April 7, 2026

How Do We Regain Our Mojo?

It never occurred to me that reading the Haggadah this year would trigger a deep dive on a theme such as envy.

What does envy have to do with the classic Passover themes of freedom, the power of storytelling, the lessons of liberation, and so on?

Not much.

But envy showed up on my radar when someone at our seder read this passage from a Mark Twain essay written in 1899:

“If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk.

“His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in the world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it.

“The Egyptian, the Babylonian and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind.

“All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

At a time when we’re so anxious about the rise of antisemitism, it was stunning to hear such an unequivocal and eloquent reminder of the value of the Jews.

The passage felt like a sequel to the Passover story, telling us what the Jews did after they were liberated from slavery. Through centuries of persecution and pogroms culminating in the Holocaust, the Jews struggled, adapted, persevered and still managed to contribute to the world “with his hands tied behind him.”

“The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts.”

It’s a miraculous story, which naturally attracts envy.

Have you noticed, though, that we almost never mention envy when dissecting the rise in antisemitism and antizionism?

We talk about hate, hypocrisy, lies, double standards, scapegoating, conspiracy theories and so on, but never envy.

Why is this relevant?

Because, for starters, being envied reminds us that we are the people Twain wrote about. People envy what is good, not what is bad. But “bad” is all that people hear about Jews these days. Our haters have turned us into the world’s ultimate villains. We’ve been so demonized, people may have forgotten we’re still worthy of admiration.

It’s one of the sinister “accomplishments” of the Jewish hate movement — it brought out the bad and smothered the good. No wonder envy never comes up — who would envy a demon?

Jew-haters must know they can’t afford to expose their silent envy toward Jews. It would undermine their whole movement. To be seen as envious of those they despise must be the nightmare of Jew-haters everywhere.

Alas, there’s another reason no one talks about envy. The movement of “social justice” has sanitized it.

“Social scientists’ silence on envy is no mere oversight,” Steven F. Hayward and Linda L. Denno write in National Affairs. “Today, envy is the silent partner of radical egalitarianism and is ubiquitously leveraged in the promotion of ‘social justice.’ Social scientists by and large are committed to such egalitarianism, and therefore either ignore envy as a significant social force or seek to cast it as morally defensible.”

Envy has been submerged by a progressive agenda that classifies people as either oppressors or oppressed. If successful people are the oppressors, they’re not worthy of envy. The real heroes are the oppressed, because they are the victims.

This is doubly bad for Jews. We’re maligned as villains regardless of status, and if successful we’re maligned as oppressors. We’re never allowed to be victims. As a result, we defend ourselves against negatives. Instead of “Jews are good,” we’re trapped into “Jews are not bad.” We’re not oppressors. It’s not genocide. It’s not apartheid. Antisemitism is not acceptable.

Our “contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance and medicine” that Twain wrote about? That is suffocated. It never comes up.

Maybe that’s why I couldn’t get the Twain passage out of my mind. It spoke to the madness of our time. Here was a testament to a people that gives so much to the world and yet has become the world’s most maligned people.

Our mistake is that we’ve narrowed our fight to just the hate. If we can only “end Jew-hatred,” we tell ourselves, we’ll be OK. But all that does is continue to associate Jews with a poison. We are no longer the extraordinary people in Twain’s essay. We’ve been reduced to the people who are unfairly hated and are fighting to end that hate.

We’ve allowed our humility to get the better of us.

We’ve forgotten who we are and our value to the world.

Because the Jewish tradition values modesty and self-reflection, we assume it’s not cool to talk about ourselves.

Our enemies, however, have no problem talking about us. We may be reluctant to blow our own horn, but they have no hesitation to castigate us as monsters.

Maybe we ought to start emulating non-Jews like Mark Twain who seem to appreciate us better than we do.

In that spirit, I’ve compiled a brief list of what some of them have said about Jews. It’s worth a read:

Leo Tolstoy

“What is this Jew whom they have never succeeded in enticing with all the enticements in the world, whose oppressors and persecutors only suggested that he deny (and disown) his religion and cast aside the faithfulness of his ancestors?! The Jew – is the symbol of eternity. … He is the one who for so long had guarded the prophetic message and transmitted it to all mankind. A people such as this can never disappear. The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.”

Winston Churchill

“Some people like Jews and some do not, but no thoughtful man can doubt the fact that they are beyond all question the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world.”

Hillary Clinton

“I was born just a few months before Israel declared independence. My generation came of age admiring the talent and tenacity of the Israeli people, who coaxed a dream into reality out of the harsh desert soil. We watched a small nation fight fearlessly for its right to exist and build a thriving, raucous democracy.”

John Adams

In an 1808 letter criticizing the depiction of Jews by the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, Adams expressed his respect for ancient Jewry. Adams wrote of Voltaire, “How is it possible [that he] should represent the Hebrews in such a contemptible light? They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their Empire were but a Bauble in comparison of the Jews. They have given religion to three quarters of the Globe and have influenced the affairs of Mankind more, and more happily, than any other Nation ancient or modern.”

Thomas Cahill

“The Jews started it all – and by ‘it’ I mean so many of the things we care about, the underlying values that make all of us, Jew and gentile, believer and atheist, tick. Without the Jews, we would see the world through different eyes, hear with different ears, even feel with different feelings. And we would set a different course for our lives … Their worldview has become so much a part of us that at this point it might as well have been written into our cells as a genetic code.”

James D. Russell

“Jews were an integral part of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States. They weren’t outsiders scheming from the shadows. They were patriots who risked everything – fortunes, lives, families – when the colonies had barely 2,000 – 3,000 Jews among 2.5 million people. That’s less than one-tenth of one percent of the population. Yet their contributions were outsized, documented in letters, congressional records, and battlefield reports. They fought, they funded, they supplied, and they helped win a war that created the first modern republic to guarantee religious liberty to all.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

“Probably more than any other ethnic group, the Jewish community has been sympathetic and has stood as an ally to the Negro in his struggle for justice.”

These are not mere opinions meant to flatter. They speak to an extraordinary story of an extraordinary people, a story that is not being taught to Jews or non-Jews, a story that we have allowed envious Jew-haters to bury in a landfill of venom.

Bring back that extraordinary story and the truth comes out: They hate us not because we’re bad but because we’re good. They hate us because we work hard and are successful. They hate us because they can’t be us.

Not all Jew-hatred stems from envy, but it’s true enough that we can highlight envy to expose and disempower Jew-haters who would destroy us, revitalize the Jewish brand and help us rebuild Jewish self-esteem.

Jews and Israel are far from perfect, but we’re also very far from the demonic image slapped on us by our enemies. Indeed, had Mark Twain lived to see Israel, there’s little doubt he would have noted its miraculous success and contributions “way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers.”

It’s time we embrace that positive truth. Fighting negatives is no longer enough.

It goes without saying that we must continue to protect Jews wherever they’re vulnerable and use every means at our disposal to fight for our rights and punish violent Jew-haters.

But we must aim higher. We must work collectively toward an inspiring future that will reassert the extraordinary Jewish value to humanity that Mark Twain wrote about.

True liberation from slavery will happen when we regain our mojo as strong, successful Jews who don’t apologize for being strong and successful.

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Trumpian Whiplash: From “Ending Civilization” to “Close to Resolution” on the Same Day

Editor's Note, Featured / David Suissa

We’ve never seen a public figure—let alone a president—with the verbal recklessness of Donald Trump.

Even for him, that recklessness reached a peak Tuesday morning when he threatened to obliterate Iran.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” the president wrote on social media.

This comes on the heels of expletive-laden threats in recent days that if Iran didn’t open the Strait of Hormuz, bridges and power plants would be bombed.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F****** Strait, you crazy b*******, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account, and subsequently on X.

As the hours and minutes ticked off on Tuesday, and an anxious world waited for the 8PM EST showdown, rumors began to fly that perhaps the Persian civilization wouldn’t die that night after all.

“We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate,” Trump announced right before the deadline, in the manner of a reality show that builds suspense. “Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated.”

Are you sitting down for the sign off?

“On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.”

From “ending a whole civilization” in the morning to “close to resolution” at night.

Yes, of course it’s madness.

Trump has an advanced talent for obliterating boundaries. He’ll take a good idea—show strength in negotiations—and go berserk with it to the point that people assume he’s lost his mind.

I have friends who abhor his recklessness and vulgarity but focus only on outcomes. I have others who can’t get past the madness.

Given the very low likelihood that he will change his ways, our only consolation will be to hope for positive outcomes.

But before we do that, we should brace ourselves for two weeks of a “cease-fire” that promises nothing but fireworks.

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It Was Never About the Victims

Commentary, Opinion / Pamela Paresky

In December 2019, there was a series of violent attacks on visibly Orthodox Jews in New York City during Hanukkah. After the muted reactions in the media: “possibly antisemitic attacks” (The Guardian); and reports that the man who attacked worshippers in a Rabbi’s home with a machete had “no history of antisemitism” (The New York Times); I realized something about the progressive left — which claims to care about victims.

Given the lack of outrage (or even sympathy) regarding the Hanukkah attacks, it would be easy to conclude that if the victims are Jews, the progressive left (distinct from the liberal left) doesn’t care.

That’s true. But it’s not the whole picture.

One year earlier, progressives had seemed to care very much when Jews were victimized in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. “For months,” The New York Times reported, “Robert D. Bowers had been spewing his anger in post after post on the web, calling immigrants ‘invaders,’ distributing racist memes and asserting that Jews were the ‘enemy of white people.’”

Six months later, Jews were victims in the Poway California synagogue shooting, where, according to The New York Times, “a 19-year-old man armed with an AR-15-style gun stormed into the Chabad of Poway synagogue” where he “yelled antisemitic slurs at the 40 to 60 people there, screaming that Jews were ruining the world.” According to New York Times reporting, he “wanted to kill Jews and Muslims.” Progressives seemed to care about Jews then, too.

But that was an illusion.

Here’s the headline from a New York Times article once it was no longer possible to deny the antisemitic nature of the machete attack: “Suspect in Monsey Stabbings Searched Online for ‘Hitler,’ Charges Say.” “In his journal,” the first line of the article reads, “he referred to Hitler and ‘Nazi culture.’”

One would reasonably conclude that the attacker, like the Tree of Life and Chabad shooters, was a white supremacist. That is, unless one both read all the way into the 22nd paragraph, and also did some critical thinking about why, as that paragraph reveals, the suspect “was arrested in Harlem.”

After the coverage of these incidents, I came to the realization that Jewish victims are irrelevant. In fact, all victims are irrelevant, regardless of their identities. Identitarian progressives merely use victims (and sometimes nonvictims they claim are victims) to punish people of an identity category they classify as evil. When perpetrators are from an “evil” identity category, punishing them and elevating the profiles of their victims looks like supporting their victims. But if attacks on those same category of victims come from people in favored identity categories, the victimization of those they attack is suddenly invisible.

In contradistinction to those whose intact moral compass tells them that violently attacking another human being is immoral regardless of identity categories, the progressive imagination doesn’t find immorality in the act of violence at all. It locates morality in identity, not conduct.

When it was white supremacists who attacked Jews in Pittsburgh and Poway, it appeared as though the progressive left cared about Jewish victims because they decried that hate-fueled violence and insisted on justice. But when it was black men (and women) who attacked Jewish men, women, and children, The New York Times attempted to obscure the fact of the attackers’ identity category, and the progressive left didn’t seem to have the same passion for justice.

When it was a Muslim man who held Jews hostage in a Texas synagogue, thinking Jews control the world and could release from prison “Lady al-Qaeda” — a terrorist who demanded genetic testing to screen out “Zionist Jews” from her jury — the cognitive dissonance was so great that the hostage crisis was initially reported as (hold onto your seat): “not directly related to the Jewish community.”

When it was lunatic Islamist terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, the scale and sheer depravity of the attacks couldn’t be ignored. So, either it didn’t really happen, the Jews did it to themselves to frame Palestinians, or it was the Jews’ own fault that Palestinian terrorists had to resort to such barbarism.

The same people who championed “microaggression” trainings, who pushed Al Franken to resign during the height of the #MeToo excesses, and who consider the U.S. a “rape culture” were silent about the mass rapes perpetrated on Israelis on Oct. 7, and continued their silence after firsthand reports emerged of the sexual torture of Israeli hostages, both male and female. Rape-denier Briahna Joy Gray even rolled her eyes and then cut off Yarden Gonen as she pleaded for help for her sister, Romi Gonen, who was still being held hostage in Gaza.

As if all that weren’t enough, the imaginary atrocities that progressive antizionists have long accused the IDF of perpetrating against Palestinians are the real atrocities that Hamas perpetrated on Israeli victims — and is still perpetrating on Palestinians in Gaza today. (Follow @JusoorNews for news from Gaza not preapproved by terrorists.) On this oppression of Palestinians by Palestinian terrorists, the progressive left is also silent.

Worse, the demonization of Israelis is so complete that antizionists are even circulating recent video footage of Palestinians in the West Bank attacking other Palestinians, claiming that the video shows an attack by Israeli “settlers.” Which reminds me of when omni-cause activist Greta Thunberg posted an image of starved and skeletal Israeli hostage Evyatar David, decrying the “fact of systematic cruelty and dehumanization” against (wait for it): “Palestinian prisoners.” (She deleted the post and maintained her silence about Israeli hostages.)

This moral brokenness is evident among progressives who complain about “emotional labor” and the “gender pay gap” in the U.S., but can’t bring themselves to care about the brutal gender apartheid inflicted on the women of Iran — forced into second-class status, required to cover their heads and conform to an oppressive dress and behavior code, and when imprisoned, routinely raped. (This is apparently particularly common before a death sentence is carried out. The depraved ideology from which the ruling class derives its policies includes the belief that raping a woman prevents her from going to heaven.)

But instead of protesting this barbarism, or the murders of tens of thousands of peaceful Iranian protesters hoping to free themselves from an unbearable terrorist regime, Western progressives continue to protest only the Iranian deaths caused by Israeli and U.S. strikes — including condemning the elimination of, and in some cases holding vigils for, the architects and enforcers of the Iranian people’s decades-long oppression.

Because none of this is truly about victims. It never was.

“The issue is never the issue,” as the radical leftist doctrine goes. “The issue is always the revolution.”

A social psychologist with a clinical background, Pamela Paresky, PhD serves as an Associate at Harvard University in the Psychology Department, Senior Advisor to the Open Therapy Institute, Advisor to the Mindful Education Lab at NYU, and Senior Fellow at the Network Contagion Research Institute. In addition to The Jewish Journal, her work appears in Psychology Today, The Guardian, Politico, Sapir, The New York Times, and elsewhere. She has taught at Johns Hopkins, the University of Chicago, and the United States Air Force Academy. Her Habits of a Free Mind newsletter is on Substack. Follow her on Twitter at @PamelaParesky

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In Every Generation, ‘Egypt’ Returns — And Also Our Duty to Leave It

Commentary, Opinion / Micha Danzig

On Passover, Jews are commanded to see themselves as if they personally left Egypt.

That is not a ritual exercise. It is a demand.

Because Egypt is not just an ancient kingdom we left. It is something that comes back.

Not only as a place or a memory, but as a condition – the way power is organized, the way human beings are treated. And in every generation, the question is not whether the metaphorical “Egypt” exists. It is whether we recognize it – and whether we are willing to leave it again.

Sometimes “Egypt” is obvious.

It looks like physical subjugation, open enemies, regimes that seek to dominate, control or destroy. That version of Egypt has followed Jewish history in nearly every era — and it has returned in familiar form in our own time.

In 2026, it is not abstract.

It looks like a regime in Iran that executes protesters, imprisons thousands and uses repression as a governing strategy in plain view.

It looks like a system that treats its own citizens as expendable – and projects that same model outward through proxies that embed military infrastructure among civilians, turning entire populations into human shields.

That is “Egypt.”

But the metaphorical Egypt is not only external. It is also internal.

It is the quieter condition of dependence – of getting used to living at the mercy of others and calling that normal. It is the erosion of responsibility. The habit of waiting. The belief that survival depends on what others allow.

That is why the Exodus story does not begin and end with liberation.

Because Egypt was not just where we were enslaved. It was also a society and a set of organizing values that we had to leave behind.

Ancient Egypt was built on absolute power. A ruler treated as a god, as a “supreme leader.” A system in which most people existed as instruments, their value measured by their usefulness to the state. Entire populations organized around serving a central authority. No dignity. No rights. Only hierarchy and control.

Leaving Egypt wasn’t only escape. It was a rejection of that system.

What followed was something entirely different.

The Hebrew revolution did not replace one ruler with another. It replaced the premise of rule. Law stands above leaders. Power is limited. Obligations apply to everyone – including those who govern. A society not owned by a ruler but ordered by a far broader covenant.

A people responsible for themselves, under God – not subjects of a regime.

But that did not happen when we escaped Pharoh’s clutches at the sea.

Crossing the sea ended slavery. It did not create a nation.

That happens at Mt. Sinai.

At Sinai, freedom was given structure. Law was accepted. Limits on power were set. Responsibility as a people began. Without Sinai, the Exodus is just an escape from bondage – temporary and reversible. Sinai is what made that freedom durable.

That is why the command in the Haggadah telling of the Passover story does not end with memory.

We are told to see ourselves as if we are leaving Egypt now.

Because “Egypt” returns – through habits, assumptions and the constant pull toward dependence.

Freedom is not a feeling. It is built.

It looks like sovereignty.

It looks like the ability to defend yourself.

It looks like taking responsibility for your own future.

And in 2026, the contrast could not be clearer.

On one side are regimes and movements that invest in power over people – executing dissent, indoctrinating children, militarizing children, embedding weapons among civilians and leaving their populations exposed.

On the other is a society that invests in protecting its people — early warning systems, shelters in and near homes, layered missile defense and the expectation that the state’s first obligation is to safeguard civilian life.

One model is subservient to a “supreme leader” and treats human beings as expendable. The other treats their protection as the point.

That is not a slogan. It is a governing philosophy.

And it is the modern continuation of the choice first made at Sinai.

Because if the Exodus were happening today, it would not end with escape. It would culminate – as it did then – in building the conditions that make sure you do not end up back in “Egypt.”

But the Passover Haggadah gives a second instruction.

Do not forget Egypt.

Do not forget what it felt like to have no control. No protection. No say over your own future.

That memory is not there to weaken you. It is there to discipline you.

Because there are two ways to fail.

One is to forget Egypt entirely.

Power turns into complacency – and then into imitation. Law weakens. Limits erode. Strength becomes entitlement.

At that point, you are no longer leaving Egypt. You are rebuilding it.

The other failure is the opposite.

It is to stay mentally in “Egypt” – to internalize dependence, to wait for others to act, to accept vulnerability as permanent. That does not survive.

The Jewish story sits between those two dangers.

Memory without paralysis. Power without corruption.

And “in every generation” means exactly that.

Not every Pharaoh calls himself Pharaoh. Sometimes the threat is obvious. Sometimes it is quieter – embedded in systems, in expectations, in habits.

But our obligation doesn’t change.

Are we living like people who take responsibility for their future – and who use power within the limits of our laws – or like people who wait for others to decide for them, or alternatively, who wield power the way Egypt did?

That is the lesson we must carry forth from the Seder. Not just to tell the story about what happened then. But to look at what we are doing now.

Because leaving Egypt was a moment.

Staying out of it is a choice.

And every generation decides – whether it will build something different – or become “Egypt” again.

Micha Danzig served in the Israeli Army and is a former police officer with the NYPD. He is currently an attorney and is very active with numerous Jewish and pro-Israel organizations, including Stand With Us and the FIDF, and is a national board member of Herut North America.

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Karpas – a poem

Judaism, Poetry / Rick Lupert

Did you know, when dipping twice,
it doesn’t have to be celery, or a green

like parsley, but could be any vegetable
except what goes in the maror?

You could use a rutabaga or cabbage, or a potato.
An artichoke, or cauliflower, or fennel will do.

Maybe a radish, but that gets into bitter territory.
So better play it safe.

Did you know, the Hebrew word karpas,
could have been a mistranslation from a similar

word which means cotton?
I’m asking you these questions because

the point may be to ask questions.
You don’t have to stop at the famous four.

You can question until the angel of death
passes over, and then a few millennia more.

We’ve been questioning this whole time
As for cotton, I’m not surprised another

people’s symbol of slavery is loosely
related to ours. I’ll dip anything twice

if it means slavery is a distant memory.
The world has been so salty lately.

Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 29 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.” Visit him at www.JewishPoetry.net

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A Four Seasons Escape in Orlando and Kissimmee

Blogs, Commentary, Travel / Lisa Ellen Niver

Thank you Pasdena Magazine for publishing my article: “A Four Seasons Escape in Orlando and Kissimmee,” in print and online.

This central Florida getaway offers Michelin-star dining, high-energy adventures, and indulgent experiences

By Lisa Niver • Mar 27, 2026

LUXURY AND DISNEY aren’t always mentioned in the same breath, at least not in the way seasoned travelers think about serenity, design, and indulgence. But my recent time in central Florida revealed a destination that quietly excels at blending imagination with refinement, childhood wonder with sophistication, and iconic attractions with moments of pure bliss and calm.

Together, the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee create a richer, more surprising travel story than theme parks alone. From floating a lazy river and diving beneath EPCOT to Michelin-starred dining, this region of Florida lets you relax deeply, play freely, and rediscover wonder at any age.

Sleeping Like Royalty My park view suite at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort felt less like a hotel room and more like a private retreat in the sky. Expansive marble bathrooms, generous living space, and an oversized terrace made it easy to settle in. By night, Walt Disney World fireworks sparkled in the distance, visible right from my balcony, immersive, magical, and blissfully crowd-free.

Make a Splash Mornings often began with lap swimming at the adults-only Oasis Pool, surrounded by palm trees and stillness. Later, I drifted fully into vacation mode at Explorer Island, floating the lazy river beneath blue skies and lush landscaping. The resort’s pools, water park, spa, and grounds offer endless options without ever feeling overwhelming, a signature Four Seasons balance.

Dining at the Very Top Dinner at Capa, the resort’s Spanish-influenced rooftop steakhouse, was a standout. Located on the 17th floor, Capa has held its Michelin Star since the resort opened, and one evening there made it easy to understand why. The room is stunning with warm woods, sculptural furniture, an open kitchen with a wood-burning grill, and indoor-outdoor seating overlooking the nightly fireworks. Our meal featured expertly grilled steak, crave-worthy small plates, seasonal sides like white asparagus, and churros to finish. Thoughtful service from Jared and Luis, paired with great conversation and new friends, made the evening linger long after the last bite.

Breakfast, Disney-Style Four Seasons also delivers one of the most joyful Disney experiences I’ve ever had: Good Morning Breakfast with Goofy & Friends at Ravello. Options include made-to-order omelets, pancakes with a full topping bar, waffles, French toast, hot cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, pastries, smoothies, and more. Servers Donovan and Kristen kept everything flowing seamlessly, while professional photography, instantly available through the Walt Disney World app, made it effortless to stay present.

Watch my videos from adventures in Florida:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv_jKkCiDQcSAl0mFGB4KyeZ9tGhNOJ_p

Spa Time Between adventures, I carved out time at the Spa at Four Seasons Orlando, beginning with the Healing Honey treatment. Warm honey, soothing techniques, and extra-wide treatment tables made it deeply restorative. My therapist, Efrain, delivered one of those rare treatments that feels not just relaxing, but genuinely renewing. Afterward, I lingered in the light-filled solarium, letting the experience fully settle in, the perfect pause between high-energy adventures and indulgent evenings.

Bucket-List Dive at EPCOT One of the most unforgettable moments of the trip happened underwater at EPCOT Seas Adventures – DiveQuest. Inside the 5.7-million-gallon aquarium, I fulfilled a lifelong bucket-list dream: scuba diving alongside a hammerhead shark. Surrounded by sharks, rays, and sea turtles in calm, crystal-clear water, the experience was exhilarating and peaceful.

Top Tier at Reunion Kissimmee adds another dimension entirely. Known as the “vacation home capital of the world,” the area offers homes across a wide range of sizes and price points, delivering true affordable luxury for families and groups. Our night at a Top Tier at Reunion vacation home was fun and fabulous. We enjoyed a two-lane bowling alley, golf simulator, basketball court, and game room, flowing into a catered dinner, live music, and drinks by the pool. With features like themed rooms, an elevator, and resort-style amenities, it felt less like a rental and more like a private playground designed for celebration.

Wild Florida Kissimmee’s appeal isn’t only man-made. I climbed aboard an airboat with Wild Florida, a family-owned operation, gliding across wetlands and spotting alligators in their natural habitat, a thrilling reminder of central Florida’s wild beauty.

Timeless Traditions and Charm Lunch at the iconic Columbia Restaurant, family-owned since 1905, offered a connection to tradition. Their legendary original salad remains unchanged, a delicious symbol of continuity in a region where many businesses are proudly multigenerational. A visit to Celebration, Disney’s thoughtfully designed town inspired by EPCOT’s original ideals, revealed charming streets, lakeside paths, and a sense of community that feels both nostalgic and intentional.