Well, we did. It took us a year, but we headed back in December of 2009 because it was time to experience Christmas in the parks. Now, I had heard about the crowds during Christmas week, and since we were spoiled with little to no wait during our last trip in September, we knew we would have to go a bit earlier. So, we went the first week of December, and I can't describe to you how excited we were to go! We made Christmas shirts to wear to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We picked new restaurants to try. We brought our good cameras because we knew the Osborne Family Lights were going to be spectacular. Nothing was going to ruin this trip - it was destined to be pure magic!
Wrong...
This trip turned out to be so horrible. Once we returned, I swore it was not worth it and I would never do it again. Why, you ask? First was Pop Warner Football kiddos. I knew it was going on, I wasn't surprised by that when I got there, but I was shocked at the number of cheerleaders taking over the parks. Loud cheerleaders. Break-out-in-routines-in-line-and-yell-in-my-ears cheerleaders. They were everywhere. I was a cheerleader. I appreciate the whole scene, but not in my face while I'm trying to enjoy the beauty of the parks. Secondly, it was "crowded." I look back at it now and realize it wasn't crowded at all, but compared to no waits in September, a 20-30 minute wait was terrible. Thirdly, it was hot. Then cold. Then hot. Shoot, I live in Louisiana and experience this every day of my life, but I didn't pack right. I had watched the weather forecast so carefully for this trip, but it was so off. I didn't pack enough short sleeves and way too many long sleeves. And the last thing that made it horrible? My foot.
I had had surgery on my right foot in October of 2008. It went perfectly, healed well and I had no issues. It was time for me to have the same surgery on my left foot, so I scheduled it in August of 2009 - 4 months before our trip - plenty of time for it to heal, just like the other one did. Well, it wouldn't heal. Even a week before the trip I was still making trips to the podiatrist to figure out what was going on. I was in so much pain and so sick of walking around in that boot, I needed relief. I was forced to wear a smaller boot while at Disney World, but every day I was nearly in tears from the pain. My bones had been cut in half, re-aligned and held in place with pins. Well, come to find out (once we got home) the pins had started to fail and separate from the bone without my bones being fused together. I was essentially walking on a broken foot bone. Dang! No wonder I was so freakin' cranky! I was actually put back into a cast and back on crutches 4 months after the initial surgery... it was torture.
So, my memories are not what they should be. I have some great ones (the toy soldiers in the Christmas parade, the Christmas tree at Grand Floridian, Cinderella's castle), but most of what I remember is being miserable and cranky. And looking back, none of those things listed above was even bad - they were simply bigger in my mind at the time. I was thinking the trip was a bust because I couldn't get comfortable and in turn, I couldn't see it for all it's glory. That's not fair. It's not supposed to be like that. I don't want those to be my memories of Christmas at Disney World.
So, in honor of the Christmas season, I hereby declare a do-over! Hey, Honey... guess where we're going next year?
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