Disney World 2008: Introductions

The Disney Mood Coaster

Or

No, No, No… Again, Again, Again!

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Day 9

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The Eventual Goal

Introduction 1:

Dad always said that four years old was the perfect age for Disney World, and had started pushing that spring to take Anabelle.  Rosa and my attendance were defined as, “optional at best”.  This idea led us to start discussing going over summer.  In less than a week and a half we evolved from:

“We can’t go”

To:

“We think we can go,”

“We’re definitely going,”

“Mom still wants to go and take Anabelle” (thanks Mom!),

“We’re all booked,”

And finally:

“We’ve upgraded the hotel, and reserved meals.” 

We left the end of the vacation unplanned, based on what we learned about how radically kids can change plans from our previous visit. (We can be taught!)

Introduction 2:

In order to allow Anabelle to concentrate on kindergarten, we decided not to tell her about the trip right away. (I figured one of us should be able to focus during September.)  The more time passed, the more it seemed like a cool idea to wait until the day we were leaving to tell her.  This led to hasty explanations as to why her birthday party was a week early and other such changes, but we managed to keep the secret.  Planning wasn’t really a problem as, in our family, we start talking about the next Disney trip on the way home from the previous one.  We had been going though many pictures and videos with her, and the discussions seemed to indicate that (with the exception of the Haunted Mansion, which she told us she wasn’t going on if she lived to be a million) none of the characters or rides would scare her. 

HA HA!

Introduction 3:

Anabelle’s cold managed to blossom into an ear and sinus infection a few days before we left. Since we are a close family, Rosa’s and my sinuses joined in. We were all on antibiotics for the trip.  Anabelle’s infection mostly cleared up by Disney World, and the medication caught mine early enough. 

Poor Rosa had her’s full force for the first few days; leading her to both lose her voice and need to turn in early a couple of nights.

Final Introduction:

One thing Dad neglected to mention:

Children of the “perfect age” experience Disney World in a strong simulation of bipolar disorder.

They are either ecstatic or psychotic, nothing in between. (The mood swings being enhanced on all of our parts by the infections and antibiotics, and in Anabelle’s particular case by the fact that almost all she ate through the week was pizza, bacon and icing.)

As parents there are two choices: have your kid miss a lot of stuff on an (infrequent) visit to Disney World, or deal with the occasional meltdown. 

We don’t like to miss stuff. 

Although Anabelle spent most of the trip on the positive side, I’m sure Dad had a few good laughs at us.