Disney Magical Mindset Podcast

Four Parks. Four Lessons. One Magical Reminder.

• Ruben R. Rios • Episode 74

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What if the best souvenir from Walt Disney World wasn't something you bought?

After an unforgettable trip to Walt Disney World, I'm sharing four powerful life lessons I brought home from Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.

From living the adventure and chasing your dreams to reconnecting with your inner child and staying curious about what's next, these are reminders that the magic doesn't have to end when the vacation does.

Plus, a quick summer update on the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast and some exciting adventures ahead.

Remember: You are the magic because the magic is in YOU!

Helping you reimagine what's possible and step into it! 

Welcome And Trip Premise

Hey reimagineers, welcome back to another episode of the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast. My name is Ruben. I'm so glad you're here. And hey, I just got back from an incredible trip to Disney World. And you know, instead of giving you a traditional trip recap or report, you know what we have to do. I want to share with you four life lessons that I brought home with me, and I'm so excited to share with you. One lesson from each park. Because the best souvenirs aren't the ones you buy, right? They're the ones that you carry with you long after you leave. So if you're ready, come on, let's do this, cause here we go.

Magic Kingdom And Live The Adventure

So I want to take you to the four parks in order, the way that I experienced them there in Walt Disney World. And the very first park was Magic Kingdom. So the very first magical life lesson, of course, has got to come from Magic Kingdom. I landed in Orlando at 5 a.m. That's right. I took a red-eye flight, left at 9 p.m. Flew all night, didn't sleep, by the way. I was either too excited or, you know, it's kind of uncomfortable to sleep in uh in the plane, although I had the row all to myself. Um, but I know some people were like, that's probably not the best idea for you to go straight to uh to a Disney park after you've flown all night, haven't had any sleep. But you know what? I'm like, no, man, we're gonna do this. Um, I'm gonna have the best time of my life. And I was just like filled with a lot of joy and excitement. So I was ready to go. Now, I feel it, you know, a little bit later, right? Uh after you've been going, going, going, going. But man, I had the best time. So back to the story. All right, I'm getting too excited here. Uh, so I ended up there in Magic Kingdom having just one of the best days I've I've ever had in a Disney park. Now, I I I just so much that I experienced the entire time that I was there. But of course, we rope drop because you gotta rope drop, right? That's just the way to get the most out of your Disney day, especially if you're not a local or if you don't have a uh magic key or you're not a pass holder. You've got to take advantage of the money that you're paying for, right? So you gotta be there from morning until night. And I rope drop Tron. I had never, ever experienced this attraction in my life. I just heard about it. I've seen it. People have shared videos and and their own experience, and man, it was amazing. It was amazing. I loved it. In fact, I was trying to go again, but I just wasn't able to go a second time. Otherwise, I would have, but then I would have had to miss out on the fireworks that there was just no way, right? I'll talk to some some more about that. But amazing uh attraction. I love Tron, and uh it is it is definitely one of the best there. But you know, the other thing that really that really got me was I was finally able to ride the People Mover. After being able to enjoy it in Disneyland, which of course many of you know it's it's no longer there, I was able to go on the people mover. And man, I just had a flood of emotions and memories and the nostalgia, and it's just so beautiful hovering uh uh above Tomorrowland and experiencing all the beauty of Tomorrowland and the views of the castle. I mean, wow, it was so cool. And then and then I had to, I had to go to Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress, which as you know, I mean, it was perfect timing for me because as you know, it's it's going to be uh revamped, remodeled. I mean, they're gonna do some new things with that. Um, so it was just it was beautiful to be able to enjoy that um, you know, before uh things change. And I had never got to experience it in Disneyland because Carousel Progress, of course, you know, went to Walt Disney World and they brought in America Sings, and then after America Sings, it became innovations. Um, and then now it's just uh an area that is not open to the public. Now it's you have to be a DVC member to enjoy that. But I'm saying all that to say that after spending the day, my day is Disney Day, just enjoying and having the time of my life, it is so easy, I think, for many of us, especially as adults, because life just gets at us and we gotta go and do and and and everything that that that demands our attention. Sometimes I I think it's easy to uh stop having fun or to forget about having fun. It's like you get older, and who says that that fun has to stop, right? So there I am standing inside Carousel of Progress, or or sitting, should I say, and I couldn't stop thinking about the song because you, of course, you hear it, you hear it, you hear it. There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow. And the truth is, life isn't something that starts someday. It's happening right now. And I know, like, we have this in our mind at times where it's like, well, someday I'll get there, or someday my prince will come, right? Or someday my goal will come or my joy will come. Um, and too many people spend their entire lives waiting for the next thing, the next vacation, the next promotion, the next season, the next chapter. But what if this chapter is part of the adventure? Like we get so consumed with thinking about what's next that we forget about what we're doing now and living now and the joy that we're experiencing now, and even yes, the hardships and the and and the challenges, but they're they're what make your story so powerful, right? This is the adventure. And and what if today actually matters too? Like living in the moment and being present. That's what I kept just going back to. I just I didn't want it to end, but part of that was just being there and just and just embracing everything the sights, the sounds, the the joys, right? The the emotions, the feelings. The lesson that Magic Kingdom reminded me of is simple. You gotta live the adventure. You gotta take care of yourself, you gotta do things that make you come alive, create those memories, laugh more because one day you'll realize these were the days you were waiting for. And you know, time. It just keeps going, it just keeps going and going and going. And so we have to live the adventure, we have to find the magic because this beautiful life, this one beautiful gift of life we have is is it. So we gotta find it, and it's there, it's out there. You gotta continue to find that magic and live the adventure.

Happily Ever After Fireworks Moment

Before I go to the next magical life lesson, I've got to share my uh just briefly my my time at the end of the night watching Happily Ever After the fireworks spectacular in front of Cinderella Castle. Guys, it was like it was so beautiful, it was so amazing. It was I I just I'm kind of speechless because it was one of those moments in Disney that I'll never forget. They're standing with everyone else, and yet all of us just united looking at this beautiful castle, the fireworks, and then seeing Tink fly. Um was just the best way to cap my first day in Magic Kingdom. I loved it, and it will be a day I'll never forget, a time I'll never forget. But that happily ever after fireworks, woo, wow, amazing.

EPCOT And The Power Of Dreaming

Okay, let's go to the second magical life lesson that I learned from Epcot. Yeah, Epcot, which is actually my favorite Disney park in Walt Disney World. So if Magic Kingdom is my favorite for the nostalgia piece because of the different attractions that I that I shared that you find there in uh Magic Kingdom, Epcot has got to be my favorite um for a lot of things. But I I if I had to narrow it, it it probably would be inspiration. Walking through Epcot, seeing the the Dreamer's statue there at Dreamer's Point, uh of Walt Disney. Wow, I couldn't help but think about the power of a dream. And and that alone, just there's so much to love about Epcot. But of course, for me, just seeing this statue and Walt uh if you've never seen it before, but it's so beautiful of him just um sitting there and and gazing off into the thing that that he saw, like the vision. Um, you know, and it's just it's so special. And I was so grateful to be there in the morning and then to end my night there and just hanging out there. Uh it was it was again a day I'll I'll just never forget. But but I I couldn't help but uh keep thinking about this power of a dream. We're all living our dreams, we all have dreams. And while Walt never got to see most of what became Walt Disney World, one of the things I said was he did see it in his mind. He did see it. Uh because that was uh what someone had mentioned. It's it was sad that Walt didn't live to see this, and one of the Disney execs came and said, actually, no, he he did see it. That's why it's here. He saw it in his mind first. And that's what I envision when I look at the statue there in Epcot is him actually looking out and seeing it. Like he saw it first. That that's why this is so powerful. Uh he he dreamed it before anyone else could. And that's where every meaningful accomplishment begins. So as I stood there looking at Walt, I thought about all the dreams people have buried sometimes in their life. Like I know I've got some dreams, or I've had dreams that I've buried, and and you, I'm assuming that you have as well. Dreams that they've convinced people have convinced themselves are unrealistic or unrealistic, or dreams they postpone, dreams that people stop talking about. But dreaming costs nothing. It doesn't. Dreaming costs nothing, it's free to dream, right? Not going after the dream, guess what? That costs everything. Regret is expensive. Wondering what if is expensive. Living beneath your potential is expensive. So here's the lesson. Here's the magical life lesson from Epcot. Keep dreaming. Yeah. Keep dreaming. You are never too old to have a new dream. Keep dreaming, keep believing that the best is yet to come, that that it's out there. You know, that dream that you have, yeah. Some people may not get it and they're not gonna see it, but that's not for them to decide your dream. This is your dream, this is your magic, this is your vision, and you see it before anyone else does, just like Walt. Keep dreaming, go for it, my friends. You've got this, all right. Now, I wish I could just kind of share my entire Epcot day because there's so much, like so much from that day that that again I just loved. But I've gotta at least tell you that the best coaster that I've ever been on is an Epcot, and that is Cosmic Rewind, Guardians of the Galaxy. Wow. I've I just love it so much. I mean, that alone is worth a ticket to Epcot just to go to go and and get on and experience Cosmic Rewind for yourself. Best attraction. All right, I said it. Yes, I said it. It's the best. So there you go. Um, enjoy yourself. If you've not been on it before, you're missing out. It is incredible.

Hollywood Studios And Your Inner Child

Okay, let's go on to my third park that I was able to enjoy in Walt Disney World. And the third magical life lesson comes from Hollywood Studios. Hollywood Studios. You know, one of the highlights of my entire trip actually happened at Hollywood Studios. Yeah. I got a chance to meet Sorcerer Mickey, Phantasmic Mickey, Fantasia Mickey, and I've never met Mickey, you know, Phantasmic Mickey, Mickey Sorcerer Mickey, ever. That this was my first time meeting Mickey Mouse. Well, this Mickey Mouse, right? Because I've met Mickey before many times, and I love it every single time. I don't even know how to explain it, but y'all get it. There's just something about meeting characters, and especially Mickey Mouse. Because again, I've I've met him many times before, but but seeing sorcerer Mickey, it just hit differently. It hit differently. And I love meeting characters. So one of my favorite things to do, by the way, when I'm in Disney Park, I just love saying hi to characters, I love interacting with them. I love, you know, the the engagement. I I love, you know, the questions and just talking. It's it's just the best to meet and visit with Disney characters. But here with with Sorcerer Mickey, it it it was just amazing. It was amazing. It hit different. Maybe because I had just recently visited the Walt Disney Animation Studios. Friends, I was there like a few weeks before, and here I am now with with the Mickey Mouse from Fantasia, where I was in the animation studios learning more about Fantasia, about the art and history of it. And maybe it was also because Phantasmic means so much to me. I've seen it several, several times in Disneyland, right there on the rivers of America. Or maybe because no matter how old I get, part of me is still that little boy who grew up loving Disney. And Mickey actually was so cool because um when you visit uh Mickey Mouse there, you know, sorcerer Mickey, you you actually go into an area that it's just you and Mickey Mouse. Like you're not having to um experience uh Mickey Mouse with other uh people, although that you know there's nothing wrong with that. You know, you you you do that when you're in um in Disneyland visiting Mickey Mouse there in Toontown, but it's just cool because it's like you feel like it's one-on-one and it's just you and Mickey Mouse. And he taught me a few Phantasmic dance moves, and I did my best to uh to keep up with him. I laughed, we had fun, and and later that night I watched Phantasmic, and it was a powerful. I mean, wow, it was so cool. It was the second view, second showing. There wasn't a lot of people. I had the perfect view, the perfect seat, and that Phantasmic show is incredible. Now, I've told you, I've watched it several times in Disneyland, but this dedicated theater that is just designed for Phantasmic and all the different um things that you can do in a huge theater. Uh, you could just imagine it's like next level Phantasmic. All the characters that you see, the different stories that we love. It was beautiful. And there I was watching it, and it hit me. The child you once were never really leaves, does it? It never leaves. We all grow older. We, you know, we have responsibilities that increase, and and you know, life, we all know life gets heavy at times. But that little kid, that little kid who dreamed big, who believed in magic and got excited about life, is still in there. I want to remind you, that little kid is still in you. It's in there. The problem is that many adults stop taking care of that part of themselves or we forget about it. We become productive but disconnected, successful but exhausted, busy but joyless. But the lesson from Hollywood Studios, here it is: don't forget your inner child. Take care of them, make time for wonder, make time for joy, make time for the things that make your heart come alive. Because when you do, that's when you come alive. When you do, that's when you find the magic that was always in you, and you begin to live your best life.

Animal Kingdom And Staying Curious

And my final park, which is always hard to leave, right? It's always hard to go. But my fourth magical life lesson comes from Animal Kingdom. Yeah, I love the safari. It was so cool to start the morning. Um right when the park opened, I went straight to um the safari uh to take the the jeep, the tram, and and just to explore the savannah. I it it is man, wow, it is a beautiful park. I kept saying that just over and over again. What a beautiful park. I love uh Pandora. I I just love my time in Animal Kingdom, and I thought it was just a great way to end my Disney trip. Um, in fact, I I my the last ride of the day, the attraction I went on was Flight of Passage. It just felt perfect, which is another fantastic, spectacular, amazing attraction. In fact, I think you can go back and forth between Flight of Passage and Cosmic Rewind for the best ride in Walt Disney World. Now, I'll still go with Cosmic Rewind, but I've had others who are like, no, actually, Flight of Passage is better. Amazing Flight of Passage. There's something about their um being on that ride that I don't I don't even know how to explain it, but something happens to you when you're flying, you know, in Pandora, and uh you are just kind of immersed in this world that that makes you think and believe about another world like heaven, you know. It's like, wow, I love it. But you know, what stayed with me wasn't so much the attraction, as great and amazing as that is, but it was the feeling, especially walking through Pandora at night. It is beautiful. It's beautiful during the day, but but at night it just shines. Like everything feels alive. It's mysterious but beautiful, you know? It reminded me that there's still so much left to discover. There's so much, not just in the world, but in ourselves. We're constantly becoming, we're constantly discovering things about ourselves, we're constantly growing. And sometimes we start believing our story is mostly written. Have you ever felt like that? Like, like you feel your story's written? But I want you to know today, I want you to believe today, um, that there's so much more. Your story's not done. There's still so much more to do. There are still adventures that are waiting, dreams that are waiting, people that that you you're going to meet in life, places that you're gonna go, growth that is calling your name, that is ahead of you. And so, so the lesson from Animal Kingdom, that that final park day, the fourth magical life lesson that I learned here in Animal Kingdom is you gotta stay curious. You gotta continue to stay curious, asking those questions, like just wondering what else is out there, right? Never stop believing that the best is coming, that your your story is continuing to be written, right? That there's still more chapters that are out there. Imagine, like you're on the fourth chapter, but you still got chapter five and chapter six, and it's so exciting because you're not there yet and you don't know, but you know what's gonna be awesome. Like, you know what I mean? Like that's an amazing thing to stay curious that the best chapter is actually not behind you, but it's ahead of you. It it might be the one that that you've yet to step into. Like, that's what I'm talking about. And there in Pandora at night, I kept just thinking, like, wow, how beautiful is life? How beautiful is this place that has been created, like these imagineers who who build these spaces that make us say, wow, like that cause us to imagine and believe and stay curious about what's next, about what we can do in our own lives. Yeah, it's amazing. So

The Magic Is In You

as we get ready to close here today, four parks, four lessons, live the adventure, dream anyway, take care of your inner child, and stay curious about what's next. And maybe that's what this trip reminded me most. Maybe it was just the the beautiful reminder that the magic isn't confined to a theme park, and that's what I've been saying. I've been I've been encouraging you with this, that we don't just go to a Disney park to get the magic. We we go to be reminded of the magic that's in us. Because here's the reality I had to leave Walt Disney World. I couldn't stay there. And we all know we wish we could, right? Like we we wish we could live there, but we know that's not the case. So what do you do when you leave? Well, that's what I'm here for. That's what I'm here to encourage you with and to remind you that the magic isn't just in Walt Disney World, it isn't only in Disneyland or any Disney park of your choosing. The magic is in you, and you get to live and and feel and be that magic every day of your life. The magic is what happens when when we bring these lessons home with us and we live that magic every day. Because the goal isn't just to visit Walt Disney World, and I loved it. In fact, I can't wait to go back. The goal is to keep living with that magic, that wonder, that belief, that faith that pixie dust after we leave. Like, like you get there, my friends. That's what I'm talking about. And now, guess what happens? Every time you go to a Disney park, your your experience is just elevated because you've been living that magic before you even get there. That's it. That's it right there. So I just want to continue to encourage you with this. I love y'all, man. This has been so fun. Thank you for following along, my adventures in Walt Disney World. And I want to remind you, remember, in the month of June, these summer months, uh, I'm only going to be putting together, producing um two podcast episodes. All right, so this is the first one for June. I got one more coming to you uh in the month of June. So I just wanted to again remind you that I'm going to two episodes of month, uh, a month during the summer. I've got big travel plans. Uh June's gonna be so busy for me. Um, so I can't wait to share that adventure with you. And and again, I'll be on social media. Uh, you can always follow me there at the reimagineer because I got a lot of magic to share. But I want to thank you so much. You're all the best. Go out there, have the best beautiful, magical day ever. Until next time. Keep dreaming, keep believing, and remember, remember always, you are the magic because the magic is in you.