Over this last week, I’ve been following along on social media as a handful of my friends have been exploring various Disney parks with their families and friends. Naturally, it has me reflecting on both my childhood trips and taking our kiddos there years back as well.
What I remember from my childhood trips to Disney have very little to do with the rides or the food or the magic of it all – but really about the funny family moments that happen in between all of those other bigger adventures. Obviously, my parents took us WAY before fast passes were a thing so standing in line with my parents and 3 brothers (one older and two way younger than me – just babies it seemed) took up hours and hours of these trips. We often bring these moments up about my younger brothers being incredibly entertaining to us in line by singing songs (usually atop my older brother’s shoulders) and cracking jokes to all that would listen. It is really a shame that we don’t have pics and videos from this time saved for all of time on social media (their current wives and partners are probably sick of our stories and would love to see it in real time).
Other vivid memories I have from my childhood trips:
– character breakfast
– the Disney waterpark (Blizzard Beach I want to say?)
– exploring Epcot on my own with my brother (we were teens) as my parents let us be on our own for a bit….and me really thinking I was hot stuff making eye contact with other teen boys doing the same thing
– visiting different countries at Epcot (we didn’t travel a whole lot so this was eye opening for me and loved seeing bite sized cultures in this way)
– eating at the Germany Oktoberfest spot (all the pretzels please)
Memories I don’t have but am thankful for:
– my parents (Mom mostly I’m sure) planning for, saving money for and taking 4 crazy kids on a road trip, Disney adventure
– getting up early and then closing the park down so the magic never ends
– Mom master planning the schedule so we didn’t miss the parades and the good stuff
So I suppose the moral of this story is…..THANK YOU MOM for your sacrifices in making these trips happen – I appreciate all of that so much more now that I’m a parent. HEY DISNEY PARENTS – it’s not all about the sites and the rides but the in between moments that mean the most….try to stay calm and enjoy those too without stressing about getting to the next thing, micromanaging your kiddos’ moods and getting the perfect photos (PS this is also a pep talk to myself on every family vacation).
Stay tuned just in case I track down photos from my childhood trips (then my bros should really be scared)…..hehe.
2. The dining experience – it’s really not enough to just say the food. Although the food was soooo delicious, the ambiance in each of the three themed restaurants coupled with a waiting staff that stayed with us every night was awesome. Our sweet waiter Sean from Ireland had Shirley temples with extra cherries waiting for Tre each night and Alvito brought me every single dessert to try even when I tried to say I only wanted one. Our favorite restaurant was Tiana’s place set out of New Orleans – it felt like Mardi Gras. In one of the restaurants, our drawings came alive in real animation alongside Disney characters! How cool is that?!?
3. What to do, what to do – Disney really has the activities thing nailed down on these cruises. So many choices all throughout the day and night – it was hard to choose each morning how to schedule our days! Both WG and WB absolutely loved their own spaces and the activities for them (and meeting new friends from all over there). Everything was seamlessly scheduled and organized that it could be relaxing and busy all at the same time! We loved watching movies both in the fancy movie theatre (Coco and Last Jedi) and on the Jumbotron at the kids pool/deck. 
4. Bahamas beach time – as many of you know, WB loves the sand so spending an entire day in Nassau was quite a treat. Unlimited coconut drink for Mama, water and sand time for the kiddos! 
5. Characters and shows – at Disneyland the lines for meeting characters are so long, it’s hard to justify missing out on rides for the autographs and pics. On board, there are multiple meet and greets every day AND the characters interact in the kids club all day alongside the kiddos so those long lines aren’t even necessary. I loved how the characters changed outfits according to the daily themes (pirate, Christmas sweaters, beach day). The broadway level shows in the theatre were also amazing – it even snowed inside during Frozen!
If you are thinking of a family cruise, you must consider one of these Disney options – soooooo worth the money for the quality of the cruise (rooms, programming, food) but also for the magical memories of doing all of these things together. Talking about the kiddos club activities each night was my favorite part of the day! And plus, there was lots of time for adult time in our private pool and area along with adult only programs and bars (4 different adult bars on board!) while the kids are away enjoying every moment. 
(this is us on Christmas Day watching the NFL game in our private booth with our own TV, beers and snacks)
Thanks for making your way through that novel. Happy New Year to you and hope to “Sea”? ya in 2018!!!