Unexpected Sightings at Disney World

Lilo and Stitch.  Peter Pan and Wendy. Cinderella's fairy godmother. Pocahontas. Those are just some of the character sightings on our week-long trip. I suppose in my first blog about Magic Kingdom, I've placed a lot of emphasis on who we saw and took the time to stand in line for. I was probably more enthusiastic about them than the kids. Then there were the characters I wanted to see: Chip and Dale, Ariel, Monsters Inc. characters. Maybe even Pinocchio and the Seven Dwarf's. For me, that is part of the magic of Disney. Where else can you get up so close and personal. The joy on Elise's face was priceless, too.

What struck me, though, was the frequency we ran into people we did know from back home. On our first day in Magic Kingdom we were in line for the Dumbo ride. We met a nice family from Texas, Dave and his wife Janie, and their two daughters. We chatted while we waited. After discovering we were from St. Louis, we talked about his brother who lives just 10 minutes from us. We talked about the church we attend and the church where he works. We also talked about this being our first big Disney trip and they gave us a run down on their itinerary. Lovely family. Lo and behold, just three days later we run into them at Animal Kingdom. Again, we stopped and chatted about how our trips were coming along. We joked about how exhausting and overwhelming the parks had been, yet how much fun we were having at the same time. As luck would have it, we ran into them one more time two days later at Downtown Disney, outside the Lego shop. Seriously, what are the odds? Hundreds of thousands of people and we run into them not once, but twice more?  In hindsight, I wish we had exchanged numbers or emails. It would have been fun to swap stories and pictures.

On that same first day at Magic Kingdom we ran into the Patton's from Adam's school and cub scout den,while in line to see Buzz Lightyear. As luck would have it, we ran into them again exiting the raft water ride at Animal Kingdom. We also ran into some kids from Adam's church class in Tomorrowland. 

Just days before leaving on our trip, I discovered that we would be there the same week as a friend from high school that I hadn't seen since graduation 25 years earlier. Keith and I exchanged numbers and decided that on Thursday of our trips might be the time to try to meet up. Sadly, we missed the opportunity by about 30 minutes. We were driving to Downtown Disney just moments after they had left. It was frustrating to be so close and yet for the timing to not work out. At least we tried.

I told Adam that most likely we would run into people we knew at some point, but to run into the same families multiple times? Who would have thought the odds of seeing familiar faces from home would actually be easier than seeing Dopey? Go figure.