60th Birthday for the Magic Kingdom
Disneyland is the same age as Jim so this would have been Jim’s sixtieth year! Wow – that is so hard to fathom right now as it sounds so old! (No offense intended to anyone in the same category) I was watching one of several specials and news reports the other day when Disneyland was starting its anniversary celebration and I saw a clip of several famous celebrities recounting their favorite Disney moments and rides. For example, Steve Martin told how he used to work in Merlin’s magic shop and recently bought the original sign for the shop when it came up on E-bay. That’s cool. Helen Mirren shared how she went skeptically and was so captivated by the happiest place on earth that she took her mom back to play! Several others shared their favorite moments and their first or best memories. It was a short vignette but long enough to captivate me as I started to remember my experiences at this magical Kingdom.
The last person to share was Julie Andrews who shared that the first time she went to Disneyland she went with Walt Disney himself! As she relayed her experience of being at the park with the creator of such an iconic place she recalled the people who could not get enough of this genius and how they crowded around for a glimpse, trying to touch his clothes, take a picture with him and reach out for an autograph. She shared how kind and generous he was to everyone and how unassuming. Her words gave me goose bumps as I imagined just how amazing would it be to be there with Walt himself!
And that is when “it” hit me! Think about it! Words like Kingdom, Creator, Magical, Happiest place on earth jumped out at me! One day I will be at the happiest Kingdom EVER with the Creator of it all and that is where Jim (and others) are now! Additionally, there will be NO lines, no annual passes, no costs, and it will be my home rather than just a place to visit. The fun will never end! How magical is that?! Not only will I NOT just be one of the crowd, Jesus will be focused on me! At the same time he cannot be contained and will be giving the same love and attention to every soul at the same moment! Talk about joyful!
My family used to sing, “Keep your eyes open for Disneyland…” as we drove to spend the day with Mickey; today I am learning to keep my eyes open for the real thing and to make sure and help as many as I can to have admission tickets in hand! Â In the meantime as I wait for entrance to heaven, which is a magical land of restoration, Happy Birthday to my favorite “go to” place on earth!
Hooray for our favorite place on earth!
My fondest memories of DLand are when my dad used to take us each year over Memorial Day weekend. He would come into my room to wake me up at 4:30 am so we could begin the 7 hour drive from Watsonville to Anaheim. Each year he would say something different to wake me up (but along the same theme) such as “Well, Cam, I just got off the phone with Mickey and he said for you to get outta bed and get down there cuz he can’t wait to see you! So get up!†(I was not a morning person when I was little…) Or…â€Tinker Bell just called and said if we don’t leave pretty soon we might miss her flight across the Matterhorn†(which of course wasn’t true since we would get to the Jolly Roger Inn (our fave hotel) in plenty of time to check in and get over to the park. Or “Goofy told us last year when we left that we need to get there earlier this year so come on, Cam! Get up!†But I just loved each year hearing what different little way Dad was going to wake me up the morning of the big trip. Silly, eh?