Disney Adventure

I got lost in Disney World on a family vacation when I was about 7.

We were walking to some attraction when we happened upon a crowd listening to Merlin give a speech. We had a brief family meeting:

"Do you want to stay and listen to Merlin, or go get on that ride?"

Being a space cadet, I was not really paying attention to the conversation. The first line was all I heard. I was far too busy imagining what it would be like to be a mouse driving a car around an amusement park. I assumed that the unanimous decision was to keep on going to the ride when I looked up and saw my dad starting to walk away.

At least, I thought it was my dad. And he was traveling in the direction of whatever ride we had been headed to. I skipped ahead of him, wanting to show off the fact that I knew where we were going.

It was by Mr. Toad's Wild Ride that I glanced over my shoulder and realized that my family was nowhere in sight. Our Family Lost Child Plan of Action was to stay firmly planted to the spot where you realized you were lost.

It didn't take Mr. Toad's staff very long to recognize the panic on my face. They came over, asked if I was lost, and invited me to come sit with them while they paged my parents' names over the intercom. I was hesitant to break the glued-to-the-spot-where-you're-lost rule, but decided that the loud booming voice would be more effective than my short self standing in a crowd where 73% of the people were taller than me.

They were about to start the page when I saw my family. I bolted. Maybe Mr. Toad's staff thought I had lost my mind and was just running after some cotton candy, cause they were all like, "No, Little Girl! Stop! Come back!"

And then they saw me hugging my parents, and the world was full of unicorns prancing on rainbows.