Dream Until Your Dream Comes True

I knew it would be great.  I suspected it would be very fun.  I imagined what it would be like with my entire family dressed in costume, reuniting with Miranda, wandering the streets of the Magic Kingdom with trick-or-treat bags at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

Oh. My. Stars.

It was outrageous.  It may have been one of the craziest, funnest, most memorable nights of my life.

The fun had begun with the planning.  As the mother, it once was my responsibility to plan everyone's costume for Halloween.  Now that my children are all adults, I am merely a facilitator, helping them pull together their own ideas.  I trusted that they would each have a great concept.  They did.  Some let me in on their plans; some chose to make an entrance with surprise on their side.

Some attracted a lot of attention. 

Some had little boys coming up and wanting to feel their muscles.

Some had little girls coming up thinking she was a real princess.  (Really? C'mon, really? It must have been too dark for them to see the wrinkles...)

My only regret was that my energy drained out long before the party was over.  Grumpy and I had to resign ourselves to a bench in front of the castle, watching as all the merrymaking went on around us.

It was extravagant.  It was an extra expense, requiring extra planning and packing to bring costumes in our suitcases.  Was it worth it?

Every penny.

Dream on, dream on, dream on.  Dream until your dreams come true.....

Wait! Can I Try That Again?

How many of us get a "do over"?  How often do we imagine what we could have said, or what we could have done if we could relive an unsuccessful moment, trying to improve upon its outcome?  Perhaps that is why I am drawn to a certain silly movie.

Through all of Bill Murray's lovable outrageousness, there can be found at the heart of Groundhog Day a remarkable idea.  What if we could try and try again until we get the day right?  What if we could fine tune our actions and our words and our reactions?  What if we could tweak the little things we say, the nuances with which we say them, and the level of service we offer to our neighbors? 

Unlike Murray's character in the movie, Phil Connors, who deals with no consequences from the previous day's mistakes or triumphs, we must live with the fallout from our yesterdays.  Are we learning from them?  Are we taking the time to review what is working and what isn't?  A little self-analysis is invaluable if we allow ourselves to correct our course and try to improve.

My daughter, Miranda, finds herself in a unique situation of getting do-overs, again and again and again.  As a College Program Cast Member at Walt Disney World, her assignment for the next five months is to be a Skipper on the Jungle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom.  This is a unique opportunity to perform the same script, over and over, to new captive audiences every ten minutes.  She also has the freedom to make it her own by inserting her unique personality and her astute observations.

Imagine being able to gauge your performance by the audience's laughter.  Imagine being able to throw in new material to the tried and true jokes, to change it up a little, to banter with the hecklers.  I cannot imagine what I would do in such a situation, nor can I comprehend the courage it would take, nor the grace, nor the poise, nor the mental agility.

And yet.  It does come with the chance to have do-overs, always perfecting, always improvising, always experimenting.  Just like Groundhog Day.

And I suppose, as in the movie when Phil Connors finally gets it right, when Miranda does have the perfect day with the perfect audience, doing and saying everything just how she would like, perhaps then it will be time to move forward, to come home, and to try something new.

Good luck, Sweetheart!  We think you're amazing!!

No Request is Too Extreme

Have you ever wished for something so hard that it hurt?  Have you ever dreamt of something for so long that it became apart of who you are?  Everyone loves Disney; that is a given, I think.  But there is one little girl that loved it the most.  Everything about it.  It spoke her language.  She even looked and sounded like she was a displaced Disney Darling.  Her whole life has been lived from one Disney trip to the next.  Only when she was in The Happiest Place was she really whole.

 

So when the opportunity arose to become part of the Disney College Program, it seemed like a perfect fit for this girl.  This is a program that recruits applicants from college campuses.  They hire students to become "Cast Members", their generic term for anyone who works in the Kingdom.  These cast members work everywhere, from being in the limelight as characters to sweeping up after everyone has gone home.
My youngest daughter, Miranda, set her sights upon this as soon as she learned of it, several years ago.  Determined that nothing would stand in her way, she studied up on it and planned for the day she would finally be able to submit her application.

 

One question asked on the application was:  Which assignment would be your first choice?  Easy.  Attractions.  This assignment has the most direct contact with the Park Guests, and the most opportunity to make others' experience in the Kingdom magical.  That's what she wanted.  She longed to be able to give back some of the magic that she had felt when she was a little girl.

 

During her phone interview with a college program representative, she tried to send through the phone line a glimpse of her true Disney spirit, that she had caught that spirit and was prepared to keep it alive and pass it on.  But she was also wise enough to tell them that she would even be willing to clean toilets if it meant she could be apart of it all.

 

Through the agony of waiting for a response, she never lost hope.  The grueling two months may have been the longest of her life.  She made lists to distract herself:  packing lists, things she wanted to do during her time off, how she would breakdown her paychecks.  Can you imagine being paid to spend five months in Walt Disney World?  It seemed like a dream come true, like something too perfect to be real.  Another benefit is a continuous free pass to any of the parks.  Really.

 

Finally that beautiful purple packet found its way to her little apartment.  Inside it was the key to her future.  Would she be offered a job?  Would she get her first-choice assignment, or would she be a janitor, or a shop girl, or a churro peddler?

 

Dear Miranda Haws:  Please accept this job offer in Walt Disney World ........ as an Attractions Cast Member!  Responsbilities may include:

• Working at one or more of the "rides" or theater shows
• Loading and unloading Guests from an attraction
• Operating sophisticated ride systems
• Memorizing and delivering lengthy narrations on a microphone to large groups (this is my pick)
• Handling the evacuation of an attraction when necessary
• Monitoring Guest flow and providing a safe Guest experience
• Assisting with audience control, including during parades
• Cleaning areas surrounding attractions
• Working with FASTPASS
• Standing for extended periods, working outdoors

 

 

Joy.  That is the only word to express it.  Pure and divine joy.

 

"If your heart is in your dream,

No request is too extreme.

When you wish upon a star

Your dreams come true."

 

No one wanted it more.

 

No one will make a more perfect Disney Ambassador.

 

Your family couldn't be more proud of you.

 

 

 

The Best Money We Ever Spent

I know, I know.  There may be some of you that think spending money on elaborate vacations is a big waste.  And it may seem that a family that regularly plans trips to Disney is frivolous, extravagant, and foolish.

I am here to prove otherwise.  On the other hand, I feel no need to prove anything.  Think what you like.

This is a special scrapbook that is exclusively for something special that my family began a few years ago.

If you can't read the handwriting on the note, this is what it says:

"We were blessed to be able to purchase a membership that will result in great trips for the next 48 years."

This is the title page for the scrapbook in which I intend to chronicle all our great trips for the next 48 years.

Each trip will get one page to record who enjoyed the trip and where they went.

Our first trip using the Disney Vacation Club was in 2006 while Robert was on his mission.  Brian and I took the girls to Disney World for Thanksgiving.  What a wonderful, memorable time.  We decided we could get used to this.  The accomodations were beautiful and the access to the parks was very easy.

The following year we needed to show Robert what this marvel was all about and we returned to Disney World for the week falling between Christmas and New Years.  It was not a handful of days after this trip that he met his lovely Josalyn in Idaho.

We were happy to contribute our DVC points the next year for a Honeymoon Cruise for Robert and Josalyn. They sailed out of California for a week along the Mexican Riviera.  How fun to be able to offer them such a memorable beginning for their lives together.

2009 found us all together in Florida for the Christmas Holidays, including a few additions to our family. We seem to be growing.  We spent time at Vero Beach as well as Disney World. There is a glare on my photos that is distorting the images.  Sorry about that.

After the Wedding Extravaganza of the Summer of 2010, Erica and Derek slipped away quietly for a cruise to the Caribbean for their Honeymoon.  Again, Disney Vacation Club Points saved the day.  All my money had been spent on the wedding so I was thankful to have this alternative method to pay for a great trip.

When we joined the Disney Vacation Club, we were told that it would take about seven years to reclaim the value of our investment.  In looking back over the past amazing five years worth of "Trips of a Lifetime", I believe we have regained our investment already.  And guess what?  We have 43 more years to enjoy the same caliber of vacations.

Hmmmmm.....Where shall we go next?