Then, the magical moment came and we were on our way to the most magical place on earth. I can't tell you how excited I was in that moment, but the thing that surprised me the most was how excited my father was. I think he had even higher hopes and expectations for that first trip than I did. My dad had grown up working at an amusement park: Riverside (now Six Flags New England), and I have fond memories of trips to that place growing up, but Disney was something else entirely, and we both knew it.
We stayed off property that first trip (and the next), and I have memories of waiting in long lines at the Transportation and Ticket Center, impatient to just get there. My memories of that first trip are spotty. I remember eating at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater with my dad - he was a big science fiction fan and kind of a geek, so it was the perfect place. I also remember eating in the restaurant in Mexico, the San Angel Inn Restaurante. The dark restaurant overlooking the Mayan temple and the el Rio del Tiempo was beautiful, but then it was so dark that my mother accidentally ate a complete jalapeno pepper because she couldn't see. Yikes! I remember spending time at Hollywood Studios, then MGM Studios, and being awestruck by the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and playing (even though I was perhaps a little too old to play) in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure. We visited some of the other area attractions on that trip, but at the conclusion, I remember my father telling me that when he retired he wanted to move to Florida and come work for Disney. He talked about this plan even after we got home, and solidified it even more on our next trip a couple of years later.
Sadly, my father was never able to realize this dream. He passed away long before reaching retirement age. And even though I am still young and I understand how unpredictable life can be, I have already started working on my retirement plan, and surprise, surprise, it involves Disney.
At this point, though, my plans are a little more modest than my father's were, but again, they're spurred on by jealousy. Needless to say I subscribe to a number of different Disney blogs and sites, and I'm constantly reading about the parks and trying to find ways to keep the magic alive in between trips. Right now, though, I feel as though I'm right back in elementary school feeling jealous of all the cool kids who get to do things that I can't, namely attend the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. You see, I'm a teacher, and while I do get to enjoy a summer vacation of sorts, the only time I can travel to Disney is during scheduled school vacations - when everyone else and their uncle is headed there, too. I love my job, don't get me wrong, but I love Disney, too. To that end, I made my husband promise me that the very first September I did not have to return to school after retiring that we would go to Disney and grab delicious snacks and decadent drinks at every booth at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. I made him promise it would be a long and languorous trip to make up for all those Septembers and Octobers we've been missing as a result of the teaching life. After that, who knows, but I've been reading about all the delicious food and drinks available at this time of year (curse you, Disney Food Blog!), and there's a real rumbly in my tummy that apparently only retirement will be able to cure. Almost eleven years down, only thirty or so more to go...