If You’re Considering a Disneyworld “Magical” Vacation, Read This First…

It was Christmas time and I—not expecting to be taken seriously—said, “Wouldn’t it be great to do a family Disneyworld vacation together?” Next thing I knew we were all planning our trip. Don’t get me wrong, it was on my bucket list to go there, but I really didn’t think my kids would take my comment seriously.

My son spearheaded our planning and my husband and I, our son and his family, and our daughter and her family, were all in on our “magic” adventure. Well, maybe we all weren’t all in, my son-in-law would often question, “Is this really a good idea?”

We picked an all-inclusive 7-day trip in the “off season” of February and went full speed ahead. As our dream trip dates ushered in along with it came a painful back injury for my husband, and our 5 grandchildren ranged from 9 months old to 8 years old.

When we arrive to our Disneyworld resort on a Sunday afternoon, our rooms weren’t right and it took me no less than an hour to get it all squared away. The next day the scooter we ordered for my husband for the week arrived. Not exactly the way you want to do your vacation, but we thought it was the best thing to do considering his back situation.

Monday we were all off to Epcot and had to ride a skyliner to get there. Hubby and I had to wait behind due to his scooter thing and that’s when we decided we would add up all the good things that happen because of the scooter. Kind of a “count your blessings” thing. We rode the arial gondola alone and that was blessing number 1. The truth was, we hated the scooter and were both trying to find ways to make it tolerable. I even jokingly said to my daughter and daughter-in-law, “nothing gets your juices flowing like seeing your man in a scooter.” But the grandkids loved it and fought over who got to ride with Grandpa. The 2-year-old, Theo, loved it the most and got the most time with Grandpa. And yes, we counted these as “blessings.”

Monday is also when I felt a cold coming on. My throat was beginning to hurt and I was hoping it was just allergies, but no, Monday was the start of a full on cold. Nooooo! This was terrible timing. I endured being sick the entire week. And because hubby was kissing on me Monday night, he came down with it by Wednesday. So, let’s tally up…he’s got a back injury and a cold on top of it. I sucked down Motrin like candy and went through a half box of tissues daily and didn’t talk about being sick. It was kicking my butt, I didn’t want to give it any more energy than that, plus I had a husband in a scooter and grandkids to enjoy.

Tuesday we were off to the Magic Kingdom Park and had to take a bus. Ugh! A bus with a scooter. Stop. Count your blessings…he got to board first. And so did the rest of the family.

Tuesday was a particularly hard day because the little ones—9-month-old, and 2-year-old—were extra tired so, Mom decided to head back to the hotel room to give them naps. Only taking the bus proved way more difficult than expected with dirty diapers and crying kids, and poor mom ended up pleading for chicken nuggets back at the resort, which took way too long to get. Oh, and did I mention the lines for everything, including the restrooms, were loooonnngg? The lines were so long for each attraction at each park that we hardly did any, although the Ratatouille ride was fun at Epcot which was “only” a 2 hour wait.

By Wednesday morning Mike announced to me that he was ditching the scooter. He couldn’t take it anymore, and whatever pain he’d have to endure was better than riding that thing another day. Little Theo was disappointed but everyone else was happy about leaving the scooter behind. It sat in our hotel room until we had to return it on Sunday. We definitely learned a lot about appreciating little things—like walking—and how rude people can be to those in scooters. That really took us by surprise. People gave him dirty looks and were clearly annoyed with him. One take away was to always go out of my way to treat folks on scooters with extra kindness and grace. And if you’re counting with me, our “blessings” due to our scooter ride added up to about 10 by the time we ditched it.

Wednesday we spent the day at the Animal Kingdom and Thursday was Hollywood Studios. Throughout the week with Mike’s back issues and my cold, Mike and I headed back to our hotel by late afternoon each day. Wednesday and Thursday were a bit of a blur. One thing that isn’t a blur is seeing so many crying and unhappy kids. It’s a little amazing that children can be in the most magical place on earth throwing fits and crying and demanding more. Crazy, right? I realized that if you have family issues, going on vacation doesn’t stop those issues, it only brings them out more. I saw this with family after family. It surprised me to see so many unhappy people.

Friday was the bang day! It was supposed to be an extra exciting and fun day heading out to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the morning and then Be Our Guest (Beauty and the Beast) restaurant for a late lunch. While at Hollywood Studios in the morning the 2-year-old fell and hit the front of his forehead and Mom and Dad headed to the ER for stitches. That was fun. Can you hear the sarcasm?

By the afternoon we all headed to The Magic Kingdom for lunch at Be Our Guest but I had to hold up our reservation for an hour waiting for their arrival back from the ER. Without details, that was not a fun experience at all. It included crying and cranky kids waiting, playing in dirt, and a rude restaurant “cast member” who treated us badly on a really bad day. This is a good time to add that through all the challenging Disney adventure days “cast members” would often end interactions with, “Have a magical day.” When your “magical day” includes a visit to the ER and blowing your nose like a crazy woman those words made me laugh. 

Our magical day on Saturday began with little Allie, the 4-year-old, throwing up. Mom and Dad took shifts staying behind to take care of her as she threw up all day long. “Have a magical day.” I “enjoyed” part of my magical day by sitting next to little Allie on her bed as she watched cartoons in-between vomits.

Sunday morning the Texas crew headed back home while the Arizona crew waited for our evening flight. We decided we’d have a chill day and venture out to Disney Springs which is like Downtown Disney in California with shops and restaurants. Allie was better and we were all sitting enjoying brunch when Jake (7-year-old), started throwing up. I rushed and got a bunch of Disney “magical” shopping bags to catch “stuff” which was about every 20 minutes to an hour. We had already checked out of our rooms and all we had for him was the stroller my daughter wisely purchased for the trip. “Our magical vacation” was the caption to a close friend when I sent a picture of Jake throwing up in a “magical bag” on the bus back to our resort to get our luggage.

Once we got back to our resort we all hung out in the back part of the hotel lobby and let Jake lay on a sofa. By the time we got to the airport we realized Jake wouldn’t be okay on a plane, he had gotten progressively worse. Jake and Dad got their flight changed to the next day, got a hotel room in the Orlando airport—yes, there’s a hotel in the middle of the airport, can we count this one as a “blessing”? —and not much later they headed to the ER. Jake got fluids and medicine and he was finally on the mend. By the time they got home Monday afternoon, Mom was throwing up. Maybe another “blessing” that she went home and Dad stayed?

So, let’s wrap this “magical” vacation up. Was it expensive? Yes, super expensive. Was it crowded? Yes, super crowded. Was it fun? It’d have to say, yes. Did I enjoy my kids and grandkids? Yes, totally. Would I do it again? No. Am I glad we went? Yes, very.

Even in the “magical” challenges there were tremendous blessings. Going back to what my son-in-law said, “Is this really a good idea?” Be quiet, Kyle, we are doing this!

For more from Lucille Williams check out her books The Impossible Kid: Parenting a Strong-Willed Child with Love and Grace, and for your marriage, From Me to We, and The Intimacy You Crave. And Turtle Finds His Talent for ages 2-6. We invite you to subscribe to LuSays today for weekly encouragement.