To make a long story short: My son’s football team played a team out of Daytona, Fla., last week. Due to the close proximity, the team and families stayed at Walt Disney World. That turned the road trip into a four-day vacation at the happiest place in the world. As usual, I had a jury trial scheduled at the same time, and was forced to make plans to come in the day after everyone else, but in plenty of time to see the game. As usual, I talked too much and the trial went long. I missed the football game and had to buy another airline ticket and fly in the next day. I won my jury trial and the football team beat the local favorites. All in all, the trip started out on a positive note.
Due to my late arrival, I was left with only 48 hours to spend at the little resort in Florida even Walt Disney himself would not recognize. The big question I had going into the two day visit was whether that was going to be long enough to enjoy what the park had to offer, or would the brevity of the stay leave me feeling less than satisfied? I had a sneaking suspicion I’d be alright. I arrived at the park sometime after noon, and I was at the resort for only about 30 minutes before we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom. When it comes to enjoying the parks, Patti will keep you hopping.
We spent the rest of the day taking in what the park had to offer. My son was kind enough to escort us around the park, and my daughter called once to ask if we could meet her and give her some money. Disney is a different place when you’re not there with small children. The going joke over our stay was the constant “cries” of happiness coming from the young visitors. There’s always someone crying. The parents trying to console them often looked like they wanted to cry themselves. I remember those days, and have to admit I kind of miss them.
The next day both of the children left us alone and we went to Hollywood Studios to look around. After a couple of hours, Patti and I decided to find a place to watch the Razorback game. Using my trusty iPhone I determined that there was an ESPN Zone in the Downtown Disney Area. Of course, when we got to Downtown Disney, they made it clear that ESPN was at the Boardwalk. Disney is way too big. Figuring we might be running out of time, we went into Downtown Disney to see if we could find a television on which we could watch the game.
We found a place called Splitsville that doubles as a bar and a bowling alley. We found a spot on an outside patio with a straight shot at the game. It was perfect; we could watch the game and we could watch people wrestle with and console their children. We spent four and a half hours on that porch watching the Hogs kick Texas Tech around their own field. It was perfect. After we left Splitsville, we went to Downtown Disney to meet up with a friend who we learned from Facebook was also at Disney. A couple of beers later, and we were off to the Magic Kingdom for a last night of rides.
The next morning we got up and ate breakfast at the Rain Forrest Café. It was OK, but by this time, I was feeling the weight of the last two days and was ready to go home. We decided to take advantage of the free transportation back to the airport and were positioned in the back of the bus with nothing but adults - until right before the bus left. It was at that point that a group of six girls and four adults crammed in the rows directly behind us. I was forced to listen to the girls sing “Let It Go” from “Frozen” for the entire 45 minute ride. It was kinda horrible. Unfortunately, we were on a Disney bus and I had to “let it be” because that’s what you do at Disney. You’re happy no matter what, and you have to let other people be happy, whether you like it or not. I admit it was cute for the first ten minutes.
We landed in Little Rock at 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. It was a little surprising how different everything seemed after being steeped in the happiness of Disney. As we drove home, I thought about the prior 48 hours and realized that, in the end, it was plenty of time to enjoy myself. It might not have been the perfect vacation, but it was pretty close. After all, if we spend all our time worrying about things that aren’t “perfect,” we lose a lot of opportunities to enjoy those things that are less than perfect, but in the end are pretty darn good. That’s true for everyone, especially those of us way up in the CHEAP SEATS!
Bill James is a co-founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway and Fayetteville, Arkansas. His primary area of practice is criminal defense. He can be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com