100 Days of Wonder – #89
Do you ever do the thing where you’re tired and should really go to bed but you don’t because you want to hang on to the feeling of something or because the day has been too people-y and you need you time. I don’t do it often, when I am tired, I go to bed and I sleep. But I do it sometimes and it is usually because there have been people around me all day, often but not necessarily staying at our house, and I need the quiet time when everyone has gone to bed. I also often do it on my birthday. It’s a balance on my birthday because I can’t stay up later than midnight because then it’s not my birthday anymore but I also like to linger with my own thoughts. You know by now that I need no invitation to reflect…
So today I am thinking about my last rotation round the sun (it’s been a pretty good one) and what the next might hold. I am thinking about creating my bubble in which I can just be, about who I am, who I was, who I want to be and all of those big questions. That reflection and sitting with those thoughts are restorative to me. They help me re-charge my batteries. I was thinking about this earlier and wondered why the solitude, quiet and reflection that I often crave in the late evening on my birthday has the same effect as being at Disney – re-charing me? Thinking about that I was drawn to the memory of a particular Disney experience – dinner at the California Grill at the top of the Contemporary Resort. And in particular watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the balcony. The picture is from the fireworks in January 2023 and even though the balcony was full of people, standing there, shivering slightly in the cool air, listening to the music through the restaurants speaker system and watching the night sky light up, it felt like it was just for us. And that feeling is replicated again and again with so many experiences at Disney. We are perhaps familiar with the saying that you can be surrounded by people and still be lonely and that’s definitely true but at Disney I can be surrounded by people, immersed in huge crowds in a way that would just be anxiety inducing anywhere else, and I can feel the same sense of just being me as I do in those rare moments of complete alone time at home. It seems its not about who else is there, it’s about a particular feeling and state of mind but one that I only experience in those late evenings when everyone else in the house is already asleep or at Disney World.
100 Days of Wonder – #85
Happy 4th Sunday in Advent! Here’s Christmas tree number 4 added to the other 3 – this time from the Animal Kingdom. Again not my photo, a Disney stock photo that came with one of our downloads. I hope you are having a lovely Sunday. Mine has been lush so far. I slept late, had coffee in bed with Odin-cat keeping me company. I started to sort out my running gear for our Disney trip so I don’t end up in a last minute having to wash stuff panic in just over 2 weeks’ time. Then I had more coffee and a mince pie with Kath and her mum who dropped by. And I watched a flurry of snow flakes fall from the sky but not settle and then the temporary darkness turn back into glorious blue sky and sunshine. It’s a day with no plans. That’s made me think about how we plan Disney. I have said several times before that planning is part of the fun – and it really is – but I also see so many social media posts about extreme planning. We don’t plan Disney down to the last second like some do. When we had the Deluxe dining plan previously a lot of the planning simply revolved around where we were going to eat – that determined which park we would need to be in when. That dining plan doesn’t exist anymore and the general plan requires less planning because there are fewer sit down meals available. We have park hopper tickets so we can move between parks as we want and therefore our itinerary is far less fixed. We won’t spend money on Lightning Lanes (or whatever we are calling paid for access to skipping queues for popular rides this month), we’ll just roll with it. That might mean long wait times for some things and we might decide to queue for things, or we might not bother but the one thing we won’t do is rush from ride to ride. I don’t really understand people who try and rush round and do all 4 parks in 1 day. It just doesn’t sound like fun. But each to their own.
It seems to me there can be a fine line between planning so as to avoid stress – I have a plan for making Christmas dinner for example, with timings and instructions to myself – and over planning which just causes stress. Disney seems to bring out the latter in people. Although maybe that’s coming from a particular perspective of having the privilege of having been lots and the luxury of time. We are not trying to ‘do’ Disney World as a once in a lifetime holiday and nor do we have to cram in all our must dos into a weekend. And in addition, our must dos are not necessarily rides. My main must dos are to walk up Main Street USA and breathe, to sit watching the gibbons and stand watching the manatees, to listen to the Japanese drummers and get a popcorn bucket with maple popcorn. I think the only ride I would be really disappointed to miss is the Winnie the Pooh ride and that’s not because the ride is brilliant but because it’s the centre of my Hundred Acre Wood where I recharge ready to head out to explore some more.
100 Days of Wonder – #56
As I sit at home curled up under a ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ themed blanket feeling grumpy that the current snow means I can’t make it to the work Open Day and therefore put extra pressure on colleagues who have been able to make it to cover for Law, I am trying to turn my focus on to happier things. But it’s cold and I have spent as much time worrying about logistics and whether/how I might be able to get into Leeds and then how we can still cover the day for potential applicants who have been able to get there as I would have done actually working the day. And I haven’t had the fun of talking to all the fabulous prospective students. So, Meh!
Meh also applies to cold days in Florida. As I have mentioned a few times, the first time I went, I was just in it for the winter sun and warm. And that’s what I got. The early mornings could be chilly but after that it was always very comfortable shorts and t-shirt temperature and sometimes it was actually too hot. The first time I experienced anything different was in 2009 where, for a couple of days, it was colder in Florida than in Alaska and there was a very fine sprinkling of sleety snow one early morning. Disney brought in big warm air blowers/fans to keep the little reptiles from dying and falling out of trees and I went and bought a hoodie and some thicker socks. Since then, I have been conscious that there is the possibility of a cold day or two but in 2013 and 2016 we had only warm days. In 2019 and in 2023 we did got a cold day or two. I particularly remember at the 2019 marathon weekend, on 10k day being huddled together to try and keep warm and using black bin liners over our running gear to help. Still, it was just a day or two. Today’s photo is from one of the coldest Florida days I remember. It was in 2023. We must have had a few cold days from what I remember because I was seriously considering having to buy another pair of long pants. So here we are, on Main Street USA waiting for the fireworks, feeling the cold even in our proper jackets. But we’re smiling and it was a fun evening and sometimes it really is just about deciding that you are going to enjoy it or make the most of something. So looking at this photo is making me think about what I can be happy about and enjoy right now:
- I had extra cuddles with Storm cat
- Odin and Einstein cats are curled up with us and their snoring is really funny
- The snow looked really pretty earlier
- We are safe and my team is safe
- I have coffee
- I can catch up on some life admin
- There’s a new lego set with my name on that I might start but even the anticipation of doing it is kinda fun
- I have been scrolling through Disney photos and am beginning to settle on the Christmas countdown selection – you have been warned!
- I can make a proper yummy lunch rather than relying on what is available on campus
- …there’s lots more once you start thinking about it – give it a try!
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