PassPorter.com Feature Article Original article at: http://www.passporter.com/articles/disappointing-disney-experience.html Disappointing Disney: How I got over a 'Disappointing' Disney Tripby Lisa Smith-Lester, PassPorter Guest ContributorLast modified 02-06-2014 It should not be possible, right? To come back from Walt Disney World disappointed, that is. Well, it happened to me. Our trip was a "Grand Gathering." There were 15 family members consisting of my parents, their children and grandchildren. Included in this was my husband, two daughters and I. We had been mentally planning for three years and actively planning for 18 months. The recipe was there for an amazing trip. Unfortunately, I came home so upset. I hadn't ridden Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I didn't get to Test Track. I didn't see all the characters I had wanted my daughters to visit. I felt that in our 15 nights I had not spent enough time "in" Disney. I had no PhotoPass pictures of my family of four in Hollywood Studios. Magic Kingdom was PACKED on each of the days we visited. Lots of little things added up to make me feel this holiday was a failure, a waste of so much money. When we got home, for two weeks or so, I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to think of going back. I didn't want to look at the 3000-plus photos my husband had taken, or my PhotoPass pictures. It sounds dramatic, and to me it was. Our last visit had been three years earlier. Our next would be in at least another three years. I think I was grieving for the holiday I had planned and anticipated for so long. I started talking to my sister about what I felt had gone wrong. We discussed what did work and what didn't. We need our own cars next time rather than sharing to have our own independence. We need to be a bit more selfish and think of our own families. We need to accept that Magic Kingdom is an amazing park that is of course sure to draw huge crowds. I started to think that maybe I could do a family trip again. I logged on to mydisneyphotopass.com. There were approximately 400 photos. This upset me. There were 15 of us; we should have had so many more. They had a complimentary 15 day extension promotion. I took up this offer and logged out. A couple days later, I heard the music to the Dream Along with Mickey castle stage show. My husband and our girls were again watching one of the photo DVDs he had made. I had avoided all previous showings. I went in to have a look. The pictures he had taken looked good. I remembered what we had done that day and smiled. I sat and watched the rest of the DVD. I think it was I who then asked for the next disk to be put on. I decided to log onto mydisneyphotopass.com again. The first pictures were from Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. My youngest daughter's face when seeing Mickey Mouse for the first time was beautiful. How did I not realise there were so many good photos? I started editing. The borders were great and soon I had over 800 photos. Over a period of a couple of weeks, this number rose to 1320. I had added borders to most pictures. I had cropped everything to just my daughters, the look on their faces a priceless memory. The pictures taken of my eldest daughter at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Magic Kingdom were amazing. The look of delight and contentment on her face as the Fairy Godmothers-in-Training worked their magic bring a tear to my eyes. How on earth had I pushed this amazing memory away in favor of remembering I hadn't ridden Space Mountain? The reaction my daughters got from Pluto when he saw his own page in their autograph books; the look of sheer excitement on my youngest daughter's face at seeing Pluto; the good memories were creeping back in.
I now have those dates. My sister and I have started making plans. I will be going back to Walt Disney World. I will absolutely be following the advice I hear from Sara on the PassPorter Moms Podcast each week to, "Do less, enjoy more." I will not be disappointed at missing anything as long as my daughters are happy.
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