Our Trip to Disney World Last Week & WLWW Link-Up Party

So I kept a little secret from you all last week (via my husband’s request)…I was blogging from Disney World!!!  

So last Wednesday when I mentioned that I had a whole bunch of plans and my daughter was sick…it was right on the day that we were scheduled to attend a special dinner where you meet all of the princesses 🙁 Big bummer – she missed it.  But she’s over it now lol!

This was our family’s first trip to Disney World!  We went to Epcot (and got majorly rained on lol!), Hollywood Studios

the Animal Kingdom – which we loved…

 

 

And then back to the Magic Kingdom a second time.

 There were two things that were profound to me while visiting the “Magic Kingdom.” One, it was completely void of God – there simply is no mention of him anywhere.  And two – it’s said to be the “happiest place on earth“.  That’s quite a promise to live up to! 
 
So is it possible that the happiest place on earth is a place that is void of the mention of God? Well this one thing I am sure of…in the heart of every human is a longing for a happy place.
 
We saw little girls all over the parks dressed as princesses…children want to be a part of a royal kingdom. 
 
If you are a child of God – you are a daughter of the one true King!  We belong to a royal kingdom!  Forget Magic Kingdom – I’ll take God’s kingdom thank you very much :)!
 
 We know that this world cannot be all that there is. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says “God has set eternity in the hearts of men.”  We all long for that place deep in our hearts.
 
This world is like Cinderella’s ball – the greatest day or joy eventually comes to an end. The clock strikes midnight and we fall on hard times. All joys we have here are just a taste of what is coming in heaven. And one day when we enter the kingdom of heaven we will never have to step foot back on planet earth where the clock can strike midnight again. Forever we will be with the King of Kings and there we will live in joy for eternity! What a great hope we have!
 
Revelation 19 tells us that one day our Prince will come riding on a white horse to take us with him. “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True…His eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns…He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God…On his robe and on his thigh he has the name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
 
Princesses – Your prince will come for you! If this world has dealt you a royally bad hand – hang on – it won’t be long now till you stand face to face with the King of Kings! Take hope and courage from that – and have courage today to live life with defiant joy! He is worthy!
 

 Walk with the King,

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36 Comments

  1. We go to Disney a lot and it is ironic–it’s the happiest place whose long lines triggers many tears and arguments:) Totally agree about the princess thing and love the reminder of where the real Kingdom is. Blessings!

  2. Disney! Wow!

    My husband and I minister with Inheritance of Hope, a group that reaches out to families where a parent has a life threatening illness. And Disney is one of the places that IoH takes them … an all expense paid weekend so that they have the opportunity to get away from the difficulties that have come to define their lives … and make memories, meet other families in the same boat, have a ball, and discover how to leave a legacy that lasts!

    What a privilege to lead daily group conversations for these courageous moms and dads while we’re on retreat.

    It’s Inheritance of Hope’s 5th anniversary! And here’s more about who we are …!
    http://creeksideministries.blogspot.com/2012/05/celebrating-inheritance-of-hopes-5th.html

  3. When we were at Disney last summer I made the comment to my husband, (as we watched a little one have a complete meltdown,) “Whomever said this is the happiest place on earth was never here with a child.” 😉

    You are right about being devoid of God though, it seemed very spiritually empty. We were fortunate enough to be in line a few times and have conversations with other believers, though. 🙂

  4. I love “all joys here are just a taste of heaven.” I always reminded my children that all the best things in life are from God…husband, children, pets, sunsets, etc. Nothing that the earth can give can compare to Him and His ways. You are raising wise children, Courtney.

  5. Our family took the same vacation in April! Although we had a wonderful time, I was very aware of the amount of “spirituality”. I started to notice how every film has a villain who isn’t just a bad guy, but a bad guy who uses witchcraft, sorcery, evil spells, and more to “steal, kill and destroy.” While my husband took our son on one last roller coaster ride at Hollywood Studios, I took our daughter to see Fanstasmic. I felt so uneasy as I watched Micky not only fight a variety of villains (right before bedtime) but at the end he fights the demon from Fantasia!
    I grew up on Disney movies and the Disney channel. I love watching our kids dress up like Buzz Lightyear or princess. It just makes me sad to see (or finally realize) this other side to Disney.

  6. LOVE the pictures Courtney!!!! I notice a void of the Lord when we go there too…Us Sistas know it was God given talent that made it such an amazing place! I did a butter churn dance when we went to MGM last winter and in a very quite corner there was a manger scene- I was shocked! It was given to them from, I believe…Ozzy Osborne 😉 SO sad to hear Lexi missed her Princess dinner!! Maybe we can have our own this Summer! 😉 Love you!!!! Glad to have you back girlie!!!!

    1. The display came from the Osborne family from Arkansas, , it’s a wonderful story, how they donated all of the light displays so everyone could enjoy them at Hollywood studios, after their community voted that they could not display them at their home. It was not the same family as Ozzy Osborne.

  7. So fun! Though I’m sorry Lexi missed the princess dinner 🙁
    We were doing Disney with you last week…though on the other side of the U.S.

    It was such an incredibly-fun-amazing-bonding-treasurable-family-time–aside from when we lost one of our kids in the park and were part way to the hotel before we noticed (we were there with a big crowd). He was fine. Made 10 new friends at Disney’s City Hall before we made it back to him. 🙂

    I guess what I appreciated was that in most of the stories…the bad guys were truly bad guys (evil) and the good guys were pretty much good-inside-out…or at least they learned a lesson in the end.

    No deep spiritual, godly redemption stories…but…a chance to enjoy making memories together.

    The trip was a gift from my parents (or we wouldn’t have been there) and for me it was just a reminder of how much joy a parent has in giving his/her children good gifts, even when not deserved and beyond the basic necessities. WAY beyond.

    Reminded me of–
    God’s delight when He sees our joy…
    My parents’ enjoyment of us enjoying the blessing…
    And our smiles at watching our little ones’ HUGE smiles…

    “The temporary pleasures of this present world are meant to point you to the lasting pleasure of knowing God…
    Every experience of love is meant to point you to His love.
    Every moment of grace is there to cause you to run to His grace.
    All of creation is a finger pointing to God.”
    ~Paul David Tripp (Forever)

    It wasn’t obvious…but He was there in the midst of all the messy-magical-Disney-trappings…

  8. Funny…we just got home last week from a Disney cruise that left from Port Canaveral:) In fact, the post I linked up is about how the Lord completely protected us from a car accident on the way home! On the cruise, they had shows each night. The two we saw were amazing, but we decided to skip out on the one called “Villains”. Why glorify the bad guys…especially to impressionable kids?

  9. No God at Disney? I completely disagree. This will probably sound snarky written down than what I’m imagining it in my head, but are you sure you are looking in the right place? Honestly, this line of thinking is baffling me.

    1. I welcome your thoughts 🙂

      It’s not that the park is void of God – because his presence is there – and all the arts reflect his image – we were made in his image – so the creativity there blows my mind! But there is no “mention” of God although there was a huge Buddah in the China movie at Epcot…then in the American show no mention of our forefather’s faith…just my reflections – God was with us in our hearts – we had a GREAT time!

  10. Thank you for allowing me to link up to you again this week. As a fairly new blogger, do you have any tips to share on building a base of faithful readers? Or any other tips? Your trip looked fun. I got to take my boys to Vegas in March. We had such a good time (with no gambling).

  11. Funny, we were in Disney in march and I had some of the same thoughts…then while in EPCOT we watched a skywriter write “you + God= (happy face)” and “Jesus loves you”. It was so warming and encouraging to know everyone could see it.

  12. We were at Disney World last week too! We hit Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and back to Magic Kingdom. I am pretty sure our paths must of have crossed a few times. I love your thoughts on God’s Royal Kingdom. Great post!

  13. Courtney, Thank you for your post this morning. We traveled to Disney World a number of times when my children were younger and the points you make in the correlation between Disney and the Kingdom of God are so valid and will make for a wonderful teaching opportunity at my dinner table this evening. Thank you for what you do in ministry for women and families. God Bless…

  14. I don’t know if it’s just me but this is the 2nd blog hop I usually participate in on which I cannot see the link up this week =\

  15. I don’t know if it’s just me, but this is the 2nd blog I usually link to on which I can’t find the link up! Anyway, here are my links for this week…

    A healthier enchilada – and this one is gluten and dairy free if you want it to be (and inexpensive to make too!)
    http://threefriendsfitness.blogspot.com/2012/05/healthy-er-enchilada-recipe.html

    The Power of Words: Dating vs. Courtship – what’s the big deal?
    http://tillieisms.blogspot.com/2012/05/power-of-words-going-on-date.html

  16. I have to ask…what brand are the tank tops you are wearing? I can’t find any modest tank tops around here and I love the neck level of yours! 🙂

    1. Hi Sheila! My tank tops are from Rue 21 and they were only $2.99 each so I bought a bundle of them in all colors! 🙂 What I love about them is they fit right on my neckline AND they are long so they smooth out my muffin top 🙂 lol!
      Courtney

  17. I loved reading your post today. We are daughters of a King. I try to walk with the King everyday. I know his coming is soon; I will wait on Him. I just read today the the ACLU is trying to get rid of prayers in the military. I find that so sad.

  18. I’ve never been to Disney, but I feel the exact same thing whenever I go to a show etc! We all truly do want/need more than this life gives but some unbelievers don’t want to even acknowledge God! I often find myself observing others there and thinking about their lives etc and it just makes me so truly thankful to be illuminated by the ‘light of the world’. Our relationship with God gives us deep fulfilment, happiness and peace. I pray that searching individuals will discover the great God of eternity!

  19. You know, we went to Disney World for the first time as a family of four a few months back, and I thought the exact opposite regarding God being present. We were blessed with an incredible trip, healthy kids, and throughout the entire week, I never stopped thanking Him for this amazing time with my family. When we saw the Osbourne family lights show, all I could do was sit and listen to the Christmas music and watch my husband dance with my kids in the street while “snow” fell down on us. It was a beautiful moment, and I felt so completely happy and safe, that I all I could think of was how much more incredible heaven will be like one day? Yes, God was absolutely there in Disney World with us that week!
    Glad you guys had a good trip! 🙂

  20. I’m so glad that you mentioned the princess thing! My daughter loves all the Disney Princesses, so the last time I was at the Christian book store in our town, I found a Bible Princesses book for her. It’s basically stories of several women in the Bible, however, in the introduction, the author says that because we are all children of God the Father, who is our King, that makes us all princesses. My daughter’s face just lit up and she just loves the idea that she is God’s princess (and can’t get enough of that book)!

  21. We received the gift of one evening in the Magic Kingdom while we were in Florida to receive our youngest son. While I was not there long enough to see what you did, I understand your feeling. On the other hand, it was magical to spend five hours in the park with my brand new baby boy wrapped against my breast. I felt as if the fireworks were in celebration of his adoption into God’s Kingdom. I bought an ornament in the gift shop that night to put on the Christmas tree when we got home. Every year, as we decorate the tree, I have the pleasure of telling my Disney baby about his celebration in the Magic Kingdom. Even now, I get teary thinking about it! (Your pictures are beautiful, btw!)

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