Call me sentimental but all this expansion with Fantasyland and the debut of Cars Land at Disney's California Adventure makes me wonder what Walt would think of the progress of his parks.
During my last visit to Disneyland I was delighted to be able to take the "Walk in Walt's Footsteps" tour. When we arrived at our meeting place for the tour and began chatting with one another I was surprised how many people had taken the tour before, some numerous times.
When the tour finished I could easily see how this "walk" would leave you coming back for more. On more than one occasion I found myself teared up, particularly when stories of Walt and his beloved Disneyland were playing in my earpiece. Standing in the center of MainStreet and listening to Walt's opening day dedication speech gave me goosebumps and made me see the castle as a huge testament to Walt's passion to chase his dreams and less like something you'd see on a put put golf course.
For those of us who "grew up Disney" we remember how we felt the first time the "flowers crooned" in the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki room and how amazed we were at the "birds (who) sing words". We felt like we were flying when we took off with Peter Pan over Neverland and couldn't believe our eyes when we saw an elephant fly. These memories are the one's we hold dear, the one's we'll never forget and the ones we want to share with our families. The Disney experience transcends time and space and a simple photo or song can take you back to the place where you've had your fondest memories.
Soon we'll welcome the opening of "New Fantasyland", we've already seen the dueling Dumbos with the fantastic interactive queu that's eliminating meltdowns during the wait times to board the flying pachyderm. Dumbo is looking better than ever before in his new Big Top circus tent area and we couldn't be more delighted that Casey Jr.'s circus rolled into town. The Great Goofini is taking tiny adventurers on their first coaster and then cooling them off in Casey Jr.'s splash zone.
Soon we'll be taking a Voyage Under the Sea with Ariel and friends and we'll sing along with the "hot Crustacean band" and listen to a story in the library of Beasts Castle. We'll dine among the enchantment of Lumiere and be his guest and then raise a glass to Gaston in his tavern.
When you take those first steps into New Fantasyland don't forget the hard workers who made all these dreams become reality. If it takes a village to raise a child, you can't imagine what it takes to makes a Fantasy come to life. The astoundingly talented Imagineers who took a brilliant vision and turned it into an entirely new world of Fantasy for our children to experience. The forward thinkers who've learned from the past and planned for the future and the merchandise team who selected the perfect souvenirs to take your memories home.
Now that we have an open date and know when we can rush through the gates to conquer all that New Fantasyland has to offer, we can take a moment and say thank you to all the wonderful people who made it happen, like we should have been doing all along.
No matter which gates you're rushing through to get your Disney fix, never forget what Walt had in mind: “Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy".
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