It's a Smarr World…
Coming to a foreign country affords one the chance to start anew; to be responsible and make a good name for oneself and one's family in a whole new locale. Without the trappings of the past, you can live a thoughtful, well-planned lifestyle that maximizes resources and boosts future opportunities. Or you can do what we did!
Our biggest "guilty pleasure" since moving to Japan has been the purchase of Annual Passports to the Tokyo Disney Resort. These are not reimburse-able by "the Man" and therefore come straight out of the family coffers, but we like living on Tofu!
We bought the APs using the following tortured logic: 1) With the move, the kids haven't had much of a vacation; 2) Our family vacations typically involve a few days at a Disney Resort (either in CA or FL); 3) The kids, in this completely new environment, should really have some links back to familiar things from the US; 4) My wife and I aren’t crazy about McDonald's; 5) With Tokyo Disney Resort just 55 minutes from home, we can give our kids "Summer Fun" AND link them back to good ol' America; 6) BUT WHY LIMIT THIS TO SUMMER?!? We can give the kids a little slice of the old country ALL YEAR LONG!!!
And thus, gentle reader, the little Family from Connecticut forsook purchasing a motor-car and instead spent the money on APs to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. We've already gone six times. Only 18 more visits 'til we break even… or collapse. Course, that's not including the popcorn. At four bucks per bucket. Times three buckets. Refilled at least twice. I REALLY like my Tofu!
What first clued me in to the fact that our purchase may not have been, say, prudent (aside from the disturbing lack-of-couch in our living room) was an event that occurred on our second trip to the Magic Kingdom. A Disney cast member / indentured servant / serf felt compelled to give one of my darling angels a sticker. In the process, she noticed, dangling from my daughter's neck, the dual-park AP. She goggled. Then she pointed. Then she called her fellow cast member /serf over to verify that what she thought she was seeing was, in fact, what it was. Apparently, these two employees had never actually SEEN a guest with an Annual Passport before. Why? Cuz Japanese mamas don't raise no fools. They know that the average person would rather bathe in honey next to an ant hill rather than bring six-year olds to Disney parks every other week for an entire year. And that's what it'll take just to break even.
And so now I'll leave you with my rendition of the beloved theme song:
M - I - C
("C" you every friggin' weekend!)
K - E - Y
("Y"? Because we're Idiots!)
M - O - U - S - I-n-c.
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