Welcome to the Magic Kingdom

By Christy Romero

12/16/2025 • View profile

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Mark 10:14-15

I recently went with my grandsons to Disney World. I had not been there in over twenty years. The first time I visited, I was fourteen years old. The only park at the time was Magic Kingdom, and I thought it was the most magical place in the world. When my kids were little, we would take them at least once every couple of years. Once they grew up, we stopped going. I remember that my husband and I used to say that the state of Florida was divided into two kinds of people, Disney people and non-Disney people. We had friends that would go to Disney multiple times during the year, taking full advantage of the Florida residents’ annual pass. We definitely belonged to the second category, thus the reason why we had not returned in over twenty years. But now that we are grandparents, when my son and daughter-in-law invited us to go with them, we immediately said “yes,” not because of the parks, but to be with the grandkids.

Even though there are now four parks, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom is still my favorite. However, this trip made me realize that I’m still not a Disney park fanatic. As I stood in the crowds, waiting forty-five minutes to ride Winnie the Pooh, eating buffet mediocre food surrounded by Disney characters, and catching a cold while thinking the place should have its name changed to Virus Kingdom, I remembered why I had stayed away for twenty years. I thought to myself, this place could be heaven or it could be hell. And it was at that moment that I decided that I had to have an attitude adjustment or my week in Disney would turn into hell. Once I began to look at the experience through my grandsons’ eyes, my outlook totally changed, because for them, Disney was definitely heaven.

As I walked down the beautiful Main Street, towards the magnificent Cinderella’s Castle, I took a look at the smiles on my grandsons’ faces, and my heart lit up. I started thinking, if this kingdom is gorgeous and magical, how much more beautiful the kingdom of heaven must be. I imagine that heaven will be crowded because our God is a merciful God and He forgives all our sins if we truly repent. I think that heaven must have a castle, even more beautiful than Cinderella’s Castle, where our King of kings lives. The streets will sparkle, just like Disney was sparkling the week we were there because it was all decorated for Christmas, well, not really for Christmas because there was not a Nativity anywhere, but at least they had Christmas trees at all the parks, and to my surprise, the tree at the entrance of Epcot had an angel at the top.

Heaven will also have the angels singing and playing music, like in the resort where we stayed that had Christmas carols blasting through the speakers all day long. A few times a day, there was a celebration in front of Cinderella Castle. It was announced by the sound of trumpets that could be heard from far away. The characters came out, they danced and sang, and at the end, fireworks exploded in the air. I see heaven in my mind as being in a constant state of celebration, with angels singing and dancing, and every time someone new arrives, trumpets will sound to welcome them home.

Once I began to compare the Magic Kingdom to my fairytale heavenly kingdom, I realized why at the age of fourteen, I thought it was the most magical place in the world. It was the same reason why my four- and two-year-old grandsons had a smile on their faces the entire week. Children are not bothered by crowds or long lines. They don’t care if the food is mediocre and if there are germs everywhere they touch. Children live in the present moment, and the present moment for them was the fact that they were in a magical kingdom. Seeing their little faces light up at the sight of Mickey, Goofy, or Pluto, made me close my eyes and think, this is what heaven will be like. When we stand in front of God, our faces will light up, and we will become carefree and innocent once again, like we were when we were children.