Mouse-to-house resuscitation

    After what I presume to be my last trip to visit Uncle Mickey in the land of the mouse, I’ve finally figured out exactly what Pixie Dust is: cash, and lots of it. Sprinkle it around liberally at Disneyworld, and dreams really do come true. If your dreams are limited to overstuffing yourself, riding through It’s a Small World and purchasing themed T-shirts that make you look, well, Goofy.
    This last trip was a joint venture with my extended family of out-laws, four kids total; my two teen daughters and my nephew and niece, who are both in the single digits as far as age goes. For the little ones, Disney really is a magical place, devoid of price tags, reservations, tips and time zones. My concession to the trip was going in October, when the villains are out versus the usual cohorts of princes charming and princesses beautiful. Makes for better pictures, too.
    The teens? Not so much. Typically jaded, my daughters tend more toward lounging around the pool than sweating through the parks, which might make the teen years the best value for visiting Mickey. At any rate, it was worth it in sheer eye rolling at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party ($60).
    Disney is simply staggering. Encompassing some 30,000 acres of prime Florida swampland, the world’s largest and most-visited recreational resort boasts four theme parks, two water parks and 23 resort hotels, not including timeshares, the Kingdom is about seven times as large as the city of Fort Lupton. Across the parks, Mickey plays host to almost 50 million visitors a year. That’s a whole bunch of sun burnt tourists with open wallets, paying 12 bucks for a beer. A sobering thought, for me at least.
    Each kid with a refillable soda mug (refillable that day only, kids!) represents an additional $11 for the evil empire, which Mickey also owns as part of the Star Wars franchise. Granted, it is comforting to know there is still somewhere to buy a 12-inch stuffed Yoda ($34.95), but I think we can all do without the Ewok costume, ($70) even right around Halloween.
    Next year, I think I’ll opt for a stay-cation, (airfare $0) and sleep in my own bed (lodging $0), maybe a barbeque or two (steaks $20). Sort of a Minnie vacation, pardon the pun.
    What could be more Mickey Mouse than that?