Despite the fact that we are not big travelers, and though I just cannot stand 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 quickly suggested a Disneyland vacation. So what if we were grown adults? So what if neither of us cared for intense rides that make you puke or stand in lines that seemed like eternal hours of misery. We started out by first making bookings for our Disneyland vacation at a cheaper dig, foregoing the Disneyland hotel, 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).
As for me, I simply love amusement park environments: I love the people, who let their hair down and let go of formalities, temporarily; I love the scenes to watch and enjoy; and what’s more I love the country fair snacks that one typically indulges perhaps in only once or twice a year – from the fudge, the cotton candy and also the hot fudge sundaes in giant waffle cones….
However when I got to the gates to kick-start my two-day Disneyland vacation, I thought I might change my mind. As there were hundreds of frenzied people, though not so much crowded and ready to burst through the entrance in excited, crazy television commercial joy, yet still in huge suffocating numbers. Nevertheless, my apprehension was assuaged when the gates did open and the people disbursed, walking with ample of space between us into the park, directly going into the closest food or rest stop building or walking into the building where Abe Lincoln gives the Gettysburg Address. (For those who have made a long drive just before beginning your Disneyland vacation and are parched, weary, and naturally gullible, the wax figures become so alive for you it is startling…. A fantastic way to start your Disneyland vacation experience, which is at most times surreal, anyways!)
At that time, my new husband loved Michael Jackson. He not only could imitate Michael well, but also performed, sang, danced to his albums, and was very excited to see the “new” 3-D movie with Michael and his troupe performing “Thriller”. Though I simply dreaded the lines, I was soon surprised and corrected: as not only was the wait bearable 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, in order and successively…not allowing anyone to just run to any old seat, or letting them to change their minds, 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 longed for, had, in those early eighties, tolerable thrill-seeker rides, beautifully inventive rides, as well as nostalgia shops (for people like me, who had watched Annette and the other mousketeers, had devotedly 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). Of all, besides the organization and which was the most impressive, were the spaciousness and the cleanliness of the park. What an absolutely superb Disneyland vacation. I am now forty-something, and yet I still want to go back!!!!