“Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat? Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?”
These words made famous in The Little Mermaid go through my head daily as I ponder where to travel to next to complete my collection… my collection of attending every Disney park in the world!
So where did a thirty-something year olds dedication to all things Disney begin? Childhood, of course.
Every Friday night our family would watch a movie. Being the youngest, I was able to sway my older brother to let me choose which VHS we would watch from our local video store, Video 2000. Yes, I’m a child of the 90’s 😉
From Sleeping Beauty to Cinderella, and Peter Pan to Alice in Wonderland, every time I saw the well-known Disney intro to the film – you know the one where the shooting star shoots across the Cinderella castle – I knew we were in for a great night. Munching away on Clinkers and Jubes watching these classic films with my family are some of my fondest childhood memories.
But I wasn’t the only one in the fam with a passion for Disney. My Grandparents had the travel bug and were able to attend Disneyland in Anaheim multiple times. I remember listening intently to Nanna and Poppy’s stories of how magical Disneyland was. It rubbed off on Mum too: she had seen the teacups ride as a little girl and had yearned to go on this for decades. My parents promised that one day they would take our family there too.
In the 90’s, my Dad was made redundant and received an awesome redundancy package. That same year, my grandfather passed away so as a homage to Nanna and Poppy’s love of Disneyland, Mum and Dad knew it was the perfect time to take us on that promised trip.
As a 10 year old boy, I was absolutely beside myself when they announced the news, I couldn’t actually believe these words were coming out of their mouth.
After months of waiting, we boarded the plane and flew Brisbane to LAX for the Christmas holidays. Mum and Dad has purchased a three-day pass for Disneyland in Anaheim, complete with early access to the park! We were welcomed by the largest smiles and loveliest staff. We could smell hot cinnamon rolls and could see the beautiful flowers before we walked down onto Main Street where I begged for a pair of Mickey Mouse ears from the very first shop. This was essential if I was going to meet Mickey and Minnie.
As we approached the meet and greet location, my eyes widened as I saw their faces and I screamed with excitement, running to give them both a hug. I almost spontaneously combusted when I saw Mickey and Minnie as real life characters, I couldn’t believe this was actually happening!
Next up was Fantasy land to see Cinderella’s castle and our very first ride: the Teacups. To see Mum experience her childhood dream too was pretty special!
Three days later we had been on every ride, seen every show and done everything Disney! From this moment on, Disney would be instilled in me as a dream destination for the rest of my life. Mum and Dad really had gone all out to make our first overseas family holiday a dream come true.
Over the years, Disney has been one of the biggest influences on my travel choices.
I lived in France for six months as a school exchange student back in 1999, and it was no coincidence a Euro Disney – the first park to open outside of the US – was a train ride away for me to explore to my hearts’ content.
Mum and Dad visited that park soon after on their own Euro getaway, which inspired Mum to declare she was going to go to every Disneyland in the world to experience the differences and similarities that each park had. Game on!
Since then we have been in competition to see who can get to every Disney park first.
Hong Kong Disneyland was my next Disney experience. My brother lived there at the time so it was a perfect excuse for another Kriesch fam Disney adventure! I was in my 20s by then so our family photos were a little different to our first trip! Trying hard to decipher the shows in Cantonese and Mandarin was great fun.
And another memorable one was Tokyo Disney Sea, the only Disney Sea in the world so of course I HAD to go. This time I dragged my new partner with me. Now, he is not the biggest fan of Disney (I bet you are thinking how we ended up together right?) but I definitely got multiple smiles and laughs out of him whilst at the park. Mission accomplished. I even managed a return trip with him and his family a few years later. They were sceptical at first as they are from a small town in Central QLD and didn’t love the idea of millions of people, but again Disney weaved its magic. I had now shared my family’s love of Disneyland with not only my partner, but now his family too!
Disney has even been a part of milestone occasions. In 2014 I turned the big 3-0 and having just started with Wotif I had almost zero days annual leave up my sleeve. So what’s a Disney fan to do? Jump on a plane to the nearest Disney park of course! So Hong Kong round two it was. I had to mark my special day by going to my special place… Disneyland!
So where to next? I still have quite a few parks to get to on my bucket list (and damn it, my baby boomer parents are travelling so much more now that they are ahead of me in our friendly competition) but next up will be the Disney half marathon in Florida in 2019.
Disneyland really does live up to its unofficial slogan of the happiest place on earth. In the words of Walt Disney himself when he opened Disneyland in 1955: “To all who come to this happy place: Welcome! Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past – and here youth may savour the challenge and promise of the future.”
The reliving of many fond memories is what keeps me travelling for Disney and I love to make happy memories with my loved ones. As Cinderella once said “A dream is a wish your heart makes” and these dreams really do come true in Disneyland.
Read more about your childhood
