Hello again! It has been
awhile, huh? How have you been?
I’ve been thinking about
what I wanted my next post to be, and today it became quite clear. For those of
you who don’t know, Dream Along with
Mickey, the long-running musical on the castle stage at Magic Kingdom had
its final performance today.
Every one of my social
media feeds was filled with tributes to the show and shared memories from the
show today. So I thought why not add mine via my blog? Warning to all: this
post will be my personal thoughts and feelings about the show and my nostalgic response to it so… if that’s not your cup of tea, no worries,
but you may want to click away now!
Two years ago I
attempted a post explaining why I love Disney so much. That’s quite a huge task
for a blog when honestly, I could write a long-winded book on that topic, I’m
sure. One of the things I mentioned was about Dream Along:
I was at Magic Kingdom in
July, and while watching the Dream Along with
Mickey
castle show, which I have known the lyrics to backwards and
forwards
for a few years now, I was still swept up in the magic of it all. It
was
the strangest and yet coolest thing for me. I am telling you, I know
that
show, I really know it. I knew what lyrics were going to be sung, and
yet
while I was singing away in a crowd of hundreds, when we reached a
certain
line, completely unprepared for it, I cried. There, I said it! You think
that’s
embarrassing? I think it’s awesome!
Let me expand on that now. I was on that trip years ago
because I was looking at a few schools in Florida. I have taken an
unconventional college route, which I could go into another time as it’s quite
lengthy in itself, but basically at the time, I knew I wasn’t happy at my
current school, and needed to start looking for something else. My dad and I
went down to Florida for a few days, and were able to have one Disney day,
which was the coolest bonus for me! I was getting one Disney day and had to
choose one park. Magic Kingdom was an easy choice, and one of the reasons was
because I wanted to see Dream Along.
It’s always been one of my must-dos at the parks!
“Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come
smiling through.” That’s the line that had me in tears. At that time in my
life, I was feeling like a failure. Looking back on it now I can tell that that
point in my life was the lowest in my long depressive spell. I needed some
hope, and that is exactly what Dream
Along was serving up for me that day. Before that day, this line never
stuck out as anything extraordinary to me, but when I heard it that day in
June, the tears fell instantly as an emotional response which was greatly out
of the ordinary for me.
Just the fact that I was feeling hope again was huge, but the
fact that I had an emotional response of any kind was even bigger. With
depression, I feel numb a lot, and for the majority of my life, I’ve not
processed emotions, and definitely not outwardly expressed them. This castle
show acted as a turning point for my life in a way. My thinking began to change, and I
seriously credit this moment for helping me.
Dream Along
with Mickey has so many great takeaways, it’s hard to keep track of them
all.
First of all, it’s a celebration. What are we celebrating?
Anything and everything! It’s a “magical occasion for everyone to share.” It
reminds us that every day is a reason to celebrate.
Mickey tells us all that he’s brought a surprise—he’s invited
some special guests to the party. Donald asks, “That’s the surprise??” To which Goofy replies, “But Donald,
they’re going to bring their dreams along to share.” I love that Goofy
identifies sharing our dreams with each other and living life together as
something special.
Donald doesn’t believe in dreams, but Minnie tells him, “Oh, why
everyone believes in dreams! You see, that’s the only way dreams can come
true.” I’ve never thought about it this way, but I like it! If we don’t believe
in our dreams, how can we expect them to come true? We have to keep on
believing!
This musical inspires kids, and the kids at heart, to dream up
anything they can think of! There is no limit to what we can dream.
Life isn’t always perfect though, and darkness finds its way
in (cue Maleficent). I love that Dream
Along shows that the dark side of life exists too, and whatever that may be
or represent in your life, it can be defeated! I think it’s important that
Donald, the once dream-skeptic, is the one to remind everyone to believe in
their dreams which ultimately saves the day! Quite telling for us all.
“Every day discover dreams you never dreamed before. Make believe
and let your imagination soar!” We have the power to do this. I think that is
very cool.
Thank you Dream Along
for the years of telling us all to seize the moment and let our fantasies and
dreams set sail. Thank you for reminding us that anything is possible and
wishes DO come true.
For ten years, it was the best castle party I’ve ever been
invited to. (To be fair, it was the only castle party I’ve been invited to, but
you know, it’s also the best!) The show’s audio lived on my phone so that I
could participate any time I liked. The party is leaving the castle stage, yes,
but I will still find my way to the party when I want to. Of course it won’t be
in person, but rather via YouTube, but you know what? I’ll take it.
Dream Along
with Mickey is a show that I will always find to be classic and
timeless, and there is never a wrong time to look it up online and watch it
now!
So yes, I knew the words to the songs and the dialogue, and I
picked up choreography over the years, but this show gave me and so many others
alike so much more—it let us celebrate the magic of dreams and watch a variety
of “happily ever afters” come alive.
As they say in the show…
“find a dream inside of you” and “take the dream with you, wherever you may go!”
I leave you now the same
way Dream Along with Mickey ends
every time, and that’s with the words of Mickey, “see ya real soon!”
x Lauren
P.S. To see many more of my photos from Dream Along, look at my Disney Instagram account: @thefantasticaldream OR this previous blog post :)
