It’s not just magic. The real reason fans keep going back to Disney parks.

You’re going to Disney? Again?

Disney fans are familiar with these words, especially those who visit the parks year after year.

“I'll still get the comments of, ‘Oh, you should go somewhere else.’ But I just can't help it,” said Emily Corroy, who shares her affinity on social media as @enchantmentbyemily. “I always go back.”

The allure of Disney magic is real for fans, but it’s not just smoke and mirrors.

Here’s why some travelers keep going back to Disney.

The Disney bubble

Corroy's earliest Disney memories include visiting the Disney Store with her mom, back when the brick-and-mortar shops populated malls across America.

“My first trip to the parks was when I was six, and just being immersed in that world, I fell in love, and I've just never fallen out of it,” she said.

The 37-year-old visits Walt Disney World multiple times a year from Wisconsin.

“I love that every time I go, it's different,” she said. “There's always something new to see, something new to experience that I haven't done before.”

EPCOT’s festivals are her favorite, particularly the International Festival of the Arts, where guests can meet Disney artists. Her family also enjoys staying on property as Disney Vacation Club members, which is like Disney’s version of timeshares. When cast members greet them with “Welcome home,” she said, “I'm not going to lie; it is a very nice thing to hear.”

Many guests spend their entire vacation inside the Disney bubble – playing in the parks, staying at Disney hotels, dining at Disney restaurants, taking resort transportation and more.

“It’s a place to go back to your childhood and just relive all of the good things that come with being a kid ... to just kind of disconnect from the realities and everyday responsibilities of being an adult and just experience all of the imagination and creativity and magic,” Corroy said. "Getting to experience that and all of the wonder with my own kids takes me back even more.”

Sometimes she visits without them.

“They get pretty jealous when I go without them, and they want to know when their next trip is coming," she said. “I’m definitely raising Disney kids that will likely be going back regularly as they get older.”

Never too old

Annual passholder Leslie Shinault lives less than an hour from Disney World, on Florida’s Space Coast, and visits about once a month, though she’s been busy lately and hasn’t been back for about six weeks.

“Now I'm having withdrawals because I really want to go,” the 63-year-old said with a chuckle.

She usually visits with her husband, sister, or 11-year-old granddaughter. “She's my best friend,” she said. “We have all kinds of great adventures.”

Her husband is a big fan of Star Wars, and Shinault loves how cast members always stay in character at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. “You buy something, they say that'll be 4.72 credits, not $4.72,” she said. "They're completely immersed in making your experience feel like you're at Batuu in Galaxy’s Edge.”

Sometimes they’ll go to a park for just a few rides or a meal or to people watch.

“You don't have to spend a lot of money to have a good time,” she said. “Everybody feels like they've got to have the balloon and the Mickey doll. My granddaughter and I, we’re to the point now where we like to go and find something that we've never done before.”

Shinault recommends the KidCot Fun Stops at EPCOT’s World Showcase, where kids can talk to cultural representatives and collect free activity cards. There’s also a Smellephants on Parade scavenger hunt in Magic Kingdom’s Storybook Circus. Kids at heart can participate, too.

“You're never too old to go to Disney,” she said.

Disney adults

Jasmine Jennings wasn't always sure of that.

Like many fans, she too grew up with Disney.

"It's just something that has always been a part of my life,” the 31-year-old from Indiana said.

She loved films like “A Goofy Movie” and “Aladdin.” (Princess Jasmine is her favorite.) Every year, she visited Disney World with her family.

“The last time I went with my family, I think I was maybe a senior in high school, and I remember thinking that would be like the last time that we would go, because all of us are grown up, and it's one of those places where you think it's mostly for families,” she recalled.

She didn’t expect to go back until she had kids of her own, but last year, Disney invited Jennings, who goes by @smoothjasmine on social media, back as part of their Power of Joy Creator Summit.

And since then, she’s taken multiple Disney trips, both hosted and independent, with friends she met there.

“I was able to create my own memories as a Disney adult, and I got to fall in love with it in a different way, with a new group of people,” she said. “We kind of formed our own little family ... and every time I post a video from those trips, people are like, ‘I've never experienced Disney like this. I need to go with you guys!’”

Disney magic

For them and many other Disney fans, the magic is real, and oftentimes cast members are the ones who create it.

Corroy shared an example of how, from when her youngest was four.

“He had gotten a Mushu Munchling for his birthday, and it was just his favorite thing,” she said. “That was the one gift that he got that year that beat everything else.”

Unfortunately, he lost it one day, so his mom went on a mission to find a replacement on her next Disney trip. The trouble was the scented stuffed animals came in mystery boxes.

“At one point, I was standing in World of Disney smelling Munchling boxes,” she said. When a cast member asked what she was doing, Corroy explained the situation:

“I told her this story and how upset my son was that he had lost it, and so I was just searching for the same Munchling. She worked her Disney magic and came back and had a box that was unopened, and she was certain it was Mushu.

She had me open it right there in the store, and sure enough, it was the correct one. And not only that, she brought me a letter from Mulan for my son. It was addressed to him:

‘Thank you so much for loving Mushu. Make sure you take care of him and make sure he stays with you.’

And just having that extra note to bring to him from Disney, from Mulan, was amazing. I broke into tears. It was so special.”

That’s the kind of magic many fans think of when they think of Disney, and what keeps them coming back.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Disney again? Why fans keep going back to the Disney bubble.