Peter Pan Magic

 I'm not sure when this started. I like to joke that it was here:

After all, if you hate the villain that much, you must love the hero. That's me, less than 1 year old, with my dad at Disneyland. Obviously I'm not feeling the love for Captain Hook.
 It was actually sometime in jr. high or high school when I read the book by J.M. Barrie. I liked it but at the time it wasn't my favorite.
 When I started high school I met the girl who would be my best friend for the rest of my life, Cindy. At some point we decided Peter Pan was our favorite Disney character. My best friend says, "we related to him." We really liked happy thoughts. And the idea of flying. And not growing up. We bought Peter Pan hats and actually wore them.
 When I moved away, we kept in touch. I shared my love of Peter Pan with my new little siblings.

It definately stuck the most with Megan. A few weekends ago she came down to So Cal to go to Disneyland with a friend. I got a call that she saw Peter Pan in the parade. She cheered so loud that he came over to give them all high fives. I was so proud. First, I taught them at a young age to cheer for characters during a parade because they will acknowledge you. Second, although she doesn't love Peter like I do, she thought of me.  After high school I moved back to So Cal. We worked at Disneyland (she was first, I followed). This meant a lot of our paycheck went straight back to the company because we bought anything with Peter Pan on it. Since we got in Disneyland for free, we watched Fantasmic! a lot. There's an amazing section with Peter on a pirate ship (this scene is not in Fantasmic! at WDW, which seriously leaves it lacking).

We would cheer like crazy during this section.
 After we both left Disneyland, we still sought out Peter Pan related things. My favorite Peter Pan movies came out in 2003. It starred Jeremy Sumpter. If you haven't seen this version, you need to.

 In 2007 we went to the El Capitan in Hollywood to see Disney's Peter Pan.

We went the first night, so there was a panel discussion that included animators and the character voices.

It was thrilling to meet Kathryn Beaumont, the voice of Wendy.

 I waited until my daughter was 1 for her first visit to Disneyland. Our first ride was Peter Pan's Flight.

 In 2010 an amazing show came to So Cal. Peter Pan 360 was one of the best shows I have ever seen.

  

We even bought tickets to a behind the scenes tour.

 So why am I thinking of all of this now. Last night Cindy and I took Melodie to her first real musical she'd been to other made-for-kids-so-they-were-short plays). We were thrilled that Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby was in our area. We were excited. I debated for a while on whether or not to take Mel, but I thought it would be perfect if Melodie's first musical was Peter Pan. We dressed up for a night at the theater.

We arrived early knowing we needed a booster seat for Mel and that we'd want to buy some merchandise. I ended up buying a program, a Peter Pan glow stick, a magnet and a Tinker Bell necklace for Melodie.

We had seats in the orchestra level (which Cindy and I don't normally spring for).

There's nothing like the moment when Peter Pan flies onto the stage. Cathy Rigby (and the rest of the cast) did an amazing job. It was fun to watch Melodie (who does know some of the music since I listen to it quite often). She did NOT like the pirates (actually found them quite scary). But that was fun too. Her reactions were amusing to watch.

Her favorite part was the very end when Peter Pan flew over the audience and the croc chased after Captain Hook. It was a very magical night.