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Meltdown
with Mickey, or
A dark day at Disney World
By Reagan Havens
Lawrenceville
Special to GwinnettForum.com
MAY 31, 2002 -- Months of planning and anticipation had come to
fruition. The ultimate family vacation was at hand. The Magic Kingdom
at Walt Disney World had opened its gates to us on a beautiful spring
day. Had we known that we were just moments away from our 4-year-old's
fantasy turning to nightmare, we may have proceeded with more caution.
Our countdown to Disney officially started at 43 days out -- dumb,
dumb, dumb. Telling a 4- and 8-year old they have to wait over a
month to go see Mickey takes, "Are we there yet?", to
a whole new level. We successfully passed the time by collecting
our pennies in the shoe box the kids had decorated just for the
occasion, watching our Disney vacation marketing video and, of course,
talking about the big event.
Our son, Mason, the older of the two children, was far more focused
than one might expect. His interest was in the rides, he wanted
thrills. Our daughter, Rachel, on the other hand was struggling
to understand just how she could actually meet the characters she
had seen so many times in the animated films filling the video drawer.
She was filled with questions. "How big are they? How could
they talk? How did they change clothes?"
It's amazing to me how she understands that Mickey Mouse truly
is the center of the Disney universe even though he has a comparatively
small amount of screen time available on the market, compared to
his more contemporary celluloid colleagues. None the less, she identified
Mickey as her character of choice. For several weeks prior to the
trip she bubbled with her deep desire to meet Mickey. Her joy was
contagious.
Finally, that beautiful spring day had arrived. We were well rested,
well fed and actually there, walking down Mainstreet USA. Cinderella's
Castle rose up majestically before us, the camcorder was rolling,
our hearts were happy and then, hardly six minutes into the adventure,
there he was. Mom spotted him first. She deftly guided us onward
to maximize the effect of the first sighting. I saw him next and
waited, Sony in hand, to capture that magical moment.
I'm not sure what one would call the emotion that is located exactly
180 degrees away from joy, but in the next moment our previously
jubilant child found it. My mind was still reeling to locate the
source of the screams, when my body reflexively braced at the impact
of a 30 some odd pound Rachel climbing me like a cat chased up a
tree. Mickey was no longer her character of choice. The joy was
gone.
The five day vacation was a success despite the fact that at every
character sighting I gained an extra 30 pounds (and those characters
were everywhere). Now, we are back home and the photos are being
developed.
One day our daughter may wonder why her brother has so many pictures
with the characters and she has none. All we can tell her is that
even in the happiest place on Earth, we can all have a bad day.
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Number
2.15, May 31, 2002
