In between my current travel, I plan to look back at past travel. Today, I’m thinking about our first trip to DisneyWorld. Technically, it was my second, because I’d spent a few days at Epcot when I was in high school on a Spring Break trip. But somehow I still consider 2007 to be my first Disney trip.

Ellie was four, and Andy and I decided it was a good time to take her to see Mickey. He had never been there, either. Honestly, although we were looking forward to seeing her enjoy herself, we weren’t at all prepared for how much fun we would have ourselves. We didn’t understand the perfection of the place, or the amazing customer service, or how everything was part of the experience.

Of course, we’d done our research, as I always do. We knew what parks we were visiting on what days, what rides Ellie would probably like the most, and lots of tips like how they open the park well before the actual opening time. But no research can convey the feeling of the place. The beauty and the joy and the (honestly, there’s no other word for it) magic. So we were in for quite a week.

I don’t remember all the details. I know we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. I know that one night we waited an hour for our bus back to the resort. I remember being blown away by the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom. I remember Pocahontas being the absolute most wonderful cast member we met, which is saying something. I remember meeting a LOT of princesses, and being so happy that Ellie was there at an age when she still was ALL IN on princesses.

(Sometime I’ll blog about the princess dresses that magically appeared in my suitcase. But I’ll save that for another day.)

But it is so easy for me to recall the highlight of the trip. It was our last day at the parks. We had visited each park already and were doing sort of a greatest hits, hopping from one park to another for things we either missed or loved so much we wanted to do them again. And we stopped for a Beauty & the Beast show just to the side of Cinderella’s castle. Since it was our last day, we were not rushing things, and we got to the show early. We sat right in front. We met Cinderella’s stepsisters, Drizella and Anastasia, who were hilarious! And then, just before the show started, Ellie was chosen to go onstage. She and the other kids chosen were given sandwich-board costumes of their characters. Ellie got to be Chip, which really just meant she walked where she was told to go, like all of the kid characters. She was fearless and smiled HUGELY the whole time. Belle was super sweet with them. And watching Ellie up there, face aglow with joy, made me so happy the tears leaked out. And I still tear up a bit when I think about it. It was the perfect ending to an amazing trip.