Did you know most people can tell that you’ve got a smile on your face just by seeing your eyes? It’s true. Smiley eyes are a thing and with face masks being required at so many public locations, making sure to wear your smile is still important, too – especially in photos.

I’ve seen so many posts recently with folks being disappointed in having to don face masks in their photos while visiting the Walt Disney World theme parks. Complaints I’ve seen range from the heat in Florida to the lack of smiles in all their photos and the majority of folks have expressed that their vacation photos will be ruined because of the mask-wearing requirements.

Image: @nowthatsjustgay

Look, I get it. A face mask covering up ¾ of your face is not ideal for family photos during your dreamy Disney vacation. Kind of like how my daughter’s outfit of choice for picture day in first grade consisted of Army drab green and pink camouflage capris with a black and white striped shirt; catch my drift? This was definitely not my idea of the perfect picture day outfit, but, it is what it is right now when it comes to vacationing and if we want to soak in the magic that the Disney theme parks are offering us right now, we need to make the best of it. Dare I say, we need to make lemonade out of those lemons?

I look at this situation the same way that I look at most things; we have two choices, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of you who know even the smallest thing about me.

First, we can choose to look at Disney’s face mask rules in a negative light and focus on the fact that our photos will look different because our faces aren’t showing completely, or how it’s nine-thousand degrees out, or we can even fixate on how annoying it is that our sunglasses fog up the minute we step out of an air-conditioned space to go outside, but I like my second option far better; here goes…

You have to know that in a few years, (hopefully) the COVID-19 pandemic will be far behind us and we can sit around with friends talking about how ridiculous 2020 was. And when the ones too young to remember say that they can’t believe it was as crazy as we say – think walking to school uphill both ways – we’ll pull out the photos and show them our lack of exaggeration.

Image: @carlyewisel

So, how about coordinating your outfits with your face mask designs with each of the members of your party? You can even add a Mickey or Minnie Mouse Ear headband that goes with your mask. There are so many incredibly talented people who are selling handmade face masks in their Etsy shops that it kind of blows my mind. People are so creative and I always find it fulfilling to support small businesses anyway. You can even customize your own DIS face mask – there is a SUPER CUTE “Disney Parks Snacks”-themed one that would be way too cute with a Mickey Bar Ear headband.

If you keep in mind that your actual smile is not the only way to show that you’re smiling, your eyes will tell the tale as well. Just look closely at the photos I’ve shared and you’ll see what I mean.

Hopefully, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how your photos turn out from your “modified” Disney vacation. We’d love to see your pics, so hop over to our Facebook page and share them in the comments section!