This past week, my entire family went to Disney World for spring break. This is the second time we have gone, and this one was special because my youngest was aware of everything. She loved all the characters; she enjoyed some of the rides; she ate macaroni and cheese every day. Since this was our second time through, there was less pressure to ride everything, we were familiar with the layout of the parks, and we knew how to work the fast passes to our advantage.

If you ever want help planning your family’s Disney trip, I’d love to help. There’s a fine balance of planning enough to where you’re not frantically trying to figure out what’s the next ride or where you’re going to eat, but you also have to be flexible enough to walk to the other side of the park to get the next shortest line.

One of the highlights for my children are the character meals. These are meals that Disney calls “all-you-can-enjoy” meals (aka buffet), and while you eat, various characters visit your table, sign your autograph book if you have one, and take pictures with you.

I have a love/hate relationship with these things.

They are definitely not cheap. For those of you who don’t know me well, I don’t mind spending money as long as I think I’m getting my money’s worth. If I’m paying a huge amount of money for food, believe me, I’m gonna eat it.

And I’m going to eat a lot of it.

Maybe not like my eight year old who ate EIGHT bowls of ice cream.

But I did have my fair share of ice cream, mini cakes and cookies. I promise you that I had more than one plate of food (well, I don’t like my food touching, so I like to waste a whole bunch of trips just to have neat plates, haha).

The entire week we were at Disney, I kept having Queen Elsa be my personal coach. Can you hear it now? Can you hear her sing, “Let it go! Let it go!”

That’s what I have to tell myself whenever I go on vacation. I like to think I eat pretty cleanly and moderately on a regular basis, but when I’m around others or on vacation, I allow myself to eat the junk. I don’t want others to feel guilty or restricted on my account (even though I’m fighting my own personal guilt in my head), so I allow myself to let it go.

Why do we do that? Why do we guilt ourselves over things that are silly and fleeting? It’s all about control. We want to control every little aspect that we can in hopes to get the outcome that we desire. If I can control everything that goes in my body, perhaps I can control everything about my body: it’s shape, size, and health.

Don’t we wish it would be that way? But alas, it’s not true, is it? We still live in a fallen world where there is sin, chaos, evil, and unexplained phenomenon such as cancer. I can’t control it all. You can’t control it all. Only God, in His wonderful timing and sovereignty, controls the world around us.

So to wrap this very long rant, I tell myself there are appropriate times for strictness and appropriate times for leniency. While I’m on vacation, there will be Frozen in my head, blaring nonstop at every meal. What areas in your life do you need to “let it go?”

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Below is a comparison picture of my family at Disney. First was in 2017 and the second in 2019.