A co-worker saw on my desk calendar that I was going to WDW over Labor Day weekend and also again at the end of September and asked the question all of us WDW fans hear “your going there again?” only she followed up with “please explain to me why you keep going back”?

I was late for a meeting and told her I would get back to her about that but her question remained on my mind all day. Why do we keep going back? We travel to WDW as just two adults, no small children. Our kids are all grown up, some are married yet haven’t started their families yet so no grandkiddies. We could go anywhere we wanted at anytime so what possibly could be the draw that brings us back to WDW?

I will admit the first time we went it was simply because we had never gone. Somehow all our children had gone, some more than once but for whatever reason John and I had never made the trip so we just decided to go and see what it was all about.

It was a wonderful vacation. Perfect weather, low crowds, we had spent months researching so we had a great place to stay, had all the “right” dinner reservations, and we had our touring plans so we were doing it just the way all the websites said to do it and while everything was amazing I wasn’t getting “the magic”, until one moment on day three and that changed everything for me.

We were in Epcot, in the UK portion of World Showcase and I was in the shop in the very back just looking around.

There was no one else anywhere around, it was very quiet and something caught me eye. I turned around and there she was. It was Mary Poppins! She was standing in the corner just staring at me and smiling. She approached me and we had a wonderful visit. She looked just like the Mary Poppins doll of my childhood and was so warm and welcoming. We talked for about 5-10 minutes and it took me back, back to being 5 years old and dreaming of meeting her. She really was Practically Perfect in Every Way. This was not a person playing the character, this was THE Mary Poppins and I will go to my grave defending that statement!!! At that moment I knew that dreams of a childhood can and do come true in this world created by a man who just wanted to make his little girl happy.

That is why we go back.

Since that initial trip we have gone back several times and each time it is something new that becomes the memory and magic of the entire trip. I saw Snow White in the rose garden of the Magic Kingdom, just her and Dopey talking, laughing and playing a game of chase as if no one else existed. I have watched Alice sitting on the ground lovingly talking to the insects. I have ridden Snow White’s Adventure with a bunch of crazy friends and laughed so hard through the entire ride that I couldn’t stand up when it was over. I have gazed at an “ice” covered castle, wrapped in my husband’s arms, fireworks exploding all around, surrounded by good friends from all over the world and felt pure joy, peace and love.

That is why we go back.

We go back because we need to go back. We need the magic in our lives. With all the stress and upheaval in the world, with all the bad news and worries we just need the break from reality sometimes and I can honestly say there is no where else in the world (the real world) that we have found that you can leave it all behind and just cut loose, be young and carefree again like you can in Lake Buena Vista, Florida at a place called Walt Disney World.

That is why we go back.

When we plan trips now we always take into account the magic that we know is waiting there and seek it out! We plan trips differently than in the beginning. After so many visits we are not there to just see the characters or to ride rides, (which are both still great things to do) but to spend time quality time with each other and with our friends! We always try to experience new things that we haven’t done yet (John rode a horse for the first time at WDW, I will be riding Peter Pans Flight for the first time over Labor Day) and just to have fun!

That’s a big reason we go back. Because it is FUN!

I can’t think of a better reason that those. Can you?