Author: Disney Cicerone

Adventure is saying yes despite your fear

Disney Cicerone October 12, 2020 2 Comments
I am writing this sitting in front of Expedition Everest, having gone on the expedition but wishing I hadn’t. My motion sickness doesn’t allow backward motion, but all day long I have watched intrepid travelers traverse the terrain in train cars up the mountain, and I wanted to be one too. So I rode. And now I’m sitting because my head feels like it’s on backward. The totem poles outside...

How Grief is a Catalyst for People and Purpose

Disney Cicerone October 4, 2020 0 Comments
The Disney community is grieving this week. I know I'm not alone in feeling it. From the loss of some of our very favorite performers (I'm looking at you, Yehaa Bob) to the thousands upon thousands of brilliant cast members who won't be returning to bringing us the magic anytime soon, we are all in a start of disbelief. This can't happen to Disney... it's our happy place. Those cast members,...

Weather makes a difference (but not the way you think)

Disney Cicerone September 17, 2020 0 Comments
Nothing builds the dread in a Disney planner's heart more than seeing a week's worth of rain in the forecast for a much-anticipated vacation. Sure, we all say, “It’s better when it rains! It clears out the parks!” But nobody really wants it to rain/thunderstorm/hurricane/you name it during your delightfully, thoughtfully planned Disney adventure. But you see, friends, it’s exactly these...

How Disney Provides Stability in an Unstable World

Disney Cicerone September 15, 2020 0 Comments
I sat in my teacup this week watching the families around me laugh and spin, arms in the air, and as carefree as ever. And that’s when it hit me. It’s stability. Something that hasn’t changed in a world where everything has changed. Sure, we were all wearing masks and dutifully sanitized our hands before and after. But there were beloved (likely motion-sick prone) family members around the...

How Disney Teaches You to Persevere

Disney Cicerone September 14, 2020 4 Comments
The fire notices screamed from my phone this week while I dashed haphazardly around my home and debated about what I wanted to take with me as we evacuated the wildfires that have plagued our side of the nation. I picked up objects and put them back. I looked tearfully at others realizing I may never see them again. I threw odd things in my suitcase and forgot what I was doing as...

Are You In a Fade-In or Fade-Out?

Disney Cicerone September 6, 2020 0 Comments
As summer draws to a close and the change-over to Pumpkin Spice Lattes and falling leaves is upon us, I've been thinking about transitions. One of my favorite parts about visiting the Disney parks is the thoughtful way the Imagineers transition you between lands. It's often done in a cinematic style, so subtle you barely know it's happening until suddenly you're in a whole...

Why YOU Love Disney

Disney Cicerone September 6, 2020 0 Comments
One of the hardest questions for a Disney fan to answer is this: Why do you love Disney so much? I’ve been asked this so many times, and I usually stumble around in the dark for an answer that will make whoever I’m talking to fully understand why I would head to the parks again and again, year after year. Sometimes I’ll answer with nostalgia, other times with exclamations about the...