100 Days of Wonder – #95
Hope. Disney gives me hope that a better world is possible. That might sound completely bonkers. And maybe it is. But Disney tells good stories – whether through its films, series or in the parks. Of course historically some of them have been hugely problematic and some continue to be a long way from perfect. But more recently Disney is trying to do better, tell better more inclusive stories. Doing better and trying harder is always cause for hope. And the more hopeful the stories the more inspiring and impactful. Maybe telling good stories helps us change the world for the better.
Disney understands suspending reality and the need for escapism and magic. And the more we can give ourselves over to that every now and again, the better. It helps us remember what hope feels like, what could be.
As I said yesterday, I am struggling a little with depression. It’s not really bad and it is easing. Today was better than yesterday. I am trying to look forward to time spent believing in the magic and maybe joining Peter Pan for a flight towards the “second star to the right, and straight on till morning.” And somehow that helps because depression tells one set of stories and Disney helps me tell a different set of stories that are at least as likely as the narrative that depression would have me believe. So Happy New Year. May 2025 be full of beautiful, brave, mundane, every day stories that help you believe in your own magic.
100 Days of Wonder – #92
I’ve been thinking about two things today. The first is the idea of less doing and more being and the other is constant change. They’re not necessarily related but at the moment in my head they are because, with just over a week to go I am in Disney mode. It’s probably unbearable for anyone else but my Disney mode as been activated (wait, what? It’s always active, it’s just got a boost). So at Disney the temptation is definitely to be doing. I have commented in previous posts about planning and ticking things off a list and rushing from ride to ride or attraction and how I don’t really get it. But not rushing things and not having a list to tick off, doesn’t mean we are not ‘doing’ heavy. And sometimes being doing focused means that you forget to be right there in the moment. Often if you are doing, you’re not really being. Doing means you start and finish something. Doing has outcomes. That’s why I bake or cook when anxiety is high, that’s why doing admin work and being busy is great when you’re stressed because it feels like you are taking action and sorting things out. And sometimes, doing is of course exactly what is required. But often what we actually need is less doing and being busy and more being, more acknowledging the moment we are in right now, more breathing, more presence.
At Disney there is always something new (looking forward to seeing the Moana inspired Journey of Water this time), and that increases the temptation to do. Every trip there has been something new to see or do, a new ride, or even a whole new area such as Toy Story Land or Galaxy’s Edge. That temptation to ‘do’ those things so easily slips into pressure and a feeling of disappointment if we don’t manage it. And I just never want Disney to be about that. It’s not about doing for me, it’s about being there. Of course I like to do things but I want to do them fully present. I want to consciously be while I am doing the things. Most of the new attractions we didn’t do the first visit after they opened. The queues were too long, the areas around them too busy. It took years for us to ride the 7 Dwarf Mine Train and we didn’t go on Flight of Passage in 2017 because, frankly I won’t stand in a queue for 4 hours for anything. We walked through Galaxy’s Edge in 2023 but we didn’t go on the rides. We’re quite good at focusing more on being and just enjoying being together, soaking it all in and letting the stories play out in our heads.
I chose the picture of the Tree of Life from January 2023 because it is both about doing new things and the constant changes at Disney and about being rather than doing. I think it was our first full day and we were both pretty tired. We couldn’t decide whether to stay for the Tree of Life Awakening light show. We’d never seen it although I think it has been running since 2016 so there would have been at least 2 trips where we could have seen it. So it was something new, something cool to see and do. But it also felt like we were staying just for the sake if it when we actually wanted to go back to the resort and go to bed. In the end we had about 45 minutes before the show and it somehow seemed silly to leave so we found a spot, sat ourselves down and just people watched for a bit. Leaning against a tree I think, or maybe a low wall, we both nodded off for a bit. We were leaning on each other and just enjoying being together without really doing anything. We nearly forgot we were waiting for the show and we definitely forgot we were surrounded by 1000s of other people. The show itself was wonderful. We stood up when it began and watched in wonder, in our own little bubble, just us, alone in a sea of people. Then we went ‘home’ and fell into bed happy. Moments like that are where the magic is!
100 Days of Wonder – #89
Do you ever do the thing where you’re tired and should really go to bed but you don’t because you want to hang on to the feeling of something or because the day has been too people-y and you need you time. I don’t do it often, when I am tired, I go to bed and I sleep. But I do it sometimes and it is usually because there have been people around me all day, often but not necessarily staying at our house, and I need the quiet time when everyone has gone to bed. I also often do it on my birthday. It’s a balance on my birthday because I can’t stay up later than midnight because then it’s not my birthday anymore but I also like to linger with my own thoughts. You know by now that I need no invitation to reflect…
So today I am thinking about my last rotation round the sun (it’s been a pretty good one) and what the next might hold. I am thinking about creating my bubble in which I can just be, about who I am, who I was, who I want to be and all of those big questions. That reflection and sitting with those thoughts are restorative to me. They help me re-charge my batteries. I was thinking about this earlier and wondered why the solitude, quiet and reflection that I often crave in the late evening on my birthday has the same effect as being at Disney – re-charing me? Thinking about that I was drawn to the memory of a particular Disney experience – dinner at the California Grill at the top of the Contemporary Resort. And in particular watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the balcony. The picture is from the fireworks in January 2023 and even though the balcony was full of people, standing there, shivering slightly in the cool air, listening to the music through the restaurants speaker system and watching the night sky light up, it felt like it was just for us. And that feeling is replicated again and again with so many experiences at Disney. We are perhaps familiar with the saying that you can be surrounded by people and still be lonely and that’s definitely true but at Disney I can be surrounded by people, immersed in huge crowds in a way that would just be anxiety inducing anywhere else, and I can feel the same sense of just being me as I do in those rare moments of complete alone time at home. It seems its not about who else is there, it’s about a particular feeling and state of mind but one that I only experience in those late evenings when everyone else in the house is already asleep or at Disney World.
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