To a kid, Disneyland was magical.

Going to all of these different worlds you've only seen in movies. Going on adventures within these worlds as you board a new ride for the first time. Escaping the troublesome and difficult realities of life for a few days.

Even as an adult, I would reminisce about the way it felt as a kid. But somewhere along the way, the magic faded. And it was replaced by long lines, crowds, and overpriced, low-quality food.

I'd been to Disneyland probably 25 times over the course of my life. As a kid, it was our yearly family trip. When I had my first son, my wife Rachelle and I took him to visit the happiest place on Earth. I was surprised to see how crowded it was. We spent most of our time waiting in lines that he couldn't even go on. And it was so expensive. I just looked around and thought,

Why are we doing this?

​It didn't feel as magical as it used to.

I'd never been to Moab until I got married to my wife. She grew up doing real-life adventure with her family. Camping. Climbing. Hiking. The kind of stuff that makes memories that stick.

Her dad took me on some climbing adventures, and they were more than fun; they were memorable.

We started making a habit out of going to Moab. The boys started wanting to come along, so we taught them to rappel, to climb, to mountain bike and to hike. They loved every minute of it.

We were in Arches National Park. There's a spot where you hike up, climb around, and then rappel 200 feet down a rock face before hiking back out.
My boys were 7 and 9.

I watched them gear up. I watched them step to the edge. I watched them lean back and trust the rope and trust me. Enough to walk backward off a cliff.

After we got to the bottom and hiked out, we turned around and looked up at where we'd just been. They were so proud of themselves. You can see it in a kid's face when they know they did something hard. They had more energy than when they started.

On the way home, my son asked me, "Did you do this when you were a kid?"

I said, "No. I went to Disneyland."

"How many times?"

"I dunno, maybe 25 or so."

"Why would you go so many times?" He asked.

​I realized right then that he couldn't even distinguish between the two. And that a 200-foot rappel in Arches would stick with them a whole lot longer than another year at Disneyland. Not to mention it would teach them more about themselves than an entire lifetime of yearly trips to the artificial adventure that is Disneyland.

Look, I like Disneyland. I liked it at 6, at 16, at 18, even at 25. There's nothing wrong with it.

But the rides are fake. They don't actually do anything for you. You spend thousands of dollars to wait around outside, stand in a line, shuffle around avoiding eye contact with the person next to you to avoid awkward conversation.

You go on a cultivated ride, pay for overpriced food, and be in a crowd for several days instead of being out in the green garden of the world that God created for us.

The rides give you a 30-second thrill. The rappel gave my boys a story they'll build their life principles upon and still be telling at 45.