The Falsest Celebration on Earth
Disney World. It's advertised as the place where magic happens, where dreams come true, and as the happiest celebration on earth. In reality, I think it ought to be renamed as the place where shit happens, where dreams are shattered, and the falsest celebration on earth.
Before you go and get the wrong impression, I'm not trying to be a bitter ole scrooge. But, anyone who actually believes those marketing slogans has to be naive, or completely unobservant.
I love Disneyland and Disney World -- when you go with friends and people of similar interests. Take a look around the parks though, and you'll see the majority of people in some greater or lesser tormented state. Children are crying because they can't get another souvenir (even though they already have 6), young children are frightened of the loveable characters that aren't quite as small and cuddly at 5'7", parents are impatient with their children and scolding them for running about everywhere, everyone is hot, everyone's feet hurt, everyone's tired, and it's crowded. Really, a Disney park can be hell.
All these situations and so many more come together to bring out the worst, not the best, in people. By the end of the night, people are just downright nasty to each other when they're clamoring for the best parade-viewing spot.
I don't think I'm the first, nor will I be the last person to observe this. Yet, each year, millions will flock to a Disney park. It's like the ultimate exercise in peer pressure. Disney World is perceived as the ultimate reward or treat for your child. If you don't take your children to Disney World, it's almost as though you are depriving them of something essential. But in reality, of what are you depriving them? What do children experience when they're at Disney World? I have no answer to this question. Are we depriving our children of bragging rights by not taking them to Disney World? Is going to Disney World a declaration of your middle class status -- akin to competing with the Jones'?
Maybe millions of families flock to Disney World because parents don't know how else to make their children happy. Disney World seems like a tried and true plan.
Looking back on my own experience, I visited Disney World once and Disneyland twice before the age of ten. The visits didn't make any sort of lasting impression. Surely, such a magical place should leave a more lasting memory. My only recollections of the visits are through pictures, but I remember other parts of the vacation rather vividly. Maybe I'm just an oddball. That wouldn't be a surprising conclusion.
3 Comments:
are you referring to the time *we* went to disneyland together???
i dont know about disneyworld--ive never been--but disneyland IS the happiest place on earth, goddamnit.
i love disneyland! we used to go like every year. and the one time i went to disney world where they had epcot center was cool. plus, their movies tend to have happy endings, yay! =)
Well, I don't actually think much of Disney World, so I won't defend that. But when it comes to Disneyland, I think it's about the potential. Disneyland is about the total package experience of being wide-eyed and child-like and transported to a magical place where everything is good and sparkly and wonderful. Every love story that has ever been told, every prince charming that has ever loved, every beautiful princess that has ever loved, and every child that has ever hoped to wear shining armor on a white steed or a beautiful ballgown on a marble dance floor - that is what Disneyland is about. For a child, I think, Disneyland is about the chance to believe that there really are knights in shining armor and there really are valiant and beautiful princesses. If a person doesn't go to Disneyland for that - and many don't - I wouldn't expect it to be particularly special.
The key to Disneyland, I think, is that that stuff isn't in the place. It's in the attitude you approach the park with; Disneyland is simply a place that allows that attitude to flourish. But you still have to work at it. You still have to decide not to take kids that are too young to be magicked, and you have to decide to instruct your kids in the magic if they're old enough. You have to decide to enjoy the aching feet and not be worried about the crowds or where you're situated to see the parade. And then you can get at the magic in Disneyland.
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