I put Disney coloring pencils in their stockings and told them there was a clue in there.

I got them Disney character coloring books for Christmas, and told them the books were another clue.

I got them two Disney movies, and told them the very start of the movie was a clue.

The night before we left, while packing, I put Mouse-marked luggage tags on our bags.

The day of our trip, I wore socks with Mickey on the sides, and pointed them out to the boys. They knew I had gotten the socks in Disney World several years ago, and could even tell the story of how it rained so hard I had to buy socks from the Disney store and wear plastic baggies over my shoes to keep my toes dry.

Did any of this help?

Not a bit. When we got to the airport, I thought all the other kids in line wearing Mickey ears might provide some additional clues. Either that, or the people all around us talking about their favorite parts of Disney World and explaining to their kids what to expect....

Nope. Clueless.

In Orlando, following the signs through the airport to Disney's Magical Express bus service, including talking to people wearing DISNEY WORLD! lapel pins and Mouse logos on their shirts, I thought surely they would catch on.

Standing between the check-in counter and the bus, where the bus sported a large Mouse (that they noticed and pointed out) and the counter had a huge sign saying DISNEY this and DISNEY that, I figured they would have to get it.

No way. Not until I made Nicky read the words of the sign aloud did they understand that all this Disney stuff was related to our destination. Even then, they were a bit confused because although they had heard Disney spoken of with awe by their friends, they didn't have much actual information to associate with the words.

I don't think any child raised in America from birth could have made it past the luggage tags or the Mickey socks without knowing, but Nicky and Zack were not steeped in Disney during their early years, and so had little or no context from which to interpret the clues.

At any rate, we arrived on Thursday morning (my birthday) and took the bus to our hotel on the Disney property. The room wasn't quite ready, so we puttered around the hotel grounds, ate lunch, and then put our stuff away and hit EPCOT.

We would have gone to Magic Kingdom first, but MK was already full. The weather was wonderful (mid-70's, sunny but not humid) and Kingdoms both Magical and Animal had filled to capacity by 11:00 a.m.

EPCOT turned out to be a good choice for the first day anyway. It had some rides, more elbow room (which reduced the overload factor), lots of places to nibble odd things, and plenty to see. Zack said his feet hurt about fifteen minutes after we hit the park, and—forgive me—I laughed at him. I told him that first, his feet didn't hurt as much as mine, and second, that his feet had not yet begun to hurt. He just blinked at me, shrugged, and kept walking.

We watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks through our hotel window (we were just across the lake) at 9:30, then turned in. Friday morning, bright and early (yeah, right) we got to Magic Kingdom at last.

The crowds were ... amazing. In some spots, the wall of people was solid from side to side as far as the eye could see. I tried counting, but quickly gave up. The average row had 25-50 people across, and looking down one street I counted 100 rows before quitting. The constantly shifting mass bewildered the eye, and the sound of all those people coughing, talking, crying, laughing, calling, exclaiming, eating, sniffling, shuffling their feet, and adjusting their backpacks was a continuous roar. In spots we had to thread through the crowds single-file, holding hands in a line to keep from being jostled apart and lost (seemingly forever).

My own senses were overloaded (I hate crowds with a passion), so I knew the boys were just this side of freaking even though they're much more social than I am.

Nicky finally got to what he considered the real Disney World: Cinderella's Castle. The rest of it was just noise to him: the castle he recognized (from all those movies, probably) as being proper Disney. Only after actually going up to it was he willing to stop talking about going to Disney World and start talking about being in Disney World.

Friday was exhausting, but fun. We managed to eke out a few quiet moments on the grass in less-crowded places, and, despite the awful lines, ride a bunch of rides and see about one quarter of the park. We watched the same fireworks from the same place again, and turned in.

Saturday we hit Animal Kingdom. Although much less crowded than Magic Kingdom, it was hotter that day, and felt more uncomfortable when people were on all sides. Nicky started losing the glassy-eyed look from the past two days and began to enjoy himself tremendously. He'd finally caught onto the rhythm necessary for large theme parks, and could ebb and flow as needed. Zack, on the other hand, finally blew his fuses and had a major meltdown. This wasn't the crying or tantrumming kind of meltdown, but rather the kind where one needs to crawl into a dark corner and quiver for a while. He did exactly that (literally in a corner, with stuffed toys on the front sides and a blanket over the top) for about a half-hour as soon as we got back to the hotel room in the afternoon.

The boys are normally on the same wavelength when it comes to adventures, so Nicky (hopping to go) had trouble understanding why we needed to have some quiet time for Zack. Nevertheless, he submitted to a hour's rest (he chose to play quietly in a closet with the door closed, which may indicate either great consideration for Zack or a need for his own quiet time that he didn't want to acknowledge). After that, we played at the hotel for the rest of the day, swimming in the pool and looking at all the neat stuff. We ate dinner at the hotel, swam some more, then watched the same fireworks from the same window.

At midnight, I woke up Nicky and took him to watch the special New Year's Eve fireworks display. Zack was too exhausted for me to consider waking him, too. Nicky and I ended up with a good father-son time—the special fireworks show was astounding. I usually watch pyrotechnics with quiet interest and dignified appreciation for the art, but this time I was clapping, whistling, stamping, and cheering. They had the sky lit from horizon to horizon over the lake, with five major displays going at once (plus the usual ground stuff). The three middle displays were equal to the normal Disney nightly fireworks, and the two end ones were each at least ten times as big. The shells themselves were marvels. Aside from the normal rainbow bursts, whistlers, and rockets, they had shaped charges like none I've ever seen before: 3D cubes, hearts, planets with rings, triangles, and shapes that exploded into other shapes. I have never seen such a display in my life, even at Disney. The art of pyrotechnics just keeps getting better.

Sunday morning we got up at the crack of dawn (yeah, sure), and headed off to MGM Studios for our last day. The quiet afternoon and good night's sleep had restored Zack to a merely dumbfounded state, and Nick was as happy as I've ever seen him. We got to the Tower of Terror first, then did Buzz Lightyear, the stunt movie thingy, and a bunch of other stuff. We got back to the hotel in time to swim again and eat, then headed to the airport.

On the way home, Nicky finally finished processing all the pre-Christmas hints, conversations, and guesswork. He told me that since he'd asked specifically about Disney Land and been told no, we weren't going anywhere near California, he'd never considered Disney World as a possibility. That's why he hadn't guessed. Maybe, little guy.

Nicky also decided that he liked Disney better than anything, even better than Hawaii (which until last week had been his favorite trip). Most kids like whatever they're doing at the moment better than anything they've done before (or have the opposite problem), but Nicky's been consistent about Hawaii all along, so I take his prouncement seriously. His tolerance for crowds and lines is much higher than mine. The only thing I liked about Disney World (aside from the fireworks display) was going home afterward.

Of course, we didn't go there for me, so my preferences don't count for much. Still, I suspect two things: Our next trip will be something quieter with less walking, and Nicky will be a Six-Flags fiend when he's old enough.

Zack's favorite part of the trip changes each time he talks about it. Mostly, though, he mentions the Haunted Mansion (which scared him silly in a fun way), the Tower of Terror, and Buzz Lightyear. He also really enjoyed meeting the Power Rangers characters and posing for pictures with them.

Neither boy cared much about the big fluffy characters we saw. Mickey who? Oh, yeah, there's Goofy—Come on there's a ride! Oooh! Buzz Lightyear!

On the whole, I'd rate the trip a success. Unlike our more reflective holidays, this one seemed like a whirlwind of activity, and I suspect it will take some time for them to process everything.