Levi's Day at Disney

Well, I'm still going crazy, but it's becoming a little more manageable.

Or maybe I'm just getting used to it.

Halloween at Tatame was a blast, naturally.
(photos here: www.maggielee.com/~selena/halloween)

But hosting Levi at Disney was the unequivocal highlight of the past few weeks.

Levi, so you know, has NEVER BEEN TO DISNEY IN HIS LIFE.

Now, this, for an Orlando native who has frequented the parks her whole life, like myself, is hard to comprehend.

Ok, his childhood made it a little challenging to get down here. I mean, he IS from Maine, after all. His family had a large barrel, as I understand, that was the Disney-fund, of sorts, and when it got full of the family's spare change, they would all go together. But apparently they would always dip into it for movies and such, and alas, never made it down here.

But, now that he's lived here for for 3+ years, how has he never made it to Disney? How has he avoided this unavoidable fate for so long? I'm not sure. Perhaps uncaring friends in the past who didn't take the time to take him, or no one thought it was that important...

well it is. Or, well, was.

We had the best day ever.

We started with him watching me in my first three morning shows. I had gotten the afternoon off, but I wanted him to see me dance in the morning. And get this, he actually loved the show! (Not that surprising, everyone I talk to seems to absolutely love it... but boys generally don't like watching dance as much as I like performing. Leave it to Levi to prove me wrong...)

After lunch, we went out to explore the park, and when he was asked what rides he wanted to ride, he had no idea what to say. That's right, folks. He is SO unfamiliar with the parks he didn't know what rides to ride.

So cute.

So, to give him a brief history and background of the parks, I took him on all the 'boring' rides.

(And the lines were shorter...)

We visited the Carousel of Progress, Spaceship Earth, and Innovations, the educational and traditionally yawn-inspiring rides...

And he actually enjoyed them! (Well, I guess I did too...)

See, he's never seen anamatronics like the ones at Disney, he's never been on such intricate rides, he's never been in such an immersing theme park. So nothing was 'old news' to him, like it was for all of us Orlando natives. Everything was fun and new.

And of course, he really enjoyed Space Mountain, Mission: Space, and the Haunted Mansion quite a bit...

We ended the day perfectly with a quick run-around Epcot's Food and Wine festival, since we were exhausted from our big day in the park.

The food was AMAZING, especially the escargot, much to Levi's disgust and dismay.

Yum.

All in all, it was such a perfect day, I don't know how we'll ever top it.

And the lesson for all you kiddies is: if you ever have the chance to host someone who's never been to Disney, do it. It is so great to see Walt Disney World anew in someone else's fresh eyes.

It'll make you fall in love with Disney all over again.