The little girl was born two months after the amusement park opened, so it took her awhile to realize that she shared a birth year with such a magical place.
But when she was about 4 or 5, her older brothers got to go visit cousins in California and were able to go there. They came home with wonderful stories. Oh, how the little girl wanted to hurry and get big enough to go visit her cousins and go to the park, too. But before she did, the cousins moved back to Utah.
As she was growing up, the girl knew friends that went to the park. But, she says, her father was a schoolteacher, and her mother was a secretary, "and we just didn't go on big family vacations. We were lucky if we got to Lagoon once a year."
She grew up and got married and thought she would take her own kids to the park. But first there were too many diapers to change and then life got busy and just went on by.
She watched as the park celebrated special anniversaries. When it turned 30, they gave away new cars. When it turned 40, there was another big party. But still the now-grown woman (with her secret little-girl dream inside) did not go.
Then she heard about the 50th anniversary. And she knew that this was the time. She would celebrate her own 50th birthday by going to the park — and taking all of her children and grandchildren with her.
So, that's how Evelyn Stanley finally got to Disneyland.
And that's how she learned some very important lessons: Some things are all the sweeter if you have to wait for them — and you're never too old to have fun.
There were 19 of them all together — Evelyn and her husband, J. Robert; their four children and their spouses and nine grandchildren, all under age 5.
"It was just as fun as I always thought it would be," Evelyn enthuses.
And she didn't miss out on anything. "I rode Dumbo. I rode the tea cups. Who cares if those are children's rides? I'd waited all my life to do it." She worried that she'd be "too tall horizontally" — that's Disney's polite way of telling people they're too big and wide to ride. "But I wasn't 'too tall' to ride anything."
They gave her a badge to wear that let everyone know it was her birthday. And if she was the oldest birthday girl there, it certainly didn't bother Evelyn.
She had as much fun with the character actors as her grandchildren did. "I have one granddaughter, Ericka, who's a Cinderella girl, and Samie, who is an Aurora ("Sleeping Beauty") girl. And they were so excited to meet their princesses. And then the next day, Cinderella remembered my Cinderella girl and gave her a big lipstick kiss on the cheek. They were so excited."
Evelyn and the grandkids played Ring-Around-the-Rosie with the White Rabbit and had breakfast with Chip 'n' Dale and Goofy. The boys got to have sword fights with the princes — 5-year-old Jacob was quite thrilled when he bested Prince Phillip.
"But I have to say that Mickey Mouse was my favorite. I've become quite the Mickey Mouse fan." She had Mickey Mouse pretzels, ice-cream bars, suckers, waffles, pancakes and chicken nuggets. She bought Mickey Mouse souvenirs: earrings, salt-and-pepper shakers, Mr. Potato Head parts, Barbie dolls. ("I already had the lamp, the dishes, the silverware and the cookie jar.")
She made a red-and-white polka-dot dress to wear. ("Actually, I had already bought an official Minnie dress, but I decided it was too much to wear it there. I'll have to save it for Halloween.")
Best of all, "I got his autograph."
She also bought golden Mickey Mouse ears for everyone to wear — and they all wore them. "My husband was very nice to indulge me when I wanted to charge $250 for pairs of ears. But I figured we're only going to do this once."
Her husband had actually been to Disneyland as a boy. "It's really not his kind of place. The spinning rides are too wild for him. But he was a good sport about it all."
For three full days, the Stanley clan tried to pack in as much fun and build as many memories as they could. "I discovered that I'm old enough to be young again. And I loved every minute."
Even though she's been home for a few weeks now, "I'm still in the Disney mode." Evelyn has recently gone back to BYU to finish the degree she started before she got married way back when. "So, one of my grandsons and I both had to skip school to go. But one of the classes I'm taking is on personal history, so I get to do a scrapbook of Disneyland for credit! Is that just magical?"
Even without that, Evelyn has become a firm believer in Disney magic. "Walt got it right. I grew up watching the 'Wonderful World of Disney' and seeing the castle and the fireworks. I grew up seeing that magic. But I thought, c'mon, I'm 50. How can the magic still be there? But it is."
The music alone is a tremendous legacy, she says. "I sang my way through the park. 'A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes.' 'When You Wish Upon a Star.' Of course, I didn't know more than the first two lines, but I felt those songs."
Being there with her whole family, "it was the happiest place on Earth. We had great times. And I think we'll always remember them."
Age brought Evelyn another insight from the experience: "I'm old enough to know that in life, things aren't always happily-ever-after. So, if you can find a place where they are, I'm all for it."
E-mail: carma@desnews.com