Anyone who knows anything about me knows Disney is my singular obsession. I watch the movies, listen to the soundtracks, collect memorabilia, and I visit the parks. I travel to Walt Disney World about four times a year, on average, when a global pandemic is not disrupting our lives. Every once in a while, when the fancy takes me, I attend a performance of Disney On Ice. Such was the case this past weekend.
For this visit, I did something I have never done before. I bought the absolute best tickets in the house. I sat in the very center of the very front row of the section they affectionatly call Main Street. As I assumed they would be, the seats were amazing. The cast members were mere feet away from us so often it made your head spin. Many an enthusiastic performance piece ended with the skaters posing for their applause right in front of me.
Jessica, my wife, begrudgingly came along. She lamented on several occassions prior to going that she was dreading it. On the morning of the performance, she complained to her mother that she didn’t want to go. This was followed by her mother sharing stories of her taking Jessa (that is what my mother-in-law calls my wife when she thinks she is being ridiculous. She thinks she is being ridiculous a lot) to see Disney on Ice as a kid and that she loved it.
I had not been to Disney On Ice for about five years, if memory serves, and I had never gone without kids. I took my children several times when they were young, and then when they were too old to think it cool, I took nieces and nephews. This was my first time going without any children at all.
Often times, when I tell people I am heading to Disney World, I get one of three questions. People that know me a little will ask if I am going for races. People that know me really well generally just ask, “AGAIN?” And people that barely know me at all will ask if my kids are going with me. This last question is promptly answered with an emphatic, “NO!” most of the time. With alarming consistency, people retort back, “really?”
On many a Disney Fan Page the question gets asked time and time again: Should adults be going to Disney World without kids? This is a question asked for a myriad of reasons, but I think I can boil it down to a cultural fixation with “growing up.”
There is a fascinating dichotomy with Disney. One one hand, it exists as a family friendly company whose purpose is to entertain children. On the other hand, it is exorbitantly expensive to travel to the parks and make the most of your time. A five day trip to Disney World for a family of four on a tight budget is going to run at least three thousand dollars. To actually add the perks to make it memorable, you are now creeping into the six to seven thousand dollar range. Does that sound cost effective? No…the answer is no.
My wife and I know what we are doing. We know how to make the most of Disney without consistently breaking the bank. It requires a significant initial investment, but over time it completely pays for itself. To make it affordable over the long run, we are Disney Vacation Club Members, Annual Passholders, and through credit card use we rack up a ton of points with Disney and the airlines that we use.
For example, we are leaving for Walt Disney World tomorrow so I can run The Dopey Challenge (more on that in the coming days). We are flying Delta airlines to Orlando from Syracuse, renting a car for 7 days, staying at the Grand Floridian, entering parks 6 days, and all of that cost me a total of ZERO dollars. I had to pay my registration for the races and we have yet to pay for food and merch, but all in all, the food and liquor will be less than $500. We could not do that if we were bringing kids.
That brings me back to Disney On Ice. While there were a lot of children there I was pleasantly surprised to see the couple sitting right next to us, in arguably the second best seats, were also there without children. While I could sense the glares from parents all around us as they wondered why childless adults were in the front row, I did not give a care in the world to their plights or whether their little snot whine machine could see around my giant head. I was in my glory.
Peter Pan is affectionately known as the the boy who never grew up. He is tattooed on my right forearm and his spirit is engraved on my soul. I will never grow up…never.
Chris
Weight: 219 lbs…I did it. I got myself below 220.
No exercise yesterday. cardio while fasting can be very difficult.
