#and was promptly reminded of pinocchio/red

[thedisneydoc]

To all who come to this happy place: Welcome.

Back in the days before it was outrageously expensive and extremely fashionable, my parents and I were OG Disneyland Annual Passholders. We lived 15 minutes from the (then singular) park, and we went almost every weekend we could manage it. This was how I grew up at Disneyland.

It was before the days of Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney, back when all of it was an outdoor sprawling parking lot. I remember that because I was young, I had less adult nonsense to fill my brain, so I always remembered where we had parked. There were more creative characters marking the lots back then, like Pinocchio and Simba. One of my earliest memories is of my parents bickering over where they had left the car, when I spoke up: “Simba 5C!” Or something like that. They looked at me with such surprise, and asked me how I could remember that. I shrugged, and said, “It’s easy.” I never understood how they could forget where we parked until I grew up to be an adult myself. After that, it was always my special job to remind them of the specific combo marking where our big red van was parked.

Disneyland is where I have a lot of special memories from my childhood. I vaguely remember the day when I no longer needed a stroller to survive a whole day at the park. My parents were so proud and excited. And then they promptly sold my favorite stroller in a quietly emotional (it was emotional for me at least) garage sale. I remember when they started shutting down parts of the parking lot and putting up big fences. I remember the wonder and curiosity my mother and I had as we watched the skeleton of a roller coaster and then a ferris wheel begin to rise above the tall fence line. I remember watching the old Lion King parade, then the Hercules and Mulan parades as each movie came out. I shook hands with Hercules himself on two separate occasions during those parades, and I’m pretty sure I had my first little Disney crush right then and there. I used to watch Aladdin and Jasmine tell stories at Aladdin’s Oasis in front of the great Cave of Wonders. I saw the Hunchback of Notre Dame Festival of Fools at Big Thunder Ranch. My favorite ride was the original Submarine Voyage because I was obsessed with mermaids and I loved to spot the animatronic ones from my porthole as we cruised by. When Disney California Adventure opened, my mother brought me on opening week. I rode the Tower of Terror and survived, earning myself a commemorative sticker that is still, to this day, stuck on the hat I wore that day. I rode the Orange stinger and Soared Over California. I got a road rash from riding Mulholland Drive.

I knew Disneyland and DCA inside and out by the time we had to move farther north. We had a final weekend at Disneyland with our annual pass, and then we left. After that I would come back twice a year, once for my birthday and once for spring break when they had 2-fer ticket deals. It never lost its magic. But the farther away I was from Disney and the more I grew up, the more I forgot about it. When I finally moved 6 hours away for college, I didn’t even miss it anymore. Fate, and probably even something more divine, finally helped me rediscover Disney when I moved back to LA for graduate school. I splurged on an Annual Pass again, and the magic hit me HARD.

I had rediscovered Disney right at the beginning of a new Golden Age for people in my generation. I joined the Disney small shop community and began using my passion for crafting to create Disney magic for others. I met several new friends and created lasting friendships through the Disney community. I began on a new journey to imagination that I didn’t realize was waiting for me.

Rediscovering Disney as an adult has been life-changing and so much more exciting than it was when I was a kid. I’m here to share both the old and the new magic I’ve discovered with you, just so I can get all that pixie dust off my mind and on to the page. So... “To who all who come to this happy place: welcome.” Let’s share the magic together.