Though we were not big travelers, and though I couldn’t fathom the heat in southern California at that time of year, when my fiancé asked me where we should go on a short, affordable honeymoon, I suggested a Disneyland vacation. So what that we were grown adults. So what that neither of us cared for intense rides that make you throw up or standing in lines that seemed to threaten hours of misery. We made plans for our Disneyland vacation, foregoing the Disneyland hotel (in favor of cheaper digs, as we would only be in the room to shower and sleep), and deciding to drive (as we were only a few hundred miles away).
I love amusement park environments: I love the people, who have let their hair down and let go of formalities, temporarily; I love the scenes to observe and enjoy; and I love the country fair snacks that one typically indulges in only once or twice a year—the fudge, the hot fudge sundaes in giant waffle cones, the cotton candy…. When I got to the gates, to begin my two-day Disneyland vacation, however, I thought I might change my mind. There were hundreds of people, not so much crowded and ready to burst through the entrance in excited, frenzied television commercial joy, but still, in great suffocating numbers. But, my apprehension was assuaged when the gates did open and the people disbursed, walking with plenty of space between us into the park, immediately going into the closest food or rest stop building or walking into the building where Abe Lincoln gives the Gettysburg Address. (If you have made a long drive right before beginning your Disneyland vacation and are parched, tired, and of course gullible, the wax figures become so alive for you it is startling…. A great way to start your Disneyland vacation experience, which is surreal at most times, anyway!)
My new husband loved Michael Jackson at that time. He imitated Michael, performed singing and dancing to his albums, and was extremely excited to see the “new” 3-D movie with Michael and his troupe performing “Thriller”. I dreaded the lines, but was soon surprised and corrected: not only was the wait tolerable, but the entry after the wait was manageable: those staffed at Disneyland’s theatre instructed (and, where necessary, insisted) each person entering move all the way to the far side of the theatre, sitting in the next available seat, orderly and successively…not just running to any old seat, changing your mind, switching, stumbling, bumping, and holding up the procedure. It was an organizational experience I have referred to for many years after.
The Disneyland vacation, besides including all of the foods at the park I craved, had, in those early eighties, tolerable thrill-seeker rides, beautifully inventive rides, and nostalgia shops (for people like me, who had watched Annette and the other mousketeers, had faithfully watched The Wonderful World of Disney every weekend, but had never had any Mickey Mouse ears or had never laid eyes on the real castle or other characters). And most impressive of all, besides the organization, were the spaciousness and the cleanliness of the park. What an utterly superb Disneyland vacation. I am now forty-something, but I wanna go back!!!!
