Too Young for Disney

So while my father and Paul were at their business meetings for Five Star Painting, the mothers and kids had free time to visit "The Happiest Place on Earth."

My parents originally wanted to wait until I was ~5 years old before taking me on my first trip to see Mickey Mouse, but given how this trip to Orlando fell conveniently during a frigid winter in NYC, my father decided to accelerate the timetable.

Plus, going with my best friends, Jack and Connor (who have been to Disney World before), I knew they'd show me the ropes.

We arrived to our hotel, the Walt Disney World Swan Resort, Thursday evening around 3PM, but we didn't try to make it to any theme parks that first night. Instead, we just had a nice big family dinner all together at Il Mulino in the Swan resort. My father was so happy to finally be able to enjoy a nice restaurant that was also kid friendly!

The next day, while the fathers were at their work conference, we had a nice breakfast and went to Magic Kingdom around noon. Boy, was it super crowded. Apparently, January is very slow for Disney, except for MLK Weekend when it gets very crowded. Nevertheless, my mom and I did our best to enjoy our first time.

We did the FastPass thing, but that day, they claimed we could only do 1 reservation at a time. That really made it difficult for us to skip some lines, but I did get to fly on Dumbo and ride the carousel.

Of course, my one singular wish this weekend was to see the Frozen characters, Elsa and Anna. But unfortunately, it was going to be a 200 minute wait in a line, and kids weren't really built for that kind of hold time. So I didn't end up seeing or getting my photo with them.

We ended up walking around a lot, trying to decide which rides were worth waiting 90+ minutes for. Unfortunately, I was under 40" tall, so it excluded me from riding on certain rides. And while FastPass is a much better system than what my father experienced when he was a child, it was still imperfect since all the good rides are booked first thing in the morning when the park opens. Nap time also gets all screwed up as well. And if you know anything about my family, we love sleeping whenever we can.

I know a lot of kids absolutely love Disney World in Orlando, and it's great for families who can finally let their kids just be kids. But I think it's going to be something I'll need a few years to truly appreciate. Being 3 years old, I thought Disney was just OK. To be honest, I was just as happy to spend time with my friends, Jack and Connor running around the hotel.

But of course, I think we're going to give Disney theme parks another try when I'm a bit older - though my parents already decided it definitely won't be in Orlando. They can't stand the massive crowds of tourists where groups of adults take up space that should be for kids. Interestingly enough, the non-Orlando Disney locations are significantly less popular.

My mother does love Paris...