Some people will roll their eyes when you talk about your latest trip to Disney World, wordlessly telling you that you need to grow up and travel somewhere more adult. That you need to stop acting like a little kid.
They don’t understand why seeing Cinderella’s Castle or watching Tinker Bell fly through the air before the fireworks makes you feel the way you feel. They don’t get how an amusement park could hold so much power over you.
You’re obsessed with Disney, because it reminds you of when you were younger. When you still believed that magic existed — and, more importantly, when you believed that kindness existed. When you thought that people were good-hearted and that your future was filled with potential.
You’re obsessed with Disney, because it gives you an escape. It lets you forget about the problems of adult life. It gives you a chance to avoid answering emails and leave your laptop at home — even if it’s only for a week, even if it’s only for a day.
You’re obsessed with Disney, because you get to spend time with the people you love the most. It’s not a place where you go alone. It’s a place where you bring your family — or the people that you’re so close to that you consider family. You get to relax with them. Snap photos that you’ll keep forever. Experience moments that will turn into your most precious memories.
You’re obsessed with Disney, because it makes you feel special, like you actually matter. The cast members all smile and wave at you. Other travelers make chitchat with you. No one mistreats you. No one looks past you like you’re invisible. It’s so different from everyday life back at home.
You’re obsessed with Disney, because the good outweighs the bad. You can stand on line for a ride for hours. You can get burnt to a crisp from the sun. You can waste an entire month’s paycheck on overpriced food. But you still feel like it’s all worth it. You don’t regret a second of it.
You’re obsessed with Disney, because it’s a human experience. It’s a place where you can meet someone from across the country and someone else from across the world. Where you can connect with someone ten years older or ten years younger. Someone that seems so different from you, but has a lot of the same thoughts.
You’re obsessed with Disney, because it gives you a reason to smile. To sing. To scream.
It gives you a reason to be happy again.
That’s why you need to find someone who will travel to Disney with you. Someone who won’t think it’s silly when you attempt to belt out Circle Of Life, even though you don’t know the exact words, or when you wait on line for a picture with Ariel, even though everyone else around you is in a stroller.
Find someone who understands your Disney obsession and will gladly spend their vacation days there with you. Someone who smiles as wide as you do when the plane lands and you drive through those gates.