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Disney and friends are my cup of tea.

I love getting dolled up for a dance just as much the next person, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to spend the time and the money to get ready for every single school dance.

I don’t have any boy to wrap my arms around or a tie to match my dress to, nor do I need one. Going with a group of friends can be just as fun as going with a date.

So like every basic Winter Formal ditcher, my friends and I this year decided to travel to the happiest place on earth instead: Disneyland.

We didn’t just skip the dance and go straight to Disney to follow social norm. It’s because when compared, Disneyland offers more than Winter Formal ever could.

Financially, I feel like I got more of my money’s worth at Disneyland than I would at Formal.

A winter formal ticket cost 85 dollars, and compared to Disneyland’s 99 dollar ticket it would seem that Disney would be more costly, but that’s before you register all the other costs.

By the time you buy a dress at a price of 45 dollars, get your makeup done at a 50 dollar rate, buy a new pair of a shoes for minimum of 30 dollars, and factors in paying for bus and dinner at around 60 dollars, you could have gone to Disney twice with the same amount and still have enough money for food.

That’s just accounting for girls, but even for guys after cost of a suit, tie and corsage it would have been pretty close to the same amount.

While some may argue I’m missing out on “the high school experience”, I’m not completely boycotting all dances as a whole.

Homecoming is a must-go-to dance for me: it’s the first formal dance of the year and the only dance at SMCHS were girls can wear short dresses. As for Prom, the answer is obvious. It doesn’t take watching hundreds of movies surrounding the topic of Prom to know you must attend or you’ll “regret it forever”.

But no one really mentions the importance of Winter Formal, and it’s with good reason they don’t. Winter Formal is just another dance thrown in there to keep everyone sane until Prom comes around.

Winter Formal to me seems like a waste of time. It’s not early enough in the school year for me to be pepped about it and it has nowhere near as close the anticipation as Prom.

Disney has the capability to bring me right back to my childhood and as corny as it sounds, it rejuvenates me with hope and wonder. Simply, Disney makes me want to dream again.

At Disneyland I got the chance to adventure alongside Indiana Jones, drink tea with the Mad Hatter, travel through the mystery of the Tarzan Tree House and fly through Peter Pan’s world. Disney is where my little girl’s dream come true. Winter Formal doesn’t even come close to that.

I can wear a princess crown all day and re-discover my long lost imagination. I can eat a churro, fluffy cotton candy, ice cream and more and not worry about the tight bind of my dress or messing up my makeup.

At Disneyland I become someone else: a carefree spirt that doesn’t worry about what I eat, how I look or what people think of me. My only worry is to be happy. If I were to have gone to Winter Formal there would have been more concern over drama than magic.

I’d rather spend my money on something that will last me a full day and a lifetime of memories rather than spending all my money for a great Instagram picture and a three-hour dance where everyone leaves early.