This pic was taken during our January 2010 family trip to Disney World at Magic Kingdom. We were down for 3 weeks that January staying in a townhouse off-site and I did the Goofy Challenge during that trip.
It was bloody cold there that year. It snowed at the starting line for the half marathon that year… Most of the time Disney has the Christmas decorations down prior to when we get there for the marathon weekend but they were up this year. With it being so cold it was kind of surreal to be in Orlando with jackets and Christmas decorations everywhere.
Cold aside, Disney holiday decorations are awesome – including how they light up Cinderella’s castle.
I could stare at the castle in this pic for hours. Peaceful.
Ok time for Magic Memory Monday #2 – This one was from our first family trip to Disney World as well – same day in fact as the first Magic Memory Monday post (link).
We were on Main Street waiting for the fireworks show Wishes to start. I was holding my son up so he could see around and my wife grabbed the camera and took a shot as he leaned his head into my chin.
This is definitely a nice picture of the 2 of us with Cinderella’s Castle clear and lit up in the background – definitely no mistaking the location or that we were both quite happy at that moment.
The closeness with my son at that moment is something I still carry with me – in fact I keep a copy of this picture on my wall at work as a reminder. These are the kinds of moments that can happen anywhere but Disney just seems to excel at finding ways for them to happen more often.
Fun side story here was that as the fireworks began we were worried that as he was only 17 months old at the time he might get scared by the lights and the noise. We needn’t have worried though. He jumped as the first set of fireworks blew into the sky but then he started clapping and yelling boom!! and yay!! I think we went to various fireworks shows around Disney World 5 or 6 times on that trip and he would do the same thing each time. It was awesome to see him enjoying the show and really getting into it. There is another of those memories that will stick with me for many years to come.
So I am finally getting a bit of an idea on how I want to use this sister site to biggoofyrunner.com and one thought is to post up some of our family Disney pictures and talk about the memory and feelings that come with that picture.
So to start I will go with one of our first pictures taken on our trip in January 2008. It was my first trip as well as the first trip for our 17 month old son. My wife had been a few times previously when younger. I did the full marathon that year and my wife did the half. We stayed at the Pop Century and this picture was from Magic Kingdom coming down Main Street just after we came in on our first day.
Main Street in Magic Kingdom on first visit
Looking at this picture I can see the awe and wonder on our son’s face. There was a moment of happy right there and it was just one of many on that trip. I did a full marathon on that trip and I don’t really remember much about it to tell the truth besides a few moments here and there…but I can remember so many moments of the joy and wonder from our son from that trip. That trip started the love affair with Disney World and because of moments like this one I have ended up back there 7 more times between 2008 and 2013.
I have heard anecdotes that say travel broadens a child’s mind and with what we saw with our son I would definitely say that is true – you can almost see the synapses sparking in this picture.
