Disney has ruined me!

Last year, at the tender age of 42, I experienced Disney for the first time in my life. My family and I spent a week at Disney World in Orlando, Florida and we spared no expense!

I was kind of skeptical about the whole Disney thing when my husband suggested it. He spent about six months researching and booking reservations for character lunches (lunch with Winnie the Pooh at the Crystal Palace) and learning the best strategies for visiting the parks (arrive when the park opens, go back to the hotel for lunch and a swim, head back in the evening when things have cooled off a little). I made fun of him the entire time but, once we got there, I was kissing his feet. His planning made our trip that much more perfect!

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge which was a beautiful hotel! Just walking into the lobby made all our jaws drop to the floor! It had two beautiful swimming pools, two fabulous restaurants, a very cool gift shop, bunk beds made out of logs in our room and an erupting geyser outside!

I have to believe there is some kind of evil underbelly of systematic brainwashing to explain how perfect and sparkly everything was there. I've bought a few books to find out how it's done. I've grown too cynical to believe that things can be this good without some kind of horrible price being paid by someone. Isn't that sad?! Anyone with stories from the inside that prove my theory, please comment!





Here's a few more special memories from our Disney experience:

A signature from a REAL Power Ranger

Watching live rays during our wait to see Crush the turtle at Epcot

Giant fruit bats in Animal Kingdom

Zapping Zurg at the Magic Kingdom

Before this experience, I would go to local amusement parks (Kings Island, Cedar Point, and Kings Dominion) and think they were awesome. Things have changed since that Disney trip last summer.



Yesterday, we took the kids to Kings Dominion for the day and I saw the park in a completely different light. The food was terrible, the park looked dingy (especially the bathrooms), the characters were 2-dimensional, and the employees all looked crabby and tired.

Our kids are apparently too cool to pose with characters anymore so my husband and I did it instead. Below is Scott with Cosmo.

The only difference between my perception this summer and last is our trip to Disney. It has raised the bar and there's no going back now. Thankfully it doesn't seem to have had the same impact on the kids. They were just as happy riding the rides yesterday as they were last summer. The only thing they complained about was the fact that I stuck to my guns and did not buy them a single souvenir. They couldn't believe that I didn't crack!

The kids rode this one twice and it was actually a very pretty ride!

Let the testing begin....

I broke the news to my daughter today that she's not allowed to bring her money on an outing downtown today because she's not allowed to buy anything else until it's time to Christmas shop. She came back with, "Well you go shopping all the time and buy whatever you want!" I calmly told her that the shopping moratorium will apply to me as well and that I will refrain from buying anything but the basic necessities from now until the holidays. I also told her that we're going to Kings Dominion tomorrow but that we will not be buying a SINGLE souvenir. This pretty much floored her and she disappeared for awhile. Later, she asked me to go to my bedroom where she left something for me (pictured above). It says, "Sorry for calling you a person that shoppes to much!" and it has a pile of money on top (she has some tens and twenties in her money stache so she isn't that sorry, is she?). I don't mean to say that any amount of money can erase the damage of saying something hurtful. She thinks this will weaken my resolve. I will not crack, though. In fact, I foolishly threatened during dinner that, if I hear even one request for a stuffed animal during our outing, she will be banished to the car for the remainder of the day. Yeah right! That was not a threat that was well thought out, was it? On the car drive there, I think I'll alter it to - you will not ride any more rides for the rest of the day.

I see more tests in the future.....

My materialistic kids

My kids are always in need of some new toy or diversion. It is so out of control and it's usually at this time of year that I end up shutting it down for awhile. Honestly, how many Webkinz or tubes of lip gloss or Transformers or Lego sets are enough?

I think what happens is that during all the traveling in the summer, I get kind of lax about saying no and let them buy their cheezy souvenirs. Then they begin to feel entitled and expect these luxuries to continue freely flowing at every shopping opportunity. While in Ohio last week, I gave my kids a twenty to each purchase a beverage at Starbucks. Then, I indulged them a little more by letting them keep the change. When stopping on the drive back at a Bob Evans, I thought, I'll let them use their money any way they want and see if they make good decisions about what to do with it. They came back from the gift shop with their five hundredth stuffed animal and a three hundredth race car. Well, they failed that test!

My nephew recently told my children that all I teach them how to do is shop. Ouch! If that's what I'm teaching, then I'm not even doing that very well.

What I want to know is how to I turn things around. We have the disposable income to indulge them but that does not mean we should. I want my kids to realize how good they have it. The "starving kids in Africa" speech doesn't seem to hit home with them. Someone needs to start a "living frugal" camp where privileged kids can go to get a taste of doing without. They could serve them stew every night (maybe even skip a few meals as my kids have never truly experienced hunger), have one toy for every five kids, no T.V. or video games, and assign them work to help sustain everyone at the camp (like gather firewood, pick berries, fish, etc.).

We are going cold turkey from now until Christmas. I'm not buying them anything and I am making them put all their money in their college accounts. I will not break down - not even a piece of gum from a gum ball machine. I mean it!

The real Iraq

What have we done?! This video is positively heartbreaking and the ending message is haunting. Not only have we failed to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice, we have bred a generation to replace him.

Twenty four hours in paradise

I just got back from a twenty-four hour getaway at a place called Skylark. Me and eleven girlfriends spent the night up on the Blue Ridge Parkway eating yummy food, playing BUNKO and drinking "libations." We talked about nothing and everything and it was perfect! The sunset was even more spectacular than these pictures made it out to be! We've all decided that this will be event that happens at least annually.

Obama is still the best choice but someone else is also looking better than McCain....

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Forget TV! Watch this!!!!!

My friend just forwarded this link to me. This show is good on so many levels! First of all the story is tragically perfect, secondly the characters are engaging and unrealistically believable, and thirdly the music is beautifully embedded into the story line, with witty lyricism and memorable refrains. It was a joy to watch from start to finish. Watch the three episodes separately (about 10 minutes each) or the entire thing in a little over forty minutes. It's called Dr. Horrible's Sing A Long Blog and stars Neil Patrick Harris (a.k.a Doogie Howser). What an actor!