By Charly SHELTON

Well it has been 440 days, 13 hours and 10 minutes since I last set foot inside Disneyland, but who’s counting? That is the longest period in my 31 years that I have been away from Disneyland. Suffice it to say, walking back into the park after such a long time was like a homecoming of epic proportions. Even though so much time had passed, Disneyland is timeless. Returning felt like seeing a childhood friend after an absence and realizing that it seemed no time had passed between us, despite what the calendar said.

Disneyland still feels like home. It was where my first job was out of high school. It’s where I courted my wife through years of being passholders. It’s where I met lifelong friends. It’s where Mickey Mouse is always waiting with a reassuring hug and a wave when you needed it most. It is where my parents sat me on a curb to hold my hand and watch parades. And now, when I sat on Main Street, USA on a curb with my own son to watch the crowds go by, I felt and saw the magic of Disneyland all over again … through his eyes.

My wife was pregnant the last time we came to Disneyland, just a week before the shutdown. My son was born into a world of masks and isolation and uncertainty but bringing him to Disneyland to meet Mickey was giving him a taste of what the world was like before he was born, of what we were hoping it would be when she and I decided to have a kid. Even though we are starting to come out the other side of this pandemic and aren’t as scared as we were 440 days ago, I didn’t know how much of a healing exercise it was for me to return to this familiar place.

Returning to Disneyland felt like returning to normal. Sitting on Main Street, I thought of what the last 440 days have been like. They’ve been rough, for my family and for the world. COVID-19 worked its way through members of my family, including my young son. We were luckier than others and didn’t lose anyone to the disease in our family. But this year has taken a lot from us in other ways. Some things we will never get back, like the feeling of being safe in public … not that I felt safe before the pandemic. Anytime I am with more people than my wife and son inside our apartment, I am constantly aware of danger. I don’t think there’s a way to get rid of that anxiety; it will be with me for the rest of my life. But that being said, we need to move on and find a new normal, a new way of going through the world. It will be the new way of my son’s world.

So for him, seeing Mickey stand on his porch waving is as close to him as he will get. Currently, cast members smile with their eyes, mouths hidden behind masks. On most rides we got a vehicle to ourselves. Plexiglass shields stopped the splashes from water rides … and sneezes from other guests. And the park is, thankfully, not too crowded due to the park reservation system capping entries at 25% capacity.

This is how my son will come to know Disneyland in his time, until the Health and Safety Regulations are loosened. Whatever adjustments will be made to the long-term operations of the park will become as commonplace for him as the post-9/11 metal detectors are for me – just part of the theme park experience.

And regardless of the protections, the masks, the distancing, or any of these things, all I will remember from our first trip back to Disneyland is his smile.