These are a few of my favorite memories from traveling in 2024. I hope you enjoy!

Our time at the Fantasy Springs opening was winding down. For the better part of a week, we’d spent time in Tokyo Disney Resort enjoying everything that was offered. A large portion of that was in Tokyo DisneySea’s newest Port of Call! The entry process into the land was a little confusing but we were lucky enough to take many rides on Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure. Closing out the week with one last ride there was fitting.

I don’t need to rehash my review but the attraction is an absolute joyride. There wasn’t a time on our flying boat where the generally reserved Japanese crowd wasn’t either singing, laughing or cheering along. That was part of what makes the attraction so enjoyable, everyone was just so excited.

Knowing it was our last ride through, we took a slow pace getting through the pre-show and boarding rooms. I know we’re supposed to “fill all available space” in front of you but no one really cares if you’re in the back of the line, right? We soaked in the final details of the queue and finally sat down in the front row, ready for Never Land.

Our boat took off and we were met with more singing by those in the rows behind us. I immediately started laughing, filled with glee. My wife would tell you that there are a few things that can make me unabashedly giggle – waterslides, staying up too late with good friends, Superbad and there’s probably a few more. We can add Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure to that list.

In the middle of my laughing, I noticed the young woman on my right was crying. At first I thought she was laughing along with everyone else but after a sneaky look (I probably wasn’t that sneaky but I’m writing the story so I totally was) there were definitely tears. This wasn’t a one tear down your cheek style cry either, it was more on the scale of sobbing.

About halfway through I had half a mind to ask her if everything was okay. My Japanese was ill-equipped to ask that without Google Translate and even less equipped to understand the answer. Patting her on the shoulder or hand would have been more inappropriate than me fumbling over a Japanese phrase so instead I just sat there slightly worried.

After a minute or two and a few more tears, a smile broke out. With the smile came my relief. She still cried some but, at least in my head, we had crossed over into the realm of joyful tears. And if ever there was a ride for that…

What was really going on with that young woman will never be solved for me. Maybe it was just one of those very stressful theme park days and she finally got onto the ride she really wanted. Maybe the Peter Pan story meant a lot to her growing up. There could have been a bad breakup or family issues and she just really needed some joy. It’s not my story to tell.

I think about that young woman often though and hope she’s doing well. She reminds me that the Imagineers who worked so hard at bringing these rides to life wanted people to react by cheering, laughing, singing and even crying. I’m fortunate to have experienced each of those.

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Traveling more this year let me to having a few more days in theme parks by myself. Melissa works remotely so we’ll travel and I’ll spend the days testing itineraries or taking photos before she joins me once work is done. Some of those days alone are spent quietly and focused, trying to get things done. Other days bring unexpected surprises.

I had just finished off a breezy day at a relatively empty Hollywood Studios. Lines were so low that I completed Rise of the Resistance, Smugglers Run, Toy Story Mania, Star Tours and MuppetVision in under 2 hours. Pleased with my outcome, I hopped on the Skyliner to go grab an iced tea from the Riviera before catching a bus to Disney Springs. My plans were needlessly convoluted but I was on my own and just going on a whim at that point.

Before the bus arrived, I asked a friendly looking couple if I could sit on the open spot of the bench they were on. They obliged, saying they were just admiring the camera I was lugging around. That set off a chain of events that let to us talking for about half an hour straight first on the bench and then on the bus!

We talked about photography, their travel plans, Japan and more. The bus arrived all to soon and we headed our separate ways after exchanging Instagram information. It might be a small thing, but I always appreciate getting to see their posts or when they send a message. I’m taken back to that day and our chance encounter.

So many things had to go right that day for us to meet. Not only did we have to be at Disney World at the same time, a ride couldn’t break down, the lines had to be short, an urge for iced tea had to hit me and the place to get iced tea for my refillable mug needed to be the Riviera. Chance encounters while traveling are one of my favorite things. That lovely couple made my day and I was gliding through the rest of my night.

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Conventional wisdom would say that anytime a cat robot serves you breakfast then that should clearly be the highlight of the day. If it’s not that then being out on a boat with your best friends, laughing voraciously while being swarmed by swans should be the winner. I won’t downplay them, those moments clearly stick with me. But one of the best days of my life features a photo that is always top of mind when reminiscing.

Photographing being a hobby means that I have the actual picture. But it sits in my mind so clearly, even without the physical (or digital) proof. That boat on the shore of a cold Lake Yamanaka, while Mt. Fuji was behind our back staring at the same scene.

After a few busy and wonderful days in Hiroshima and Kyoto, we spent a day walking around this lake which sits underneath the wondrous Mt Fuji. We were lucky enough to see the peak boldly stand out above the clouds for almost the entire day. In between a cat robot and getting bit by swans while on a cramped pedal boat, there were some quieter moments where it was easy to see why Mt. Fuji commands so much reverence.

There was a quick stop for some fluffy pancakes a few hours before the sun was going to set and then we continued on the last leg of the lake’s loop. Shortly after leaving the cute diner, we saw that row boat sitting beside the water. The lake’s water and murkier shade made the vibrant blue of this, apparently abandoned, boat stand out. We took a few steps from the path to get a closer look at the modest vessel parked on Yamanaka’s shore.

Closer inspection showed that the boat sported a deep shade of red under that vibrant blue. English letters spelled out the words “Daishin-Maru” on the little boat, which is a different mystery but not why this image struck such a chord in my memory. There was just something about that scene.

We eventually continued on and about an hour later, the sun slowly started to set behind Fuji-san. That stopped us dead in our tracks and we watched carefully for an hour, mixing in photos and soft conversations. There have been very few experiences that would top that in my life – staring at something so iconic while in the company of people I love and the cold winter of a summer lake town.

I’ve spent this year reading several Murakami novels. Frankly, that’s not a big deal but I have never been much of a fiction reader. His writing has drawn me in though, the grounded conversations and characters matched with the mysticism somehow captures what I feel about Japan, Murakami’s home country, so well. I can see Toru Watanabe and Naoko walking in front of me in the streets of Tokyo or Hajime and Shimamoto having a soft-spoken conversation at a bar I duck inside of. Riding the Yamanote Line and seeing the massive city feels like it’s a quick chapter out of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

If Murakami was writing about that boat along Lake Yamanaka maybe two young lovers would be sitting in it, having a conversation about Miles Davis or the Yakult Swallows. Perhaps there’d be a man taking the boat out for a cold row while reminiscing about past lovers he’d hurt. Heck, the boat might come to life and transport to another world that’s somehow more frigid than it was on that early December day.

We want to travel all of the world and will. But there’s something that gets us to keep coming back to Japan. Certainly some of that is the Japanese people – they are lovely. Some of it is the beauty, just like the glorious Mt. Fuji standing behind the frame. There’s a final piece to the puzzle though that I can only describe as mystery. I feel it in Kyoto’s beautiful shrines and temples or amongst the masses in Tokyo’s Shinjuku and Shibuya. I felt it in that vibrant blue boat under the shadow of a renowned mountain. Some mysteries need solving but I want to settle in the cool lake breeze of this one and be content.

Thank you to the people and places we’ve encountered in our travels this year. You have made our travels personal, beautiful, and purposeful. More importantly, you have made our love for humanity grow. We hope you get to have similar experiences in your life and are honored that you read Wandering in Disney! Have a beautiful holiday season and Happy New Year!