The question is not if I am a Disney fan or not? It is more a case of when, in the timeline of my ‘history,’ the foundations were laid to bring me to Paris in early August 2026. There are numerous, but let me start with the simple case of the name. Putting the ‘baggage’ of the Royal Family aside. My Dad was not a fan of the name Charles, and his very recent marriage was only a few months old before my birth. He decided on Andrew. HRH (as he was before being demoted down to Mr Mountbatten-Windsor) was not even a war hero (yet) at this point in the timeline (1981; the Falklands War was a year later). Maybe it was Andrew, with the nickname Andy to give me options. Maybe my Dad knew that a decade and a half later, a small upstart animation studio (heavily funded by some guy called Steve Jobs) was going to create a film and the “prime mover”, the God-like figure (if you will), would be called Andy.

Could it have been aged sixteen (in 1997) when I finally settled on a signature for my adulthood and randomly decided to use the Avengers symbol from the 1960s as my first initial? This part of my personal story has been covered before.

Actually, I can pinpoint the exact moment in my history. VHS I hear you cry; what prehistoric technology is this? We had two VHS tapes that were “rinsed” in our household growing up. One as you can already guess, was Back To The Future. The other was Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I preferred this to Mary Poppins (I know I am committing some deadly sin in the Disney metaverse here, but I stand by my decision; I saw Mary Poppins later in life during a Christmas family viewing). Maybe it was the inclusion of the football match. Maybe it was George Cole and Bruce Forysth in an acting role (for my cultural reference points at least). This was a VHS we wore out in that analogue age when you could do such things. Years later, when my youngest sister Julie was growing up – her go-to tape was the 1976 Bollywood mega hit Kabhi Kabhie. (Translate title from Hindi to English: Sometimes) Mary Poppins, I actually re-evaluated when I saw Saving Mr Banks. It truly made me appreciate the relationship between a daughter and her father (played admirably by Colin Farrell). As soon as I finished watching the film with Michelle, I wanted to put on Mary Poppins and skip straight to the final song, “Let’s Go Fly A Kite”.

Please allow me to indulge multiple tangents in this post, but the slow build-up will be worth it. I am a strong believer in the power of the Universe. You will find your special someone and the rest will be history. Now, I appreciate Come Fly With Me is a challenging sell in 2026 versus 2010, when it was originally broadcast. How did the BBC hierarchy allow such black/brown/yellow face to be approved? Brief mention that Taaj Manzoor is a legend in my eyes, and I am sure Ian Foot is now a Reform voter. Those more detailed discussions are for another time and other forum (maybe Reddit?). What I want to focus on his one of the couples on the show from episode one. Now, in reality, a Disney fanatic marries another Disney fanatic, and there is balance to the Force. Geoff and Sue had other ideas. Why does Geoff put up with Sue? One of life’s many strange mysteries! Sue does ask the check-in lady at the desk, what is your favourite Disney live-action movie from the late 1960s. Obviously you know my answer to that one. (Even if, on a mere technicality, it is 1971, it was delayed multiple times due to being too similar to Mary Poppins!)

[All rights of their respective copyright holders BBC – although these YouTube videos are the only legal versions of this show, to my knowledge currently available worldwide]

This blog post is therefore dedicated to three people – Katy, Steve and Amy. The biggest “Disney” adults I know. Both Katy and Amy were proposed to at a Disneyland Park, albeit on different continents several years apart.

I am sure the Walt Disney Corporation do not want their parks compared to Class A drugs, and their lawyers will probably be monitoring my every word here on the interweb, due to another story I shall mention later (see below). Paris is the cocaine, while Orlando, Florida is the heroin. Once my sister-in-law gave me these rather basic comparison points, I understood the appeal of both parks immediately, almost instantaneously, like some out-of-body experience! It was slowly but surely starting to make sense. The entire subculture was more than films and merchandise. It was a feeling. If you could bottle it and sell it, you would be very wealthy. I would probably describe it as the opening “theme” when you see the famous Castle at the start of any Disney film. I am sure this short piece of music has a name. Of course it does – “When You Wish Upon A Star…“

Back to key points in my own Disney journey. Could it have been on opening weekend (Friday night – for the record, Friday 11th February 2000 – although it was released in 1999 in the US, I feel it was sometime in late 1999 I saw it but even my amazing memory can fail me now some twenty six years later) when I saw Toy Story 2 at the then Warner Village Cinema complex at The Oracle, Reading. I know so much about that evening; it feels rather random. I wore cargo trousers with side pockets for the first time. We got to the cinema late and took our seats just as the final trailer had played. (Which is very unlike me, I would usually be at this cinema on opening weekend and queuing to be let in). I drove in my Mum’s red Mini Mayfair from Wycombe to Reading. For me, the TS2 opening is still the greatest opening sequence of any animated movie of all time.

Could it have been when I went to watch Toy Story 3 at the IMAX Waterloo with my then-fiancé? We watched it in 3D on the biggest screen in the Kingdom. Michelle then gifted me a Buzz Lightyear toy – in those intervening 15 years, I kept it at my parents’ house. (You know the unlimited storage you get for life as it’s your rents!) Once we moved to Wokingham, I had a trip during the summer of 23 to collect a few things, and this was one of the items I took home and then placed in the shed outside. Sheldon Cooper would be so impressed that I have kept it mint in box and it still works all these years later. Would you call it kismet? My boys (in particular Aaron) discover this toy months before we are due to head to Paris?

Could the point have been when George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney, announced on October 30th 2012 (but finalised on 21st December 2012) for $4.05 billion dollars

More likely, it was thirteen years earlier, on 31st December 2009, when Walt Disney Corporation acquired Marvel Entertainment? Now, for all my love of the MCU over the past decade, I had to take a big step away once my boys were born, and I suddenly had other responsibilities. However, that did not stop me from launching a campaign to get the MCU movies released from the beginning so my boys could appreciate the cinematic experience for themselves at the biggest screen in the country. I was even willing to travel to Germany to the biggest IMAX screen on the planet for showpiece endings to each larger phase – e.g. End Game to close out the Infinity Saga. So where do I start with such a campaign? Of course, the man at the top – I wrote to Kevin Feige. He, of course, didn’t even acknowledge my correspondence. So I wrote to several key people in the Marvel UK organisation and also the leader of the IMAX Waterloo. As expected, no responses or even an acknowledgement of my correspondence. So, I was left with no choice – I had to go to the people at the top – the CEO (Bob Iger) and Chairman (Mark Parker) of The Walt Disney Company over in sunny California.

About two weeks later, I received a reply from a junior lawyer from The Walt Disney Corporation. I shall share the correspondence in due course. If I had been 13-14 when I knew Marvel would be releasing multiple films each year, I would have been going hysterical at the thought of so much content and interconnected stories on the big and small screen. It is a different prospect as an adult kid, but having both my sons experience some of that ‘Disney’ magic would mean so much more. I know, I know Disney want me to subscribe to Disney+ and enjoy the film in the comfort of my own living room. However, not all of us have expensive home entertainment systems or, better still, cinema rooms in the basement or “outbuilding”. My argument back to The Walt Disney Corporation is that it is your IP; I take no joy in wishing you to just re-release a set of movies from the beginning, if only to captivate your next generation of customers, many of whom will one day, God willing, have children of their own. I am not going to suddenly make some claim with Chabuddy G as my lawyer that re-releasing the MCU from Phase One was my idea!

Right, now that the preamble is mostly done, I can move on to the main event. Are you ready? I shall then begin…

Getting your kids to bed early is a major daily struggle of modern parenting. Even more so when you then have to get them up at 3:30 am to get ready for the taxi that is booked for an hour later. No, this is much better than leaving at 1 am to drive to Gatwick, as we had to do in 2022. Using our “local” airport felt like the best option, and not have to worry about car parking fees and shuttle buses. I thought my wife would check in using the BA app, but due to an old phone and lack of storage space, we had to wait for her to get the boarding passes printed, so we could go to the self check-in queue. Do BA invite us to the annual Christmas party for all the work we put in, effectively working for them for free? Once the two main bags were sent down the conveyor belt, it was time to get in line for security. It was around 5:30am now and the queues were relatively light for the peak summer period, but we still managed to get into the family queue area. For some reason our plastic Uno card set came under some scrutiny and we had to open the bag for the security personnel to check. Maybe multiple cards coming up on the screen gave the appearance of a criminal family running a fake credit card scam. Once that was resolved, we headed downstairs to get the boys a toilet break before we would board the plane. Michelle disappeared to get some basic breakfast from Pret. We did not have the luxury of a sit-down breakfast at Giraffe, like last year. I posted a positive review on TrustPilot. Before we knew it we were heading around the corner to our gate to board our flight to Paris, being with children, we were in the first groups to board and find our seats. Row 22. The decision had been made that my dear wife would sit with the boys on the outbound journey and I would take over on the return leg.

It was a short-haul flight, but I was lucky to sit next to a Canadian couple on a day trip to Paris – an early flight out and then late EuroStar back to London, before they flew back to Canada later in the week. It was good to chat about various things, including our upcoming family holiday to Disneyland Paris. I suppose it is rare for me to chat with random strangers on a flight out but as everybody is in chilled-out holiday mode, they are probably in a better headspace than if on a business trip. The boys were well behaved on the flight and considering how many short-haul flights they have done now, I cannot say it is a major milestone or achievement. Once we got off the flight, the fun began. The terminal was full, so we had to make our way to the other terminal, which was not straightforward. Our driver also had to move to a different departure area, but once we eventually made our way through, he was already there waiting for us. He took us to his waiting VW minivan, a Caravelle. He was playing some nice tunes as we had the 45-minute drive to our hotel – The Newport Bay Club, a stone’s throw from the Park itself. I had to give props to the driver for playing some banging tunes from 2015. There was Western – In2 and a few others that I now forget but he was very much on my vibe with the soundtrack as we headed towards Disney. Maybe the perfect song to play at this moment in time would’ve been “Life Is A Highway” by Rascal Flatts.

Scale, you never truly appreciate the scale of places until you visit them yourself. No YouTube video of Manhattan is ever going to make up for actually walking Eighth Avenue to Times Square. As we approached the security gate to be let in, I could finally imagine what a hotel with over one thousand rooms actually looks like. We had to go through airport-style security as we entered the reception area. Standard practice here, and this would be repeated throughout our stay. As we finally got into the main lobby area, we could see the long queues to the right for the main desks. Obviously, my wife had booked this trip and mentioned Compass Club throughout; we headed to comfy sofas to the left and got checked in by Fiona. (Later I would ask my wife the name of the person that checked us in and she had no clue. I agree with the Walt Disney standard that EVERYBODY should have a name badge. Everyone makes a contribution to that Disney magic.) Our bags were taken away and we were able to head to the park and catch the free shuttle bus. My wife had booked lunch at Pimms restaurant. Now, obviously I checked out of the MCU awhile ago but I should’ve connected the dots. This was not a brand collaboration between Disney and an alcoholic drink. (God forbid!). It was actually Hank Pym (AKA the original Ant-Man). Reservations were kept for fifteen minutes, so we had until midday to make it over there. We did, just in time. Our time in Disney had truly started – at a themed all-you-can-eat buffet.