Not So Magical Kingdom

So I had to go to Orlando for work this week. The last afternoon we finally had a chance to get out of hotel where we'd been working for 3 days. The logical thing of course was to go to Disney World. So 4 of the 6 hop on the shuttle at 4pm for the reduced rate to Magic Kingdom. I'm expecting a few hours of rides, dinner somewhere nice about 8 and bed by 10 since we had to leave the next morning at 5AM. I am wrong. Apparently I totally misjudged the level of intensity that was about to ensue! Here's how it went down:

4:30pm: Space Mountain- everyone's favorite, mine too.
5:30: power-walking and dodging strollers. Leading the pack? in her 50's having been to Disney over 20 times. I'm thinking I could've left after Space Mountain.
5:35: watching 2 families with 6 kids... 4 having total meltdowns and 2 passed out in strollers. Parents still in line for rides begging kids to stop crying.
6pm: rethinking the decision not to relax at the pool...considering bailing after being mauled by the 100th stroller but feeling the need to make it work my $50.00 while remembering my lesson in economics my freshman year about sunk cost...I've paid the money whether I stay or not. Decide not to be lame...stay.
6:30: HUNGRY! A couple rides I can't remember because I'm still re-thinking the decision not to relax at the pool.
7:30: finally dinner- plain chicken sandwich and water for $10
8:00: parade starting....but of course we're not stopping...stroller hitting my ankles... kids still crying...still power walking to keep up wondering what happened to the seemingly calm laid back people I'd worked with all week.
8:00-9:30: Haunted house, Pirates of the Carribean, Jungle Rides. I'm trying to stay awake, literally....kids still crying and passed out everywhere.
9:55: Fast pass for Splash Mountain (laughing at 5 year olds talking about fast passes) Instant gratification at it's finest.
10:20: Cold and wet running through the park knocking over sleeping children and their grandparents left and right (the one in her 50's still eading the pack with her pedometer counting our 16000th step)
10:32: Miss the 10:30 shuttle
10:35: try to convince one of the other bus drivers that it really is the right thing to do to take us back to our hotel...commended on my perseverance but denied.
11:40: get on the last shuttle...finally...no more crying kids because they're all asleep in the arms of parents who now look like they want to cry.

Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE kids and I am most definitely going to go through the parental right of passage of taking my kids to Disney World. I will absolutely love it. But I will willingly admit, that I am quite content to wait until then to go again.

My favorite part of the Orlando trip? Reading this on the plane by Annie Dillard:
"A high school stage play is more polished than this service we have been rehearsing since the year one. In two thousand years, we have not worked out the kinks. We positively glorify them. Week after week we witness the same miracle: that God is so mighty he can stifle his own laughter. Week after week we witness the same miracle: that God for reasons unfathomable, refrains from blowing our dancing bear act to smithereens. Week after week Christ washes the disciples dirty feet, handles their very toes and repeats, it's all right- believe it or not- to be people. Who can believe it?"