most important contents were the Walt Disney
World planning guides that were inside. My daughter Emmy got one in particular
just for kids. It is great and she has been nestled down with it for the last
few days helping to plan our visits to each park within the walls of the Walt
Disney Resort. It has ride descriptions in detail, tips on how to enjoy the
park even more and, of course Emmy’s favourite part, detailed dining information!
For Sam, the excitement of just knowing he is going to Disney World is more than enough for him right now. They have a wonderful countdown calendar that my wife designed for them so that they can tick off each day as the trip draws closer. Sam just looks at that now and then and turns to me and says ‘Daddy, I can’t believe we are going to Disney World, can you dad??’. And you know what, some times when I sit back and think about it, I truly can’t believe we are going too and the excitement just bubbles up in my stomach as well. We are both ‘grown-ups’ but we still feel like kids when we begin to realize we are almost more excited than the kids are about this trip sometimes. But then many say that is the magic of Walt Disney World isn’t it? The ability to make us all feel like kids again.
OK... now that the kids know - the planning can really begin. Watch for our sample itinerary and feedback from parents who have been to Disney World.
