We just took our daughter to Disneyland. It might be too soon for a definite assessment, but it seems all three of us came back without permanent emotional trauma.
During this trip, our (once) little baby turned one. Before anyone thinks we’re completely crazy for taking our daughter to Disneyland for her first birthday, we would have never considered it if I didn’t have a work commitment in the area for a couple days, so we made a week out of it. And what a week it was.
There’s something that draws even the iciest of hearts to Disney – I’m not a die-hard Disney fan, but the excitement I had for this trip was surprising to me. Would we meet Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy? Would we laugh, smile, sing, and skip around the park without any cares in the world? Well, yes…and no.
We met Minnie and Goofy. As well as Chip (or maybe Dale?) and Pluto. But my daughter was terrified. I can respect that, I guess.
As for the laughing, smiling, and skipping, we spent more time trying to force a smile out of our girl than her voluntarily offering one up. Our daughter is an observer. She evaluates situations very carefully and doesn’t give away much emotion (she gets it from her mama). Not sure why I thought she’d react differently to a crowded theme park despite the obvious magic in the air.
I had high hopes for just one photo with the three of us with an iconic Disney backdrop or character. An image we could look back on in many years and remember how magical that moment was. It didn’t really work out that way – at least nothing worthy of our 2018 holiday card.
Instead, over the course of seven days that included four flights, time zone shifts, a hotel room, rental car, and lots of action, there were small moments that didn’t involve Mickey or a castle that I wish I could bottle up and relive a million times over.
Disney is known for creating magic at every corner inside their parks, but what I learned during our week-long trip is that there’s more magic in the simple, unplanned moments.
If you ask me how our trip was, I’ll keep it to what you probably want to hear – it was great, the baby loved it, and it was good to spend time away as a family. But another level deeper, I’m savoring a handful of tiny moments that had nothing to do with Disney. And there’s nothing more magical than that.
