R and J in the USA

Though Disney seems, at first glance, to be for the little ones, it is indeed a place where inner children and “children at heart” find just as much magic, delight and enchantment as those whose biological age falls squarely in the “child” category. And, as two grown adults in Disney with no kids to tend to, we were quite aware, watching the throngs of parents making their way through its busy streets, the Disney experience without kids in tow is a whole different ball game. We were most certainly not the only attendants there without any children, though the place was crawling with tired, but dedicated parents pushing, strolling, carrying, dragging and being dragged by their caravan of mini-me’s in all sorts of directions. We felt nothing but respect for all the parents bending over backwards to do their best to create family memories for a lifetime. Well, memories for them and joyful moments and feelings that would long reside deep in the subconscious foundations of their kids. Speaking as one such kid that got the Disney World experience with her parents at the Disney perfect age of 6 years old, Julie has no specific memories of the place, but a feeling of familiarity, joy and warmth that permeates her association with the Disney World experience. So, lest any parents have questions, it is worth it. The feelings stay inside and make a difference, at least they did for Julie.

In addition to the sites, sounds, smells and attractions that Disney designed for its patrons, people watching (which typically means parent and kids watching) in Disney is one the best “exhibits” they have. 

Firstly, in no other place outside the stroller factory could there be such a collection of baby strollers in one place. That , on its own, is a staggering sight. 

Then there are the kids themselves. Your heart will, no doubt, crumble in a sea of adorability and sweet moments that are available to be witnessed around most every corner. Yes, there are tantrums and tears around corners as well, but those go with the territory of tired, stimulated and highly sugared young ones. 

At one point, we saw a little nugget of a human, who couldn’t have been more than 2 feet tall and weighing in somewhere under a sack of potatoes with a deadlock grip on a couple of her dad’s thick fingers. Her father could have easily been a linebacker with the capacity to intimidate another grown man with his size alone, carrying at least 250 pounds on his at least 6’4 frame. But he was no match for this little sack of potatoes that was, literally, wrapped around his finger and intuitively using the forces of physics and sheer Disney-induced will in her favor to physically drag her massive dad down Main Street. He stumbled behind her, only keeping up with her pace thanks to her unstoppable childhood glee. As she pulled him by, Julie giggled and shared a knowing glance with the Dad. He would never have submitted to a charging linebacker with the look of surrender he had on his face, being pulled along by the wonder and will of his little girl. 

We saw some muscle dads wearing pink t-shirts that said, “Princess Security” and there were Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears on heads of all genders and ages. One of our highlights was when we stumbled upon the “Meet Moana” line. While we didn’t feel the need to meet Moana ourselves, we couldn’t help but stop and watch as little girl after little girl walked up to the Disney princess with the most adorable starstruck little girl looks on their faces. Ryan was grinning ear to ear and Julie found herself getting all choked up watching as this little peanut of a girl dressed in her mini Moana garb approached her hero with a mix of shyness and excitement. Moana kneeled down and the look of wonder and awe in that little face could melt even the iciest of hearts. If that wasn’t enough to tug your heartstrings, then the little girl and her Disney hero touched stones on their respective Moana necklaces, eye to eye and almost forehead to forehead. It was pretty darn cute.

We managed to hit 3 parks in one day, the Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center and Hollywood Studios, and grabbed a few iconic rides like Space Mountain and Star Tours on the way. Even though we were pretty enamored with the “Journey of Water” exhibit at EPCOT Center and all of their amazing landscaped Disney character displays, it was easily the sea of adorability that stole the show for us.

On our way from EPCOT Center to Hollywood Studios we shared a Skyliner car as it coasted over the miles of expanse that Disney World covers (we looked it up, at 43 square miles, Disney World is the size of San Francisco and twice the size of the island of Manhattan) with two other “children at heart”, Michael and Craig. We were looking out the window at the various sections of the massive Disney World campus, passing various resorts and behind-the-scenes facilities from overhead and Michael and Craig, with the enthusiasm of children, starting talking to us about Disney. 

They asked us whether it was our first time (we had both been to Disneyland as adults, but Ryan had never been to Disney World, and Julie had only been to the Magic Kingdom in Disney World as a 6 year old and an 18 year old, so decades hence) and once they found out we were newbies, they immediately took us under their wing. They told us so much about Disney World in the first 5 minutes of talking – from the low down on which rides were the best, which were overrated and the wait times for each to the changing economics, infrastructures and engineering details of the facilities we were traveling over.

As Julie had been looking over the vast expanse that is this small city of Disney, she had found herself imagining the reams of spreadsheets and meetings and management contracts and building codes and mathematical calculations and market research and deliveries and loading docks and employee trainings and HR meetings and on and on that goes into making such an epic and tightly run ship such as Disney World deliver that twinkle of magic into all of those little faces. It’s a different experience than what it all looks like when you are 6 years old and it just all looks like real and actual magic that it exists it all. It’s not any less enchanting as an adult, but it’s enchanting in a very different way.

While in her ponderings, Julie turned to Ryan and wondered aloud to him, “I wonder if God feels looking at the cosmos, the way adults feel looking at Disney World. You still appreciate it and enjoy it and there is still magic there, but you can’t help but find yourself accounting for and being aware of all that goes into making it actually work.” Ryan laughed and immediately got it. “Yea, maybe,” he smiled.

By the time our self-appointed Disney World tour guides had a chance to take a breath, we were sure they must work for Disney.

We asked, and, nope, they are just big time Disney fans and they make the trek often. 

One of the gentleman, Michael, owns The Peanut Bar, a 100 year old restaurant in Reading Pennsylvania and is a member of the Disney Vacation Club. He was there in the middle of a two week stay. And he loves his Disney! Craig and his wife run a production company outside Reading. Michael and Craig were on their way to Hollywood Studios for some lunch reservations. They gave us the lowdown on how we should use the short time we had there. When we got off the Skyliner together, enthusiastic to have a captive audience as we peppered them with questions about all of their knowledge and thoughts of Disney from every angle, they volunteered to walk us to our first stop in Hollywood Studios at the Star Wars “Star Tours” ride, giving us the in that, now that the Star Wars section of Hollywood Studios was so big and the main ride there was massive and would have long wait lines, this original Star Wars ride was still a great ride and would have much shorter wait times.

While walking, we found out that, in addition to their love for Disney and their respective entrepreneurial ventures, they both occasionally moonlit as stage hands for rock and roll artists. This topic came up as we discussed their recommended ride, the Rockin’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. We were pretty excited to go on that ride, especially once they told us, due to lost musical rights, the ride would soon be dismantled. After our Star Tours adventure we headed over to the Rockin’ Roller Coaster only to find a 70 minute wait time. We didn’t have 70 minutes to spare and sadly, had to leave the park unrocked and roller coastered, Aerosmith style. 

Alas. We still got our dose of rock n’ roll magic. As Michael reeled off the artists they’d gotten to be stage-hands for, he said the two magic words – Billy Joel. Julie’s face lit up like a Billy Joel stadium during Piano Man.

”You mean I’m only two degrees of separation from Billy Joel!?” 

Michael continued on, “Yes! I was there for his 75th anniversary concert and got to deliver him a special dessert.”

Well, that was enough to make Julie’s already wonderful Disney day a new kind of magical. 

Michael and Craig were not Floridians in the strictest of senses, but they certainly represented a citizenry in something that is very Florida. They shared with us a kind of magic that is not Disney magic, specifically, but the kind when good people share generously with strangers.

That said, in true Disney fashion, there is no denying that what brought us all together for this shared experience was the fact that, despite our collective age of over 200 years, here at Disney, we were all just a bunch of kids in a park having fun being enchanted.