“For the first time in forever, there’ll be music, there’ll be light - for the first time in forever there’ll be magic, there’ll be fun”
It’s crazy to think that this weekend will mark a year since Disney has closed its gates. Three hundred and sixty-five days without creating magic and memories alongside my SWGE (Star Wars Galaxy's Edge) family. Never in a million years would any of us have guessed what 2020, and 2021 would hold for us. From hopes of new adventures together to zoom dates and group message vent fests. It’s a very weird thing going from seeing someone every day to not seeing them for almost four hundred. What we all thought would be two weeks, quickly turned into something far more. No more waking up at 6am every morning for work; instead, we were waking up to uncertainty. After all, it isn’t every day that the world announces that a pandemic has started taking place.
For those who have been following along with the parks and their news, beginning this last summer different sections of Disney resorts across the globe began to do phased reopenings (with some shutdowns thrown into the mix as well). For California, Downtown Disney (our shopping and dining district) was given the green light to slowly start having specific shops and restaurants open this last July. And over time more and more locations were added to the list with Buena Vista joining in during the month of November.
Since the day that the gates were shut, I had not set foot on Disney property.
I remember being there at the parks on that last day. Rain pouring from the sky, a smile spread across my face (rainy days at Disney are something spectacular in their own), and laughing over inside jokes with my family. It wasn’t until this last week that I personally got to step foot back into a little bit of my previous normalcy.
There is something special about stepping back into a place that has drastically changed your life and holds so much history for you. It was incredibly bittersweet seeing my original work location, the place where my Disney journey began a near three years ago. To hear the sounds of the park and smell the scent of cinnamon churro sprinkles floating throughout the air like pixie dust. Stuff that at the time last year I took for granted. I didn’t think I would ever miss those darn trolley car tracks that I have twisted my ankle in multiple times, but boy I sure did (if you know you know lol). Even those ten-dollar drinks were missed (yes I’m talking about you yellow cups). That little bit of Disney magic that I got to experience the other day really went a long way. The whole time I was there I couldn’t stop smiling and I know that the day I get to go back to work that that feeling will be magnified by a million. I miss getting to immerse guests into the story of Battu and going head to head with stormtroopers on a daily basis. I know that things will be vastly different when we do all go back. A lot will, and has been changed (I’ve already encountered a handful of it)- but that’s alright. Change is apart of life and we will all learn to adapt to the new normal. I mean heck, we’ve already been doing so these last twelve months, adjusting and reshaping how we live and go about our daily lives along the way.
Like Walt Disney once said: “We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things..”
Here is to looking on the bright side of things and knowing that in the end, everything will be alright. While things won’t exactly be the same as everyone remembers them to be - they will be new and hold the door open for new memories and new experiences.
Till next week friends.
Stay happy. Stay healthy. Stay safe.
-T <3
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