100 Days of Wonder – #46
As I am currently in a hotel (quite a nice one with a big room and comfy bed), I am inevitably thinking about some of my favourite hotels.
Well. Will you look at this back wall above the headboard! This was our room at Disneyland in 2016. Not only was the picture brilliantly done, not only did it light up but you could also flick a switch and it would play you a music box version of ‘A Dream is a Wish your heart makes’. I still find joy in watching a video of it every now and again. The detail, the effort to create something magical and memorable and the commitment to making something as mundane as a hotel room special, not just comfortable and functional but also joyful… makes me smile!
100 Days of Wonder – #45
I think one of the things that is hard to explain is the calmness you can find at Disney World. This picture is from the sunrise over Bay Lake – the lake at the back of the Contemporary Resort. It was taken on 9th January 2023 at just before 7am. Of course Disney World is busy and I am sometimes amazed at how I cope with it. I am not great in big crowds generally. I don’t really like people. But I think Disney World taught me that you can create your now bubble in 2 ways. First you can really just create your own narrative and story and live that – it means it can feel like the only two people in the world are Kath and I doing our own thing even when there are literally thousands of others around us. Disney helps with that hugely because every interaction with a cast member makes you feel like you are the most important person in that moment. The second way is to soak up and find joy, wonder and stillness in those calm moments and places. On our last trip for me that was definitely encapsulated by the walk from our room in the Garden Wing of the Contemporary to the main Tower. At sunrise there was barely anyone else around but even during the day it was calm and quiet. A walk to get coffee became a mindset walk, a headspace stroll and time to breathe deeply and quieten any noisy unhelpful brain activity. Finding the same sort of bubbles is really powerful in our overly busy and noise lives – stay in your story and leave everyone else in theirs and soak up the stillness when you can.
100 Days of Wonder – #44
As I was writing yesterday’s post, I was thinking about tradition. In some ways I am not a big fan of tradition. Tradition is so often away to cling to a status quo that doesn’t serve anyone well, to re-enforce the patriarchy, discriminatory power structures and harmful ideals. So nope, not a big fan of tradition in the sense. However, I like traditions in a looser sense. I like how we have things we do and I like that these mesh together our nostalgia, things that bring us joy now, things that make our souls sing and allow us to pause. I also like how those traditions move with the times and adapt. The Halloween decorations are an example, as is our run up to Christmas – which I will share more about as we get to it.
At Disney World we also have our little things we do. Well actually we have them even before we go – panning is part of it. I have a spreadsheet, we make lists, we look at hotel options and then we always stay at the Contemporary, we always walk across to the Magic Kingdom on the day of arrival and just walk round soaking up the wonder and joy, we sit in the Animal Kingdom and watch the Gibbons and I hang out while Kath rides Everest. We get competitive shooting aliens with Buzz Lightyear. We eat at the Crystal Palace before we have to head back to the airport on the last day. All of these little mini traditions that have developed over the last nearly 10 years ground us and I feel like they give me that 100 Acre Wood base from which to explore and try new things. Traditions are good if they bring us joy and empower us and if we are willing to break with tradition or change them as our perspectives on what brings us joy shifts.
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