Magical Dad Blog

Somebody needs to study what Disney moms run on

Riding Rise of the Resistance in 2020 required a level of coordination and emotional resilience that most NASA launches would envy.

6:00 AM alarm as the entire family began to prepare. Resort bus ride over completely packed, shoulder to shoulder, championship game locker room energy down to the matching outfits.

Finally you made it into the park, which was everything, because Disney required your entire party to physically be inside the gates before you could even join the virtual queue. Thousands of adults now standing frozen just inside the Hollywood Studios gates, phones gripped like lightsabers.

Strategies debated since booking finally put to the test. WiFi or cell data, one phone or all four. Who in the family has the fastest thumb, and can that person be trusted with a responsibility of this magnitude.

Park open hit, and every thumb in the vicinity came down at once, and about three seconds later the screaming started.

Strangers high-fiving like they’d just survived something. Adults on their knees over a loading screen, questioning every life choice that led to this moment.

I was on the wrong side of this action more than once, and I’d do it all again tomorrow. ✔️

I keep passing the single rider line myself 🚶‍♂️

I know you’ve at least been tempted…😆

Still waiting for my Eye of the Tiger moment…

Remember when Disney would mail the free MagicBands to your house before a trip?

You would pick the colors out weeks ahead of time. Red, yellow, blue…maybe an upgrade to match a specific day or outfit.

Before long the box would show up at your door with everyone’s name printed on the inside of their band, and suddenly the magic became real.

There is still a drawer in our house where all the retired MagicBands from these trips live.

Mine hasn’t made it that far yet…

Memories and nostalgia has me still wearing the original yellow and red bands, and I plan on riding it out until they turn the lights out on them for good.

I sometimes miss how the trip would start the day that box hit the doorstep. 😀

I’m leaning towards sleeping in… 😴

Catch him while he’s concrete! ☀️

Nobody tells you which Disney trip is the stroller’s last one. One day the trips just go on without it.

For years it felt like a hassle. The rental pickup, the panic origami fold at the bus stop with a line waiting behind us, steering a double stroller through the crowds and apologizing to every ankle in range.

The basket underneath was a second suitcase. Mickey bubble wands hanging out the side, a popcorn bucket swinging from the handle, twice the snacks we’d ever need, packed for naps that might happen and 2pm meltdowns that definitely would.

Somewhere in all of that was its last lap around the park, and we had no idea. There was no goodbye, it just came off the trip list.

Now the kids walk every step of the park, and we still catch ourselves sometimes reaching for handles that are no longer there.

Maybe one day the double stroller comes back for our kids’ kids, and we get one more slow walk down Main Street, U.S.A.

Happy Sunday, friends. Whether in your stroller era or its last lap is behind you, the journey keeps going.

I hope you enjoy every step of yours! 🎈

Your order is now mobile 🛎️