I Hope You Have Wine...

... because this post will be full of cheese.

Yes, the family and I went to Walt Disney World for the first time last week and I have to admit - it was magical! This was my first trip (how un-American are my parents?!!) and the first trip for the girls. Mike had been a couple of times when he was younger and was not exactly overly excited about going. I just thought it would be a glorified county fair or something - cheesy and tacky at every turn. I was stunned to realize how great it was and how much fun we had as a family. Watching my girls respond to everything around them was truly a beautiful thing.

See? I told you this post would be cheesy. The thing about it is that Disney sucks you in. Yes, it's commercial. Yes, it's ridiculously overpriced. Yes, there are people roaming around that would make Wal-Mart patrons look smokin' hot. But this place does tourism like no other. They have managed to turn it into an art form. And even a sarcastic cynic like myself was able to be completely taken in by the magic. And the crazy thing is, I am DYING to go back and experience it all again.

I watched Kate, who turned four while we were there (more on that in a minute) react to seeing the princesses, Mickey and his friends, the evil stepmothers, etc., with the kind of wonder and awe that only comes from a child. It really was innocence in its purest form - captured right there on her face. To her, it really was Snow White. It really was Cinderella's castle. That really was Goofy even though he was enormous and never did anything other wave and give her high fives (he never uttered his catchy "Goarsh!").

On her birthday, she wore a button that said Happy Birthday and a park employee wrote her name on it. All day, everywhere we went in the park people said, "Happy Birthday, Princess". Being the bashful girl she is, she would bury her face into her father or me, but she secretly enjoyed it. She was treated like a little princess all day.

And for the record, I hate princesses. I was never a girly-girl (shocking, I know) and I swore that my kids would NEVER be into the princess crap. Fast forward four years and that's all they can talk about. Kate even told me the other day that her Daddy was her Prince Charming. Four years ago, I would have vomited in my purse if that sentence was uttered. Now, her saying it reduces me to tears.

Meg also enjoyed it but on a different level. Being that she's two, everything is still kind of a new and exciting adventure for her so this was just like stimulus -overload. She started out the week being so excited to see the characters, but if any of them came anywhere near her, she'd flail her arms to cry and scream for them to go away. By our last day there, she was running around dressed as Tinkerbell high-fiving everybody and kissing Mickey's face which was bound to have every communicable disease known to man right there in one convenient location.

She enjoyed the rides and the ice cream and all of the merchandise that we swore we'd never buy yet of which somehow we came back with five bags. We stayed in the park all day each day which meant that we had to forgo her nap. She passed out in the car on the way back to the condo every night except for the one night when she passed out inside the park and Mike had to carry her listless body about a mile to the car with her legs dangling at his sides.

We've been home for a week now and neither girl can stop talking about their trip. I cannot stop either. I'm sure I've told 50 people how great it was and they're probably all thinking what I was when people used to tell me about Disney - I'd rather lick the floor of a public men's room than ever go to that place.

So, enough blathering on about this whole experience. This blog is supposed to be about useless rambling, not anything of substance - and to my loyal readers, I do apologize for being cheesy and sentimental. My advice on Disney would be this:

If you have kids, take them. Especially young kids. That innocence won't be there forever and it is something you really have to see. Go in January. There were barely any lines and the weather was just perfect. On second thought, don't go in January. You'll just crowd up the rides and then I will have to wait. Don't try to do it all the first time you go. Feel your way around the park and let your kids decide how the week should play out. Get past the touristy stuff and buy into the magic of the experience. I'm so glad I did. It was truly one of the best trips I've ever taken and one which our family will talk about for years to come.

Okay. I'm done with the cheese and effusive prattling. You may now commence vomiting in your purse.