We finally made it to the movies to see Saving Mr. Banks. I have had mixed feelings about this movie since it was announced 2 years ago that Tom Hanks would be portraying Mr. Disney. I am not just a Disney Parks fan, but also a Walt fan. I have read many books on him, watched lots of documentaries about him and consider him to be one of the most influential people in my life. He is why I do what I do, without him, there would be no Disneyland, no Walt Disney World and no need for travel agents specializing in Disney Destinations!

The movie itself was great, while it may not be what you expect, the story is wonderful. It isn’t sugar coated and doesn’t have animation (the horror!) in it.  While the movie is about a beloved children’s movie Saving Mr. Banks is not something for kids. The story behind the story has more of an adult theme and most kids just won’t ‘get it’.

Knowing the back story of what would have been going on in real life of Walt and his crew really added to the movie for me. Knowing what I know about Walt and his life and what I know about the Sherman Brothers and their lives the actors did a great job portraying them. It made some comments or quirky things the characters did stand out to me and my husband that some people may miss. I spent half the movie poking my husband and pointing out little touches in the background that were period accurate. When the camera pans out in Walt’s office and shows the map of Florida, Matthew beat me to pointing out the Florida Project. To “see” the Sherman brothers at work creating some of the best movie scores of all time gave me chills. To “see” Walt again come to life on the screen was fantastic and it reminds me of what a creative genius he was and makes me appreciate what he did even more. When Walt went to Disneyland and pulled up to the park I gasped. To think of what it would have been like to be in the park when he was there almost brought tears to my eyes. It also renewed my drive to get to Disneyland so I can walk where he did (which is now scheduled for next month!).

While the movie has some emotional moments in it, I’m not a super emotional person so I only had a few tears well up. But end of the movie the credits roll and photos of Walt and his team start popping up. After spending the past hour ‘seeing’ Walt again and being reminded of his contributions to my world today, the photos really touched me. Tears started welling up and falling quickly. For me it was like looking thru a photo album of your beloved grandparents that have passed on.  A reminder of all the things you enjoyed about them and how you miss them today. It was great and sad at the same time.

So how did Mr Banks save me? I know I lead a super glamorous life as a Travel Agent so it couldn’t be that hard, could it? Don’t get me wrong. I am very fortunate that I get to do what I do for a living. I love my job and turned one of my passions into a career, not many people can say that. I love helping people plan trips and getting to talk travel often. But believe it or not, it’s not all roses and trips to tropical islands. There are lots of long hours involved, phone calls for emergencies (or not so true emergencies) late at night or on weekends, there are sometimes grumpy people to deal with or issues that are minor to most but can make or break a trip for someone.  January is one of the busiest months for booking travel of the year, with the Christmas season just passing people are ready to look to the New Year and get their plans made.  On the heels of a busy holiday season of travelers, the January rush brings with it long days and late hours. The day we went to see Mr Banks had been one of those days, where seemingly nothing goes right and you have frustrating moments back to back.

In the movie Walt says “That’s what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.” Helping someone plan a vacation is like telling a story, so this statement nearly knocked me over. The pre trip time in which you get to look forward to the trip and plan out the details is a great exercise for your imagination, if it’s a new place you can imagine all that it will be like as your anticipation builds. If you are revisiting a beloved past vacation destination you can fill the months with remembering all the great memories of days passed and looking forward to the new ones you will make.  Getting to hear stories from clients when they return about the great adventures they had or their favorite new memory makes the bad days worth it. Seeing the sunny smiles and hearing the excitement in their voices as they share with me shows me the hope that it renews in their lives. And I can’t wait to start that cycle of imagination and hope restoration again and again for them.  Saving Mr. Banks reminded me that while bad days come in the grand scheme of things I should remember that I am honored to be able to share in just a teeny tiny part of restoring hope to families today.