The 1st of October is a special day for Disney fans worldwide as it marks the day in 1971 that Walt Disney World opened it's doors to the public in Orlando for the first time. After seven years of planning and secretly purchasing land then going through trials and even Walt's death the park finally opened. About 10,000 people entered the doors of the Magic Kingdom that morning, then the only Disney park in Orlando, paying the admission fee of $4.95.
Debbie and I have been fortunate enough to visit Orlando not long after we got married and again with family a few years ago. The first trip was because Debbie had visited when she was 15 and was trying to convince me that I would enjoy the experience. And I was more than a little skeptical, "surely Disney is just a place for kids" I argued but couldn't have been more wrong. The first time that we stepped through the gates and got the view of the castle I was hooked and have at times become slightly obsessed with the parks ever since.
Having now traveled to Orlando twice and to Disneyland Paris three times it's not the rides or the shows or the characters that keep on drawing us back or even the details and the atmosphere. The smell of pop-corn as you walk down Main Street, the subtle changes in architecture and music as you move into a new land and the feel of each area all help us "get into" the Disney spirit. The small things are what make so much difference; the themeing of the queue areas that do so much more than just serve a purpose of getting on a ride but imerse you in the back story of an attraction are all excellent.
But it's more than that; when Walt was designing the original Disneyland he said it was to become a place where parents and children could have fun together. And in all his films, cartoons and parks he never lost sight of the truth that for success the family has to come first. Many things have changed over the years in the Disney parks not least the $4.95 admission which is now slightly more. But the sense of putting the family first has never changed and this is the spirit in which I blog today that in all else that happens in life we should never fail to put family first.
Jobs will come and go, money comes in and out, prices rise and fall, governments, trends, fashions, fads and styles are always changing. Culture evolves, beliefs are effected, churches adapt in shape and size and even friends may not be as constant as they should be. But our families should always come first!
Please take the time to put your family first today, take the extra time to make that phone call to say thank you, the extra effort to visit loved ones and grab any opportunity for a hug, a word of encouragement or just to say to someone "You come first in my priorities".
Have a great day.
God Bless.
Chris
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