(39 Weeks)
The final family summer road trip was to Disney World in 2007. It was going to be an epic two-week trip that included an extended stop-over in Savanah, Georgia on the way down and another in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for 4th of July weekend on the way home. We didn’t tell our daughter as we made the plan because we wanted to surprise her.
We waited until the last day of school – the last day of first grade – when the plan was to leave the first thing the next morning.
Her reaction as we shared the itinerary? “We’re driving???? I don’t want to drive! Why can’t we fly? You suck!” Well maybe she didn’t say, “you suck” but I’m quite certain that’s what she was thinking. We hadn’t even left the house and we were already off to a bad start.
We had delayed going to Disney for years because of her fear of people in costumes. Meetings with Santa, the Easter Bunny, and other assorted mascots were met with classic meltdowns. Yet, she continued to lobby for a Disney trip. “But I’m not scared of the creatures anymore.” Okay, maybe when you stop calling them “creatures.”
The Disney vacation’s major issues were over stimulation and fireworks – and two parents completely incapable of managing one 7-year old’s meltdowns. I left Disney believing it was the worst vacation ever and we were incapable of having a good vacation.
There was an issue on the Lilo & Stitch ride where we were asked to leave, there was the Lilo & Stitch breakfast at the Polynesian Village when none of us were happy (didn’t purchase that family photo!), and then there were the fireworks – impromptu in middle of the day, every night right outside our hotel room, and then 4th of July in Baltimore! And to think I paid extra for that suite with a view!
I learned two lessons though. The first is that my perception of our vacations as the parent probably wasn’t accurate. When she and I went back to Disney when she was 15, she reminisced about the good times, not the bad. And she even persuaded me to buy her a practically life-sized Stitch, proving she had no PTSD at all!
The second lesson is that maybe we should have let her plan all the vacations. The one time we did that, we had the best summer vacation ever – in New York City – the summer before.
She was six. We were discussing over dinner one night what we should do for our summer vacation. “I want to go to China,” she blurted out. Well, China was seriously out of our budget, but a week in New York’s Chinatown was not. We booked a hotel off Canal Street. We took the train into the city from New Jersey so it would seem like more of an adventure. We explored Chinatown, Little Italy, and played tourist in our own city. We came home with turtles. Best family summer vacation ever. Probably the best ever, actually. I haven’t even told you about the winter vacations…yet.
Did you really think this wasn’t going to include a fundraiser? It’s me. Of course it is! Over the course of these 60 weeks, I am hoping to raise $6000 for the children of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls (that’s just $100 a week!). To learn more about Mercy Home and my why, please visit my fundraising page. Thank you.
So true Mary, different people have totally different perceptions of the exact same experience! It’s wonderful that your daughter only has great memories of those vacations. 🙂