So I am writing this article as I wait for my mom to come pick me up. This is very exciting for me, because I am already starting to feel like a kid again. WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYLAND. Can you believe it? I can't. Because I just cannot wait to GO TO DISNEYLAND.

Now many of you out there may bash on my Happiest Place on Earth, but to me it is childhood. I grew up in Orange County, about an hour away from the beach and Disneyland -- not a bad childhood at all. I grew up with the Disney characters through movies, books, TV, and the theme park.

Ah, the theme park. It's home to a series of original rides, many dating back to when the park first opened. By original, I also mean that you won't find them in Florida. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was there on opening day, and is still fun to this day, while the Storybook Land Canal Boats, although slow, are still enjoyable. I personally love going on Alice in Wonderland, and we now always make a beeline for the Finding Nemo Submarines. The Indiana Jones Adventure is another more recent addition, and one well worth checking out, while Disneyland is now the only place in the States that you'll find Toontown, after its Florida counterpart was razed to make way for the expansion of Fantasyland.

Disneyland is home to different versions of some Disney classics. Personally, I love the setting of Pirates of the Caribbean, in New Orleans Square, as you float past the Blue Bayou restaurant at the start of the ride. But perhaps the best thing at Disneyland are the holiday "overlays" that they do for the Haunted Mansion and It's A Small World. They are both absolutely superb, and change these classic rides completely, and for the better. Having been lucky enough to enjoy both during the holidays, I really hope we get to see them again in the future, as they're well worth the wait.

It helped me to keep a big imagination as I grew up, and even still now. I can back this up by saying that I am getting my Theatre Performance BFA, so there you go. I think I may go "full kid" on this next trip. I want to buy an autograph book and go get signatures. My favorite princess has always been Aurora (AKA Sleeping Beauty). As a kid, my cousins and I would always dress up as our favorite princesses. Yeah, my cousin Hannah's Mulan costume was pretty sick, but my Sleeping Beauty gown... I was killing' the game as a 4-year-old.

I am definitely making my kids love Disneyland as much as my family does now. And Harry Potter. (I am also going to Universal Studios, the one with the Harry Potter World.) I want my children to grow up with dreams of magic and the knowledge that anything is possible -- as long as you say "Levi-OH-sa," not "Levi-oh-SAH."