Hey all, not many blog posts at the moment due to being on holiday (I’m sure you have noticed all the Florida spam on my feed!)
We are this week staying in a Disney hotel, which is an amazing experience, it’s also a very eye opening one and has had my mind whirring since the second we got here.
I don’t know how many of you have been fortunate enough to visit a Disney in whatever country it may be. It’s a unique experience and absolutely magical for children. I was lucky enough to be bought here by my parents as a child and recall how amazing I found it. This time I’m here with my children and my parents.
The thing I keep thinking is how everything in the world of Disney is perfect. From the second you drive onto the large expanse of Florida land space there is no mess, everything is beautifully manicured, colourful and bright flowerbeds adorn outside spaces and the walk ways of the parks have no rubbish, no spilled drinks, no homeless people, no nasty smells or swearing. Just a world full of happy people wearing Mickey Mouse ears and enjoying themselves.
The thing is though there is literally an army of people who make Disney the magical place it is. Legions of workers who clean, cook, polish, smile, keep an eye on things, help people, scan tickets, serve food and drinks and literally make the magic happen.
So if Disney has a problem or an issue surely with their armies of dare I say hundreds of thousands of workers across the whole of the Disney corporation they can combat it and get a resolution quickly and soundly? Disney can’t give up, how could they? Well the answer is yes they can.
As an adult the massive logistics of the place fascinates me, I have been reading a lot about how the place has evolved and the history that has made it what it is today. One of the things that massively interested me was when I read about two abandoned parts of the parks that have been left to the elements. One being a water park and the other a mini zoo area. I have no idea why they were closed, I would imagine progress and modernisation but it did make me think.
Urban explorers have been banned from Disney forever for managing to venture onto the islands off the main lagoon you travel across to get to the Magic Kingdom because they published apocalyptic style pictures of what they found. Disney like most of us don’t like being seen on their less polished side.
I have been giving myself such a hard time this week about my poorly behaved children and questioning my abilities as a parent. I have been struggling with that feeling that I can’t undo my poor work and will end up with two boy versions of Veruca Salt (another Roald Dahl shout out).
But then I thought, if Disney are happy to keep some of the bits they are not so proud of and simply let them go, why can’t I? I can’t be a terrible mother surely, I provide for my children and they are happy and secure. Okay they can be terrors but we really do try.
I don’t have an army of cast members to help me keep everything running, to smile and make it all look okay all of the time, to be behind me sweeping up as I go, some sort of device to transport me wherever I want to go whenever I want to go there and I don’t have a genie, a Tinkerbell or a fairy godmother. Do any of us though?
It’s okay to leave the washing hanging out when you leave, if you haven’t quite had time to do the washing up, if you haven’t done your make up before the school run (you get my drift.)
If Disney can open every day knowing things aren’t quite the way they want it to be with their cast of thousands then I can hold me head high walking out of the door, unkempt, sweating, messy, cursing under my breath and needing a cider.
We are all human, we are all who we are and we can only do so much.
Please don’t forget that. You are amazing, no matter how rubbish you think you are doing give yourself a break xx
tiredfromwhitstable 