Disneyland Curse

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My kids love Disneyland. I love Disneyland. My husband grudgingly likes Disneyland.

We were lucky enough to be given annual passes as a Christmas present last year. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) We make it to Disneyland a few times a month and always have a blast. Since we have the passes, we can go as long as we want and then leave when we have to, no pressure. Naptime? Time to go. Accident? Time to go. My sweet children morphing into demons? Time to go.

However, the Disneyland Curse hits us before we even leave the house.

For those of you who don't know, the Disneyland Curse makes normal, loving parents change into panicked, stressed out dingbats.

Before we leave for Disneyland, my husband and I are typically running around for about an hour, packing the diaper bag, getting the kids/house/selves/animals ready. For whatever reason, we act like we are going on a month long expedition instead of ten miles down the road.

My husband and I rush around, saying things like: Should we bring food for us or just the kids? Do they need their jackets? Should we bring towels? Should we bring the stroller or make the kids walk? How many snacks are enough? Where's the sunscreen? We should hurry, we want to get there right when it opens so we can go on Peter Pan before there is a three day wait. Did you feed the dog? How many outfits do you think the kids need - 2 or 3?

Seriously. We lose our minds. It's asinine.

I started thinking about this on Saturday... we had spend the morning at Disneyland and were going to CA Adventure that night to see the World of Color show. (Side note - show was AWESOME. And yes, you need towels.) Going back to Disney after spending the morning there causes more panic than normal -- my husband and I are both stressed out and exhausted and my kids are normally so thrilled to go back they are literally bouncing off the walls.

I was rushing around, packing a blanket and towels, gathering milk cups and pjs, while my son toddled around after me, saying "Momma, Momma."

I'm ashamed to say that my response was normally "In a minute, Boyo, Momma's busy."

After I nearly tripped over him a third time, I said, "Bud, Momma needs you to go in the playroom so she can get us ready to go to Disneyland and see Goofy."

My son took his binky out of his mouth and glared at me. "NO FOOFY!" he shouted. "MOMMA! UP! PUH-LEAZ!"

I felt like the worst mother on the planet... I was so busy rushing around so my kids could have fun at Disneyland that I forgot to have fun with them at home. The Disneyland Curse struck again.

I scooped up my boyo and snuggled. It was nice to catch my breathe and put things in perspective. And after a few minutes, Boyo pushed away from me and smiled.

"No mowe Momma," he said. "Foofy!"