Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Disneyland (3/28/09)

I love Disneyland. No secret there right? I tried to figure out just what it was about the place that I love so much this week.

I am frugal by nature. My father was the oldest son of an alcoholic father and barely capable mother. He was born in 1930 and to say they were poor would be putting a positive spin on things. He is tight. Saves everything because you never know what parts you could salvage to fix something else. He went to work when he was 12 and hasn't stopped yet. When we were kids if we went shopping and would say "I saved $5 by buying this on sale!" he would say "You would have saved $20 had you not bought it at all." I find myself thinking this now when I go to buy something. So you know it's not the prices that make me love Disneyland.

Crowds make me tense. Being the youngest in my family I never had space to myself. I shared a room with my sister. A cramped 14x70 foot trailer with way too many people at any one time. I like to have my own space. I don't want a stranger bumping into me, breathing down my neck, taking up my air. :-) So it's not the mass of humanity that makes me love it.

So I paid really close attention while we were there. Was it the rides? Was it the experience? Was it nostalgia for my misspent youth? What is it?

It's the Happiest Place on Earth. That's it. I know it's their marketing slogan, but it really does seem that way. Yes, crying babies and over tired toddlers are there, but so are kids beaming with excitement over seeing Mickey LIVE and IN PERSON! Looking at the people in line with us, EVERYONE comes to Disney. There were Japanese tourists, middle America tourists, native Californians, hipster parents, mini van driving soccer mom parents, goth kids, jock kids, little kids, teens, adults, big families and singles. EVERYONE comes to Disney. And I think that's why I love it so much.

It's a little microcosm of the world in one place where everyone is there for one purpose, to have a good time. You aren't going to pay the price you do to go to have a bad time so people are working at having fun. And I like that. We all work at so much in our day to day lives. Why not work a little at the fun stuff as well?

Or it could be that I had two compliments about my hair while we were there... ;-)

I will post more about the trip later. Lots in my head that needs to get out.

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