When Our Expectations Exceed The Reality That Is Walt Disney World

Believe you me.

I am a huge Disney fan.

Especially a fan of Walt Disney World. When the Harry Potter (my daughter is a big fan!) section opened at Universal and my daughter wanted to go I said, “Huh? There’s another theme park close to Disney World?” So we went. We saw. And we were mildly impressed. But it was nothing compared to our beloved Disney.

Or was it?

On the many Disney message boards I follow, from time to time, posts will appear complaining about their recent trip.

“We never got any towel animals!”

“It’s soooo expensive!”

“We didn’t get a free upgrade at our resort!”

We hear so many wonderful and magical stories of wonderful and magical trips we have the expectation that ours will be just as wonderful and magical as the last one we read about.

But remember…

At Walt Disney World and in real life, wonderful and magical things DO happen. But only when we least expect it. Which is why it is so wonderful and magical in the first place.

For many people, a Walt Disney World vacation is a once or twice in a lifetime experience. Yes. It’s that expensive. Or far away. Or maybe there are other places in the world to visit. (Shhhh! Don’t tell my husband I just admitted to that!) So we plan. And we save. And we read amazing stories of other family’s trips. With each free room upgrade and fantastic towel animal created by Mousekeeping and stories about being chosen to open the park or host the parade or sleep in the castle – we apply each fantastic story to our own upcoming vacation and expect that it will all happen to us, too.

And when it doesn’t happen, we are sorely disappointed.

It reminds me of a time when I was lamenting to my sister that the day was a waste and I didn’t get anything checked off my to-do list.

“What DID you accomplish?” she asked.

And I said, “Well, I unloaded the dishwasher and did 3 loads of laundry and tried to bake bread for the first time…..”

Oh. I get it. She was trying to get me to see that the day wasn’t a waste. That I accomplished quite a bit – just not what I expected to accomplish.

What CAN you expect?

Your trip to Walt Disney World WILL be a wonderful and magical one. As amazing as the Harry Potter section was, my daughter and I walked around that other theme park with bored, glazed looks on our faces. It just wasn’t the same. Finally, she turned to me and said, “Can we just check-in early at Disney World?”

And so we did.

And on that trip, we received one towel animal (on the first day), the reservation we asked for and a large bill on our last day. Yes, our trip was expensive but when I compare (and I’m always comparing) what we spend at Walt Disney World compared to other experiences (comparable because as we all know nothing can truly compare) I find Disney is in the same ballpark. And sometimes cheaper. (All you need to do is take a look at the ticket prices for that other Orlando area theme park.)

When you book a Walt Disney World vacation you can count on (almost always) amazing customer service, (almost always) quality housekeeping, (almost always) the room you booked in the first place, and (almost always) a great bang for your buck.

Here’s the take-away

The key is to not let our expectations run away from reality. Some Cast Members will be more enthusiastic than others. Some meals seem worth it and others overpriced. Sometimes we’ll get chosen to participate

We are one of the lucky ones who live relatively close and choose to afford (Thank you, sweet husband of mine!) multiple trips to Walt Disney World. Each and every trip we come home with at least one story that illustrates the magic that is Disney. Extra towel animals, a Cast Member who goes out of their way to make our trip special, even a room upgrade.

Plan your trip. Take your trip. Enjoy your trip.

And just sit back and let the magic happen!