When I started my connection with The DIS some 15 plus years ago, my son was 7 years old and already well on his way to becoming a Disney expert. Today, he’s a grown man… that’s hard to say… with a family of his own and has started his journey into a full-fledged Disney Adult.
If you’ve followed me during my time on the Disneyland legacy podcast or kept up with my articles here on The DIS, you’ve heard stories about my son and his love of Disneyland.
While his mom and I are not Southern California locals, we were close enough here in Fresno to make the journey down to Anaheim several times a year. When our son was born, we found no reason to change that and so he took his first trip to Disneyland at 6-weeks-old and he basically grew up in the theme parks.
The visits to Disneyland continued as he grew, with a few trips to Walt Disney World and several Disney Cruise Line vacations sprinkled in for good measure. He became a Disney expert at a young age.
He knew how to navigate the parks and knew the ins and outs of the FastPass system. He celebrated when he was tall enough to experience those elusive attractions. He studied the cruise ship deck plans, tried to be the first kid each day at the Oceaneer Club, and knew that on the ships he could order anything he wanted from the kids’ or adult menu…and usually chose both. He even learned how to call room service to order cookies and milk at the end of the night.
Then all of a sudden life happened…with band, sports, scouts, drama and more replacing those almost monthly trips for my son and his mom. They lived vicariously through me, but didn’t spend nearly as much time at Disneyland as I did.
Flash forward to this summer, when my son and daughter-in-law started planning their son’s 3rd birthday. My grandson is a fan of Disney Channel favorites like Bluey, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Spidey and his Amazing Friends, but he had yet to experience Disneyland.
My daughter-in-law has family in SoCal, so there have been visits to Downtown Disney and the young couple has recently developed a healthy obsession with pin trading and collecting, so a trip to Disneyland (while their son was still free) only made sense.
They decided to invite immediate family along and suddenly…as if by magic…the Disney spark returned. My son went into trip planning mode. He started multiple message threads, shared videos, posted discounts, and even hosted a couple of in-person trip planning meetings… with PowerPoints.
The Disney-obsessed boy who couldn’t wait until he was tall enough to ride BigThunder Mountain Railroad and was obsessed with the Disney Cruise Line deck plans was back.
I threw in my opinions and expertise when asked, but otherwise took a back seat to the new Disney trip planner in the family. Once we were in the parks, he was in full leader mode taking charge of the Lightning Lanes and leading us around the parks. It was a beautiful thing to watch.
At one point, his mom leaned over to me and wondered aloud if I understood and felt the significance of this trip…this moment. We created this. We grew this Disney Adult…and it is magical.
Now, it’s time to grow the next generation.
