Ever been to a family function and all the teens and young adults are sitting around on their phones ignoring the world around them but seemingly engulfed in the world in front of them?
Then another family member usually makes a comment, “Why don’t you all actually talk to each other and get off those (usually insert explicative here) phones?”
Sound familiar?
As an individual brought up in the technology era it hasn’t even occurred to me until recently that I might be missing something, there is a whole world happening around me that I am missing out on if I stare at my cell phone for hours at a time. There is a whole Disney World happening around me that I am missing out on.
So I had an idea, what would happen if I spent the day in the Magic Kingdom without any technology? iPhones stay in the car and the Apple Watches stay home, we will be experiencing the Magic Kingdom without any distractions from the outside world, the way Walt wanted us to experience the parks.
A few challenges we encountered while planning the evening included questions like “what if we have problems paying for things?” or “how will we remember our FastPass selections?” So we hoped for the best and hand wrote our FastPass selections on a piece of paper.
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom parking lot, texted all of our parents and friends telling them we would be out of reach for the day and said goodbye to our devices.
The first few hours:
I have to admit it was hard to convince two college students to leave their electronics behind, but after I bribed them with free California Grill they agreed to my experiment.
Once we arrived in the park we walked down Main Street when one of us wanted Starbucks and the other two needed to use the restroom. We soon realized that splitting up would be hard and we would need to agree on a meeting place so we didn’t get separated inside the park. The practice of assigning a location for us all to met in case we got separated seemed so foreign to us.
The first hour inside the park was the hardest; we kept reaching for our phones in our pockets and stressing out when they weren’t there. We were so accustomed to our phones always being with us that we panicked when we reached down to grab them and they were absent.
Walking through the Magic Kingdom we would see a magical moment that we wanted to photograph or record a part of the parade passing by. While we won’t have that lasting video of the parade at least we were able to experience with our own eyes and not through a lens. Think about the last time you watched a parade or the fireworks. Did you actually physically watch the event or did you watch from behind your phone while you recorded what was going on in front of you? While watching Celebrate the Magic and Wishes! that evening it occurred to us that we couldn’t remember the last time we actually stood on Main Street and just enjoyed the atmosphere around us.
The last few hours:
Once the initial shock wore off, we found ourselves enjoying the parks in a whole different way. We were noticing little details on attractions that we have never seen before, we were having real conversations and enjoying each other’s company, and we were relaxed. As strange as it sounds to hear that we were relaxed inside the world’s largest theme park, we found ourselves not worrying about our lives outside the parks.
Instead of sitting on the Tommorowland Transit Authority PeopleMover scrolling through Facebook or checking our Instagram while waiting in line for Peter Pan’s Flight, we actually talked to each other and the people around us. When the parks opened it was intended to be a place for people to enjoy each others company and have fun together.
Park closed:
While overall we enjoyed our evening disconnected from the world, we found ourselves running through the Magic Kingdom parking lot at one in the morning to get to our devices. It goes to show that we can live without our cell phones but we really don’t want to.
I would highly recommend trying to go “deviceless” during your next theme park visit to see what changes for you. Even though our first few hours were rough, once we detoxed, we truly enjoyed the experience and enjoyed each other’s company.
Until next time remember, there’s a great big beautiful tomorrow, just a dream away!
Special thanks to Michael and Mitchell for giving up their devices for an evening at the Magic Kingdom!
About the Author: Dwight describes his childhood as being “raised by Disney World” with most of his memories as a child taking place inside a Disney Park or Resort. He enjoys seeing newbies discover the Disney magic and introducing them to the parks we call home.
