My wife and I have been together for we’re-not-so-sure-but-many year, and then married for almost 5. We love to travel, and had done so a number of times before out first Disney World trip. Our very first Disney trip together was January 2020. Which in retrospect, YIKES, as the world shut down just a few short months later.
Why Disney?
Prior to that first trip, I had only gone twice before as a kid. Nicole (my wife) had gone a handful of times on family vacations growing up. We usually went on one big vacation a year and one smaller one (i.e. somewhere we could drive in ~6 hours or less). Both of the industries we work in tend to be quiet right after the holidays, so our big trip was usually in January. In 2019, for instance, we went to Las Vegas. Fun! When we sat down to plan for 2020, Disney World came up. We thought, hey, we’ve never done that with each other. And HEY, it’s usually not insanely hot on Florida in January. Amazing. Let’s do it.
In 2020, we’d only been living with each other for about a year and half. Still getting to know each other’s quirks, etc. The prospect of visiting Disney with each other sounded really magical. Re-experiencing that kind of childhood magic with other? Awesome. Plus, as is the case for most all LGBTQ+ folks, we were confident that Disney World was a safe place. When we plan any kind of trip, we always need to think of our safety. We need to decide if we’re “together” or “together-but-in-a-best-friends” kind of way.
Living Out Loud in the Parks
Neither of us has ever been really huge into PDA, but it’s kind of nice to hold hands while you’re waiting to ride Space Mountain. We also took a trip to Disney World not long after we got married and got our obligatory, “Happily Ever After” pins. We got so many “Congratulations” from Cast Members; it was so sweet!
Fast forward a couple of years when we took our first trip with Skippy. The three of us had a super cute matching shirts and the photographers could not have been nicer when taking photos of our little family. While there have only been very recent, small changes around representation and inclusivity at the Disney parks, like the first official Pride Nite at Disneyland, to not have to consciously think about being careful for the safety of our family means everything.
Reflection on Pride at Disney
The ability to extract that layer of concern at Disney leaves you feeling a little more open to enjoying experiences around you. At Disney World, that means really experiencing the magic. We love to love Disney, and it’s really wonderful to be able to just really embrace that when we visit the parks.
For the LGBTQ+ readers who might be a scared at the prospect of being out in SUCH a public space, your feelings are valid. It’s a lot. I can only speak from experience, and tell you that we don’t feel that kind of fear in the parks. Still in many, many other places, but not in Walt Disney World.
