We don’t always get a chance to confront our childhood fears. Thanks to two of my crazy sisters, I will get that opportunity later this year. I’m going to Disney World.

Well, all of us are as part of a small-scale Shea invasion. This is nothing new for my siblings, some of whom go once or twice a year and have planned this particular family jaunt.

I haven’t been to Disney since one summer in the early 1970s when I celebrated a birthday – I either turned 5 or 6, I forget – at the happiest place on earth. My memories are far from happy.

First of all, the characters scared the you know what out of me. I’m probably not as tall as the people in costumes now, so imagine what they looked like to a small child.

Add in the fact that my brothers probably told me the characters were going to be mean to me. I don’t know that this happened, but these are the guys who used to hang me down our laundry chute so anything was possible.

I didn’t get near any of the characters to my best recollection. If I did, I’m sure I had plenty of space between us for protection or held the hand of someone who I trusted wouldn’t let them hurt me.

My birthday at Disney also ranks as one of my least-favorite memories from childhood. I remember it pretty clearly thanks to home movies. There I was, at a table, all excited. What comes around the corner? An army of people carrying a cake and singing. I had no idea who they were.

I cried.

So you can see that I have lots of demons to exorcise. I haven’t really had a good opportunity to go down to Disney until now.

Before we had a kid, I didn’t see the point in heading down there. The family did plan a trip to Orlando one year, but they left three weeks after Bridget was born. My sisters still claim we should have brought her. Yeah, right.

Almost six years later, Bridget will get her first taste of Disney. To say she is excited would be an insult to excited people.

I made the mistake of showing her the Web site for the hotel where we will stay. She has spent plenty of time exploring that site as well as the one showing some of the Magic Kingdom’s top attractions.

One of her favorite aspects of the whole trip is how her bed will be within mere feet of Maria and I. We’re thrilled.

This will also mark Maria’s first trip to Disney and she’s trying to find out where they serve wine and Cosmopolitans. They call it the happiest place on earth, she points out, so there’s gotta be a Happy Hour somewhere. She has a point.

So we all have something to look forward to when we meet up with 20 or so other Sheas.

I just hope I can get up the courage to talk to some characters. I’m sure Bridget will hold my hand if I’m scared. I might need that.