A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Make

So as i mentioned in my intro posts, I plan to blog A LOT about Disney! So I figured with my trip being less then a week away I would save planning blogs and things like that until my return and begin with a little what Disney means to me post. For myself and I'm sure all disnerds Disney represents childhood. Not just the fact that many of us grew up watching Disney films, it's more than that. Disney has managed to capture and embody the magic, the feelings of childhood, in a fantastic way.

I myself had a far from ideal childhood one of my parents had anger and substance abuse problems and the other had untreated mental health problems; a perfect storm.

When asked to think of my very first memory, nothing positive comes to mind the first images are flashes of fear and rage not the type you wish to share. One thing I remember is a framed picture of the fab 4 : Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy smiling in front of Cinderella's castle at Walt Disney World I had on my wall when I was 4 or 5. I remember my dad promising that if he ever won the lottery he would take me to Disney world first thing (this seemed like hope), and wishing on every dandelion, birthday candle, shooting star and first star I see tonight I wish I may, I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight, and I wished to go to that magical happy place where you could live a fairy tale and no one yells and no one cries.

When I was a kid I watched all of the Disney classics my favorites were (in no particular order) Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. I always watched TV shows and films and imagined being there, anywhere but where I was, surrounded by magic where wishes come true and happy endings reign. You could be a princess or pirate or anything you dreamed as long as you had faith, trust and maybe some pixie dust. Disney taught me that in the end good will win, and bad will lose and that anything you really wanted could happen n matter where you started from. 

Some of my good childhood and Disney memories were from one of my best friends growing up who had a Disney themed play room, it was THE COOLEST! His dad had painted the walls yellow with characters all over it, it was almost as if they were there playing with you as we escaped lava and crocodiles ; we'd play pretend games and sit on the floor pick out one of those balky yet soft giant VHS cases and watch Disney movies with Snow White and her friends.

Growing up Disney was escape, it represented happiness and all things good and while I've grown and moved on I've never given up those wishes, still every year every wish is the same. I should note that dad should it ever come up has worked on a lot of his problems and is much better and healthier for it and we're able to finally have a good relationship, so credit where credit is due. Anyways now that I am grown and all those problems are long behind the wish has stayed, the symbol has held on and now finally at the ripe ol' age of 24 I am finally making my wish come true! In a little less then a week I will be at Disney World, at the time I am currently typing I will be eating dinner at Trails End hopefully being served by chef Tj (fingers crossed). I feel like Rapunzel about to see the lantern terrified both of it living up to expectations but equally scared of it not meeting them, and soon needing to find a new dream.

a new wish

That new dream, what I think or at least hope it will be is to start a family. I want to adopt a little boy or girl and on our family day when everything is finalized I want to take them on a Disney vacation and start discovering the magic with a new generation and giving them everything I wished I had had and helping the best I can to make their new wishes come true.

...And dreams really do come true...

disboards.com