MomMaxer
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2017
- Messages
- 20
I guess you could say I'm a born-again Disney fan. You see, I *thought* the Disney magic had struck me several times before. As a kid, in little moments like singing along to the Beauty & The Beast soundtrack in the back seat with my walk man, and in big moments like when my family was lucky enough to go to Disneyland or WDW.
As a single adult, I had the opportunity to go to WDW twice and DL once again, and it gave me all the good feels.
I was pretty confident I was a true believer in the Magic of Disney.
Fast forward a few years, I get married and we become new foster parents. We take in a newborn, and exactly a month later late on a Friday receive an urgent request to take a 3 year old girl. "We just need somewhere for her over the weekend." the social worker tells us. A few weeks later, it's clear she will be with us a long while. Around that time, my husband abruptly loses his job.
So there we are, brand new parents of two small high-needs kids, and we've lost our primary income. Confident he'd find a new role soon, but still reeling from all of this - I decide we all need an escape from reality. Especially our foster daughter who'd just experienced massive trauma.
So where else is there besides a Disney Park?
I pulled out my mouse ears and booked the trip to Disneyland. My husband groaned. See, he'd only spent one day at Epcot as a begrudging teenager, so an expensive few days in a loud hot theme park didn't seem like the comforting salve we needed.
We arrive. Watching our foster daughter skip with joy at just the site of the gates, we squeezed each other's hands and I tear up behind my sunglasses.
Watching her stress melt away just for a few days, shrieking with excitement around every corner, her wide eyes when Belle and the Beast strolled through Fantasyland and Belle chose her hand to hold.
Ka-boom! It happened. I was a born-again Disney fan when I became a parent and watched it through the eyes of this precious little girl. There was lightness we saw in her from the invisible weight of her real-world-life float away.
For a couple days, she was just a kid like any other at the park, who felt like a princess, went on adventures, laughed, and sometimes tantrumed. That week, we all got to believe in the magic and feel true joy. It was the greatest possible gift to our new and unusual family.
We are believers and loyalists now.
Special thanks to:
Disney Guest Services, who upon hearing our situation showed wonderful hospitality by inviting us to VIP seats for a parade, and even sent our kids care packages which were on our porch when we got home!
Nanny Deb from Nanny in the Kingdom - the real living breathing Mary Poppins. She is a park expert and child whisperer. She helped us manage both kids and navigate the parks, definitely the best money we spent the entire trip!
As a single adult, I had the opportunity to go to WDW twice and DL once again, and it gave me all the good feels.
I was pretty confident I was a true believer in the Magic of Disney.
Fast forward a few years, I get married and we become new foster parents. We take in a newborn, and exactly a month later late on a Friday receive an urgent request to take a 3 year old girl. "We just need somewhere for her over the weekend." the social worker tells us. A few weeks later, it's clear she will be with us a long while. Around that time, my husband abruptly loses his job.
So there we are, brand new parents of two small high-needs kids, and we've lost our primary income. Confident he'd find a new role soon, but still reeling from all of this - I decide we all need an escape from reality. Especially our foster daughter who'd just experienced massive trauma.
So where else is there besides a Disney Park?
I pulled out my mouse ears and booked the trip to Disneyland. My husband groaned. See, he'd only spent one day at Epcot as a begrudging teenager, so an expensive few days in a loud hot theme park didn't seem like the comforting salve we needed.
We arrive. Watching our foster daughter skip with joy at just the site of the gates, we squeezed each other's hands and I tear up behind my sunglasses.
Watching her stress melt away just for a few days, shrieking with excitement around every corner, her wide eyes when Belle and the Beast strolled through Fantasyland and Belle chose her hand to hold.
Ka-boom! It happened. I was a born-again Disney fan when I became a parent and watched it through the eyes of this precious little girl. There was lightness we saw in her from the invisible weight of her real-world-life float away.
For a couple days, she was just a kid like any other at the park, who felt like a princess, went on adventures, laughed, and sometimes tantrumed. That week, we all got to believe in the magic and feel true joy. It was the greatest possible gift to our new and unusual family.
We are believers and loyalists now.
Special thanks to:
Disney Guest Services, who upon hearing our situation showed wonderful hospitality by inviting us to VIP seats for a parade, and even sent our kids care packages which were on our porch when we got home!
Nanny Deb from Nanny in the Kingdom - the real living breathing Mary Poppins. She is a park expert and child whisperer. She helped us manage both kids and navigate the parks, definitely the best money we spent the entire trip!
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