I was four-years-old the first time I stepped onto Main Street U.S.A in Disney World.  A vendor was holding what looked like hundreds of mylar Mickey Mouse balloons, Cinderella’s Castle made me realize that my love for fairy tales was in fact a reality, (something even today, I still can’t help but still believe in,) and Snow White came out of nowhere and gave me a giant, wonderful, made my four years on Earth complete, hug. 

I remember telling my older brother (he was seven) that I would never take a bath again. “That’s gross, Katie,” he said.  ”Why won’t you take a bath?”  Shocked that I had to state the obvious, “Snow White hugged me,” I replied, “I don’t want the magic to rub off.” 

Over the years Disney has had their change in stars and movies.  From Britney Spears in the Mickey Mouse Club, to the Lion King.  Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato to the High School Musical franchise and Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus.  Disney is always changing, always coming up with new ideas and talents.  But there is one thing that has never and will never change, the sense of home and the magic that every person in every age range will take away from spending just one day in the park. 

I don’t know how they do it, but they do.  I have heard birds talking to one another inside birdhouses while waiting in line for Splash Mountain.  I have seen Tinkerbell fly through the sky announcing the start of the Electric Light Parade (and on Christmas, Rudolph.)  I have traveled back in time to when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, sat inside the Tree of Life with thousands of my favorite insects (all fake of course,) and gone on a tubing ride through Kilimanjaro in Africa.  One thing is for sure is the definition of Disney has to be magic. 

Now that I am twenty-three years old, I figured that there was nothing new for me to see.  I was of course, wrong.  Some of my most fondest memories have happened over dinner in Paris at EPCOT, or scaring myself half-to-death on the zero to sixty MPH in six seconds on the Aerosmith Ride (but any ride is fantastic when you get to have Steven Tyler singing in your ear, it’s like your own personal concert,) even the parades have gotten more and more spectacular.   

The point is that Disney, while it is a corporation, is also like that grandparent you love to visit.  The kind that shares old stories about exciting adventures, the kind that welcomes you with open arms, and the one that has amazing food.  It’s the kind of place where when you leave, you can’t help but feel a little sad, but the memories you gain at the age of four or forty will last a lifetime, and a lifetime is a really long time.