Happy Holiday Season from the Brickers to You!

It’s my favorite weekend of the year, and one we usually spend at Walt Disney World. That isn’t happening this year, but only because our family’s traditional Thanksgiving trip has been “relocated” halfway around the world–but more on that later.

Even so, our holiday traditions are similar to normal. Instead of writing this before Sarah and Megatron wake up for the day, I come to you from the future, sharing it after they’ve gone to bed for the night. I still watched the Detroit Lions lost another winnable game due to a mix of poor playcalling, injuries, and game management (I don’t think it’s gonna be the year, gang). As opposed to turkey, pumpkin pie and ample leftovers, we’ve been having fried chicken and matcha cookies from 7-Eleven, and grocery store sushi.

I’m excited because it’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday and there are actually a lot of really good Disney-related deals this year. Lots of repeats from Prime Day and Big Deal Days, but that’s to be expected. There have also been plenty of unique sales with strong savings, including on several LEGO sets that “we” want for Megatron (hence the post, Cyber Monday Sales on My Not-So-Secret Disney Obsession). If she’s going to become an astronaut, she probably needs the highly educational spaceship set!

Speaking of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we are thankful to everyone who has used our Amazon links for Cyber Monday sales. Your purchases help support the site, and we really appreciate it. The commissions aren’t much, but it does all add up. Regardless, definitely do not buy anything you don’t need with the rationale that it’s to benefit DTB.

On the other hand, if you were already looking for an excuse to acquire the LEGO Blacktron Renegade and just needed a nudge to click the “place order” button, we’re happy to offer one. Every children of the 1980s/90s should own that and introduce the greatness of those toys to their own kids.

Even in the absence of commissions, we love Black Friday–these big quarterly-ish sales are when we stock up on stuff for ourselves–and would be putting together lists regardless. And in fact, I’m already working on a ‘Travel Tuesday’ roundup (that’ll probably be published prior to then since the deals have already started) and the majority of those deals are not affiliate links–just love of the game as we also look for deals on our own next big trip.

Since it’s Thanksgiving weekend, Sarah and I are reflecting on the things for which we’re thankful. And one of the big ones, quite honestly, is the readers and commenters of Disney Tourist Blog.

We want to once again reiterate how thankful we are for all of you and try to express our earnestness. This isn’t perfunctory praise or insincere sentiment. We really and truly mean this, from the bottom of our hearts.

We are so incredibly appreciative of your support. Whether you lurk silently, comment on every single post, used our links to purchase an entire fleet of LEGO Blacktron Renegade spaceships…or somewhere in between. Your support means the world to us–far more than most of you will ever know. Thank you so much.

Your readership is greatly appreciated–whether that’s indulging a 3,000 word treatise about the best stroller for Walt Disney World that maybe could’ve been 1,000 words shorter (this isn’t New Year’s Resolution time, but I swear I’m going to try to be slightly more concise in 2026), sharing posts with your friends & family, etc.

We especially appreciate when you stop us to say hello in the parks. A lot of you stopped us recently during Christmas-time at Walt Disney World, which was fantastic. But I’m mentioning this, specifically, because many of those were prefaced with apologies (e.g. “sorry to bug you, but…“).

There is no “bothering” us in those scenarios. It’s great to meet you, put faces with names (when relevant), and ask you twenty questions about your vacation and whether our resources helped. (Nothing like a live focus group!) It’s also a revitalizing reminder of why we do this in the first place. So please, stop us or me to say hello!

Point being, we are truly thankful to have the best and most thoughtful readers. Spend any amount of time browsing the comments section here versus most other websites and you’ll see the contrast. I’ve mentioned this before, but there’s a reason why the first rule of the internet is never read the comments. 

Thankfully, that has never applied with you all. That has also been doubly true this year, as I’ve done very little moderation. Stuff still gets flagged for whatever reason from time-to-time, but it’s almost always approved. (Side note: I’m thankful most of Disney’s assorted controversies that gave rise to increased moderation seem to be in the rearview mirror. We’re back to the regularly scheduled complaints about price increases, cutbacks and Disney’s general direction.)

As we reflect this weekend on all the ways we’re grateful, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stop and share a very sincere and heartfelt thank you. Again. You all deserve a round of applause.

As for me, I’m thankful for Sarah. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: taking care of a baby toddler isn’t just a full-time job. Traditional 9-to-5s are only 40-some hours per week, whereas this is 24/7. Unfortunately, Megatron doesn’t even give us weekends or holidays off!

I had erroneously assumed that this whole parenting thing would get easier with the transition to toddler from baby, but that definitely hasn’t been the case. The challenges are just different now that Megatron is active, highly energetic, and has stronger opinions than a Disney blogger.

They’re challenges in the best way, which we wouldn’t trade for anything in the world, just to be clear. And they disproportionately fall on Sarah’s shoulders. She’s doing it all. In charge of learning, playdates, household tasks, and making healthy, home-cooked meals for Megatron and me.

I continue to be in absolute awe of Sarah and somehow love her even more than ever. She’s so good at everything she does, but watching her be a mom is special. Like I’ve said before, she’s the Megatron of Mothers (or Barry Sanders, if you’d prefer). The best to ever do it.

We’re both thankful to have a baby who is happy and healthy. Who, I guess, isn’t really a baby anymore but instead is a two year old, fully-fledged toddler.

One of the things many readers said in response to our past baby posts is how they loved each new stage more than the last. That the childhood experience just kept getting better and better. That they would freeze time if they could, because it all happened so fast. I feel this sentiment more with each passing day.

Megatron is at a point right now where she’s incredibly active and talkative. She can say pretty much anything we say, and we’ve learned that she will say it. So we have to be careful with what we say, or spell, for that matter.

We also have to be careful about our reactions to what she says, as a few of her favorite words–frequently said or sung in public–are the result of us accidentally laughing at what she’s said. Our little comedian knows what plays well with the crowd.

She doesn’t just walk, she runs and darts around unpredictably–but without being completely sure-footed, so she also wipes out a decent amount. She goes from 0 to 100 back to 0, which means she’s going from walking/running on her own to being carried to falling asleep in the stroller.

She has a lot of strongly-held opinions, must-do priorities, favorite toys, etc. She is both uncompromising in her beliefs and driven largely by whims, often in the span of minutes.

We’ve learned to navigate this with quick thinking and careful phrasing, but sometimes our tricks end up backfiring. For example, we now have a two-year old who loves “spicy water,” which was our clever name for sparkling water that became not-so-clever.

All of this is a ton of fun. Like I said above, it’s a challenge but in the best way possible. She’s less predictable moment-to-moment and more of a wildcard, which does require more thinking on our feet.

At the same time, we see more of her personality with each passing day. There’s something special about that, and it’s truly an honor that we get to be the ones to shape her view of the world, help her learn and grow, etc. It can be fun, funny, and immensely satisfying to see her almost day-to-day personal growth.

We’re also thankful that we get to do this with her.

I often write about Very Important Research when “confronted” with a task such as taste-testing burgers or riding Cosmic Rewind on loop to field test strategy. Tongue very much firmly in cheek.

It really is incredible to be able to travel with her, introduce her to new things, and experience so much as a family. It’s not lost on us how incredibly fortunate we are to be able to do this, and not a day goes by that we don’t pause to reflect on that. We are so thankful to be able to have the opportunity to spend so much time together.

Even though most of my Disney trips are solo “research” ones, we still travel far more than the average family–and the last couple of months have been a whirlwind. This is typically our travel ‘season,’ as we don’t do a whole lot between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

As I’ve shared elsewhere (such as in our photo report from Baby Bricker’s First Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party) and will continue to cover in the weeks ahead, we started the holiday season with our family Christmas trip to Walt Disney World.

We’re now in Japan, having returned for our favorite time of year (by far): fall colors season in Kyoto and Christmas at Tokyo Disney Resort. So long as you’re not overly averse to crowds, we highly recommend a visit in November or early December. (See When to Visit Tokyo Disney Resort.) For the most part, we’ve largely lucked into lower than expected crowds due to Chinese cancellations.

It’s been fun to watch Megatron develop clear preferences during our travels in Japan. For example, climbing up all the steps to Chionin Temple (repeatedly), walking up the escalator, riding on the train, meeting mascots, standing on rocks (it’s a long story), drinking spicy water in the hotel, and more.

And we’re looking forward to taking her to TDR now that she has very clear favorite attractions at Walt Disney World and Disneyland–we’re curious as to what she’ll like most at Tokyo DisneySea!

I’m also thankful for naptime and earlier bedtimes (for now?).

Megatron being a toddler works to my advantage since she goes to bed by 7 pm, wakes up around 7 am, and takes an hour-plus nap each day. This gives me enough time to squeeze in at least 8 hours per day of writing after she goes to bed and before she gets up even while we’re traveling. That’s less than normal, but I try to be more efficient to make up for it.

This is also one of my favorite times of year for writing about Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Aside from hotel refurbishments, which usually get calendered right around now, there’s typically less news. This opens the door for more ‘just for fun’ posts, and those are my personal favorites to create. There’s also a lot of Christmas coverage, and I have a backlog of experiences to write about from our recent trip to Walt Disney World.

We’re also thankful for Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

On the one hand, I take issue with some of Disney’s recent decisions. The cutbacks, price increases, nickel & diming, and so forth. Even the little things, like crass comments from leadership that signal misplaced priorities. There’s a lot that bugs me–thing that I feel would’ve been done differently, and by that I mean better, a decade or more ago.

On the other hand, I’m realizing more and more that…they’ve got me. Hook, line and sinker. We had a couple of negative one-off hotel experiences (more like one awful experience, and one amusingly awkward one) during our recent Walt Disney World trip. Otherwise, it was incredible. One of our best-ever experiences, surpassing even last year’s family trips, two of which were really high bars. And I have a sneaking suspicion that “this was the best trip ever” is going to be a common refrain in the years to come.

There’s just something emotional about seeing her hug Mickey Mouse, and really meaning it. Or having the magical moment of our Daisy Duck-dressed daughter surprised by the real Daisy Duck and go for a walk in the lobby of Yacht Club (have we mentioned that we love Character Caravan?!). Nevermind asking her what he favorite thing she did that day was, and having her give those experiences as answers–or riding the teacups, small world, or Dumbo.

Every time her eyes light up in the parks, which is a lot, all of my assorted grievances melt away. In that moment, Walt Disney World is literally the best place in the world. It’s so easy to see why the parks resonate so much with first-timers, because I’m seeing them through the innocent eyes of one.

It makes me less jaded, and more appreciative of a place too many people in my position (not just bloggers, but Annual Passholders, DVC Members, etc) often take for granted–me included. Most of the world’s population will never get to visit a Disney Park; we’re in one weekly.

We’re so fortunate and thankful that we have two parks in our backyard and are able to travel to the others. Some of our favorite photos are from visits to the parks. Obviously meeting and hugging characters is huge at this point. But even the more mundane stuff like running around Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and playing in Toontown is the stuff of cherished memories.

Now I get why some of the parents who complain most about Disney’s decisions continue to go. It’s these countless little moments and experiences that are etched into your memories. They’ve got you too, don’t they? Who are we even kidding with the complaints…

Finally, we’re thankful for our families. That they’ve been so helpful and supportive and genuinely excited for us and Megatron. The grandparents have come out to visit multiple times and, thankfully, help out a bit. We are second fiddle to her now, but that’s okay, because she is more adorable than us.

Above all else, we’re thankful to be so loved, to have a healthy and happy family, and to get to spend this holiday season together. Whether we’re traveling halfway around the world or at home in front of the Christmas tree using building blocks to make a mech suit for Figment (another long story), we’re incredibly fortunate–for moments big and small.

For now, though, it’s time to get back to enjoying my favorite weekend of the year! We hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends, enjoy what’s left of the long weekend, and have a happy holiday season!

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YOUR THOUGHTS

Any thoughts to share? What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend? Does Disney “have you” hook, line and sinker, too? Any other parental wisdom or recommendations to share? Anything else you’re interested in reading about with regard to Megatron, babies/toddlers in the parks, etc? Agree or disagree with our takes here? Hearing your feedback is always appreciated, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!