I saw this diary earlier today which got me thinking about Disneyland/World and the need for something a little lighter on the day after the scales have fallen from so many eyes, the day after the ugly discovery that our idol has feet of clay...you get the idea. The bottom line is that Obama’s present stance on the FISA deal sucks. So now for something completely different, what is your favorite Disney ride and why. I will include EPCOT and California Adventure for the sake of this discussion though this may turn off some purists.
Follow me down into the Magic Kingdom...
Personally, I hate Disneyland/World, perhaps not with a passion but I detest everything that it represents, such as artifice and fake sentiment and the subtle (and not so subtle) way that it promotes and peddles the ‘American Dream’ but my relatives and kids do not share this view. In fact they love the place, absolutely adore it. I guess they find it reassuring and wholesome, clean and attractive, a fantasy getaway which is why they go there.
As a child of the 50’s, I do find that the 50’s retro stuff does have some appeal: Tom Sawyer Island and the canoes, the cheesy Jungle Cruise, the shooting gallery in Frontierland etc. And the rides are not the standard roller coaster fare so there is that aspect as well (the Matterhorn is getting so old and rickety it is sort of scary to ride that thing). The ‘Honey I Shrunk the Audience’ show is somewhat inspired as is the ‘Soarin' over California’ ride where you get suspended on your hang glider seat and move around matched to an IMAX-like screen to fly over California (they also have associated smells but I must have had a stuffy nose because that did not really work for me) in short, you get to see all of the natural wonder of California in one fell swoop and never have to get off you ass to do it.. .
Of course with the addition of the California Adventure to Disneyland they did sort of get on the standard amusement park bandwagon, loop the loop roller coaster, bungee drop and water rides and they did put in the Tower of Terror for the younger (and older) folk. As for EPCOT, I have to stretch my memory as the one time I visited was almost 25 years ago (prekids) but I was truly appalled how the place was, in essence, a huge billboard and paean (not to mention pay-off) to big corporate America. I ended up crying in my beer in the ersatz German beer-hall; but, hey, where else can you say that you visited a dozen foreign countries without ever having to leave Orlando.
Clearly, the Disney machine has put a lot of effort in creating amusements which will appeal to a large swath of us, they may be devious and diabolical about it but they are very well-funded and are good at what they do. Younger kids, by and large, seem to love the place and college kids have the added enjoyment of mocking everything while secretly getting a kick out of it. So what is your favorite Disney attraction, the poll below is just a sampling, please feel free to add your favorites or most-hated rides and/or experiences in the comments. Or return to the great FISA fight...