The magician tips her hand

by Alison Lebovitz

Once upon a time, in a suburb not so far away, lived a family of five who decided to take a trip to a very happy place. Some might even say the happiest place on Earth. So the father booked the royal flights and the mother packed the royal bags and the children grabbed their royal handheld video devices, and they were all ready to venture to this magical land. Yes, indeed, they were on their merry way to (cue the trumpets, please) . . . Walt Disney World!

There is nothing more exciting for children than finding out that they are going to Disney World. In contrast, there is nothing more stressful for a parent than realizing they have to plan a fairy-tale trip of a lifetime. Although we had been planning for months to go to Disney with my husband’s sister, her husband and three kids, I realized just five days before we were scheduled to leave that I had no game plan. I hadn’t purchased the newest Unofficial Guide to Disney World with Kids handbook, I hadn’t booked a single lunch, dinner or character meal, and I hadn’t done one Stitch (or Lilo) of research to help outline our daily schedules.

But just as I was starting to stress and think that nothing could divert this potential Disney disaster, my friend Peggy said those four magic words to me that I will never forget: “Call the Fairy TripMother.” The Fairy TripMother? Could such a person really exist? I Googled her to find out. Turns out, the Fairy TripMother is a real-life mom and Disney fanatic. She started this brilliant business to help desperate parents like me create customized vacations of a lifetime. So I called her, and within minutes I knew she would be able to wave her magic wand and make all of our Disney dreams come true.

A day before we left, I measured the boys one last time to confirm that everyone would be the legal height requirement for all the rides, and then perused the perfect planning packet I received from our Fairy TripMother, complete with confirmation numbers for all of our meals and a detailed, step-by-step itinerary for every day of our trip. I was totally psyched.

My husband was totally perplexed. He shook his head in disbelief and said, “Seriously, do we really need to be that structured? Isn’t this a vacation?” I looked him in the eye and immediately responded, “Let’s get one thing straight: This is no vacation. This is Disney.”

Some parents may take a more casual approach to this situation. They may choose to saunter into the parks each day, deciding spontaneously which rides to go on or which shows to see, and in the process waste countless hours waiting in long lines or trying to decide what to do next. If you ask me, that method is just plain Goofy.

I am not that kind of parent. I am more like Captain Jack Sparrow. I have a crew. I have a mission. I need a plan of attack. And that’s exactly what I got.

And thanks to this plan, we hit three parks in three days. We went on more than 30 rides, saw 12 shows, watched two parades, collected nearly 60 fast passes and never waited in a single line for more than 10 minutes. My kids became buddies with Buzz Lightyear at the Magic Kingdom, palled around with the Power Rangers in Hollywood Studios, and navigated all the nationalities of Epcot. (They can now ask, “Can I buy this toy?” in five languages!) And through it all, I learned that children are not the only ones who have meltdowns, that you should not take your 4-year-old on a ride called the Tower of Terror, that there is sometimes a fine line between reality and fantasy that adults cannot fully explain or comprehend, and that this place called Disney may just be the last bastion of true imagination and wonder left on the planet. Oh yeah, and I learned that it really is a small world after all.

Overall, our trip was a huge success and an adventure that our family, and most of all our three boys, will never forget. And the most memorable part for me was when my husband and I would tuck our kids into bed every night and hear them say, “This was the best day of my entire life!”

That’s all I needed to hear to live happily ever after.