Would You Cheat Minnie Mouse?

Over the dinner table last night, my husband told me about a conversation he’d had at work with some colleagues. They were sitting in the lunchroom when one of them announced that she and her family were headed down to Disney World. There ensued a rush of suggestions from fellow workers on how to—well, how to put the screws to Snow White, Tinker Bell, Sleeping Beauty et al. while she’s there. The most enterprising of these suggestions involved calling ahead to the Disney hotel and informing management that one of your kids will be on antibiotics during your stay and that you’ll require a mini-fridge in your room, so you can store the medicine safely. The devious coworker went on to detail exactly which buffets have available the sorts of food and drink—juice boxes, cans of soda, fresh fruit—that can easily be slipped into a backpack or oversize handbag and kept in said mini-fridge throughout one’s stay, thus saving big bucks on snacks (and for the grown-ups, mixers).

My husband was torn between admiration for the clever daring of this scheme and moral outrage at the very idea of it. At the lunch table, he ventured to ask: Um, wasn’t that stealing? He was shouted down by a host of Disney veterans who pointed out that at the prices Mickey and Minnie charge—$74 at the moment for one day at one park for a three-year-old—you’d be crazy not to cut corners wherever you can.

I’m allergic to theme parks—well, that’s what I always told the kids, anyway—so I’ve never been to Disney World, or any other part of the Disney empire. I am, however, very much a cheapskate. Even so, the only thing I’ve ever stolen was a watermelon that was on the bottom rack of my shopping cart. When I realized I’d forgotten to declare it to the checkout girl, I was haunted by guilt for weeks. I think that having a fraudulently obtained, illicitly stocked mini-fridge in my hotel room would make me so nervous about being found out—what if the maid peeked, and turned us in?!—that I’d enjoy Disney World even less than I’d ordinarily enjoy Disney World, assuming that’s possible. But I’m wondering, Philly Post readers: How about you?

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