Photo Credit: Molly Beckley
Not only am I am Neurotic Disney Mom, but I have a Neurotic Disney Kid. My son Jake is 4 years old. He will be 5 on August 29th. On August 5th he will be embarking on his 3rd trip to Walt Disney World. Last year we created a chain link count down complete with a plethora of Disney characters on the chains to count down our trip to WDW. Every day he would wake up, and promptly come jump on me, asking me to help him take down another piece of our chain. And then every hour on the hour he would ask “How many days again Mommy?”. This year we decided not to do a count down. What I really wanted to do was surprise him with our trip this year but since he has been going to WDW for the past 2 years every summer, he just kind of assumed we were going. Since he’s only 4 and doesn’t really have a concept of dates, I figure that I can still surprise him the morning of our trip.
He considers it fun to help me come up with our itineraries and touring plans. This year he has finally reached 40 inches so we have been watching videos on You Tube of all the new rides he can go on and deciding which ones he wants to experience. No Splash Mountain, he doesn’t like the buzzards, but Thunder Mountain is a go!
As we get closer to our trip he becomes obsessed with packing. If you ask him, all he needs to bring is every single Disney related toy he owns.”They have to come with us Mom! Their cousins live there!”
More recently he has decided that he wants to become an Imagineer. And not when he grows up, but now. He wants to be one right now. I tell him that he needs to learn how to read before he can become one but he doesn’t care. He has decided that a baseball cap and a t-shirt that says “Disney 2010” are his “Imagineer uniform”. He asks me daily if we can call up Walt Disney on the telephone and ask him if we can borrow his animatronics from Pirates of the Caribbean so that he can make his own ride here at the house. I try telling him that WDW needs to keep their animatronics so that all the people there can enjoy them. He gets angry at me for proposing such a thing and then finally agrees that we can make a model of the ride with his blocks and toys. So every day, we make a POTC ride in our play room. Every night it gets cleaned up, and rebuilt the next day. Sometimes when I tell them that WDW will not loan out their animatronics he goes around the house collecting odds and ends from junk drawers muttering to himself that he is going to just build those robots himself.
When we are outside he molds the parks and hotels in his sandbox. He swings on his swings, slides down his slide, and splashes in his pool all the while telling me that he feels like he is on rides in Disney World. At dinner he wants to pretend we are in Disney at a restaurant and he will be the cast member serving us.
Every year we have to have a Disney themed birthday party. For the past 3 years it has been either Mickey or pirates. He loves for me to make him Mickey Pancakes, Mickey eggs, or Mickey whatever other foods I can get to take shape.
Just like I check my Twitter and Face Book accounts for the latest Disney news, he has to jump on the computer and check out Disney Junior.
His little 2 year old brother Ben is definitely following suit. At the beginning of Disney movies when the castle and fireworks appear, his little eyes light up and he exclaims “Disney World!” Little sister Maggie is only 4 months old but I swear when we are talking Disney a little smile spreads across her face.
Our family leads a Disney Lifestyle, so it is no surprise to me that I have raised a Neurotic Disney Kid. Should I be worried that my little guy is so into Disney? Should I try to expand his horizons to other brands or different characters? Not on your Disney Driven Life.
Contributed by: Molly Beckley (NDM#398) Molly is a DDL Planning with Little Ones Blogger. She is also the creator of The Real Disney Mom.
Molly is a proud mommy of three Neurotic Disney Children. Though young in age, she is a veteran Walt Disney World vacation planner. She would classify her life in two parts; on a Disney vacation, or planning one. She first visited her utopia at age 3 and could not imagine her life without it. One of her proudest moments was when her son told her that he wanted to be an Imagineer and she can’t wait until her daughter is old enough to have a favorite Disney princess. She hopes to instill a life long love for Disney in her children and any one else who is willing to have a little faith and trust!
Looking forward to meeting this Imagineer-in-training next month. Less than 30 days to go for both of us!
Woohoo Mark! I am beyond excited!!!!
Awww so adorable. I’m sure his dreams of being an Imagineer will come true. My 2yr. old daughter climbs up next to me when the laptop is out and says Disney Disney, which is code for watching the 4 WDW park videos on the Disney website. We have to watch each one at least twice. She’s been to WDW twice already and I’m sure she is on her way to becoming a Neurotic Disney Kid too.
That’s fabulous Kim, you absolutely have an NDK in the works! I hope she gets back to WDW soon!
That’s fabulous Kim, you absolutely have an NDK in the works! I hope she gets back to WDW soon!