|
Not many people know this, but for years I have been a confused, inside-out Disney snob. Not a snob because I was always packing up to go to Disney and thought the place was the greatest thing since sliced bread, like so many others in our town, but a snob because I wasn’t always packing up to go to Disney whever the kids’ school let out for holidays or the summer break. Neighbors and friends would bid me farewell and hand me their housekey to feed their fish or water their plants, and as they pulled away, headed off for Logan airport to catch a non-stop to Orlando, my friendly “see you folks later on, now, y’hear?" grin would freeze and I would chime softly under my breath, “Bye, bye, now – have fun feeding the giant corporate machine, now, and being a faceless cog in the merchandising wheel that is Walt Disney! Have fun being the ultimate consumer, y’all, and having your dreams turned into Disney dollars!" And then I would go blow up my inflatable kiddie pool and pick up my paperback novel and sit in my rusted lawn chair, and another summer would triumphantly begin.
This summer, however, I got the chance to go to Orlando with my six-year-old son to meet my parents, grandmother and sister for a week of Disney fun. “Yeah, yeah, whatever," I yawned, as we entered the gates of Disneyland together and were fingerprinted (I’m not kidding! People would hand over the title to their house without question to get inside those gates!) and formed into lines of human anticipation, sweat, and credit cards. Sure, I was there in body, maybe, but my heart was unfettered by childish dreams, and I could see this so called “kingdom" for the hyped-up metroplex it really was…it so good being a grown-up sometimes, and letting go of dreams…wait a minute – a big, black, adorable something floated by with wearing a hypnotic, tantalizing red hairbow…was that Minnie Mouse? The Minnie Mouse, with her polka-dotted dress and big yellow pumps and adorable white gloves? I strained to get closer to the mouse of my childhood, knocking a toddler out of the way. It was Minnie Mouse, and she was looking at me! Right over at me! I looked over at my father, who was stooped over picking up my purse where I dropped it. “Dad, it’s Minnie Mouse! She looked right at me! I need an autograph book and a Disney disposable camera, Dad! I’m going to get in her line, Dad, okay? Dad, Daddy? I want her to give me a hug, Daddy!" Two hours later I had the autographs of Daisy and Donald Duck and also Minnie’s, and even a few autographs of characters I couldn’t quite place (must’ve been Pixar immigrants) and was bearing down hard on the Big Mouse himself, Mickey. I hugged Snow White until she went limp, and whispered, “I’m home now" into Pluto’s big, soft, long ear. At noon I looked down at my six year old through glazed, unfocused eyes and said, “Aren’t we having fun? Isn’t this the most magical place on earth, honey?" to which he answered, surrounded by balloons, characters, jugglers, rides and acrobats, “Can we go back to the hotel and swim in the pool now, Mom?" A few hours later my dad was peeling me off of Mickey Mouse and saying to my mom, “We should have brought the girls more when they were little, I guess, she’s just over-excited. Tell security Mickey’s just fine, I’ll have her down in a minute." And so, my first day at Disney went.
Our next stop a day later was Animal Kingdom, which is also part of Disney. We were going to go on a safari ride in “Africa", and see a show in “Asia", that much we knew. I got a little carried away there, too, I guess, as I decided after the safari ride that we should abandon our middle-class dreams of paychecks and education and food, and start a nature conservancy, protecting all wild things everywhere. I stood in the middle of an asphalt walking path in Africa and shouted to my husband over my cell phone, “I feel so close to nature here! I just saw a jackalope and three kinds of monkeys…you’re breaking up…I said, I’m starting a nature conservancy, I feel so close to all nature…I can’t hear you, you’re breaking up…Dad, could you grab me a latte and some napkins? Thanks..hon, on your lunch break can you get info on starting a non-profit protecting all animals everywhere…no, I didn’t get cat food before I left, that’s your job…okay, bye!" I looked down at my six year old and said, “Isn’t this fun? Do you like our matching Park Ranger outfits and our Rafiki keychains and our inflatable portable palm trees?" to which he answered, “Can we go back to the hotel and swim in the swimming pool now?"
So, the upshot is, we’re home now and I absolutely love Disney, and it is the place where dreams come true and I’m finished with being a confused Disney snob. From now on, I’m sticking with just being confused.
### |
tweet this!