Ooh, I love reading people’s stories!
Mine has got everything to do with Lion King.
I already knew some of the previous movies like “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Aladdin”, “The great mouse detective”, etc …
Somewhere in 1994, I think it was in May, our local TV station aired a “making of The Lion King”.
I was 10 at the time.
Something inside of me just told my dad he HAD to tape this. I never really knew why I wanted it so bad.
I didn’t watch it while it was on, but watched it from the VHS later, and suddenly a very young Jonathan Taylor Thomas appears, and I just fell in love with him *sigh* haha!
(for those who shouldn’t know: yes, he’s one of the “Home Improvement” kids, and young Simba’s voice)
The thing that also got my attention was the songs/music, even though they only showed a few seconds of each song, the African style and such was very much appealing to me.
I’ve been busy with music myself ever since I was 8, only instruments though, can’t carry a tune if I wanted too, lol.
Then finally in June 1994 when it was released in cinemas I got to see the Dutch version.
I think the Dutch Lion King version is one of the best Dutch dubs there is. The voices are all just perfect for each character.
At the end of 1994 I saw it again, with my parents in English. And it was still playing in 1995, and while my parents went to see The Mask, I wanted to see Lion King again, and saw it again in Dutch.
My childhood was a disaster. So were my teens, and well, right now, things aren’t so great eather (yet).
I remember being bullied in kindergarden, when I was only 4-5 years old. While at home I had quite a big mouth, in school I was very shy and quiet, I didn’t like many people around me, so I guess they thought because of that I made a good target.
I started my school (age 6-11) in an all boys-school. My parents were convinced it was the best choice for me, as my brother (3 years older) was also there, and could look out for me, which obviously, he didn’t.
Very hard for me, because the all girls-school was across the road, and I begged them to let me go there, but no.
That school was hell. I started in the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] year there, in a class with 22 boys and me.
The leader of the pack was huge, older and taller then all the other kids, so most of them feared him and did whatever he did to not get bullied.
2 weeks things went perfectly fine, but then, for some reason this kid starts hating me, making fun of me for being a girl really.
Half of the class joined him, because they were scared probably he’d pick on them too if they didn’t join him.
I was 6 at the time … what was I supposed to do against so many boys?
I kept telling my teacher and my parents, nothing was done. The boys didn’t get a speech, neither were their parents ever informed that they made my life a living hell.
The next year 2 other girls came into my class, but I was already so scarred, that I was basicly the freak, and they were the cool ones!
Lion King came into my life when I was in my 6[SUP]th[/SUP] year (last year of junior high I think you can call it).
Thank God it did!
It did something to me, I can’t explain. I had no friends, and suddenly this movie was “my friend”.
Also, I thought myself English when I was 11, just by watching the movie over and over again (how bored can you be right? lol)
Then high school came (age 12-18/19), finally a class full of girls!
But again, I was already damaged so much from the previous years, it didn’t really matter anymore.
I was still the freak, the loner, didn’t have cable (well yeah, back in those days, if you didn’t had cable, you couldn’t discuss all the “cool” programs, yeah right …), and still no friends.
So again: Lion King
It’s then the collecting got serious, a year after the movie got released, I was 12.
I had a few CD’s already, about 6 (soundtracks and singles from the movie), and thank God they were CD’s, so they wouldn’t wear out like a cassette would, haha.
Keeping myself busy with Lion King, was like, being in another world, and it still feels like that sometimes.
Even though everything is stacked away in boxes, I have about 700 items, and sometimes I get all the boxes (I think I have about 20 boxes that contain 45L, so it’s quite a lot), put them around me, and I start looking in all the boxes, to see what stuff I got.
I just love looking at everything, and just being away from the real world for a little bit.
I always thought I would grow out of it, but when getting internet in 2003 it only became worse, lolz.
My first ex was like: more Lion King crap ??????? -_-
My 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] ex was very understanding, and even made sure he would find me stuff.
My boyfriend now, isn’t that happy about it, but that’s more because of the size of my collection now, haha, but he understands what it means to me.
I still have a very long way to go, I’m in therapy *again*, but the best therapy for me still is, being busy with Lion King.
If it wasn’t Lion King in 1994, would it have been another movie maybe? I’m not sure, there is no other movie I’m this obsessed about.
I am glad it happened though, because looking back on my life, I don’t think I would have made it through all those years if I didn’t have Lion King, and I do think it’s 1 of the reasons I’m still sitting here and typing this.
I did get to meet some great people because of it (online later on), which I can really call my friends, finally!
Disneyland Resort Paris didn’t came into the picture until 2004.
I’ve always wanted to visit the park, not to meet Mickey, I was never the person who would wanna have my picture taken with a person in a suite.
Me and my first ex went for an anniversary of ours, and man, it was BORING!
Mainly because of my ex, he suddenly didn’t wanna do any rides (while we went to a Belgian funpark a lot, and he would do all the rides).
Luckily I joined a Lion King forum in 2003, and one of the members was also there at the park on the day we were there, so we arranged to meet up.
If it wasn’t for that meeting, I think I would have just gone straight back home, it was such a bad experience with my first ex *sigh*.
I remember texting my mom: DLRP is boring.
Which it really wasn’t, it was just because of him.
In 2006, I finally managed to make some friends through the Lion King forum, and through other things (like a certain music band that came along in 1998), and I went back there, to have a Lion King forum meeting, which I made happen.
And I loved the place! Haha!
So much better then the first time, obviously, we did all the rides and such, and I got hooked.
I don’t go for the characters, I never did.
I can just walk around there, even though it’s so crowded these past few years, it just gives me some kind of peace walking around there.
However, I did notice that last year October, I got the hang of it, taking pictures with characters, hehe.
(also, I had very bad teeth, I had the bad ones pulled and have dentures since I was 25 so there’s another reason why I never wanted to have my picture taken before).
I was in the hospital last year during summer, because of a severe panic attack.
We didn’t really knew what it was, until I went to my doctor a few days later, and explained everything.
He then told me I have anxiety & panic disorder.
(anxiety I actually already had for all my life, but we just never called it that, I always just blamed it on me being nervous)
Last year October I went to DLRP after being diagnosed with it, and even though I had to stuff myself with medication to actually get there, once I was there, I was fine, perfectly fine!
I didn’t even have to take all my medication every day, because just being there was enough for me to forget about my disorders, and be calm and relaxed.
