Any trip to Disney World is a mixed bag of emotions from the joy you feel when you begin planning to the sadness you feel when you board your plane to go home.

You really feel the FULL spectrum of emotions throughout your entire trip, so we thought we would rank them! No one asked us to, BUT WE’RE DOING IT ANYWAY. We’re starting from the absolute BEST feelings in the (Disney) world to the downright strangest!

Grateful!

It’s pretty safe to say that we’re all going to feel an immense amount of gratitude the next time we step into the parks.

Our love of Disney knows no bounds, and our steadfast appreciation for the Cast Members, which was already pretty high, will increase exponentially! THEY are the real magic makers!

Pure JOY!

This is clearly one of the best emotions anyone can feel when they’re in Disney World. From the moment we step off our plane at Orlando International Airport, our hearts are filled to the brim with joy!

We can’t be the only ones doing an excited bounce on the monorail to the main terminal then power walking to the Magical Express! Once onboard, driving under that beautiful entrance archway, where all the traffic signs change from green to purple, the smile on our face stretches from ear to ear (no, seriously. Our families look forward to seeing us turn to giddy piles of goo!).

In the parks, turning the corner just enough on Main Street, U.S.A. to gaze upon Cinderella Castle for the first time may bring tears to our eyes!

Another joyful moment that we look forward to EVERY time we visit is seeing our favorite characters! Is it just us, or does our heart skip a beat when we spot Mickey for the first time on our vacations? It’s like we spotted Brad Pitt but…y’know…a mouse. JUST AS BIG A CELEB TO US and, dare we say, a wee bit more HANDSOME?!

And of course, there are the nighttime spectaculars. You’re probably familiar with that warm, fuzzy feeling we all feel when we watch the Happily Ever After fireworks show along Main Street, U.S.A. (don’t even get us STARTED on when Tinker Bell soars across the crowd. We have dust in our eyes. We’re not crying, YOU ARE! SO WHAT?!).

Or, when Mickey leads the grand finale in Fantasmic! When his arm shoots up in the air and the fireworks…ahhh!

Giddy Excitement!

Next up is that feeling where you’re too excited and you just can’t calm down! This is somewhat different than joy — excitement has a shade of anticipation, like something incredible is ABOUT to happen!

Remember that old 90’s commercial with the kid that said, “I’m too excited to sleep!” That’s because the anticipation of going to Disney World is just as exciting as the trip itself!  Planning the trip is half the fun (we used to lay our outfit out perfectly the night before our trips so we could throw it on and go to the airport as fast as possible. Who are we kidding…we still totally do that!).

Once you’re in the parks, that giddiness extends to all sorts of activities. How excited do you feel when you’re stepping aboard your favorite ride, or better yet, when you get your FAVORITE seat on that ride!? Who else requests the front row on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster? Or the back row on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad?

Sometimes the anticipation is better than the ride itself!!

Passion

Passion in a theme park? Why yes, you can feel passionate about quite a lot in Disney World, especially when it comes to FOOD!

Whether it’s a sweet dessert like the Nutella Waffle or a savory steak dinner at Morimoto Asia, if we could marry the food we eat in Disney World…we would (sorry, husbands and wives!). Just LOOKING at the food gives us butterflies in our stomach.

That first dip of plastic cheese, like the Corn Dog Nuggets or Loaded Fries at Casey’s Corner, is simply magical. Oh, don’t even get us STARTED on our love of cheese in Disney World. We don’t have enough time to properly convey our love of all things melty and cheesy.

…I mean…

…cheese means a lot to us…

Did we mention we love cheese? Lol…we do. Cheese is the BEST. 🙂

Relief! Phew!

Next on our list is relief! Sometimes we can run into situations at Disney World that make us a little uncomfortable. Whether it’s the weather getting reeeeally shady looking on the horizon right before a FastPass for Slinky Dog Dash, or we see our plans potentially going completely awry (like, sitting on a broken-down bus for an hour, missed our FastPass for Flight of Passage, awry!).

For example, we all know Florida can get oh so hot. We ALSO know how marvelous it feels when you take those first steps into an air-conditioned ride, shop, or restaurant (we will fight anyone who says the air conditioning in the cave portion of the Splash Mountain queue isn’t the BEST in all of Disney World! It totes is! 😉 ).

There are other glorious moments that can take the weight of the world off of our shoulders. How about being the last person allowed on the bus before they close their doors and head off to the parks in the morning, or back to your resort at the end of the night? It feels like you got the last golden ticket!

Another moment that makes us want to shout from the rooftops is when you find the LAST open seat or table during lunchtime! On a busy day it can feel like an impossible task to find a table, and you instantly become the BIG hero of the day when you find some open seats!

The newest bit of relief has been scoring a Boarding Group for Rise of the Resistance! Imagine this: you have to wake up hours before the sun rises, strategize how to get to Hollywood Studios before the buses even begin to run, and you pray to the tech gods that your phone and internet are working properly!

There are cheers throughout the park on a daily basis when boarding groups open up because there is a huge, collective sigh of relief when you find out you get to ride!

Trust us, this is one of the most unique and bizarre times of eager nervousness we’ve EVER felt at Disney World!

Worry and Fear

Disney certainly likes to play with our emotions, making worry and fear some of the more bizarre feelings you can have while on vacation! Because who actually feels genuine FEAR while in the Most Magical Place on Earth? A lot of people, in fact!

You can certainly feel some worry first thing in the morning! If you decide to rope drop a park, you can feel some mounting anxiety as the clock ticks closer and closer to opening! You have your FastPass reservations ready to go, but you’re still strategizing which ride to hit first! What ride will everyone ELSE try to go for first? It’s a lot of pressure!

There are plenty of scary moments, too! Meeting characters like Kylo Ren and Darth Vader can DEFINITELY give you the jitters, and seeing the First Order on Rise of the Resistance may give you that sinking feeling that you’re in for some trouble. As Han Solo would say, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this… .”

While we’re talking about scary moments on rides, can we take this opportunity to finally come clean and talk about how TERRIFYING Dinosaur is!? Listen, it’s loud, it’s dark, that Carnotaurus is HUGE and he wants to eat every single one of us.

We’ve been on this ride a zillion times and even knowing where he is, this guy STILL scares the pants off of us!!!

Exhaustion

Folks might be surprised at just how darn TIRED you can feel at Disney World. After a long day in the parks when you’re heading back to the hotel, you may catch yourself falling asleep on the bus! 

You’ll know just how tired you are when the bus driver flips the lights back on when you reach your final destination (those fluorescent lights feel as bright as the sun at midnight!). We kind of secretly love the feeling of taking a shower in our rooms and washing all the “park funk” off of us, then falling into bed. Ahhhh! 🙂

Heartbreak

It should be a LAW that no one is allowed to feel sad at Disney World, but alas, this is one of the most bizarre, complicated feelings we can experience on vacation! This is one of THE most bizarre emotions to feel in Disney World because it just doesn’t belong and has no place in the Most Magical Place on Earth!

Taking the Magical (aka Tragical) Express back to the airport (and getting that tag under your hotel room door the day before you depart saying it’s time to go) are such bummers.

We’ve had more than one time we’ve found ourselves on the monorail making the last trip to our resort hotel to head home and we’re SO sad, but then we’ll see a little girl in a princess dress JUST starting her vacation or a child eagerly pointing out Cinderella Castle for the first time and remember that while OUR trip is ending, someone else’s is just beginning. And then we’re just really, really jealous. J/K. Kind of. 

Weirdest emotion: Joy, but over some pretty strange things

For the weirdest emotion on our list, we’re returning to where we started: joy. But rather than the universal joy we all feel when we walk into the parks or watch the fireworks, there’s a different type of joy we want to talk about: the kind that perhaps needs some explaining to folks who don’t frequent the parks, or maybe they just don’t understand our DEEP love for Disney.

For example, seeing the Tangled restrooms in Fantasyland (who knew we could love bathrooms so much?)…

…smelling the water on Pirates of the Caribbean…

…stepping into your favorite restaurant (who knew a restaurant could evoke so many strong emotions?)…

…and dropping some serious cash on some peculiar souvenirs, like balloons and yet ANOTHER pair of Minnie ears (you can never have too many!).

There’s a reason we do what we do, bringing you all the news about Disney: we truly and genuinely LOVE these parks and what they represent. We may not all be there together right now, but even in closure, they stand as a symbol of hope for many. We will one day get those “Main Street Butterflies,” or the “Boarding Space Mountain Giggles” again. Hang in there, friends. 🙂

What are some of the most bizarre emotions you’ve felt in Disney World? Tell us in the comments!