Heart Strings

As of late, my Saturday morning routine goes thusly: wake up, play Tsum Tsums until I’m out of hearts, catch up on social media, and then ponder what to write about for my blog.  Of course sometimes I have an idea of what the topic will be, but other times (read: today) I have none.  That’s when I go back through steps two through four until I think of something.

Today while going through Facebook I stumbled upon a video with the typically annoying clickbait-y title “This Little Girl With Cancer Just Found Out She’s Going To Disneyland In The Cutest Way.”  Nine times out of ten I wouldn’t spend my time looking into such hyperbolic, superlative ridden articles but, of course, this one involved Disneyland and that’s a horse of a different color.

In the Buzzfeed-posted video, a young girl battling cancer has her dream to meet Minnie Mouse fulfilled by the Make A Wish Foundation.  Instead of the parents telling her the good news and video taping her reaction, we see her best friend sharing her experience at The Happiest Place on Earth and telling her all the things she needs to do while there.  It is A. Door. Uh. Bull.

A few years back Disney Parks held a promotion called “Let The Memories Begin” that was advertised with the use of home movies where parents surprised their kids by telling them they were going to Disneyland/Walt Disney World.  These commercials never failed to choke me up.  As cute as regular Disney commercials are (“I’m too excited to sleeeeep!”) but the twist of showing real kids reacting accordingly really reminded me how magical the Disney Parks were.

Not being a kid and not having any kids it’s not so often that I get to experience such moments.  However, videos like these help to sweeten the often bitter hearts of Disney fans and remind us why we love the parks so much in the first place.  Just like in their films, Disney has a way of pulling at the heart strings even indirectly.

Say what you will about “Disney magic” and the cheese that’s often involved, but moments are like these prove that the magic is real.

Be sure to follow Kyle on Twitter: @kyleburbank and come back next week for another (presumably longer) entry into The E-Ticket Life.

 

Kyle Burbank
Kyle is a writer living in Springfield, MO. His deep love of Disney and other pop culture finds its way into his stories, scripts, and tweets. His first book "The E-Ticket Life: Stories, Essays, and Lessons Learned from My Decidedly Disney Travels" is available in paperback and for Kindle. http://amzn.to/1CStAhV