We all have this deep longing for a magical kingdom far, far away. A castle. A princess. Maybe some mice friends. And a prince that comes to our rescue. We most definitely long for a fairy tale ending.
I grew up like most little girls I know, obsessed with Cinderella. So Brandon and I saved for over a year and took our little family to Disney. I was 100% more excited than my kids. Partly, because Micah started crying in the car after we passed Costco on our way there, because he said Mickey Mouse was at Costco. He had no concept for Disney World. And sweet Selah, she just wanted to see “all the princesses and ride the Disney World bus.” (Apparently she saw that on a commercial.)
I am not lying when I say it was the most magical week! Everything about it! I literally cried when my babies saw Mickey. Their faces. I just can’t. Every second of the trip was magical. It was exhausting, my feet hurt, and we had a few meltdowns, but it was magical.
Yes, we did the matching shirts (thanks to my friend, Katie)! My sweet hubby. He’s just the best. We were doing Disney and doing Disney meant matching shirts. It was so fun!
The first day, we kicked off our trip at Epcot. We met all of the Clubhouse characters. We rode Nemo, saw the sweetest short films, and went to Norway to visit Elsa and Anna (Micah’s favorite). He was hysterical meeting them. At first he clung onto Brandon and I for dear life.
And then Anna. She stole his heart.
I promise I had to PRY him off of her. He was in love. Big time.
Selah danced with the dancers in Mexico that night. And Brandon and I enjoyed all of Epcot’s yummy food!
The next day we visited Animal Kingdom, Micah’s fav. He kept saying, “Mommy! All the animals! I love all the animals!” It was the cutest.
We saw THE BEST Lion King show there. It was Broadway caliber. Incredible. And we just HAD to get the Dole whip. (It’s as good as everyone says it is.)
HIs favorite was the safari. He could’ve stayed on it all day. But Selah wasn’t too impressed. She also didn’t care too much for the dino ride he loved. We actually went back to Animal Kingdom our last day for the morning so he could ride it again.
Then next morning, we had “off.” Our kids go to bed at 8 every night and have a two hour nap everyday. Needless to say, neither of these happened that week. So we slept in and made them take a three hour nap that morning, because that night we went to Mickey’s Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom.
The park was much less crowded so the wait times on rides were really short. We saw the best Christmas parade I’ve ever seen. Ate a really, really good funnel cake. And watched fireworks at midnight. It was magical.
We also met Cinderella and Prince Charming. I tried not to kick my kids out of the way to get to her. BAHAHA!
The next day, the girls spent the morning at Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. And I for real had tears in my eyes the whole time. Seeing Selah being treated like the princess, we know she is, was the sweetest thing in the whole world.
And when her daddy saw her….I lost it.
Just too much.
The rest of the day was Hollywood Studios, Brandon’s favorite. Selah and Micah got to meet more of their favorite characters. I also prayed for some lady’s foot that day and got the opportunity to open heaven over her and her family. Talk about magical…so precious.
The next day was Magic Kingdom again. We had breakfast at Beauty and Beast’s castle and I literally thought Selah was going to pop with excitement.
The last day, after we rode the dino ride again for Micah in Animal Kingdom, we went back to Epcot and had lunch with all the princesses.
Then for the rest of the night toured the world with two tired babies sleeping in the stroller. It was the perfect ending to our trip.
Papa woke me up really early one morning. I crawled out of bed with my aching feet, grabbed my moleskin, and my taped up Bible and sat with Him before the fun started for the day. I asked Him why my heart had been so deeply moved that week. Why did something so deep within me shift every time someone called Selah a princess? Why did it take my breath away when I saw that beautiful castle? What resonated so deeply in all of those people that they would create a whole world of magic and fairy tales and dreams come true?
And it hit me. Because it’s what we all long for.
The King, the castle, the princesses, the princes, the love story, the fairy tale ending, a place where dreams really come true.
It moved me so deeply because every bit of it was true. That longing for a magical Kingdom has been put in the heart of every person.
The beauty is there really is a Kingdom and my Dad happens to be the King. I’m not only a citizen of the Kingdom, but royalty, a daughter of the King. In His Kingdom, He rewrites stories to end in beauty. When we delight ourselves in this beautiful King, He gives us the desires of our hearts, and really makes our dreams come true.
And the love story, there is no greater love story in all the land.
We’re home now and all that is left of Disney is sweet memories. But this Magic Kingdom that I belong to, has never felt more real.