Mission Disneyland: Living the Dream (in narrative)

It was like my senses were slipping down a silken sheet into this new reality.  My ears became alert to the silence of the room.  Nothing stirring in the room besides my own thoughts.  Total blackness encompassed my vision as I opened my eyes.  The only lights in view were the hotel alarm clock and the cell phone turned upside down, but with a subtle blue light flashing around the edges indicating I had notifications.  I look over at the balcony door, which is covered by a lace curtain and a thick off white sun drape.  Had the sun risen yet?  Those drapes worked well.  I couldn't see a single sliver of light.  My hand reached out for my phone, and with a quick glance discovered that it was my usual wake up time.  For a few minutes my thoughts get into a debate about the pros and cons of getting up, and the victor has convinced me that it was time to get ready that I might be able to make it out of the room early enough for opening time, which was early this morning.

Nothing unusual happened while getting ready.  It was as if I was getting ready for another day of work.  I walked over and opened the drapes to get a view of the morning and discovered the sky was displaying my favorite kind of weather: overcast.  My morning was already moving along perfectly.  Despite the weather, I knew I would be in need of my sunscreen and hat before I decided to return to the hotel later, so I made sure to grab them before leaving the room for my first morning experience.  My next day's adventures began.  

It took a few wrong turns, but after a quick security check, I was on the path to seeing what I'd only seen in cameras and video in reality.  My head was already whirling as I tried to absorb all the new surroundings, and was so preoccupied with them that I forgot to be concerned about the fact that I had no idea where I was going.  My intuition told me to follow the people ahead of me, and as I did so, I felt relief that they were taking me exactly where I wanted to go: to the main gates.  A chorus of people counting down told me that I'd come at opening and an eruption of cheers followed soon after.  I could see behind the gate people beginning to stream in, some walking, and some running.  A sensation of amusement began to grow within me as I saw here and there a runner seemingly running as if their life depended on whether they got to be first on the rides or not.  Who knew my amusement would begin before entering?

Suddenly before me I found myself before the efflorescence of Mickey's face beneath the iconic Main Street train station.  The line for pictures was already forming, but I walk on and as before follow the others into the beyond.  In an instant the world changed and I suddenly felt like I was wandering back in time to a town in the Midwest, but my mind was focused down the middle of the street as I anticipated the one thing I'd looked for.  The map I'd studied and research I'd done prior to coming told me that the one iconic place I'd wanted to see above all should be standing somewhere down that way.  My studies also warned me it would not be large, and that became apparent when at first I could see nothing, but that made it all the more interesting when as I walked along the way spires began to appear and as in true magic form the castle appeared in whole.  No films, prints, or digital formats stood between us now.  The Disney magic and I had met at last.