09/05/2026
Where my love for Disney really began… 🤍✨
This weekend marks 10 years since my dad passed away unexpectedly. I wanted to honour him by sharing the reason Julia’s Fantasmic Travels exists.
Long before I was a “Disney adult,” I was a little girl going to Disneyland with her dad. 🤍
My dad first took me when I was four, and from there, Disneyland became part of our family story. We went every year, often more than once. Some of my most treasured childhood memories were made there with him.
Our family even has a brick in the Esplanade at the Disneyland Resort. We visit it every trip. It may just look like a brick to everyone walking past, but to me, it’s a little piece of our family’s history in a place that means more to me than I could ever explain.
After losing my dad, Disneyland became something different.
It was still my happy place, but it also became a place where I could feel close to him.
I see him in the memories around every corner. I remember the rides, the places we ate, the things that made us laugh and what it felt like to simply be there together.
And now, I get to bring my boys there.
I get to tell them stories about their Gampy, show them where our memories were made and visit our family brick together. They get to experience a piece of him while we create new memories of our own. 🤍
Becoming a Disney Vacation Club member was a dream come true. Knowing Disneyland will continue to be part of our family’s story means more than I can explain.
So yes, I may be a Disney adult. 🤍
But behind the ears, the countdowns, the Fantasmic obsession and all the Disney posts is something much bigger.
There’s a little girl who remembers Disneyland with her dad.
A mom sharing those memories with her boys.
And a daughter who found a way to stay connected to someone she misses every day.
Ten years later, I still tell his stories. I still say his name. And every time I walk through those gates, a piece of him walks in with me.
Maybe Julia’s Fantasmic Travels didn’t begin with a social media page.
Maybe it began with you, Dad. ❤️