The Magic of Disney

This afternoon Anna helped me organize the pictures for our Disney World album.  And yes, if you are scratching your head because you remember us going to Disney World in spring of 2010 (over 9 months ago), you are right.  It has taken me that long to get my act together, get the pictures printed, and put them in the album.  (Click here to see the pictures on Picasa.)  But that's not the point of this post.

The point is that it continues to amaze me how much of an impact that trip had on Anna.  She had recently turned 4 before we went, and my assumption was that a couple months after the trip was over, she wouldn't remember anything, except a vague image of castles, princesses, and a life-size Mickey Mouse.  I had originally wanted to wait until the girls were older (Lizzie was only 18 months old), but Dad's health was failing and he really wanted to take them, so off we went.

While putting the pictures in order for the album, Anna gave me a narrative of various parts of our trip that apparently stood out in her mind.  I didn't have to prompt her.  She pointed to the first picture of the table we sat at at Cinderella's Castle and said "We ate lunch there!"  She remembers visiting Mickey Mouse's "house" after we got our picture taken with him.  She happily talked about shooting Seth with a water cannon at the kids water play area at the Contemporary.  She exclaimed "That took us up into space!" when looking at a picture of Grandma and Granddaddy on the Spaceship Earth ride at Epcot.  There were a few things she didn't remember, but it is amazing to me how much she does.  When looking at a picture of the restaurant in Norway at Epcot where we had our final princess-themed dinner, Anna said she would like to go eat dinner there tonight with the princesses, and could we please go catch a plane?

And speaking of planes, I'm not sure when this started, but if she sees a plane fly overhead now she yells "Take me to Disney World!" at it, as if it's supposed to land in our cul de sac right then so she can hitch a ride.

It won't be this year, but it looks like we need to plan a trip to Disney World again soon.  And I know Dad will be there with us in spirit.  And when I think about telling him how much Anna remembers of the last trip, I can almost hear him say "Of course she does!" in a condescending tone, as if he knew all along exactly how much of an impact it would have on her little growing mind.