don't you get sick of Disney World?

i wish i had a dollar for every time i've been asked this. and i have to tell you: each & every time i am asked, i am amazed that someone could think so. yes, i have an annual resident pass. yes, i live close enough to go in anytime i want to (barring the blockout dates which, quite frankly, mean that the crowds will be so enormous, i don't much want to be there anyway). and for the record, no, i do not get tired of going.

i can give you a million little reasons why i don't ever get sick of being there. the most popular is that heck, i live less than 30 minutes away so if i get in & the parks are too crowded, i can leave without feeling guilty at all. there's also the fact that sometimes i go in just to eat dinner (no, the meals are not any more outrageously priced than any theme chain restaurant you might be going to yourself) & to people watch. and then of course i can go into a park, take in a few attractions & call it a day--unlike the typical Disney vacationer, i do not have to rush from attraction to attraction with a plan. i have the luxury of picking the shortest lines or the rides i haven't been on the longest time. i don't need to crunch in every single experience on every single trip. so ultimately, Disney World is a fun & different adventure for me every time i wander over that way.

i was reading Zamgwar's Little Things 2005, an archived article from the All Ears newsletter that i am subscribed to, and the author summed up how i feel so perfectly:

You won't find them on any map or inside any guide book. They are really Disney treasures that Uncle Walt himself would say are at the core of the Magic that he began. They are the looks of joy and amazement on the faces of friends and family we bring with us, as the "world" unfolds before them, and the "little kid" inside my heart that wakes up, casts off his tie (even if it's a mental tie) and runs open-armed to hug a mouse in bright red pants. Sometimes the biggest of little things is just the way you feel when you're there.

So, regardless of if you've observed that the Haunted Mansion's chimneys are all chess pieces, and some water fountains and trash cans talk, or simply have just noticed each "land's" background music is different, there always seems to be something new and wonderful to discover.

this so completely sums it up for me. it's the little things that you don't notice if you hurry through the throngs of tourists with your nose pressed hard to your guide map. it's the joy i feel as i never tire of playing tour guide for my friends & family...and seeing the wonder become real for them because they have something most people at Disney World don't have: someone to force them to slow down & enjoy the experience while not worrying about the most efficient way to navigate the parks--someone to show them HOW to get the most of their hard-earned, well-spent money, to take in as much as they can for the short time they are visiting, but to truly experience *all* the magic that Disney World has to offer them when they don't run through at breakneck speeds.

but ultimately it boils down to 2 things for me that the author of the article mentioned: "there always seems to be something new and wonderful to discover" and "sometimes the biggest of little things is just the way you feel when you're there".

on that note, i can tell you where you'll find me later today. yes, even though i just went with Andie one week ago today. and yes, i'm still thrilled to go again.
=)