DisneyLAND

I suddenly have a persistent desire to go to Disneyland. I don’t think it needs to be said that I LOVE Walt Disney World beyond words; WDW is home to a part of my heart that waits for me in Florida until I return. That sounds really sad, actually, but it is a good thing!!

I always felt that if I am going to go to a Disney park it should be the ones in Florida, those where my memories are attached. Walt Disney World is so much larger with four parks instead of two, dozens of hotels instead of three, etc.

However I have recently realized that a huge part of the American Disney Experience is missing for me. Disneyland is the original park; it is where Walt’s vision came alive. There are attractions and shows that I have never seen, lands that are slightly different and details that I have yet to explore!!

I looked up pictures of Disneyland today and my eyes were as wide as Mickey’s as I reviewed the attractions in store. Alice in Wonderland dark ride? Why yes, please, I have never been on that before!!!

Let me try to explain this excitement to non-Disney freaks. Imagine your favorite Sports team has been playing another additional season which you have never seen; wouldn’t you be desperate to get more of the action!? But that’s not quite the best way to describe it, hmmmm. Let’s take, say, your favorite Restaurant!! Your favorite is BW3’s and what if suddenly they have twice as many sauces to choose from, the flavors you have never tasted are endless!!! Or you are a skier, you love to ski (God love ya, I hate hurdling down hill on ice in the cold but I don’t judge) and your favorite ski resort opens up 6 additional slopes!! I think that is what they are called, slopes, lanes? Heck if I know but hopefully you get the point.

Nothing really can describe this discovery but I feel that I am being called as a pilgrim might to an unknown far away land where new adventures cloaked in familiar magic await me. I dreamed last night that I saw Sleeping Beauty Castle for the first time so I am pretty sure that is a sign from Walt that my acceptance into that great Mickey Mouse Club in the sky is pending a stroll down the Original Main Street, USA.

P.S. I know how to get someone else I know to come with me: HEY PAUL, they still have Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride!!!