Disney Parks Around the World
A story rooted in joy, imagination, and the power of dreams coming true.
At the time, I was a classroom teacher who already believed deeply in the power of imagination, story, and wonder. This experience brought those values into full view and reminded me that joy is not extra. It is part of what makes learning memorable and meaningful.
While I was still in the classroom, I was selected to travel around the world with ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee for Mickey’s Worldwide Birthday Bash. In one unforgettable week, we visited Disney parks across multiple countries and filmed along the way, celebrating Mickey’s 90th birthday through a once-in-a-lifetime global adventure.
The journey began with a surprise in my classroom, where Good Morning America revealed that I had been chosen for the trip. The moment was joyful, emotional, and bigger than I could have imagined.
The Surprise
This story still lives inside my work today.
Tales of Patty Pepper is built on many of the same things that shaped that experience for me: joy, imagination, connection, and a belief that stories can open something powerful in people. Whether I’m designing a read-aloud pathway, creating literacy tools for teachers, or writing stories inside the Patty Pepper universe, I come back to the same truth: story matters.
That trip did not take me away from teaching. It deepened the way I think about it. It reminded me that learning should feel alive, and that children deserve classrooms where wonder and structure can live side by side.
The Journey
Over the course of one week, Ginger Zee and I traveled across continents to experience Disney parks around the world in honor of Mickey’s 90th birthday.
It was fast, full, and unforgettable, and every stop carried its own kind of magic.
I came back from that week even more certain that joy belongs in serious work. Story, imagination, and strong teaching are not separate things. In my world, they belong together.
Many people ask me What stayed with me most, it was not only the scale of the trip itself….
It was the reminder that stories travel. They connect people across places, ages, and backgrounds, and they give us something to hold onto long after the moment is over.
Why It Still Matters
Before that trip, Disney had already been part of my personal story for years. In the Good Morning America segment, my students and colleagues described the way I brought joy and imagination into the classroom, and I shared how Disney had long represented dreaming big, even when access felt out of reach as a child.[bainumfdn]
That part matters to me. This was never only about travel. It was about what it means to carry wonder with you, build it into your work, and pass it on to the children you teach.
