This weekend I am back in Florida for a meeting. I'm staying at a Disney resort near Epcot, and it is nothing like real life. It is better than real life. Giant swans and dolphins top buildings. Everything is meticulously landscaped. It's summer here and winter back home. And the little kid in me is going OMG DISNEY!!!! I have totally, completely, one hundred percent drunk the Disney Kool-Aid.
However.
Tonight I went for dinner with some coworkers and clients and downed--I'm guessing--$100 worth of food. There was the steak. And the salad. And the lobster mashed potatoes. And the NINE INCH DIAMETER CREME BRULEE OH HOLY MOTHER and the cocktail and the wine. Seriously, my wedge salad was $10. One quarter of a head of lettuce was TEN dollars. Recession say what?
After dinner I went for a walk around the Fake Lake in front of Epcot to work off the food coma a little bit. And I walked all the way to Epcot, where the streets of Fake Paris were lit up across the Fake River and they were piping "La Vie En Rose" into the air. And then I decided--I want to go to Epcot. It was like I was on a date with myself! The wining, the dining, the works-if-you-squint approximation of Paris...it was approximately magical.
Here's the thing, though. Admission to the park for ONE DAY, including tax, is $79.50. !!! Before I left Minnesota, I decided that I wouldn't go. I just had a vacation in Florida that left me pretty broke, and at that price it would cost about $12 an hour for me to walk around Epcot. Need vs. want. Problem solved.
But now that I've been charmed by the view of Fake Paris, I want to go! After all, Florida Me rationalizes, how often are you paid to be half a mile from a Disney park? In a Disney resort, no less? Shouldn't you consider the opportunity cost and just go?
But $79.50! I am torn. Once I got back in Minnesota it would not seem nearly as worth it, I think. But work has presented me with almost one whole free day within a short walk of Epcot. So what do I do?
After all, the ticket lady on the phone told me to "have a magical day."
