I must confess…while growing up, I was never a Donald Duck fan.  Watching Disney cartoons on TV, I thought he was always kind of crabby and pretty grumpy in general.  Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Daisy were so happy, Donald just suffered by comparison.  Based on those childhood feelings, It surprises me how much of a Donald fan I am now…He is, without a doubt, my favorite Disney character!

What happened to make me fall in love with Donald Duck?  Disney magic, that’s what!!!

It was during a spring break trip to Disney World in 2005.  We were staying at the Contemporary and were on our way out to the parks for the day when Megan realized she’d forgotten her key-to-the-world card.  Joseph and I waited on the monorail platform while Raymond and Megan ran back to the room to get it.  Joseph was occupying himself in the way 10-year-old boys tend to do as I looked down over the railing at the goings-on at Chef Mickey’s.  Donald was out in front of the restaurant posing with a family for pictures.  After the pictures were taken and the family went on inside, one of those magical Disney moments took place that changed my feelings about Donald Duck forever….

Donald glanced up at me as I stood there by myself looking over that wall on the monorail platform.  And when he saw me, he threw his arms wide and stepped back in surprise…one hand flew to his heart while he pointed right at me with the other…perfectly miming, “It’s YOU!”  Then he began madly blowing kisses to me with both hands.

At first I was so shocked I just sort of waved back a little, but Donald’s enthusiasm (at seeing me!) and those kisses he just kept flinging at me, quickly snapped me into the magic of the moment and before I knew it…..I was wildly blowing kisses back at Donald with, I’m sure, a ridiculously huge, dopey smile on my face!  Yeah…..so that was just about the time I heard, “Mommmmm?  What are you doing?”  And I answered the only way I could….”Oh, Joseph!  Donald and I are having a moment!”  Then, Raymond and Megan got back so Donald and I both went on about our day…but, in that one brief moment, grumpy, crabby Donald became special, magical Donald and had won my heart forever.