Mastering the Magical Moment ... Finding the Real Joy in a Walt Disney World Vacation

You're sitting there in front of the television on an ordinary evening and then you hear it: the carriage bells, the pixie dust, the mom and dad bathed in the light of a computer screen realizing that yes! They can afford a trip to the place of dreams. They are going to Walt Disney World!

Inspired by their excitement and imagining that look on your own children's faces as they race into Mickey's arms for the first time, you turn to your own computer. Following the happy television couple's lead, you log on to the Walt Disney World website and search for that $1600 magical deal.

Three hours and $3500 later, your mind is whirling as you sit back and envision your family arriving at your magical destination for a week at Disney's Wilderness Lodge...or was it eight days at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort? Six nights at the Grand Floridian? No...no it was a week. At the Polynesian resort.
You sigh happily and remind yourself that there is plenty of time to prep your spouse for this vacation of all vacations before the credit card bill is due. Besides - you only charged the down payment for the trip. The rest isn't due for a while.

Your life becomes a whirl of websites about Disney World or "WDW" as you've begun to affectionately call it. At first it seemed like a lot of information, but then it became fun. The initial decision of where to stay has become overshadowed by determining which resort has the best character breakfast. Cape May Café at the Beach Club is quieter and within walking distance to Epcot. But Chef Mickey's has the Main Cheese and is a monorail ride to the Magic Kingdom!

Soon the day is here - you arrive at the Orlando airport, sweating through your travel clothes. Your family is exhausted, but you persevere! This is a Magical Family Vacation! You follow the random Disney Employees (Cast Members, you have learned they are called) with the big puffy Mickey Mouse hands to the Magical Express counter. You check in, feeling smug that you skipped the luggage retrieval and don't have to stand in that huge Alamo rental car line. Soon your sweaty, tired and collapsing family is on an air conditioned bus, on your way to your Magical Family Vacation.

Twenty four hours later, as you stand in line at the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at the Magic Kingdom, you wonder where you went wrong. Your legs are aching, your children are whining, your spouse is grumbling, and you strongly suspect the man behind you has never been intimate with an antiperspirant. Your perfectly planned trip full of magic moments is disappearing before your eyes. You take another winding turn and discover that the line was deceiving. You really aren't that close to the front. You sigh. You overslept your breakfast reservation so your son didn't meet Mickey. Your daughter hasn't stopped whining about wanting to meet Cinderella. Your spouse keeps subtly reaching for their BlackBerry to check in with the office. You shoot them a dirty look and the hand lets go of the electronic device.

And that's when it happens. The cheerful little boy in front of you smiles at your son and offers to share his battery operated water spray fan. You see your son smile and move a little closer. The two boys share the cool air and peer over the railings, listening to the screams of the guests riding this here Wildest Ride in the Wilderness. Your daughter tries to be cool, but soon joins them. They huddle together, speculating about how many times they'll go upside down (none), how easy it would be to fall out (not) and how super scary this ride is compared to Splash Mountain (depends). Your children are suddenly laughing and excited. Your spouse picks up your hand and you share a smile. You find yourselves listening, along with the little boy's parents to their excited chatter. He asks if they've been on Pirates. No? They ask if he's been on Buzz? No? They share experiences and that is when it hits you. You were too tired and hot and achy to realize your children have been having Magical Moments since the minute they saw those welcoming signs the day before.

The long line seems to disappear and before you know it, your family is tearing through the Old West on a runaway train. You stumble off the ride, laughing as you smooth your hair down and wave goodbye to your family's new friends. And suddenly the whole world is a series of magical moments.

There is the charm of Splash Mountain. The smorgasbord for the eyes of the Haunted Mansion. The eye candy...er...realistic animatronic Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates. Your mind takes photos of your family laughing at the Jungle Cruise's "back side of water". Your children's first taste of the infamous Dole Whip at Aloha Isle. The squeals of delight as they discover bits of tile and jewels and colored glass in the pavement outside the Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

The rest of the trip becomes one moment after another. And at the end of the week you realize it didn't matter whether Beaches and Cream has better sundaes than Ghirardelli or whether your daughter was granted an audience with Cinderella and Snow White or just waved to them as they floated by in the parade. What mattered was the taste of fudge from the Confectionery and the sunburn your son had on his nose that peeled after a day and made him wrinkle his little face. What mattered was seeing your spouse gallop around Whispering Canyon Café singing "I'm a Little Teapot" while you wished everyone who's address was in that BlackBerry was there to watch.

And those become the true Magical Moments. Those are the events you couldn't plan, but were better than anything you could have dreamed. And when you're home later, watching TV with your spouse snoozing next to you and you see your old friends discovering yet again that they can afford a $1600 Disney Vacation you smile.

And then you turn on your computer and pull up those websites saved to your favorites...and you smile at your sleeping spouse and wonder just how long you have to prep them before a new vacation payment will be due...