Before I rain on my own parade, please take a minute to do a little happy dance with me to celebrate the fact that I am finally going to Disney world.
Most of my loyal readers probably know (and I'm sure are tired of hearing about) the fact that I have never been to Disney world. I've been close a few times, but its never worked out for me. You would think that at 25 I wouldn't really care, but I'm pretty into Disney - more so than any other form of entertainment - so I've anticipated the days I'd walk through the golden gates (in my mind, there are big, HUGE gold gates that sparkle every day and that will automatically open as I approach them. don't ruin this for me.) But - for those of you who don't know my stories of almost-trips, and for those of you who want to bore yourselves with them for a second (or tenth) time, read on...
My first almost-trip to Disney world was in junior high. This was probably the furthest from an actual trip, though maybe the most disappointing. A girl who had babysat my brothers and me when we were younger was working as Cinderella at disneyworld and when she was back home at some point she connected with my parents and said if we ever came out there she could get us discounted tickets. I don't remember all the details of the story - so I"m sure if I'm wrong my mom will correct me - but the gist of it was that my dad told my brothers and I he was thinking about it, asked if we'd like to, but then as the year progressed the doctors gave my dad bad news about his condition and then Disney never happened. If my timing is right, I believe he was talking about taking this trip around the time that he was told my the doctors that his condition was not improving and that, with his current medications, he had about a year left to live. Shortly after that doctor visit he and my mom felt God was telling them to stop the medication and rely on His timing. He lived for roughly a month without medication, so obviously our Disney trip never came to be. I say it was the furthest from a trip because there were never any plans, no dates were picked and nothing was ever thoroughly looked into. The trip may never have happened anyway, regardless of what happened with my dad's illness, but I say it is the most disappointing not-Disney trip because in my mind it was either we went to Disney, or my dad died - clearly we ended up on the short end of that deal. By far.
My next near-attendance at Disney was my sophomore year of high school. My mom and Alfredo had gotten married my freshman year and they had the idea to take all the kids to Disneyworld - I guess as a family experience. The money had already been allocated, the potential dates were set - and then Alfredo's ex-wife informed him that she would be moving to Oklahoma with their 4(???) year old daughter. Alfredo was devastated, naturally, and he and my mom weren't sure what they could do, if anything. After talking with an old family friend who was an attorney, is now a judge, they found out they could file for an amendment to the divorce decree and have it included that Emily must stay in Harris County. My mom sat us all down, Brandon, Brian and myself, and told us the situation and asked us what we thought they should do. The issue here being that the only place the court fees/attorney fees would come from would be out of our Disney trip. Hands down, we all agreed that the more important use of the money was for Alfredo to fight for Emily. I strongly felt, and still believe, that it was important for Alfredo to know he did everything he could for his daughter, and for Emily to know that her dad put her above everything else in an attempt to keep her close to him. We ended up "winning" that court case, but it was a short lived victory as Rebecca came up with the same idea 4 years later, only this time she had a better attorney and requested a trial by jury. Emily now lives in Arkansas, and Alfredo doesn't get to see her nearly as much as he should. It breaks my heart for the two of them - partially because I know how much Alfredo loves Emily, and partially because I was Emily's age when my dad died and I think that having a father who loves her and is available is a blessing, one which her mom won't let her capitalize on. So - in the end, this trip may have been the closest I ever made it to Disneyworld, but I still feel like the right choice was made despite the outcome.
My senior year of high school my band director announced that our band spring trip would be to Disney Land in California. I know there's a difference between the 2 - but to me, disney is disney and since I'd have nothing to compare it to, I'd take either one. Before school started parents had to pay the annual dues for clubs/organizations, so by August our disney trip was planned and paid for. We were talking about it for MONTHS! A lot of stuff happened in band that year - it was pretty crazy actually - and over the Christmas break someone broke into the band hall (is it "breaking in" when the doors are unlocked?) and mutilated a tuba. Mutilated doesn't begin to describe the damage...there really isn't a word that could tell you. A tuba is roughly a $10,000 instrument, and the bell of the tuba (the top part) is probably 15-20 inches in diameter. When we returned to school for the spring semester the bell of that tuba was crushed together to be MAYBE 8 inches in diameter. The keys had been ripped out, holes had been punctured all over the tuba - it was beyond repair. I believe the band had insurance, so covering the cost of replacing the tuba wasn't as much of a concern as finding the person who had done it. So, in the first week of the spring semester our band director gave us an ultimatum: Either the guilty parties confess, knowing parties turn in names, any information be given, etc, by a certain date or our spring trip was cancelled. The argument was that the band director couldn't possibly trust us on a cross-country flight and in a hotel if he couldn't trust us in our own band hall, and he wanted to be certain the guilty party/ies were not on that spring trip. I think the logic behind his ultimatum was fair, and I truly think he believed 100% that a name would be turned in well in advance of his due date - so we'd all be going to Disney anyway. Well - the day came and went, and no name had been given. So, having to be true to his word, our trip was cancelled. I was devastated. It was an emotional year for me to begin with, not having my dad there for my transition into adulthood was hard to face, and I had been impatiently waiting to FINALLY go on that disney trip my dad wanted to take me on for months...only to have it taken from me by some idiot who thought it'd be funny to act as a coward and commit a crime against no one in particular, then slither away into the night. The guilty person was never "officially" found, though it has been admitted to me by one person that he did it. That was years later - so it did me no good - and our spring trip was limited to a day-trip to Astroworld, where I had been maybe 100 times in my life.
I think my mom told my band director about my emotional connection between Disney and my dad, not only because of the trip he wanted to take but also because growing up my dad took my to Disney on Ice every year. My mom told the band director she was disappointed I couldn't go, because she knew I held onto that connection and knew how devastated I was that we weren't going. I know he felt bad that the decision he made, though it may have been the best decision, hurt me that way so 2 years later when he planned the trip again with the band he emailed me and asked if I'd like to be a chaperone. I still had friends that were in the band, so I would have LOVED to, but the trip fell the week before finals and I didn't have the money to put forth to be a chaperone. It wouldn't have been an expensive trip, but I was on a pretty tight/non-existent income in college so I couldn't really spend $700 on a trip.
There are my 4 attempts, all failed, at going to Disney world. I haven't given up hope yet, and I don't ever forget to remind people that I've never been. So a few weeks ago when my boss asked me if I'd go to the CorpTax software training in November, which is being held in ORLANDO, FLORIDA, I was beyond myself with excitement. A free trip to Orlando, minutes away from meeting mickey? COUNT ME IN. I suggested to Austin that he come down at the end of the conference Thursday night and we spend the weekend there, but he said he didn't think we should spend the extra money right now. We had created a pretty limited budget for the remainder of the year in order to save as much money as possible before William gets here, and a trip to Disney doesn't really fit in that budget. While I knew he was giving me the responsible answer, just like the previous failed attempts at Disney visits, I didn't want to hear it. Especially because - out of the two of us - when is HE the one to make the budget-conscious decision? He also added that he would like to use as few vacation days as possible so he can take as much extra time when William is here - which obviously scored some points with me cause that means more double-team days! As a compromise, he looked up Disney on Ice and found out they will be in Denver the week of our anniversary, so he will take me to that. I'd say we made a pretty good deal.
Because of that though, unfortunately my trip to Disney won't be the 4 day, all day, park hopping adventure I'd hoped for. I won't have anyone with me, and I will probably only go for one evening so that I can at least SEE what its all about, hopefully see some fun characters, and maybe get a souvenir to commemorate my long-anticipated trip. Then maybe one day Austin and I can take William to disney world - and any siblings he may have - so that we can all experience the *magic* together. Despite the fact that my trip won't be all I could have hoped, one month from today I will no longer have to say "I've never been to Disneyworld"
And that still puts a pretty big smile on my face!
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