The Most Precious Disney Memories

Experiencing Disney World is more than just about being there in the moment, it is about re-living the experience over and over again throughout our lives. There are a lot of ways to do this of course, silent reflection, talking together about the experience, pictures/videos, and special gifts.

Talking – Once a week my daughter and I talk about Disney. It just comes up, unplanned, and we chat about it anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. We talk about what we loved, what we thought was funny, our favorite characters (hers is Wizard Mickey) the best restaurants in and outside of the Disney Resort, what was exciting, what was boring and dozens and dozens of other topics.  Some of the time, I start the conversation with, “you know, I was just thinking about that time at Disney when . . . “

Life seems to take a pause when we do this and all of the tough stuff that kids and adults deal with day-to-day seem a lot less important after we’re done.The next option is to take your photos and videos and view them together. We enjoy actual photographs instead of digital images because we can pass them back and forth slowly and talk about the nuances of each picture. “Remember when this picture was taken, you were six years old and had never been to the Magic Kingdom before…” We use Shutterfly.com for reprints, but there are dozens of services out there that will reproduce your photographs, they’re all about the same.

Videos are a different story. You want these digitized, because you don’t want to have to set up the old VHS, pull out the old 8MM movie projector or risk busting the film or tape from overuse every time you watch it. We found that a very special way to share these, particularly film/video from an older era, is iMemories.com. They take any old film or video and turn it into its digital equivalent for you to share with kids, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, anyone! They also have a cloud feature that will allow you to share your digitized photos and movies around the world through a standard web browser.

The last really special way we’ve found to re-live the Disney memory is to give a special precious gift after the trip to someone who went with you. Last week I was shopping for my wife’s birthday and came upon a Swarovski pure Crystal Mickey Sorcerer (and saw beautiful crystal Minnie and Mickeys as well). It was a big birthday so I purchased it, and she loved it! Now at Total Disney we’re all about saving money on Disney World but this is so that you can either afford the trip if you can’t normally go or so that you can spend your hard earned funds in other areas. This is one of the other areas, for us anyway.  These crystal figurines are not cheap (we’ve found them for less on Amazon though), but Swarovski is very precious and special, so one would not expect them to be. I am also thinking about giving one to my daughter for her birthday. My wife and I may miss a few dinners out but that’s okay, our daughter will just love it.

The most important thing about Disney, whether you’re experiencing it live, through conversation, pictures, videos or gifts, is to make sure the memory lives on.  We hope you continue to enjoy your Most Precious Disney Memories. No matter how you share them, they key is to share them.

Jonathan Winter

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