By Charly SHELTON

Honestly, I don’t know of one person who lives in our town that doesn’t have some Disney memory. Be it at a movie, at the Disney Store, a Disney gift, Disney cartoons on TV, or even at the ultimate happy memory place –  Disneyland – most everyone can recount some joyous time connected to Disney.
Because we live in Southern California, so close to Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom, most of us have been to Disneyland at least once (I myself have been to the Park over 200 times, at the very least). When it comes to making those Disney memories, Disneyland is the very best place to do it. With happy memories of vacations and family getaways comes photo taking.
My computer houses about 25 GB of pictures, audio and video of myself and my friends and family at the Park. Now Disney has found a way to capitalize on all the people who have such digital records of happy memories and shared experiences. Their new “Let The Memories Begin!” promotion replaced the “What Will You Celebrate?” campaign, which replaced “Year of a Million Dreams” (which actually ran for two years). You get the idea. It is an ongoing thing at the Park every couple of years to have themed merchandise and new ticket designs and different decorations so you want to come back to see it all again. But as “Million Dreams” had dream come true experiences, and “Celebrate” had birthday celebration times, this year’s campaign is all about the memories made at the resort over the years and documenting those memories. Nothing shows this better than the new nighttime show, “The Magic, The Memories and You!”
“It’s A Small World” is the big, white building towards the back of the park, right before Mickey’s Toontown. Some see it as an attraction. Some see it as an annoyance. But the Disney show planners saw it as a canvas – a projection screen with movable parts that combines the real world and the world of digital light.
At night, when the Park is dark, the facade front of “Small World” lights up with pictures and videos cut seamlessly together with new projection animation to make the building come to life with photos and videos of the past memories made at the resort. The photos ad videos are from real guests who uploaded their digital memories online at the Memories Online Hub for the new celebration (the online Hub is still taking submissions for this and other aspects of the celebration. Visit www.DisneyParks.com/memories to upload your photos and videos).
In addition to the photos and videos uploaded online, guests who had their photo taken by Disney PhotoPass photographers in the park through out the day are loaded into the presentation as well. So if you have your family picture taken at the Castle, or a photo of your playful group of friends at the Photo Stop by “Grizzly River Run” in “Disney’s California” across the way, you could see yourself projected up on the biggest of big screens that night in Disneyland. This makes for a different show every single night.
The show is spectacular. It takes place every night, though the times vary depending on the day. Check the listing on whichever day you plan to go. It is a great way to end the night, especially if you have children.
Seeing the whole ride come alive at once is really amazing. The projection is almost perfect (some of the lines are just a little off their mark, making the various lines appear skewed, but by no more than a few inches). A display definitely not to be missed.
The magic is alive and well at the Disneyland Resort and it is shared every night. Be sure to stop by the Park and catch this show.