A year and bit ago, I wrote a blog entry entitled “Surrounded” about my flight home to L.A. where I sat next to popular Disney artist Noah. The theme of my post was that Disney seemed to follow me even when I wasn’t really trying. This has more or less held true as I’ve moved to Missouri, but usually just means I see people wearing Disneyland hoodies around town and want to talk to them.
This week found me flying back to Los Angeles — actually, Burbank. As you can probably imagine, flying out of Springfield, Missouri isn’t as simple as, say, LAX which has direct flights to plenty of places. Thanks to some fairly last minute planning and the way airline hubs work, my flight from SGF to BUR included stops in ATL and SLC. If you’re keeping track, that means I stopped in all four continental U.S. time zones during my trip.
When I fly to Orlando or Orange County, I half expect there to be at least a handful of families on their way to a Disney Park. However, aside from those itineraries, I don’t really anticipate much Mouse talk. But, since it’s me, why wouldn’t the people behind me on the flight from Springfield to Atlanta be Walt Disney World bound? Turns out one of the girls in their family was set to perform in the parade at Magic Kingdom. What are the odds? The lady next to them asked if they were “just going to Disney World or Epcot and Universal, too?” — I bit my tongue.
Following a short visit to beautiful Salt Lake City, I arrived at Bob Hope Airport and made my way to the shuttle I had reserved. Once inside, I was surprised to learn that the family I was sharing the van ride with were on their way down to Anaheim for a stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Given the fact that it was 4:30 p.m. on a weekday, part of me really wanted to wish them good luck since it would take them at least 90 minutes to get down the awful 5 freeway. I also wanted to ask why the heck they didn’t fly into John Wayne, but who am I to judge?
While I sat quietly in my seat, the mother of the young daughter asked the child what she was most excited to see and ride when they got to the park. Many of you might be guessing she said “Anna and Elsa.” Her actual answer? It was a tie: Star Wars and Marvel.
I didn’t bother to talk to them and give them tips for their trip since I didn’t want to interrupt and I would be out the of van not five minutes later. Still, I couldn’t help but laugh that some of my travel companions would soon be enjoying Disney vacations. Incidentally, I’m here for a different kind of Disney trip, but more on that another time…
Come back next week for more stories and be sure to pick up your copy of The E-Ticket Life book on Amazon or get a signed edition from Laughing Place Press!