When our plane landed in Orlando, the flight attendant said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Orlando, the happiest place on earth." As you know, happiness is a topic that greatly interests me so I was more than ready to analyze and experience what happiness meant in this man made fantasy world.
I went to Orlando for four days with my kids, Christina and her kids, without our husbands who had to stay back and work. We had been planning to go to Walt Disney for the past three years. And we finally did it!
We didn't want to spend the four full days we were there visiting the Walt Disney Parks. We decided that we would go on the first two days and stay by the pool on the last two.
Everything worked out as we planned. And we discovered that magic at Walt Disney really exists! For the two days we visited the parks, we felt we were on a constant high, discovering a new unbelievable ride or attraction every step we made. Christina had insisted on hiring a tour guide. And I'm happy she did. It was a great decision. It made us save a lot of time, so we got to see more of the parks. The children were as happy as can be, appreciating and being thankful for everything we were doing for them. They were real troopers, never complaining about any of our decisions, their eyes sparkling with wonder and amazement! They were really excited, enthusiastic and happy!
My critical eye, however, saw things that left me with a little bitter taste. When you see the amount of money spent at Walt Disney and the amount of waste created by it, you have to wonder!!!!! Every time you come out of a ride, you go through a store full of little characters and memorabilia. It's consumerism at it's best! And it was a little disturbing to me. In fact, the only time I got upset at my kids is when I told them they could choose one item to buy. My youngest daughter couldn't choose. She wanted everything and felt disappointed that she could only choose one single thing!
Nevertheless, our time spent there was enjoyable. When I was 10 years old, I had gone to Walt Disney, so for me going there also meant reliving a part of my own childhood. And I did. I saw myself through my children experiencing the magic for the first time.
But the question is: "Is Orlando really the happiest place on earth?" Well, it is a place where you can have FUN and create MEMORIES and really live in the PRESENT moment and those elements can definitely be part of a quest for HAPPINESS. Is it the happiest place on earth? Well, I have my doubts... Whether you're at Walt Disney or anywhere else, you are always stuck within yourself perceiving the world. In the end, where you are never really matters!
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