Local Wisdom

Only trouble was, I was standing next to the family station wagon, with my little sisters on either side, holding a balloon shaped like Mickey Mouse. I looked more like a happy child than a surly teen.

Such is the power of the Magic Kingdom. The photo was taken at the end of my first visit to Disney World, and I remember having had a great time. That’s saying something when you’re 13 and just spent a long day in the company of parents and siblings.

But it was a visit I had looked forward to for years. As long as I could remember, our family’s Sunday nights had included Disney’s Wonderful World of Disney on television.

When we heard a second park was being built just two hours south, in Orlando, my Dad promised that we could go. But after the project was finally finished, my parents insisted that we wait another year or so for our first visit. By then, they reasoned, the crowds would have thinned out.
Of course, as anyone who has ever visited Disney knows, the crowds only grow larger by the year. Still, as that photo attests, our inaugural Disney adventure didn’t disappoint.

And it still doesn’t, even after all these years of obligatory visits, taking our daughters to character breakfasts and trooping through “It’s a Small World” for the thousandth time with friends and relatives who’ve come from out of town.

That’s not to say a Disney excursion is always fun. I have a pretty iron-clad rule against going in the summer because of the withering heat.

And I often see families waiting in line who are clearly under stress. The kids are tired and whiney. The parents are tired and alarmed at how quickly their funds have been depleted. That’s when you hear lines like, “This is costing us a fortune. You had better have a good time,” shouted at shrieking preschoolers.

And Disney is expensive. I sometimes wonder how typical families can afford what it costs to stay in a hotel and visit the parks for a week.

But, there are bargains to be had if you’re a local. Even without buying park admission, you can enjoy wandering through Downtown Disney on a brisk fall day.

My husband and I even spent an anniversary dinner dining at the California Grill atop the Contemporary Hotel and watching the fireworks display over the Magic Kingdom. No ticket necessary for that, either. Just the same hefty tab you’d find at any high-end restaurant.

We encourage visiting friends to come during the slower seasons, and then we buy passes with black-out dates. Along with unlimited access to the parks (except for the black-out dates, obviously) we gain something even more valuable: the ability to visit for only an afternoon or for a special event of some sort. And that’s the key to cutting out the stress out of theme park visits and ramping up the fun.

We can drop into Epcot during the spring Flower Festival. Or visit all the parks at Christmas to see the decorations. And if the place is too crowded, or if somebody gets cranky, we can just go home. We don’t feel pressured to see everything in one or two days.

The lesson? Plan ahead. Don’t try to do too much in one visit. After all, unlike your Northern friends and relatives, you live here. You can go back again and again and again.

Teresa Burney is a contributing editor of Big Builder magazine and a columnist for Orlando Homebuyer.