Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS, ANYWAY?
THE DISCORD THAT MANY VACATIONING FAMILIES experience arises from the kids be-
ing on a completely different wavelength from Mom and Dad. Parents and grandpar-
ents are often worse than children when it comes to conjuring up fantasy scenarios
of what a Walt Disney World vacation will be like. A Disney vacation can be many
things, but believe us when we tell you that there's a lot more to it than just riding
Dumbo and seeing Mickey.
LILIANE Short forays to the parks interspersed with naps, swimming, and
quiet activities such as reading to your children will go a long way toward
keeping things on an even keel.
In our experience, most parents and nearly all grandparents expect children to
enter a state of rapture at Walt Disney World, bouncing from attraction to attraction in
wide-eyed wonder, appreciative beyond words of their adult benefactors. What they
get, more often than not, is not even in the same ballpark. Preschoolers will, without
a doubt, be wide-eyed, often with delight but also with a general sense of being over-
whelmed by noise, crowds, and Disney characters as big as tool sheds. We have sub-
stantiated through thousands of interviews and surveys that the best part of a Disney
vacation for a preschooler is the hotel swimming pool. With some grade-schoolers
and pre-driving-age teens you get near-manic hyperactivity coupled with periods of
studied nonchalance. This last, which relates to the importance of being cool at all
costs, translates into a maddening display of boredom and a “been there, done that”
attitude. Older teens are frequently the exponential version of the younger teens and
grade-schoolers, except without the manic behavior.
As a function of probability, you may escape many—but most likely not all—of
the aforementioned behaviors. Even in the event that they are all visited on you,
however, take heart, there are antidotes.
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