A Mickey Mouse Operation

We're back! We spent a lovely week in Orlando feeding the mouse. We visited the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and a water park. Much fun was had by all.



We were able to keep the secret from the girls until we were on the road to Orlando. And when we finally told them, it was, well, underwhelming.

Me: "So I've been thinking. I'm not that excited about just going to Houston and Galveston."
Jill: "I agree. We should go somewhere else. Girls, where would you like to go?"
Abby: "Hawaii!!"
Me: "Abby, we've talked about how we can't actually drive to Hawaii. Where else?"
Alexis: "New York!"
Jill: "A good choice. But where else?"
Alexis: "Washington D.C.!"
Abby: "Yeah, to meet President Obama!"
Me: "We don't actually have that kind of clout. Where else might we go?"

Silence.

Jill: "Someplace we have talked about going for a long time."

Silence.

Me: "Someplace that has cartoon characters?....and rhymes with Bizney?"
Abby: "um...Disney World?"
Jill: "Yes. That's where we are going."

Abby gave us a fairly nonchalant "awesome," while Alexis gave me a "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" look.

I'm not sure what I expected - singing, screaming, "you are the best parents in the whole wide world!!", some excitement at all perhaps.

I do have to say that they had some very good choices for possible vacations. And compared to Hawaii and meeting the President, Orlando IS somewhat a disappointment.

But we had a great time. We met characters, rode rides, saw shows. We went on our favorite rides six or seven times and skipped some of the faster rides.

We stayed in a Disney Resort and were issued these little magic cards. Cards that were used for: park entry to all of the theme parks; our room key; the parking gate key; access to all Disney areas; and a Disney charge card. (It had an optional iPhone function that we did not take advantage of, but we did utilize the universal translator option).


As a business school graduate, I had to admire Disney. Not only had they created this one little plastic passkey that allowed you to charge EVERYTHING and not realize how much you had spent until the end of your vacation, the parks are an operations management professional's dream. The lines for rides snaked around so that you could never see how far back you were. The estimated times were always exaggerated. "I know the sign said 2 hours from this point, but it was only 98 minutes. Score!" The end of the rides ALWAYS dumped out right into a gift shop. And oddly, the gifts were ride-themed (guess which gift shop had pirate swords and eye patches?). Take away all the clocks and throw in a room without easy exits or windows, and Disney could have been the best casino ever!



We met and got autographs from all of the characters we had wanted to meet: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto (especially Pluto!), Donald, Daisy, Belle, Snow White, Chip, Dale, Pinnochio, Buzz Lightyear, and many others. We went to a sing-along at our Disney resort and learned how to tell Chip & Dale apart. (For the record, Dale is the gay one). We even got Princess Aurora's signature!!! (Google it - we had to).



All in all, it was an awesome vacation (to borrow Abby's new favorite word). Even without meeting the President.