I’m sure everyone has their own strange traditions when visiting Disneyland… I’m also equally sure that mine border on psychosis… When I go to Disneyland, I check in to the magic and check out of the real world. That means that, typically much to my mom’s chagrin, that nothing but the Disney channel will play on the hotel room TV for the duration of our trip.

My mom has been my Disney traveling companion for about 20 years now and she’s used to my… um… idiosyncrasies… So, over the years we’ve spent a lot of time watching the Disney channel in our hotel room. Granted there isn’t a lot of time to be spent in the room, I am one of those people who needs the background noise… so any time spent in the room means the TV is on. We’ve watched Disney Channel movies, TV show premiers, and, even, the occasional Playhouse Disney morning marathon. We’ve also discovered some gems that we’ve carried with us long after the vacations are over. One such favorite is Wizards of Waverly Place.

As such, when we found out that the Wizards were going to be at the D23 Expo, we were giddy.  And, when the time came, we lined up with about 3,000 screaming teens, tweens, and kiddos to enter the auditorium for a little Q&A with the stars and creators of this Emmy-Winning sensation.  What ensued was a rather surreal blend of bedlam and laughter and heartfelt emotion and just about everything in between.  Not only did we hear from the stars, but Disney Channel screened the season premier of Wizards a few weeks before it aired on TV.  The crowd was outrageously out of control in expressing their love for these young stars, which seemed to only add to the charm of event.  The best part was, each of the show’s stars were genuine and thankful and gracious… it was a really heart-warming moment to experience.  It was good to see that my television escape from reality translated to teen stars that deserved the fame in “real life.”

And so it goes that some Disney traditions come full circle and the neurotic little things we do to keep the magic alive and well don’t seem quite so neurotic when you get to peek behind the curtain at the magic behind the magic.

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