Navigating the Journey is Worth it!

As strategic as you can be on a trip through the mazes, long walking stretches between one ride or experience to the next, being in your spot for the parade and fireworks and the shows as well as determining Fast Pass versus Stand By can be almost mind-boggling. Believe me, showing up with no plan is most certainly not the best use of your time and money – at Disney World..... or in life. Planning goes a long way in the grand scheme of things. Our family has always been planners. It started with the Grand Poobah -- my husband, who was the detailed planner who made sure we were at Point A and B at the precise time needed. Yesterday, in spite of the accuracy of our day, we still had to veer off the Game Plan in order to adjust for some unexpected delays. Isn’t that part of life – being flexible and willing to make the adjustments? Time management is so essential as we plot our daily courses in life, and the older I get, the more I realize, managing my time is critical when it comes to finishing what I start, making good lists so that I can check off those “must do’s”. Larry and Staci went over the “must do’s” with Payton and Alexia before the day started and, combined with Fast Passes and plotting the course of the day, made for completing all our goals for the day.

It takes a lot of “Golden Rule” applications while you’re navigating around little people, strollers, wheel chairs, and motorized skooters at Disney World. Good thing we didn’t have to have a crash course in exercising kindnesses to others because we just happen to believe that’s what our walk of faith and being a bearer of Light is all about. Case in point, while riding the monorail back at the end of the day and seeing my sweet son, Larry, as tired as he was, to give up his seat for others time and again. He is a great example of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!”

For myself, amidst the sweetness of all the Disney characters singing “You are special. Just be yourself. You don’t have to be like anyone else!” as well as the twinkling eyes of the adults arrayed in their Mickey & Minnie Mouse shirts, pants or hats (us included), young children, dressed in the look-alike clothes, who are in awe that they are seeing, in real life, their beloved Disney characters, my awe and wonder comes from one of Walt Disney’s most famous quotes, “Let us not lose sight of one thing: that it was all started by a mouse.”

On a train ride home to tell his brother Roy that they had just lost everything they had, Walt drew a little mouse. Walt did the things that everyone else said was impossible. He was never afraid to chase his dreams. The mouse he drew on a train ride became the face of many TV shows as well as a theme park, named after Walt himself: Disneyland. Now there are many theme parks across the world in addition to many other movies and products. Walt Disney World serves as proof that nothing is impossible and that you should never be afraid to chase your dreams!

Imagine that….an unrelenting dreamer and believer in not quitting, but to continue to make those dreams a reality. Of course we needed photos of these famous quotes that cause us to continue to NEVER stop dreaming and believing. Stay tuned for even more inspiration as tomorrow's journey takes us to Epcot!