Hello, my beautiful friends and Dis-ers. It’s Zoë from the DIS team here to welcome you to 2023 personally. If you don’t remember, I am based in Sydney, Australia, which places me just enough hours ahead to be able to contact you from the future. Cheesy, I know, but it’s my thing. Here, it is officially January of 2023(as I wrote this), and after recapping the year that was Disney’s 2022, I’m going to keep this one short and sweet.
There was something about watching the number click over from 22 to 23 that was freeing; the way we expected 2020 to be, the way we hoped 2021 might be, and the way we were afraid 2022 would never be. In this turn of the annum, it might actually be what we have hoped the last. The air feels lighter, already like it is easier to breathe in some way. Perhaps it is just that the chaos of the previous twelve months now officially belongs to a different written date to the one we are in; I’m not entirely sure, but something feels different. It’s got me feeling positive and looking forward to the days ahead.
I’m looking forward to a new design for our weekly Monday Merch Meeting banners as we enter our third year. I’m excited to move into our second year of A Brief History of Disney and learn more about the back story of all the attractions we have adored. I’m thrilled to be planning my next trip back to Disneyland and hoping I can take you all along with me for the ride – you know I will get myself into trouble somewhere along the line. There is another People You Don’t Want to Be coming up that has a couple of killers in there, and I’ve already started on another installment of Disney Confessional: A Series of Unpopular Opinions; I really do enjoy the conversations they start with people that have differing views, and I extra love when some of those viewpoints even change my mind completely.
I can’t wait to see more of the yummy vegetarian food that Erica tries for us in the parks or the pixie dust that Jackie finds in the thickest of darkness. I want to watch the DIS Unplugged team tackle the topics and see the new Disney Cruise Line ship come to life. And I am thrilled to find out what D23 has for us in ’23. For the first time in a long time, I have eyes wide open, and I am looking forward to it all.
I hope you had a safe and wonderful New Year’s Eve. I’ll see you when you get here.
Zoë Wood is a travel writer from Sydney, Australia. Since her first visit to Disneyland at the age of 6, she has spent her years frequently visiting Disney Parks and traveling around the world.
Join Zoë as she lets you in on all the tips, tricks, anecdotes, and embarrassments that arise from her family adventures.