When Irene and I decided we would replicate our honeymoon on our 35th anniversary by returning to Walt Disney World and staying in the same hotel we stayed in back then—the Contemporary (the one that has the monorail going through the building)—we had no idea of the sort of celebration Disney had in store for us. Because over the course of the weekend, we were wished a happy anniversary by hundreds of people each day!

I’d mentioned while making the reservations that we’d been at Disney World back in 1976, and that information made it into our profile, which meant that it all started when the driver of the Magical Express bus announced over his loudspeaker as we were being driven from the Orlando Airport to our hotel that there were two very special guests aboard celebrating an anniversary—us!

And when we checked in at the Contemporary, we were each given one of the buttons below to wear, resulting in us getting a cheery “Happy anniversary!” from every employee and many of the regular folks as well, which gave the weekend a party atmosphere.

We were far from the only ones there celebrating an anniversary—we chatted briefly with another couple who were celebrating their 67th (yes, 67th!) anniversary. So now we’ve got something to aim for!

Something else that came about as a result of our wearing those buttons was that the Magic Kingdom Main Street barbershop quartet pulled me up to sing a love song to Irene with them … if you can call what I did singing … which I don’t think you can.

And those weren’t the only friends we made while at Walt Disney World. Here are a few others …

From Friday morning until Tuesday night, the rest of the world faded away … which is exactly what you want when celebrating your anniversary.

And as for that button … it brought me so much joy over the weekend that I didn’t take it off until I got back home. And even then, I did it reluctantly.