Wattmag Issue #9

Return to Neverland

Disney!

What a fun subject that everyone loves, right? You know I do! 

So tell me: What is your favorite Disney movie? How did you pick it? Or better yet, how did it pick you?

Did it pick you?

I mean, think about it. Disney is a very wealthy company. They know how to appeal to every age. Everyone. There is a Disney plot waiting out there for every single one of us. If you do not have one yet, do not fear! I'm sure one is well on its way. But if you don't so far, well, that is shocking to me!

When I was about four years old, I began watching Disney movies. The one that spoke to me the most was Peter Pan. 

Here at the reasons why:

I loved the idea or concept of never having to grow up. I mean, at that age, that idea appealed to a lot of people. But in the Peter Pan classic tale you can never have an adult on the island. Unless of course, it is Captain Hook. 

I also loved the mermaids. The storyline. The idea behind it that anything was possible. That dreams really do come true. The songs.

By the time I was hooked on that movie in the 1980's, we didn't even have DVDs. Nope. When they played Peter Pan in the movies, you had to haul that butt out there at go see it - there was no other way. So, my dad had to take me oh I do not know how many times to go see it. My mother also had to take me. And my sister. My aunt. My grandmother. Soon, my mother paid my babysitter to take me when it played again. Whenever I would see a Peter Pan ad in the newspaper saying the movie was playing, I had to go see it!

When I was about six or seven, my parents took me to Disneyland in Florida. I got to go on all the rides. They had the Country Bears show! Back then, they did not have a lot of Peter Pan merchandise - at least, not as much as there is now. So, all I wanted when I went for the first time was a big huge Peter Pan book. It had a pirate map with the mermaid lagoon and all! I was completely in love with my new book.

I carried that thing around for days. I had the Peter Pan record too. Yes, you heard me. A record. There were no CD's in my days until I was an adult. 

Shhhh I am not old...okay, maybe a little.

Anyway my point is, Disney movies touch the hearts of many. They pick you. I don't really think that we pick them. The characters find their own unique way to relate to us. Then once we find the similarities, that movie sneaks its way into our hearts. Then we want to watch it over and over again.

I have been to Disney at least four times in my life. I hope one day to take my own kids and my husband. He has never been! Not yet, at least. I also still really love Peter Pan to this day. I never get bored watching that movie. I even loved Hook when it came out too.

Don't get me wrong with all this Peter Pan talk - I do love other Disney movies too. But Peter Pan was for me. My favorite. Followed by Lilo & Stitch. I absolutely loved it Stitch dressed up as Elvis in the movie. It was like a combination of my two favorite things! 

Disney is so relatable. It's fun. Heartwarming. It's so many different things all rolled into one. Those movies will always find a way to put a smile on my face and a dream in my heart.

Second star to the left...straight on till morning...

So what is your favorite Disney movie? Have you found yours yet?