Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Disney Rituals

I was recently asked about my Disney Rituals, and I have to admit that that topic gave me pause.  Should I tell about what I love to do when I'm on an adults only trip?  Should I share what I love to do with my family when I go with them? Do I even have Disney Rituals?!
Vinymation window at Pop Century

During my family's Thanksgiving 2010 trip, I began collecting and trading Vinylmation. I think I started with 3 Vinylmation right before dinner, and I traded them all before we got back to our resort that night! Then and there a ritual was born! Whenever I go to Walt Disney World, or a Disney Store for that matter, I trade Vinylmation. Sometimes I buy a Vinylmation just to get to trade! (I did this in a Disney Store in San Antonio last month, and I ended up pulling the exact one I was hoping to get in an open trade!) There's a rush you get when you open a Vinylmation blind box: what will I get? Will it be the chaser? Will it be the one I was hoping for?! There's also a rush when you go to trade for one you've spotted in an open trade box that you've been dying to find. Even better when a neat one comes out of a blind trade box! It turns my trips to Disney World into a more interactive game where I'm jumping from shop to shop to see what trades I can make! I don't think I'll ever tire of the hunt!

Other rituals center more around food. My sister and I shared a Ghirardelli Cable Car Sundae on that trip, and we've been dying to go have another together. I've been to the World without her twice now, but it doesn't seem right to have one without having her there to share it with. No trip is complete for me without my "breakfast cupcake", as a friend dubbed it! I am not a breakfast eater (unless it's the one day during the trip that I have Mickey Waffles), but around 10 AM I get hungry, and for some reason a cupcake always hits the spot! Oh and what kind of trip would it be without a visit to the Boulangerie Patisserie in France in Epcot? The Napoleon there is to die for! Looking back, perhaps my Disney Ritual is eating my way around the World...

One of my favorite memories of trips with my family, especially my niece and nephew, is riding various attractions with them and singing along. I do not believe in keeping quiet on favorite rides, and I very much so believe in keeping the magic alive during trips, so we joyfully sing along (quietly). My niece and nephew once walked through Epcot with me singing The Seas with Nemo and then Journey into Your Imagination! What could be better than seeing an attraction through the eyes of a child?


it's a small world is another family favorite!
As I look toward my future, I think about new Disney Rituals I'd like to create. I hope to one day take the love of my life to Walt Disney World and get photos made with princesses and their princes. I want to make it a tradition to share a kiss during Wishes in front of Cinderella Castle. I hope that one attraction becomes our "special" one that we always go back to and smile quietly while holding hands. Yes, it's mushy, but it's the part of Disney I've never been able to have. I want to have rituals I'd never thought of having before. I'm a great lover of tradition, and I look forward to new and exciting traditions to come!

So what's your Disney Ritual? Can you really have just one?

4 comments:

  1. Great post, I love Vinylmations and feel the exact same way. It's the thrill of opening the box to see which one it is. The food is a great one to and eating around the worlds at Epcot is a big one for us too

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  2. My husband is like you with the Vinylmations! I cannot tell you how many little square boxes we come home with each trip!

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  3. We were able to avoid starting the Vinylmation obsession (I know it would become an obsession for us), but I am not sure we will be able to hold out much longer. On our next trip, Joey will be 8 and he is already asking if I am going to "let him" buy some! :-) We do share the same ritual with food - we cannot leave Walt Disney World without visiting Boulangerie Patisserie for a Napolean at least once! My mom and I love them!

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  4. Wonderful post! I've been tempted to start collecting Vinylmations, but my husband has always talked me out of it. I love collecting pins, though. I haven't gotten up the courage to trade, though. I'm so scared for some reason!

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