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What is so special about Disney World? It seems like a pretty easy question to answer, right? We all grew up watching Disney movies and cartoons, whether it was the classical (and rather polemic) mickey adventures or the modern movies that make the princess´s hair seem so smooth that you wish you could touch it. Every year there is a new movie, there are new songs that we just cannot stop singing and new products that drive kids (and parents) crazy. If you are a girl, you probably dreamed about being a princess when you were a kid, you dressed up, you pretended that fluffy teddy bear was your prince, had tea with other high society teddy bears and when you found out that there was a place with a real castle, enormous, gorgeous, with princesses and princes, with all those beloved characters you often see on TV…you could not think about anything else. Well, at least that is what happens with lots of girls, but not what happened to me. I was never very fond of princesses, castles, magic or anything like that and, at 15, when my parents told me we were going to Disney World for my birthday I could not be more disappointed. I know what you may be thinking “wow, what an ungrateful girl!”, but keep in mind I was in that age when everything your parents choose or say or really anything, they do is terrible. After a long trip from Brazil to Orlando, we finally arrived. We first went to the other, not less famous, parks, such as SeaWorld, Bush Gardens and the Universal Parks and I absolutely loved it, I went on every ride and I truly had a blast. When the day we were going to Magic Kingdom finally arrived I lost excitement, I knew that there were not many dangerous and rad rides there and I thought we were just going to walk around for hours until the fireworks show, but I put my best smile on and off we went. When we arrived at the park it was completely crowded, I had never seen so many kids at one place. After a long line we finally entered and, well, I fake smile instantaneously became a very real one. The sky was as blue as my father´s bright eyes when he first saw the castle. My mom, well, she cried, as soon as we entered the park and saw Pluto. I looked around and all I saw was families, families everywhere! Parents, grandparents, sometimes great grandparents, babies, teenagers all gathered, laughing, taking funny pictures with the characters and having that too nice of an ice cream in the shape of mickey´s head. The whole day was amazing, I don’t think I had ever seen my mom smile so much, and my dad laugh so much. When the night came, so did the firework show and as soon as that song started playing and I looked at my parents crying and amazed, I could not contain my tears. I realized what was really so special about that place. It was not the castle, all the princesses and princes or even the gorgeous structure of that place, no, what was so special about it is that it was a place to reconnect with your family, with the child inside us, with all the magic that we now know do not exist but, god, when you are there it truly seems like it does! And when you get to share that moment and those feelings with your loved ones, when you see your old dad wearing that mickey hat, smiling, your mum crying and taking pictures of everything (I said everything) it melts your heart. And I can bet they are not feeling that way just because of where they are, but mostly because of those who are there with them, who they get to share that with, even if it is with their ungrateful teenage girl. When I went to Disney World I was not expecting much, but, not even in my deepest dreams, I would ever expect to find what I found: a place that feels like a parent´s hug.