How did I never post this? Back in December, George went to his second ever Disney theme park, Epcot. This park is my all-time favorite, and I have so many good memories of going there as a kid with my family. Riding on Spaceship Earth, walking around the countries, meeting Figment (my all-time favorite character, which is why there are a bunch of Figments in the nursery). With all this nostalgia fueling me, I was especially excited to have the opportunity to introduce my son to this park.
George was a bit excited too.
Although that excitement might have had a little something to do with all of his friends joining us at Epcot too.
Also, fishies.
And his daddy.
And more fishies. After we left the Living Seas, I put the camera away for a good while and just focused on enjoying my family and friends.
It was such an awesome day, and I am so grateful we were able to go. We hit nearly all of my favorite attractions, including Journey Into The Imagination. Of course, the thing that ended up amusing George the most was water dripping from the monorail track. He stood there for several minutes, waiting for water to hit his head.
Life is good, guys. And my thanks to our friends who made it possible for us to go to Disney and to share our love of the parks with George.
What you don't see is everything that lead up to this moment. This was George's first time at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and it was on my bucket list for him to finally meet Mickey. To give you some context, the kid loves Mickey.
He even took some of his first steps while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse:
George will hand us the television remote and ask for Mickey. The kid knows what he wants. So when I told him he was going to meet Mickey, I didn't necessarily think he knew what was coming, but I did know it was going to make an impact.
And it did. George's eyes lit up as soon as he saw Mickey Mouse. Squeals of "Mickey, Mickey, Mickey, Miiiiiiiiickeeeeeey!" began emanating from his smiling mouth.
Here's the problem - young toddlers don't understand the concept of lines. He was viewing Mickey from the end of the queue, and there were quite a few families ahead of his. I tried distracting him with toys, including one of his favorite little Mickey figurines. Despite my best efforts, the tears were revving up, and the toddler flinging himself out of my arms and trying to literally claw the floor in an effort to escape my arms in order to photobomb some poor family's long-awaited photo with Mickey.
Oops.
Luckily, we went with fantastic friends who encouraged me to take George for a little walk while they held our place in line with their own comparatively calmer toddlers. This was the break George needed to not melt down into a puddle of distraught apocalyptic toddler ooze. When we returned, there were only a couple folks ahead of us. George wriggled as he watched his two little friends go ahead of them. One ran straight up to Mickey, all smiles and happiness. The next was slightly more apprehensive, but still game. And then there was George.
George took off running towards Mickey. And then he stopped short. It all caught up to him, the emotional wait, my promises that he would meet his favorite character that day, and the realization that there was his beloved Mickey Mouse towering over him. He was frozen to the carpet, before deciding to do something that shocked me.
He took that Mickey toy, gently placed it on the floor in front of his idol, and stepped back. And Mickey kneeled down, picked it up, and showed it to George. And George was happy.
I'm writing this as a ghost, because the cute killed me.
He was still apprehensive, so I got in there and held George while introducing him to Mickey Mouse. We even got him to kiss Mickey's nose:
