When people ask me why I love visiting Walt Disney World I start listing my laundry list of reasons. One of the reasons I always quote is “the outside world doesn’t exist, you get to escape from all of the negativity in the world”. Arriving in Orlando yesterday I was looking forward to that escape, but late last night the unthinkable happened – a mass shooting in Orlando.
Normally we don’t watch the news on vacation and I ignore the ‘news’ posts on Facebook because I really just don’t want to let that negativity in to the Disney ‘bubble’ – but this time, I have to let it in.
It started with some emails, texts and messages from friends and family that knew we were in Orlando. My sister and I don’t go to clubs and were actually in bed at 10pm last night, but the messages started coming asking us “did you hear what happened?”. They were all concerned and telling us to ‘be safe’ because no one really knows why it happened and that’s what creates the panic.
I started thinking about my ‘Disney Bubble’ and how sad it is that the ‘outside world’ has finally crept in. There will be heightened security in all of the parks, and we will experience that when we go to Animal Kingdom this evening. It’s necessary for Disney to take extra precautions; safety is top of their list when it comes to the guest experience, but how sad it is that they have to.
So many political discussions going on, and I choose to ignore them. There will be a time and place for those discussions, but it isn’t right now. I will not quote the name of the person responsible or make reference to any specifics, glorifying these cowardly acts is not something I will contribute to.
Right now we should be mourning the loss of so many lives, hugging our loved ones and sharing our support for the families who are forever changed. My thoughts and prayers are with them all.
I have another week left of my vacation in my happy place. For the first time in a long time I won’t be able to ‘ignore the outside world’. It will be difficult not to think about the tragedy and the hours of investigations that lie ahead as people try to make sense of something so senseless.
For now, I will try to look at the world the way I did as a child when I knew there were more good people in the world than bad.
“Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children’s approach to life. . .They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought—sometimes it isn’t much, either.”
-Walt Disney
