A Vacation to Forget
James DuganAfter coming home from the most Magical Place on earth and its number 1 tourist destination, the world seems rather empty. Yes, I did the pilgrimage to Disney as any good red blooded American with two kids, who have only been speaking slightly longer than they have been defecating in their own pants. I return exhausted, broke, convinced of my fatherly devotion, a strong distaste for Florida heat, proud to have landed a better job than being stuck in a fur costume, and with plenty to muse over concerning the state of Disney World now closing in on its 40th year.
Disney World claims time and time again about the power of the imagination to change the world for the better. Yet everything we see is imagination come to life: real princesses and life size dogs; electric lights and chipmunks that dance. Time and time again around every corner you turn, you are faced with a real life horror of what Alice in Wonderland experienced. And everyone there seems to love it. There seems to be no problem with melting our children in the horrendous sultry sun for eleven hours as we run around to stand in line getting autographs from fictional characters. It is not a place of imagination; it is a place of pure insanity. How else would you explain spending thousands of dollars for a warm pool, greasy food, and sweating through three shirts a day while sitting on a bus or having coaches hack away at your ankles to get a better view of Tinker bell? It is just a short chick, dude, so back off; there are no such things as fairies.
But going to Disney makes as much sense as being a parent, and those children at the park ate up every single life size duck, mouse, and façade with the same nonchalance of belief that was displayed in the sly smile of my youngest telling me, “I told you so.” You don’t have to go to Disney to show your love, but you might to see them truly believe in something you know does not exist. A belief displayed with such intensity that you forget about reality, money, or economic recessions, and you end up giving Buzz Light Year a hug because he made your kid feel as special as you want him to feel everyday.
Disney exists because it is does not exist anywhere else. And if you are cynical and a bit based in this reality we call existence, you will be so overwhelmed with the ironies, super superficialness, and the endless exploiting of consumerism until you don’t care and you say you are on vacation to forget just that, and you brought your family to forget just that, and you finally realize what a vacation actually is: forgetting reality. And if there is a better definition of imagination than that, well this writer doesn’t know it.
It was truly my first vacation and though I could not bring myself to buy a stupid Mickey Mouse t-shirt, I could see myself maybe sporting one in the future when the kids are gone and my wife and I go back to remember when we forgot. Those mouse ears make sense, those lines, that heat, that mouse because everyone was on vacation and forgetting. And if America ever needed Disney more than now, to forget and maybe just to believe, well it was before my years and perhaps, before Disney World.
Reader Comments (3)
Ahhh, DisneyWorld. I remember my family's vacations there when I was a kid very fondly to this day. i look forward to when my kids are old enough for us to make our first trip down (at least 4 years I would think).
However, I have already informed my wife to save personal days from teaching so that we can go in February. Even if that means my son might, heaven forbid, miss a day or two of kindergarden to go. There is no way I am subjecting myself or the family to that Florida heat in the summer. That was the one thing I could not tolerate even as a kid and it got worse as I got older. As you can then imagine, this summer was brutal to poor Scalzetti and he cannot wait for the fall and 50 degree days.
My first trip to DW was when I was three and therefore have no memory of it. However, it was in July and I was told that even on one of the hottest days there, my aunt decided to buy me and my brothers Hot Chocolate.
I went one more time when I was in 4th grade, this time in Feb., and it was amazing! The excitement and intensity is so insane that I have to imagine that most of the performers are on really strong drugs. I can't imagine enduring such a job in those suits in the summer, acting so friendly to kids. There's something extremely perverse about the whole thing now that I think about it...
Either way, I know that some day I too will be subjected to this torturous experience as a parent and I can only hope that I will be able to forget as you did and see the positive of such a trip. Or maybe the performers will share whatever makes them so happy.
Your post was quintessentially American. Disney world to me is like a big casino. It seems stupid and costly when you are not there, but when your there the temptation to dream big seems to over power all. Any price seems not too bad after an hour and all sense of time goes out the window. I hope you don't have to go back any time soon, and when you do, I hope it's with grandkids who you can spoil without having to send off to school the next week.