Where Dreams Come True

Really, what kind of a parent am I? My kids are 8, 6 and 4 years old. They have never been to Disneyland. They have been asking but it never seems like the right time. They have been too young or I've been working or there has not been enough money.. yada yada yada....

Disneyland is NOT the most economical place on earth, it's the HAPPIEST place on earth, ergo bring on the CASH.

We own a timeshare thing and I have been on a waiting list for two years to get into a room there so we can go. Ummm... I paid money for this? Anyway--

I've determined that we will go this year. Yes, the year that we might unexpectedly be placed with one or two more children. The year that I am just starting my new business the year that my husband has been working his butt off so I can "recuperate" and get over my complete and total burnout on Real Estate and the abject horror of being diagnosed with CC. (I've always worked since I was 12 years old, and this is very foreign to me to be a SAHM).

I remember the first time I went to Disneyland. My parents took us there while they were picking up their taxidermy stuff from their hunting trip to Africa (I know, spare me the gasps, for I was the one who grew up with a "room of death" like Ace Ventura says, I called it that first!) (Believe me, sometimes I think I was left on the doorstep..........)

Anyway, as I was saying, we were going to pick up the hides and heads and stuff and Daddy decided he would open his wallet, wave away the moths, and get us into the theme park he'd rather die than enter (picture WWII air pilot, hunter man, woodsman from the mountains, kinda like Paul Bunyan- Yes! complete w/ beard).

We stayed in some seedy motel near the park, this was a while ago mind you. I remember being told that for some reason we had to wait to go. From what I remember there was some kind of sniper somewhere near the park. I can't remember if he was on the hotel roof or shooting at the monorail or something. I was little. All I know is I was really pissed I didn't get to get in there! Then, when we finally DID get in there it started pouring down rain, I remember my mom paying $7.00 (isn't it funny what you remember) each for some plastic bag rain jacket thing.

I hope OUR trip will be a better one. But when? Summer is hot, too hot. Spring will streak by and after summer it will be too late 'cause school starts. I'm looking into it. I am being bombarded with the marketing campaign from The Year Of A Million Dreams. I feel desperate to make reservations before only the penthouses are left (do they have those in Disney hotels?).

Oh yes, I've bought the DVD buying guide. Sitting there unopened- afraid more stress will be involved. I just got an e-mail from an airline with a game the kids enjoyed playing that had Disney in it.

There is a Disney Dream Giveaway but get this "*For residents of Canada, a mathematical skill-testing question must be correctly answered to win any prize. " Huh? Who says you need to know Math to get into Disneyland? I'm screwed if this is so.

What do you all think? Should I wait for all the hype of Disney to die down? Or will my soon to be 9 year old boy be "too cool" for Disney next year, or the year after....... I want to see the wonder in their eyes, the joy. I want memories, good ones, for after all this crap that has gone one in the last year or so, I KNOW what matters. My kids. MY FAMILY.

"We must be willing to let go of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." - Joseph Campbell