Disney. I hang my head in shame.
More specifically, Walt Disney World. I wish I could explain it but I just can’t. Not that I don’t love the movies and the merchandise, but it’s really something about WDW itself that I just crave. Not having kids, I can’t even use them as a front for my frequent trips to the Happiest Place on Earth. Which really isn’t the HPoE, with the long lines and crying kids and miserably tired people trying to wring every drop of magic from the place, but I love it anyway. Everything is too expensive and I don’t even care. I can’t wait until my sister’s kids are old enough to appreciate a trip there, but it’s not keeping me away waiting until them.
My husband will run over small children to get a picture with characters.
Luckily, I married another Disney Dork. Because our birthdays and anniversary happen three days in a row in April, we typically go every year for our Grand Holiday. We stay at a value resort on the property, wear our big buttons that say it’s our birthday/anniversary, and trade pins with the cast members. The pin thing is such a scam and again, I just don’t care. We went one year and met up with my sister-in-law and niece. I had read about the whole pin collecting thing and thought it would be fun for me and the niece to get into so I bought us some. At the end of the first day my husband walks in the hotel room with a big poo-face and says “I want some pins too”. It was precious and hilarious and pathetic. He is to Disney pins like I am to Mardi Gras beads.
A Disney birthday is pretty much the best birthday ever and makes up for several years of crappy adolescent birthdays.
We look for Hidden Mickeys. We ride the ferry and the monorail for no good reason and treat Downtown Disney like a free park. I am forced to do the Disney Death March during Extra Magic Hours because if a park is going to be open for resort guests until 3am, DAMMIT, we are going to use every minute of that time.
Unfortunately we haven’t been on our usual April trip in two years because the husband is in school might now. Last year I looked at going in June but the prices were so astronomical we took a trip across the country to northern California instead for cheaper. It was awesome. But I miss Disney. It doesn’t seem right to go to WDW at a time besides our April holiday anyway. Hopefully we’ll go back for April 2013 and in the meantime I am earning Disney points every time I use my credit card. I use it a lot. I won’t go into Disney stories because there are a bazillion sites out there telling you the exact same things. I have nothing new to add.
Oh My God it's almost 2am and raining, what are we still DOING here?
But I was feeling particularly nostalgic the other night at 2am when I was dealing with some random free-floating anxiety that wouldn’t let me sleep. You know, the kind where you are sure you can feel your heart beat actually shaking the bed. So I get on my new sedative of choice, Pinterest, and I make a Disney board. And while I’m perusing the coolest of the Disney crap on the Interwebz I find something so intriguing I actually purchase it. THIS BOOK IS AWESOME. The Dark Side of Disney, by Leonard Kinsey. At first I thought it was just some cool art and didn’t realize it was an actual book. Then I had to have it. I may even get the print version so I can have a signed copy. I read it yesterday all in one sitting (okay, there was a yoga class break in there because I’m becoming a fat-ass) and it was hysterical. And factual. And informative. I don’t know if I’ll actually ever try most of the things discussed but I love that they do it for me. I’ll also be a whole lot more observant of Disney deviancy from now on. I am so sold on these folks, they are my new heroes.
