“Happiness is a state of mind.” Walt Disney
Things go wrong. This is true in everyday life and it is true on vacations. Perhaps the restaurant you had your heart set on is full. Maybe it rained all day. It could be that your all time favorite ride is closed for maintainance. Things go wrong.
So how do you have a happy trip if it is far from perfect? Open your eyes. Opportunities for happiness exist everywhere, but if all we do is focus on what is going wrong we’ll never see them.
I traveled to Walt Disney World with two dear friends, one of whom has to eat gluten-free. So I downloaded menus from different restaurants and planned which ones would be best. I didn’t want her to have to eat salad the whole time. Well, somehow I neglected to research restaurants at Disney Hollywood Studios. When it came time to eat there we didn’t know which restaurant would fit our needs best and all the ones we went to had waiting lines.
I felt bad that I hadn’t planned ahead for this park and now we were hungry and not in the mood to check out a lot of different venues. We knew the Riverside Mill Food Court at Port Orleans Riverside (where we were staying) had good options so we decided to head back to our resort. We figured we’d eat a quick meal and turn in early. Instead we found Bob.
To get to the food court we had to pass by the River Roost lounge. Usually this is an empty quiet area. That night there was so much music and noise that we had to see what was going on. A man was at the piano banging out tunes and getting the whole audience involved. We were entranced. The place was packed, but a kind waitress found us a table and we had an unforgetable night.
So, was our day perfect? No. But because we didn’t dwell on what we couldn’t do we found something even better. And so can you.
Goofy Tip: Go see Bob Jackson (Yehaa Bob) at Port Orleans Riverside. You don’t have to stay at the resort and I promise it will be a night you will talk about for a long time after. Check out his schedule at http://www.yehaabob.com/Update_and_schedule.html and arrive early for a good table.