v: my favorite vacation. #atozchallenge

My favorite vacation.

When I was four years old, my parents took us to Walt Disney World (Florida). It was the most magical experience of my life up to that point. Actually, I think it was the most magical experience of my life, period. I felt completely immersed in that fantasy world.

My family went to Disney World twice during my childhood, and I’ve been two other times as an adult. And I’ve been to Disneyland (California) once (as an adult). But I’m not one of those crazy Disney-obsessed people or anything like that. Although one of the times that I went as an adult, I did get some Mickey ears and had them stitch a name on the back, as they do. But not my name… no. It was ‘Morrissey‘. Still have those ears.

When I went as a kid, you got Mickey or Minnie. Those were the choices.
Now, they’re barely special anymore since they have, like, 500 styles.

Anyway, while I do love Tangled and Flynn Rider, I’m not a Disney fanatic. Honestly, those people frighten me a little. [Sorry if I have offended any Disney fanatics.] I just love theme parks and enjoy getting lost in another world.

Disney World is magical every time, but nothing on earth was ever like the first time. I was afraid of the characters walking around the park in the beginning, but once I got over that, I was so excited that they were, like, real. And the castle… so huge and, well, magical. There’s just no other word for it.

Magical. And to a four-year-old, immensely magical.

I remember spending a lot of time with my dad on that trip when I was four. That’s special to me because for most of my life, I wasn’t super close with my dad, and he’s gone now. He taught me how to swim at our hotel pool on that Disney trip. And he rode with me on Dumbo the Flying Elephant which was the only reason I went on the ride because even then, at four, I was afraid of heights. But I loved that ride!

The happiest place on earth. Or so they say.

I also had an amazing vacation in San Diego once. And while I was studying in London, I did travel about the UK and Europe… those could be considered ‘vacations‘ [and they were also incredible]. But seriously, Disney at four years old… I’ll say it again… magical.

Really, though, the best vacation would be the one where I find this guy waiting for me on the beach.


[Fine, I admit that now I’m just looking for reasons to put this picture in every post. Hmm… maybe that is my challenge for the rest of the alphabet—work this picture into every remaining post. Oh yes. Challenge accepted!]


p.s. — I can’t think of any bad vacations, but on one of our family trips to Cape Cod, the unthinkable happened. As unthinkable as things can get when you’re seven or eight years old, anyway. You see, my little sister and I fell asleep in our hotel room one evening. Mom stayed with us while Dad took my two older sisters out to play mini-golf. I cried all morning the next day. Mini-golf was my favorite. I couldn’t believe they went without me. I was heartbroken. I think I was a bit unhappy for the rest of that trip.

[I still love to play mini-golf, by the way. I was the family champion until my son started beating me when he was about twelve. I was both proud and humiliated.] 

         
©2021 what sandra thinks

About what sandra thinks

Sandra is a writer, sometimes blogger, poet, artist, emotional disaster. She thinks far too much and sleeps far too little. Sandra lives in the Northeastern U.S. but dreams of an oceanfront home in Italy, but she would settle for a non-oceanfront home in Italy. She loves books, brutal honesty, coffee, and the color black. She hates insincerity, beer, whipped cream, and facebook. And she is uncomfortable talking about herself in the third person.
This entry was posted in challenge, life, writing and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

15 Responses to v: my favorite vacation. #atozchallenge

  1. My mum has those Mickey ears! I’ve only ever been to the one in Paris (much nearer to me in the UK) and it rained torrentially but I’d like to try Florida one day

    Liked by 1 person

  2. gigglingfattie says:

    What is the significance of the name on the back of your ears? Or is it private?

    I have never been to any of the Disney inspired theme parks, honestly its not my thing lol my family did go to Florida twice! Once when I was in grade 1 or 2 (whenever the OJ trial was on cos the adults watched it on the news every night). We stayed at the summer house of my dad’s coworker. The second time, was high school! Grade 10 or 11. We stayed IN Kisseme but didn’t go to the theme park. We did other day trips and the like around. I think it was just too expensive which I totally get! On the first morning we woke up there, I also dislocated my baby toe haha. First day, having to go to an American emergency clinic cos my toe was sticking out 90° 😂😂 thank goodness for travel insurance (I think and hope)

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Another great post and another look at your favourite beach guy, plus a bonus of being able to tell gigglingfattie all about Morrissey!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I have always always wanted to go to Disneyland but I don’t think I’ll get the chance to travel for a while 😦

    Liked by 1 person

  5. jrvincente says:

    I’m so glad you have those magical memories!

    And I would be *so* mad about the minigolf, too. I hate missing things!

    Stopping by from A to Z!
    – Jayden Vincente
    Erotic fiction author

    A to Z 2021

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Pingback: wst february 10. so hot. | what sandra thinks

thoughts? talk to me.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.