Dumbo

Everything Changes

by

Matthew T. Lipson

3.3 : Dumbo

Disneyland is a magical place when you're 7.  2009 was the year of Celebration in Disneyland. The year you could enter the park for free on your birthday.  Jumping on this opportunity, my eldest visited Disneyland for the first time.  Taking her out of school early the day before her birthday, we started the drive down to Anaheim.  She had no idea where we were going, and I had no intention of telling her.  Preparations for this visit began on my birthday.  There was a pair of Mickey Mouse ears with her name on them, reservations at the Plaza Inn and Blue Bayou.  This was all capped by a Dumbo plush I had picked up at the Disney Store.  Even before she was born, her totem animal had been an elephant.  Of course, Dumbo is the iconic Disney elephant.  Even when we stopped at Bob's Big Boy in Pasadena, she still didn't know our ultimate destination.  As we drove by the original Disneyland sign on Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim, I kept her in the dark to where we were going.  In the hotel room in the morning, she opened her presents, and was finally told we were going to Disneyland.  At this point, she didn't believe me.  I don't think she believed until we were sitting in the Plaza Inn having breakfast and being visited by Disney Characters come to life.  By her suggestion, a birthday tradition was started, in which we visit Disneyland every other year for her birthday.