Some explore the world, and international travel is part of their lives. The original seven wonders of the ancient world have mostly come and gone and new ones have emerged in our modern era. Creations of beauty, designs of technology and mother earth coming together that catch our breath and cause us to gasp in wonder.
All of us know the feeling of nostalgia, that magical feeling like you’re in a Disney bubble, but what is it about Disney that literally takes your breath away? I mean literally. When your mouth opens, and you take that breath because you are in awe. For Disney enthusiasts, these sights are so visually beautiful they pull its essence into your soul.
Tell me, what takes your breath away, Disney style?
Grand Lobby of Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa
It is difficult to describe how a lobby can cause me to open my mouth, gasp, and stare in awe. I feel a sense of being a part of the story and present in its grandeur. Disney’s Hawaiian resort, located in Ko Olina, was designed and imagined by Joe Rohde. The grand lobby takes my breath away. Mr. Rohde combined the culture of Hawaii with stunning architecture and wove a story throughout the curved wood archways and open-aired, heavenly building, welcoming guests with its E Komo Mai warm greeting. They call it Maka‘ala lobby, or watchful (engaged), as guests are given views of the mountains to one side and the sea to the other. Authentic Hawaiian music fills the air while art flows above, depicting Hawaiian stories and heritage throughout its murals. It smells like the freshest air your lungs have ever taken in. The lobby is a masterwork of wonder.
Lightsabers
Mouths agape, Star Wars fans have had a recent experience of a real lightsaber. This thing, this staff, this rod, is the mecca of the Star Wars universe, it is the everlasting legacy of the embodiment of our Star Wars culture, from beginning to end the lightsaber represents good vs. evil, mankind. Story, technology and a vision of beauty, it stands proud.
Disneyland Main Street, U.S.A.
This strip of land is the origin of Walt Disney’s path to happiness. Representing early America, visiting this street represents a place of birth, original thought and is the epicenter of Disney creation. Mixing quaintness, history, art and wisdom, Walt’s walking path, leading to Sleeping Beauty Castle, is an essential area of architecture that leaves everyone who walks upon it breathless. Without question, this is the holy grail for those seeking to be one with Walt Disney. It’s his soul that extends to yours.
Tinker Bell Flies
Our beloved fairy visits us nightly when she feels it is safe and healthy for her and her Disney loved ones. When she takes off in flight, her wings directing her through the evening sky from her perch atop the castle, it is an astounding, ethereal glow. There is a fairy flying above your head with the moon above, the castle twinkling as beautifully as the stars in the night sky, and she is waving her wand in your direction sprinkling her magic all over the land. This is a wonder that leaves me breathless.
HONORABLE MENTIONS include Rise of the Resistance and the sound of the Disney Cruise Line horns.
Evaluating what I listed, I noticed a theme. Each one seems to have an experience of another world. We step into another portal when Tinkerbell flies above you, another world when we enter Main Street in Disneyland, a secret lobby entering a beautiful land in Aulani. I have to close my mouth, catch my breath, and hold my balance. What is it that causes you to do the same?
Featured image credit: Jayme McColgan on Unsplash