Zeke370
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2014
- Messages
- 39
I meant to submit this as a blog article, but I think it is a better question here. What does Disney mean to you? Below is my blog article response to this question. It may seem like a short rambling, but I feel it captures the essence of the question for me. Please share your thoughts and feelings on Disney.
What Disney Means To Me:
I was a late comer to the Disney Parks. I did not go to Disneyland until I was 30 for my honeymoon. I have always been a fan of Disney movies, but every chance I’ve had to go to a Disney park I’ve never been able to afford to go. It was May 2003 I was staying in Tampa Bay FL and a friend came to visit me at my hotel. We took a drive to Orlando, but unfortunately the cost of the trip to Tampa cost me more than I would’ve liked. So while driving around Orlando we saw Epcot Center from a distance it was at that point that I decided I have to find a way of going to Walt Disney World.
Fast-forward to 2006, in June of this year I moved up to Washington after having just spent a year living in Oregon. I moved in with my then girlfriend, now wife, Allison and her mother and during this time we grew closer and closer as couple. Between the time we started living together and getting married we started watching several Disney movies together both in theater and at home. In 2010 I propose to Allison and then started our plans for low-key wedding and her mother offered to pay for a honeymoon to Disneyland.
My first trip to Disneyland was four days in the park with the park hopper pass. We spent the months leading up to it planning a route through Disneyland (DL) and Disney California Adventure (DCA) and we did not expect to get through each park in one day with our plan. Our plan around DL was to go counter clockwise through Tomorrowland and work around the perimeter. In DCA it was the opposite, we went clockwise through Hollywood Land. It was an interesting four days at the parks where we met two new friends.
Since meeting those friends we have had the opportunity to spend a vacation with friends who are, just like my wife and I, Disney fanatics. Those friends live in California (CA) and have annual passes, while we remained up in Washington State (WA). Since they knew that we could not afford trips to DL every year, they decided to come up to WA for a vacation with us in 2012. In 2013 we went back to DL and in 2014 our friends came back to WA. This year, 2015, we are breaking/keeping our tradition and going on a cruise through Disney Cruise Line (DCL).
The reason for all this back story is that Disney has brought into my life family and friends who know what it means to be family. Disney through all the stories, on the silver screen and through the visions that Walt Disney had with his theme parks, has allowed everyone who goes to a movie or through a park gate to leave the real world behind for a few hours. To dream of dreams that let us be children again and for children to wish to never grow-up.
Through those dreams, Walt’s company reached a man, who with the right technology at the right time, has been bring like-minded people together to share ideas and stories. My love of Disney brought to search for many different sources of information about DCL and I came upon a website called www.disboards.com. I also found their podcasts on YouTube and iTunes and after many months of listening and watching, I have found that my personal knowledge has grown.
In closing I find that Disney as whole tries to bring families and friends together. It also tries to bring people together that make a larger family, a Disney Ohana. What Disney means to me is that I am a part of a larger family that when we can get together, whether at the parks, cruise, or Adventures by Disney, we can share stories and experiences. I look forward to meeting everyone I can when I travel to the Wonderful Worlds of Disney.
What Disney Means To Me:
I was a late comer to the Disney Parks. I did not go to Disneyland until I was 30 for my honeymoon. I have always been a fan of Disney movies, but every chance I’ve had to go to a Disney park I’ve never been able to afford to go. It was May 2003 I was staying in Tampa Bay FL and a friend came to visit me at my hotel. We took a drive to Orlando, but unfortunately the cost of the trip to Tampa cost me more than I would’ve liked. So while driving around Orlando we saw Epcot Center from a distance it was at that point that I decided I have to find a way of going to Walt Disney World.
Fast-forward to 2006, in June of this year I moved up to Washington after having just spent a year living in Oregon. I moved in with my then girlfriend, now wife, Allison and her mother and during this time we grew closer and closer as couple. Between the time we started living together and getting married we started watching several Disney movies together both in theater and at home. In 2010 I propose to Allison and then started our plans for low-key wedding and her mother offered to pay for a honeymoon to Disneyland.
My first trip to Disneyland was four days in the park with the park hopper pass. We spent the months leading up to it planning a route through Disneyland (DL) and Disney California Adventure (DCA) and we did not expect to get through each park in one day with our plan. Our plan around DL was to go counter clockwise through Tomorrowland and work around the perimeter. In DCA it was the opposite, we went clockwise through Hollywood Land. It was an interesting four days at the parks where we met two new friends.
Since meeting those friends we have had the opportunity to spend a vacation with friends who are, just like my wife and I, Disney fanatics. Those friends live in California (CA) and have annual passes, while we remained up in Washington State (WA). Since they knew that we could not afford trips to DL every year, they decided to come up to WA for a vacation with us in 2012. In 2013 we went back to DL and in 2014 our friends came back to WA. This year, 2015, we are breaking/keeping our tradition and going on a cruise through Disney Cruise Line (DCL).
The reason for all this back story is that Disney has brought into my life family and friends who know what it means to be family. Disney through all the stories, on the silver screen and through the visions that Walt Disney had with his theme parks, has allowed everyone who goes to a movie or through a park gate to leave the real world behind for a few hours. To dream of dreams that let us be children again and for children to wish to never grow-up.
Through those dreams, Walt’s company reached a man, who with the right technology at the right time, has been bring like-minded people together to share ideas and stories. My love of Disney brought to search for many different sources of information about DCL and I came upon a website called www.disboards.com. I also found their podcasts on YouTube and iTunes and after many months of listening and watching, I have found that my personal knowledge has grown.
In closing I find that Disney as whole tries to bring families and friends together. It also tries to bring people together that make a larger family, a Disney Ohana. What Disney means to me is that I am a part of a larger family that when we can get together, whether at the parks, cruise, or Adventures by Disney, we can share stories and experiences. I look forward to meeting everyone I can when I travel to the Wonderful Worlds of Disney.
