Stettler Stalks: Surviving Disney- the RIGHT way!

Survival... that's what we were hoping for when we set out on Sunday for a 4 day get-away to Orlando including 2 days spent at Disney World. We booked a 2 bedroom suite in a Holiday Inn Resort that was about 5 miles from all the attractions. The resort was wonderful... the section we stayed in (the resort was huge-many different villages, each with their own ammenities) had a beautiful pool with a lazy 'river' that weaved it's way around the pool and a water slide and an inflatable Hippo slide (which was out of commision while we were there). The girls could've had a wonderful vacation by never leaving the hotel! On Monday, we met the guy who got us free tickets into Disney at Hollywood Studios. We decided that's not where we wanted to spend our time, so we packed up and took our free park hopper passes to Animal Kingdom. We had a good time looking at different animals on a safari bus ride, a train ride, and Emily got to go on the white water rapids ride twice- first with Dad and then with Mom. I'm still not sure how Dad managed to come off the ride completely dry, and Mom ended up soaked! Doesn't seem quite fair! Braelyn had a hard time understanding that she was 'just too little' to go on that ride. We assured her that we would come back and ride it again when she was big enough. Even with no naps, the girls did very well. Of course, there was a lot of 'stop poking me' phrases that escalated louder and louder until mom or dad intervened, but what can you expect when two sisters are both riding in a single jogging stroller? Braelyn sat in the back and Emily sat on the step in the front. It was just too hard for Braelyn to resist the temptation to poke and irritate when the opportunity was right there in front of her... literally.

Our second day was spent at Magic Kingdom- what Rob and I know as Disney World. It's amazing how much everything has changed since I last went to Disney in 3rd grade. It's also very surprising what you DO and DO NOT remember. The two things I remembered from my childhood vacation were the 'Country Bear Jamboree' show and the 'It's a Small World' ride, so those were definites on our to-do list. The girls got to meet Donald Duck, walk through Mickey and Minnie's houses, ride the carousel, go on another train ride, wear really cool glasses to watch a 3D movie complete with scents and puffs of air, see a parade with all the characters including Mickey and Minnie, and probably the highlight of the trip- meet and have their pictures taken with 3 Disney princesses.

The reason I titled this entry 'surviving Disney- the RIGHT way' is because through the course of Day 1 at Animal Kingdom, as we knelt down by the stroller, struggling to patiently deal with issues of the heart that presented as greediness, disobedience, selfishness, grumpiness, unkindness, etc in 2 very overtired girls, I found myself tempted to follow suit of what most other parents did to survive: 'buy your kids everything they want and let them eat anything they ask for'. However, as we explained to our children, vacation is not an excuse for poor behavior. We are children of God no matter where we are, and just as they are expected to have hearts like Jesus while they're on vacation, as parents, we are expected to continue to obey God's word in shepherding our children's hearts- we NEVER get a vacation from that responsibility! So, I can officially say, we survived Disney the RIGHT way!