When thinking about the “Happiest Place on Earth”, the only place that crosses my mind is Disney World. Some people think about a distant country in Europe as their happy place, or somewhere serene and different than what they are normally used to in their daily lives. Considering my fear of long flights, I was perfectly content with knowing that my happy place was only three hours away from me by airplane and it made me feel just as happy as any distant place ever could. Many people (or adults, my age) think that Disney is only for little children and don’t give it a second chance when they are actually older. And, that is exactly where they are wrong.

My parents have taken me to Disney World three times and all of those times were spanned out from the time before. Not only did it give me a chance to understand it more when I grew up, but it made me feel like a child again every time I visited. When walking through all of the parks in Disney World, it is hard to tell the difference between who is actually enjoying their time more: the parents or the children. It gives adults a chance to remember what its like to be a kid again without feeling like they are forced to enjoy it because of the younger crowd all around them. Walking into Magic Kingdom and seeing Cinderella’s castle adds a sense of magic to your life that most places don’t. All of the fairytales and movies that I adored as a little girl were in actual size and I felt like I was apart of it with every step I take into the park.

Of course, many people do get frustrated with the amount of time that they need to wait for rides or how overpopulated it gets during the peak months, but when they are actually in the midst of having fun (or on that ride that had a two hour wait), the smiles on everyone’s faces are contagious. Parades break out in the middle of day that makes people stop in their tracks and truly enjoy what is going on around them. Or even the fireworks in Magic Kingdom brings unity to everyone that is sitting there and watching because of how magical everything is around them. No matter how many times you visit Disney, it will always remain the same (with maybe additional rides or different places to eat). That is what I love about it, the most. All of those times that I had went back to Disney made me forget what it was truly like until I was actually in each of the theme parks and felt right at home as the day would progress.

My only advice to anyone that is thinking about going to Disney is that you can never truly grow out of that magic that it brings to your soul. As adults, it’s normal to want to escape the responsibilities and stressors of life and escape to a place that makes you remember a time where there was no stress. I am so happy to be visiting this magical place in June and fall in love with it all over again, until then I’ll be stalking their Instagram page and trying to plan places to go when I’m there.