With Childlike Wonder

“Here age relives fond memories of the past and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future.”

- Walt Disney, Disneyland Dedication, July 17, 1955

We have arrived at the last days of 2007. It is in these days that some of us will pause to think of what we’ve accomplished during the year and set our sights on what lies ahead. It is in these days that we become young again, allowing the excitement of the holidays to transform us. We can now look forward with childlike wonder to the “promise of the future.”

Before I take up my youthfulness once again, age relives fond memories and I wish to recall a few of my fond Disney memories from 2007.

Perhaps my fondest memory is that of celebrating my 50th Birthday in Disney World with my family! We spent a week there in mid April. On April 20th, after a wonderful dinner at the Yachtsman Steakhouse, we boarded a pontoon boat for an evening fireworks cruise. I have long been a fan of Illuminations stretching back to its earlier incarnations, but watching it from the water with my family and friends was truly magical. Also being able to share in my mother’s Year of Million Dreams private audience with Cinderella was very special.

I took a solo trip in October primarily as a photo expedition. To help make it through the parks with my cameras, I purchased a safari-like vest in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It has loads of pockets and I highly recommend it. But be forewarned, save for not having the logo on the back, it looks very much like a PhotoPass Photographer vest. This is true especially at night. The memory I took from this trip is in knowing that I was very nearly a Disney Cast Member. One night in Disney-MGM Studios I was repeatedly asked to photograph people in front of the Sorcerers Hat. After a while it simply became too funny not to be a great memory.

I will also remember 2007 as being the year of the on-going debate with my grandchildren and my four year old nephew as to who is “really” The Pan. I contend that in order for one to be considered as The Pan, they must first have the opportunity to grow up, and then refuse to do so. It holds with my long standing belief that a person must grow old, but they do not have to grow up. This debate continues.

Now looking towards the promise of the future, I dream of what is yet to come. My hope in 2008 is to eventually “find my voice” in this experiment I call The Disney Obsession. I hope that by either finding this voice, or by continuing to do what I am currently doing, that my readership will grow. I know this takes time, as I am only one voice in an expansive choir known as the Disney blogging community.

I hope to end the coming year having my very own MouseFest 2008 lanyard, not to mention the DAK bottle strap that continues to elude me. A nice logo would be nice too (I need to get to work on that). I hope to make serious headway on some Disney related pen and ink drawings as well as this little travel book idea that I have been thinking about and storyboarding.

But for now, I’ll blog. I look forward to being enlightened by many of you and to the possibility of enlightening some of you along the way.

So, let us savor this moment and celebrate the year that is to pass and the year that is yet to come. May it be Magical!