disney epiphany

I got an email from my roommate Elena yesterday, and it really got me thinking about something that my mind has never really toyed with before. She had proposed to me the idea of a few of us going to Orlando sometime in the next couple of weeks. As you all know, I LOVE my home with extra X's and O's. Of course I want to go down there soon, and after spending a month cooped up and alone at the Fairfield Inn, I think the more the merrier! I'm sure we'll arrange the details later... but right now I am smiling at the thoughts that are racing through my head.

E is one of those girls that I never got to be. Well, I guess I got to be like her when I lived in Asheville before we moved to Orlando when I was 5. These girls, like E, go to sleep and dream in brilliant cartoons. They marvel at Cinderella's castle, and they'd do anything to be spinning in a giant tea cup. Elena is a Disney obsessor. See, she has lived all over the nation. She comes from a military family and has never lived in any one place for more than 5 years. The fact that I not only have a solid "home-base" but an Orlando home, is fascinating to E. I think I am guilty of taking that for granted from time to time. The fact that fascinates me, on the other hand, is that so many people who I have come to know over the past few years weren't as fortunate as I was to grow up miles away from our favorite princess's enchanted castle. So maybe E takes it to the extreme when she goes out in public with me wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. But you know what? I'd probably do the same thing if I were like most of my college friends who didn't go to middle school and high school with girls that held Summer jobs being Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty, and Pochahontas. I told E that and her instant response was, "I'd make a damn good Pochahontas." Since she's half-Korean I joked with her that she'd have to be Mulan - everyone's favorite asian princess.

I could only imagine the look on Elena's face when she first stepped through the entry gates at The Magic Kingdom - when she was a 20 year old sophomore in college.  No matter what else was going on in the world that day, she would have had to be (by far) the happiest girl in the whole wide world. It's funny how every so often you can truly see the difference in lifestyle that sets me apart from most of my friends. A dream vaca for some, a field trip (or 10) for me. I'd love to lie and say I remember my first trip to Disney when I was a terrible adorable toddler, but I can't recall all that much. I'm just glad I got to experience the first-time magic of it all as a tourist.

As much as I love the Orlando area, (especially little/big Oviedo) I do have to admit that the glitz and glam are quickly stripped from the idea of Disney World when you're a local. My driveway is a good 40 minutes to Disney World, with the help of a toll road expressway. Ha - even the toll road issue is another thing that clearly shows whether you are a local or a tourist. They bitch about having to pay to use the roads, we dig the fact that there's no state income tax. What tickles me the most though, is that the tourist population has a conniption fit over a $0.50 fare to truck along the expressway but they gladly drop $300 at the gift shop on a "Goofy" hat with dog ears, a princess tiara with mouse ears and a red polka-dotted bow, and matching Disney logo t-shirts for all 16 family members. Don't forget the fanny pack and rain ponchos. $325.

So even though being an "Orlando girl" takes a little bit more of Tinker Bell's pixie dust to get in the Disney spirit, I am humbled by how fortunate I was. Because there are girls, girls like E, who aren't neighbors to the Disney family and never copied The Little Mermaid's math homework before the bell rang for school.

But if we're lucky, we meet a girl like E. And even though it's fun to tease her for her Mickey Mouse shirts and her 92 Disney VHS tapes (yes VHS, not DVD) it's also important that us "Orlando girls" not take our life for granted. We could have lived somewhere really lame, or never have gotten to experience the mouth-watering glory that comes in the shape of the ever-so-famous Disney turkey leg. Our tourist industry would be all of, what, GatorLand? Our list of concerts we've been to would be cut in half because the tourist industry brought Hard Rock Live to our city, we'd probably never bar-hop around Disney's Pleasure Island, and there's no telling what our prom committee would come up with when choosing a place for the big dance if it weren't for the plethora of 5-star resorts that popped up all over the place and are in large part due to ole Walt and his fantasia-genius.

Home, vacation, fantasy world, tourist-haven... whatever it might be, it won't be taken for granted.

Peace&Love

Baily