The Disney Experience That Exposed Everything

“Out of the dining experiences, this one I was legitimately sad not to share with the girls.”

That was left-wing YouTuber Lindsay Ellis talking about the “Frozen”-themed dinner she attended on a Disney cruise without her two young daughters. She was surrounded by princesses, watching the entertainment, and thinking about how much her girls would have loved it.

I actually felt sad hearing her say that. As a mom, I couldn’t imagine being surrounded by all that Disney magic without my daughter there to experience it with me. Especially knowing how much she would have loved every second of it.

I grew up in South Florida, so I was lucky enough to go to Disney all the time. My parents were Disney parents, and now they’re Disney grandparents. I genuinely thought it was the most magical place on earth as a kid, but I had no idea how much better it would get when I became a mom.

I’m completely obsessed with watching my daughter experience it. I’ve been on the rides, met the princesses, and seen the castle more times than I can count, but watching her do those things is better than anything I remember from my own childhood. Our favorite part is Happily Ever After, the fireworks show at Magic Kingdom. We practice singing and dancing to it at home at least once a week, and when we’re standing in front of Cinderella’s Castle watching the real thing, I spend more time looking at her face than the fireworks.

So I understood Ellis wishing her daughters were there. What I couldn’t understand was why she chose to take a Disney cruise without them to begin with?!?

Ellis apparently hated her first cruise with her family so much that she decided to take five more to investigate the industry. I have to say, that’s a pretty interesting way to respond to a vacation you couldn’t stand.

I’m a working mom of two and I can’t imagine choosing to take a Disney cruise without mine. Especially when you get to the “Frozen” dinner and admit how much your daughters would have loved it. I’d have been thinking about my daughter the second I stepped onto that ship.

Ellis can do whatever she wants, and I’m not suggesting she doesn’t love her children. But I’m also allowed to think it’s strange to spend that much time traveling around reviewing vacations, complaining about nearly everything, and then realizing your kids would have loved the experience you’re having.

And apparently, cruising was so miserable that Ellis needed more than two hours to explain everything wrong with it. Her video goes after corporate profits, working conditions, expensive drinks, gratuities, and just about everything else these companies charge money for.

If cruise lines are screwing over workers or ripping off passengers, by all means, expose them. But spare me the anti-capitalist lecture from a leftist who spent weeks bouncing between luxury cruises, enjoying the perks, and then acting disgusted that the companies footing the bill for all that luxury actually want to make money. Give me a break.

Especially when she seems to enjoy those excesses herself.

Ellis gets an unexpected upgrade to concierge accommodations on the Disney Wish, which she says can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $32,000 for four nights. She wonders aloud whether Disney knows who she is and whether the upgrade is an attempt to influence her review.

“Do they know who I am? Do they know that I’m making a hit piece?” she asks, before joking, “Because it is working!”

She clearly loved the upgrade, too. The beautiful room, the private lounge, the amenities, and the VIP treatment. At another point, she jokes that “the bribe is working.”

I’m sure it was! Who wouldn’t love that kind of treatment?

There’s no evidence Disney knew who Ellis was or upgraded her because of her audience, but the irony of someone criticizing corporate excess while enjoying accommodations that cost more than some families spend on an entire vacation apparently escaped her.

What really got under my skin was her condescending attitude toward people who actually enjoy cruising. Ellis mocks entertainment she apparently considers beneath her and seems baffled that other passengers are having a good time. At one point, she’s watching a comedian whose jokes she doesn’t find funny, despite the audience clearly enjoying themselves, and actually wonders whether she’s the problem.

YES, LINDSAY. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.

God forbid ordinary people enjoy a comedy show on a vacation they paid for without getting a lecture from some left-wing YouTuber who apparently thinks she’s too sophisticated to laugh along with everyone else.

Not everyone boards a cruise ship looking for a sophisticated cultural experience. Some parents have been working their tails off all year and would love nothing more than to turn their brains off for a few days, have a couple of drinks, and watch their kids enjoy themselves. Why does that seem so offensive to people who insist on turning every enjoyable experience into a political argument?

I’ve never been on a Disney cruise, although I’d love to take my children on one someday. And from everything I’ve heard, Disney really knows how to do cruising right. But I know what it’s like to save for a vacation that matters to you.

A few summers ago, I saved for an entire year so I could take my family to Zermatt, Switzerland, for six weeks. My daughter was just a year old at the time. Switzerland isn’t cheap, especially for six weeks, but I wanted that experience with my family, so I worked, saved, and made it happen.

I didn’t spend the trip complaining about how much money hotels, restaurants, and businesses made off tourists. I knew what it would cost before I booked it, and I was happy to spend the money because the trip was worth it to me.

I’m not sure when making money became something businesses were supposed to apologize for. Disney charges a fortune because people are willing to pay it. If I think something is too expensive, I don’t buy it. If I really want it, I save for it.

What I don’t do is book five more vacations without my kids and spend two hours complaining that the companies providing them are making money.

And that’s what I find so irritating about this kind of left-wing criticism of capitalism. The people delivering the lectures seem perfectly comfortable enjoying everything the system provides, but apparently the rest of us are supposed to feel guilty about it.

Ellis even concludes that Disney offered the best overall experience of the cruise lines she tried, praising the company for being more transparent about how it distributes employee gratuities. So Disney did something better than its competitors, and she noticed. That’s exactly what happens when businesses have to compete for customers.

I don’t need a YouTuber to tell me corporations aren’t perfect. Disney has made plenty of political and cultural decisions I disagree with, and being a Disney mom doesn’t mean I have to defend them.

But I’m also not going to pretend there’s something wrong with enjoying Disney because the company makes money. And I certainly don’t think families who’ve worked and saved to take their children on vacation need a lecture about capitalism while they’re doing it.

Ellis is free to criticize the cruise industry, make a video about it, and earn money from that video. That’s another nice benefit of capitalism, by the way.

In an era where it’s difficult for many families to carve out time and money for vacations, Ellis’s glib approach to her five cruises isn’t just distasteful; it’s an affront to those of us who spend months, even years, sacrificing for these getaways and hoping for the magic moments Ellis so casually scoffs at. It must be nice to have that luxury.

But what’s most offensive is her waving off the very magic we want to share as families, especially those of us with young kids. This chapter in life is so painfully short that every adventure, discovery, and moment of awe is as nourishing to a parent’s soul as drinking from the Fountain of Youth. Cherish these moments, even if they come with a little help from the House of Mouse.

Frankly, her attitude toward her daughter hints at the Lindsay Clancy-adjacent mom pathology that kids are obstructions to enjoying life, rather than a necessary part of it. As much as we enjoy these experiences as kids and as adults, they don’t compare to seeing the world through your children’s eyes and sharing the wonder and magic they see.

But the part of her video that actually stuck with me wasn’t anything she said about corporate profits or cruise line business practices. It was that “Frozen” dinner, when she admitted she wished her daughters were there.

I know exactly how she felt because watching my daughter experience Disney is my favorite part of going. I don’t care what Disney’s profit margins look like when we’re standing in front of Cinderella Castle singing along to Happily Ever After. I’m too busy enjoying the little girl beside me, knowing she won’t be this age forever.

And if I ever take my kids on a Disney cruise, I’m going to enjoy every second of watching them experience it. I’ll probably be the mom crying at the “Frozen” dinner while my daughter sings along.