for the love of disney, volume three.

some people have vices like cigarettes or alcohol. watching my dad try to quit smoking for the past 25 years made me not want to do or try anything potentially addicting. i rarely drink "lemonade" and even try not to drink soda, most of the time.

my only vices are sunshine and chocolate. as far as vices go i pretty much feel like a winner.

lately it has become glaringly obvious that i have a third vice. can you guess? DISNEY.

i'm not too sure how great a vice this is. yes it's pretty damn magical. i have some really sweet memories there. i've eaten some of my most favorite meals, fallen in love, danced with stich and goofy, and faced fears there. but i've also spent a serioulsy large sum of money on annual passes, hotels, and aforementioned food.

and now i'm going through withdrawal. somedays i think of just getting in the car, driving north and just standing in the middle of magic kingdom and soaking it in like a smoker savors that first drag. sometimes just thinking of it makes me feel better. other times i feel worse.

last night there was a new commercial for the verizon disney app. the evil queen asks a vacationing family where she might find snow white and the dad checks his phone and sees she is at the castle. pretty generic, silly stuff right? well I CRIED.

i realize this is not a normal reaction. videos of parents suprising their kids with a trip to disney also make me cry and i usually tear up during that disney commercial with the "its a good life song," because yes...it is a GREAT life in disney. you get to be a total kid. for one day you can escape reality and live in a fantasy world. for only $89.

seriously though, it's hard not to be happy in disney. when you see kids meet a character and in all their heart they truly believe it is a real princess or mickey mouse. when you see the wonder in their eyes because they are just AMAZED that they are flying in a pirate ship with peter pan. when cast members write "have a magical day" at the bottom of your beer glass so you see it everytime you take a drink. how nothing tastes better on a hot day than a pinapple float. even better when you get a free float and a "happy birthday princess" because of your nerdy button.

it makes my heart swell.

and something that gives me that much joy can't be that bad a vice afterall. even though thinking about my inability to go anytime soon makes me break out in hives, i know i'll get my turn again.

and it will be magical.

for the love of disney, volume two.

have i told you how much i love disney? oh right, i did in volume one.

well it is killing me that i haven't been there for over three months! it feels like a lifetime. before i moved to florida i had only been once. when i was five. i was very bitter about this. every christmas my cousins were talking about their most recent trip and i made sure i said nice and loud, "i've only been once...when i was FIVE."

well i made up for lost time since i moved to florida, that's for sure. i actually went the first week after moving when my cousin was in disney (shocker). once i met john we did something disney every time he visited. either went to a park, ate at downtown disney, or went to the disney resort here. and once he moved here it was as regular as going to the movies.

having a bad week? magic kingdom. the best way to celebrate a birthday is the osborne family lights at hollywood studios. going to the airport? lets stop by disney! (ps. it's not really on the way).

we even went to disney to 'celebrate' our break-up. it wasn't so much a celebration as it was an incredibly bittersweet, pretty painful, cram as much as you can in one day before you'll never see each other again kind of day. it was fun, but knowing it was the last time felt like the last meal before an execution.

our last picture. how fitting.

 anyways, where was i going with this.

oh right, disney.

well it never ever lost its magic. even with 100 brazilians in line in front of me. even when it was 100 degrees.  even in the pouring rain. not even when we were on our last date. i think the magic deserves its own post.

i can't even frown its so magical.

this week they opened the art of imagination resort. this means nothing to 98% of you reading this. the other 2% are my cousins. but i have watched this resort's construction from the ground up. it's located near the pop century hotel, and since that is a value resort (value in disney means a regular hotel price without the amenities and including crappy toilet paper), it's where we usually stayed.

i couldn't wait for it to open so we'd have a new value resort to stay in. not to mention it features finding nemo and the little mermaid. win, win.

via

i normally get envy when i see pictures of other people in disney and i'm not there. this is unrealistic, i know. i cannot go there everyday. but i wouldn't mind it. so when i saw that they were finally opening the resort (i'm facebook friends with disney, you should be too) and not only was i not there i don't have any prospect of going there anytime soon...well, basically just stab me in the heart.

don't even talk to me about the magic kingdom expansion. i know you won't, you don't even know anything about it.

for the first time in a few years i don't even have an annual pass. (my life feels empty but my bank account feels fuller).

so what's my point? good point, i don't know. i just really miss the magic and i hate not knowing when i'll be going back. so if you could refrain from posting your super happy disney pics on facebook i'd greatly appreciate it.

but in the meantime maybe i'll try to find magic somewhere outside of disney. surely that's possible. and possibly more affordable.