For years I have been joking about writing a book entitled “Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned at Disney World.” Long before I was a Star Wars geek, and decades before I was a writer, I was a Disney World fan. I joke that Disney was my second home growing up, but it’s not far from the truth. We always had some sort of pass, whether it was the old-school Three Season Salute (good for January, May and September) in the early ’80s to a full-blown annual pass. If we were up in Orlando, it wasn’t unusual for us to just swing into the Magic Kingdom for a few rides, or to stop by EPCOT for dinner. I learned a lot during those trips to Disney, so from now on, my Tuesday blog will feature one of the many lessons learned at Disney World.
To start things off, “Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned at Disney World” includes how to wait your turn. It’s one of the most important lessons that every kid learns, isn’t it? “No, you can’t play with Mandy’s doll right now. You have to wait your turn.” “Don’t skip to the lead of the line at lunch. You have to wait your turn.”
At Disney, there’s a lot of waiting for your turn. Standing in line to buy your ticket, standing in line for rides, standing in line for food. Yes, even standing in line for the bathroom. What makes the “wait your turn” lesson really hit home, though, is that you can stand there and look at everyone else patiently waiting their turn, also. Adults lead by example, patiently shuffling through the line with all of the antsy kids. There isn’t a stern face or a wagging finger to be found, just thousands of people showing you the way to wait.
And the best part? The reward at the end, of course! After all of that waiting, you finally get on the ride, or sit down to see the show, and then the lesson sinks in: patience really is rewarded!
