We built the place we wished existed.

Why we exist

Childhood should never feel rushed.

Before Once Upon an Island was a company, it was a frustration Heather could not shake. She had spent years performing inside some of the world’s most recognizable entertainment environments, beginning at Disneyland at sixteen, continuing at Disneyland Paris and aboard cruise lines around the world. She knew what a powerful character encounter could mean to a child.

She also knew how often the most important part was missing: time.

Time for the shy child to stop hiding behind a parent. Time for a question that had clearly been rehearsed all morning. Time for play to become real enough that the child stopped posing for a photograph and started living inside the story.

So she built a place where the next family in line would never decide when the magic had to end.

That idea became Once Upon an Island: an immersive Newport Beach world designed not around moving families through, but around drawing children in.

The beginning

From performing inside the story to building the whole world.

Heather Sossman Burbich’s first professional chapter began at Disneyland, where she portrayed princess characters from sixteen to twenty-one. The work later carried her to Disneyland Paris, cruise lines around the world, and a film and television career. But the moments she kept returning to were the smallest ones: a child finally speaking after several quiet minutes, a family forgetting the camera, a character interaction becoming something emotionally real.

When she became a mother, the idea sharpened. The environments she imagined for other families were first tested against one standard: would this feel extraordinary to her own children? Every hidden fairy door, shimmering tail, treasure map, wardrobe and secret passage began there, not as decoration, but as an invitation to participate.

In 2015, Once Upon an Island opened on Balboa Island. The premise was simple, but unusual: professional performers, fully built environments and intimate experiences in which children were given enough time to warm up, play and belong.

The business grew because the feeling worked.

Families returned. They told other families. Hotels sent guests. News crews arrived. Celebrity families found the venue without being courted. The company expanded without abandoning the intimacy that made the first room matter.

Three concepts. Three operating models. One uncompromised standard for how the guest should feel.

How a world becomes believable

Nothing is “just décor.”

A story families carried outward

The attention came after the experience.

Once Upon an Island has never hired a public-relations firm. Its features in People, E! News, the Los Angeles Times’ Daily Pilot, POPSUGAR, Orange Coast Magazine, FOX 11, KTLA 5 and NBC Los Angeles followed families, events and stories that were already happening.

That distinction matters. The company was not built to look impressive from the outside. It was built to feel extraordinary from the inside, and the outside attention followed.

See the Press Story Explore Partnerships

The people who protect the standard

Built with heart. Run with discipline.

A world this personal cannot be run casually. The leadership team combines creative direction, luxury hospitality, sales, finance, wig artistry and costume design so the guest experience is protected from every side.

Founder

Heather Sossman Burbich

Founder and creative architect of all three concepts. Heather leads world-building, guest-experience design and the in-house performance standards that turn character work into emotionally responsive storytelling.

Operations Director

Alison Wright

A veteran of fine dining and luxury hospitality leadership, Alison is the execution behind the organization, the client point person, the standard keeper, the reason nothing slips through the cracks. She does not simply implement: she trains, documents and standardizes, translating white-glove service into systems that care for parents as intentionally as the company cares for children. She is the discipline to the company’s creative.

Creative Environment Designer

Haylie Wells

Part of the Once Upon an Island story since its earliest weeks, Haylie has played a defining role in the design and construction of many of the company’s most ambitious environments. Working alongside Heather, she helps transform imaginative concepts into immersive physical worlds, contributing to the architecture, creative design, and countless handcrafted details that make each destination feel believable through a child’s eyes.

BBSales & Marketing Director

Brad Burbich

With eighteen years of B2B sales leadership, Brad directs growth, brand reach and the partnership strategy that carries the company beyond its own doors.

RMFractional CFO

Regina Miranda

Regina leads financial planning, forecasting and operational discipline, the structure that allows imaginative ideas to become sustainable businesses.

SKHead of Wig Design

Shelli Kenney

With more than a decade of entertainment-wig experience at Disneyland, Shelli brings theme-park-caliber construction, styling and character integrity to the company’s wigs.

MBHead of Costume Design

Megan Boiling

Megan designs and maintains the wardrobes across every world, protecting the silhouette, finish and detail required for a character to feel complete at close range.