Nothing But Magic

It was Saturday night, and the Magic Kingdom was packed: teens acting cool with their friends, young tots fighting valiantly against fatigue, stroller babies laid out in peaceful slumber, and exhausted parents encircling them all with consternation. First, it was the spectacular fireworks, then it was the light parade. All the while, I was clinging to waking hours by the sheer joy I was experiencing with Wendy. What can make this place nothing but magic?

It was the place where I raced in fascination as a kid - what boy can resist being a pirate and getting "trapped" in an enchanted yet haunted house? It was the place where I proposed to my future wife - what guy can resist being a prince sweeping his damsel off her feet? It is the place where creativity is free to roam and imagination is celebrated and not relegated to practicality - what person can resist the urge of freedom and self-expression that results?

Perhaps it is too much to ascribe a make-believe place with such hyperbole; after all, that same boyhood charm of Disney World today seems much more miniature than before. Perhaps I am negating the jostling experience that getting into the Magic Kingdom can be - and what a crush of people any time of year! True as this all might be, there is still only one place on earth like Disney World. Even the build-up to this short weekend excursion away from a month's worth of work craziness could not spoil the wonders. That must mean that magic really does live in Orlando, where the kids know what Pooh and Peter Pan really can do.

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