So I posted on Facebook about being diagnosed as autistic. And the world didn't end. That previous post on here, I had it saved in my Notes app on my phone and kept editing it, making little changes here and there, until I was happy with the way everything was worded... and then I waited and waited and waited, waiting for the "perfect" time. But with all the shit going on in this country, the ignorance and ugliness, the comments from RFJ Jr (the most unqualified person for his current position) emboldening people further to wear their hatred with pride under the guise of "finding a cure for" or even "preventing" autism, I realized that there was never going to be a perfect time. So I copied what was in my Notes app, opened up Facebook, pasted it.. took a deep breath.. hit post... and immediately closed the Facebook app. I didn't want to see what people would say.
When I opened the app again a few hours later, I was surprised by what I saw. There was no judgment, no ugliness. There were so many "love" or "care" reactions and comments from people telling me they loved me the way I am. I got messages and texts from people thanking me for my honesty, and the most beautiful text from my best friend's younger brother that brought tears to my eyes. I am so grateful for the way people responded.
Anyway.
We went to Disney recently. It was the first time I'd been there since 1997, back when I was a little tiny 6 year old.
I don't know that I would go again without being with someone with kids. If my best friend ever did a FL trip with her littles, and planned for Disney, I would drop everything and absolutely be there. But as an adult without children, I wasn't too impressed overall. I guess I've learned (or rather confirmed) that I'm very much more a Universal person than a Disney one.
Day 1 was Epcot and while I didn't know what to expect, I was disappointed with what the park wound up being. I tried incredibly hard to have a good day anyway, but I was completely and utterly underwhelmed and bored that day. A notable exception to the boredom was the Guardians of the Galaxy ride - that was incredible and probably the best ride of the 3 parks we did.
On day 2, we did Magic Kingdom with my brother, his wife, and their perfect little 8 month old daughter. It was a much better day and experience than Epcot was and while that is partially because the park was better, I also attribute it to getting to see Cody, Sam, and Sophie again. At Magic Kingdom, in terms of rides, I think the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was one of the best rides. The part where it looks like you're out in the middle of the open ocean at night was just so cool and so well done. The Tron rollercoaster was fun, but too short to justify the length of the line you wait in to ride it. And then Space Mountain, which I wanted so badly to ride, was a major disappointment. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I didn't like Space Mountain at all - it felt like it was too slow, it jerked me around too much, and I didn't like not being able to see where I was going. The absolute highlight of day 2, for me, (outside of seeing my family and spending that time with them!) was meeting Mickey Mouse again!! Our friend who does Disney all the time said to expect the line for Mickey to be about an hour, but we lucked out and it wound up being less than half that time, so that was nice. (And yes, I wore a green shirt this day specifically because I planned on getting a picture with Mickey no matter how long the line was and I had worn a green shirt back the last time and I wanted them to match for a "then/now" picture).
Then we get to day 3, which was the BEST day! We did Hollywood Studios that day with two of our best friends. Of the 3 parks we did, Hollywood Studios was, in my opinion, hands down the best park. I loved all the rides we did. Rockin' Rollercoaster was what I wish Space Mountain had been. And I somehow randomly met up with a girl I knew back in 2009 when my dad had taken my siblings and I on a cruise for spring break. I found a friend and we were best friends for that week - a lot of us were so close for that week - me, Nikki, Denise, Jess, CJ, Chase, Richard... at the end of the cruise, we were heartbroken to all be leaving each other because we were all so close (for that week). We exchanged numbers and added each other on Facebook and all said we'd keep in touch and we'd stay friends. But as any adult could have predicted, the Facebook comments grew shorter and further apart and eventually we all lost touch. I think Denise is the only one I'm still Facebook friends with (and Nikki obviously, but she's my sister so that's different). Out of the blue, at the end of our 2nd Disney day, I got a message from Denise asking if Hollywood Studios was going to be our 3rd day - because she was going to be there too! Fate aligned perfectly and we met up again, which was so nice and just the coolest thing. I'm so glad she reached out. We stayed late that night so we would watch the Fantasmic show, which was super cool and I'm so glad we decided to stay for it... even though it meant we'd be getting home close to 1AM.
Now I'm counting down to our next adventure - and we've got a few coming up in the next few months. The year is flying by far too quickly, and I'm hoping the 2nd half of the year slows down at least a little because I haven't even started Christmas shopping yet and we've got so many littles to buy presents for that the fact that I haven't started shopping sends me spiraling into a panic every time I think about it. So I need the year to slow down because otherwise it's going to be Christmas too quickly.
Comments
Post a Comment