Thank you for posting this!
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In NY itās against the law to restrict the activities of employees when they are not at work. We cannot tell them where they can and cannot go when they are not on the clock. Itās covered under the discrimination laws. We can require them to quarantine upon their return to maintain a safe workplace, and per order of the governor we are not required to pay them for that time.
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Thatās what we are doing.
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I have been thinking about this since I read it. And it has been bothering me.
Lots of people in this world do things that they enjoy doing, that someone else would look at and say āeew, why that?!ā
If it is not harming you, or those you are closest to - like actually harming them - why does it matter that āyour thingā is Disney and their āthingā is rock climbing (or whatever)?
If it makes you happy it canāt be that bad. If it feels good, do it.
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I appreciate this post so much! For the past 7+ years family life has been chaotic, and four years ago my youngest DS and I began taking small mother/son trips around our state. It helped me recharge, and it helped him get some one on one time with me away from his older siblings and their needs. Planning those shorter trips and also planning our two big Disney trips the past two summers (which included DH) proved to be very therapeutic and such a positive experience, and this summer my youngest DS and I were going to go big and go to Disney just the two of us (DH enjoys Disney mainly for me and DS and had bowed out of a trip this summer). Not having that trip and not having any of our around the state trips has had me in quite a funk, but Iām hoping next summerās trip will pan out. To me, being āin the bubbleā is such an escape and way to block everything else out and to just be in the moment where I donāt have to think about transportation or cooking food or really about anything except fantasy and fun. I miss it!
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Youāre new here, arenāt you?
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As I read Jeffās initial thought, the idea of it being Disney wasnāt what jumped out at me as much as it being some thing specific. So people who have rock climbing as their thing still have a THING.
Me needing something specific to focus on makes me kind of sad. Each day should be rewarding in itself? Just part of my self-eval these last 152 days. 
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Can you tell I donāt know the right balance to strike with this conversation? On the one hand*, my instinct is that a Disney vacation is frivolous and many people canāt afford it and not being able to go is the ultimate first world problem in the middle of a global pandemic.
But on the other hand ā¦ well, everything else that has been said in this thread. Disney is real and it helps real people deal with real problems and challenges they are facing. I donāt think thereās anything wrong with that, even if the metaphorical Puritan in me tries to resist that conclusion.
*Anakin-related pun intended.
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I think recognizing both is important.
Frankly, I enjoy air conditioning and electronic payments and any host of other first world elements. But I also am painfully aware of what life is like for my Compassion International child and her day laboring parents who live day to day.
Me going without AC or Amazon wonāt fix what is wrong for her.
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When? I have a trip booked for the last week in April and would love to do a Liner meet-up with you.
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The following post starts with some overshare material in the first paragraph. Reader discretion is advised. No, Iām not joking this time.
Perhaps five years ago I was talking to my then therapist about my experience of childhood sexual abuse. I had written a letter to my high school and was not sure if I should send it. The therapist asked me what I hoped might come from sending the letter. Did I want compensation? Yes, I said. Enough money to send me to Disney World. I wanted my childhood back.
Well, I never did send the letter, but a chance exchange with the mother of one of my students a couple of years later and a spontaneous trip to Orlando was booked.
I booked that first trip 77 days out and waited during what felt like an interminably long summer for departure day in mid-August. I was frantic with excitement as that day drew closer.
The trip was awesome ā of course ā and I was desperate to return almost as soon as I got home.
Well, as many of you know, I returned a year later. Then six months after that, and six months after that, and six months after that.
This year I had, once again, two trips booked and paid for. Both have now been cancelled by the airline.
I currently have a trip booked for April 2021 ā a popular time for Liners, it seems.
WDW messes with my head in a way that nothing else Iāve ever experienced does. Once Iāve booked a trip I think about it and plan it obsessively. I can sit down with my spreadsheets and spend four, five, six hours just intensely planning. Iāve never worked like that before on anything. Just imagine what I could achieve if I used these powers for good!
On two occasions Iāve actually had panic attacks the night before Iām due to leave. Iām not joking when I say it messes with my head.
Being there is just so damned magical. Itās a fantasy world thatās real. Itās one where Iām totally willing to suspend disbelief. I know thereās just some scrawny kid inside that Mickey costume but I donāt care because it looks like Mickey and Iām perfectly happy to believe that it is.
Itās a place where I feel free to be myself. A place that feels totally safe. Itās pure fun. Iām struggling to remember any other times in my life when Iāve been as intensely happy ā childlike happiness ā than when Iām flying a banshee on FOP.
I make no apology for including WWOHP in this, too. Itās Disney quality. Youāre actually there. Youāre in Diagon Alley. Itās exactly as it is in the movies. But youāre there. In real life.
I have spent unconscionable amounts of money on the five trips Iāve taken. Crazy amounts. Iāve sometimes thought of what other vacations I could have taken with the same amount of money. Yet I find myself not at all interested in taking those other vacations.
WDW is a place where I can be alone and not be lonely or bored. Itās like when Iām with Calvin. Iām alone a lot of the time. During lockdown I didnāt talk to another human being in real life for weeks at a time. I didnāt care. When Iām with Calvin I never feel lonely or alone. WDW is like that.
Those Disney people are good at their jobs, you know. HEA overwhelms me. It kicks me right in the feels every time. And then Tink flies (when she does, damnit) and Jeremy Irons has told us we can all fly and, well, you know what Iām talking about. Youāve been there.
Iām going to DLP in October. (Am I? Will they let me? Will it get cancelled? I used to take this sort of thing for granted.) Iām āworriedā that it wonāt be the same. That Iāll be unfavourably comparing it to WDW. Iāve gained some reassurance from reading DLP trip reports and hearing people talk of the magic. At closing now, instead of fireworks, the CMs line up along Main Street and wave at the guests with Mickey hands on. And characters wave at you from the railway station above the exit. That sounds pretty cool.
Do I have a point? Er . . . I like WDW. A lot. It makes me happy in a way that nowhere else and nothing else does. Lucky me to have found such a thing. Long may I be able to go.
And damn that virus for causing such misery.
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This is exactly it. Itās like believing in Santa Claus. I would never (and have never) told my children that Santa Claus is not real. (Theyāre now 17 and 20! Donāt worry, they have their heads screwed on straight in spite of me!) Itās the same at Disneyland. Everything is real to me! If you choose to believe for that short time, it really is magic!
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Equally, I think this is why face characters donāt work for me. I know theyāre not real and I canāt suspend disbelief.
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Happiness is a hierarchy goal to achieve. Not everyone does. Im glad you found some. You are in control of your own happinessš»
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Right now I am scheduled to be there the 19-23?
Thank you for saying that. It made me smile (should I say happy-yes happy).
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20-26
We overlap!
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Kind of like ālive free or dieā 
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