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Friday, April 1. 2022

Disney

"My parents honeymooned at Walt Disney World, and we go there at least once almost every year."


I do not get the appeal. Can any readers explain to me why anybody would use their rare time from work to go to a fake place?


Posted by The Barrister in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 15:21 | Comments (29) | Trackbacks (0)

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Two words:

arrested development.
#1 jolizbish (Link) on 2022-04-01 15:56 (Reply)
We went years ago and I was impressed with how well-run the place was, especially if one did the homework to know tricks to navigate the place. I have no need to go back except to be with granddaughters.

My son's family goes every year (or on a Disney cruise) and I think it is because it sells predictability to the parents and a well-designed set of fantasies to his daughters. As I recall, the rides are also quite good.
#2 Assistant Village Idiot on 2022-04-01 17:15 (Reply)
I can’t say I understand, but considering we live in a culture where the lowest common denominator of adults read children’s books about adolescent wizards and flock to see movies about comic book characters, I can’t say I am surprised.
#3 Joe B. on 2022-04-01 17:45 (Reply)
My thoughts as well, but you said it much better than I would have.
#3.1 Arty on 2022-04-01 21:02 (Reply)
It boggles my feeble mind that people will spend several hundred dollars a day for the privilege of fighting crowds and standing in line.

Must be my cognitive bias at work again.
#4 feeblemind on 2022-04-01 17:57 (Reply)
I went to the California Disneyland when I was a young child and loved it. How adults manage to drag themselves through I can't imagine, so I appreciate my parents' patience at the time.
#5 Texan99 on 2022-04-01 18:01 (Reply)
Never did anything for me
#6 Peter on 2022-04-01 18:03 (Reply)
I've been to both, Disneyland as a pre-teen and Disney World as a mid-teenager, both with parents. I guess there's something about the immersiveness that is fun. We took our daughter back when she was just in High School with a friend, because they really wanted to go. But navigating crowded public theme-parky-type places full of psychotic, sugared-up toddlers and sweaty, harassed parents is not my idea of fun. Easy for me to say, with no grand-kids yet. I know what's coming, and the soothing words of comfort will be: UPF 50 and cold tequila drinks in bright colors.
#7 Aggie on 2022-04-01 18:17 (Reply)
I too, Barrister, am baffled. It seemed fake and insipid to me even as a kid. Today, it just seems sadly dated. The appeal, or acceptance of it, by some adults does not bear close inspection.
#8 Hairless Joe on 2022-04-01 18:20 (Reply)
Went with my family four times as a boy. Have taken my own family, joined by my parents and my brothers and their families five times. We do five day park hopping with another day at one of their water parks. Only one day of rest. A proper vacation leaves one in need of a week off to recover. The simple fact is visiting at the right time of year precludes the crowd and climate distress. Each park has more than can be seen in a single day, and there are things to see and do that cannot be found anywhere else. My kids have gone trick-or-treating in the Magic Kingdom on Halloween night. Memories made. The old Disney was a truly magical thing. This new Disney makes me heartsick.
#9 Matt on 2022-04-01 18:42 (Reply)
Even as a kid I didn't like Disney. Never could see what was amusing or interesting about Mickey Mouse.
#10 RJ on 2022-04-01 19:09 (Reply)
I remember standing on my tip toes looking at the initial Disney World plan in the 60's. Walt & Roy Disney must be spinning in their graves. It was intended as an alternative to carnivals and the dirty rides. Used to go all the time, had seasonal passes (who wants to go in 100 degree summers and crowded xmas times) but haven't been in 15 years since my daughters grew up. Don't miss it at all. It also wiped out all the small family alternative places in Florida when it started, perhaps they will start coming back. I will go to them but no more Disney, Get woke, go broke.
#11 grant1863 on 2022-04-01 19:25 (Reply)
I don't think Jesus was plugging Disney, but He did say that we must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3) I don't care for Disney, but there is something to be said for being able to drop our pretentiousness, pride, and ambition just to have some childlike fun.
#12 Frank on 2022-04-01 19:32 (Reply)
I'm with you, much rather be hiking, small boating or even mowing the lawn.
#13 Capt John on 2022-04-01 19:51 (Reply)
I think you have to be a certain aged kid at a certain time. Going to Disneyland (CA) as a kid was just cool. Going to Disneyworld (FL) with my own kids brought back that Disney-Sunday-night feeling, laying on the floor with my sibs and dog and watching WW of D or any of many specials. Escapism.

Expensive escapism.
#14 bobby b on 2022-04-01 20:01 (Reply)
Oh come on!!! You just implied it in your statement. Work is mundane. A drudgery for folks. Disney is an escape from that drudgery.
The excitement of walking and exploring the different "lands" is a lure. The rides are well maintained (see posts about kids falling off carnival rides). and for the most part, the food is very good.
You may not be all that excited but there is a cohort of folks that love the ambiance of the place.
#15 steve on 2022-04-01 20:07 (Reply)
I have lived within an hour of Disney for 40 years. My opinion is it has never been a place for adults alone, but was a haven for adults with kids.

It used to be a great place to take the kids. You could spend hours with them, but when it was time for adult rest, they could have the run of the place. It was safe, wholesome and secure.

The adults could be entertained while the kids ran. Good fine, nice drinks and 5 star service. Hang out at the pool, go see a show, whatever.

That all started changing about 15 years ago. Now, much of the place is stale, needs updating and is just plain old.

But the big negative is cutbacks have reduced staff really killing the old paradigm of fantastic service and solid security.

Combine that with the overall degradation of society and the new "class" of people the place draws has reduced safety. I would never let children loose in that place today, or really, in the last decade.

On top of that toss in the fact the food has just become horrendous. What were competitive restaurants with some of the best outside the gates are now just slop houses. Expensive
commercial production line dining experiences at ridiculous prices.

The historic Disney Magic is dead. It is now just an overpriced amusement park.
#16 LibDis on 2022-04-01 21:21 (Reply)
Devil Mouse must die! Kill it with fire, then nuke it from orbit.
#17 Steve on 2022-04-02 06:25 (Reply)
I went once to Disney World as a little kid, with my grandparents; I loved it then. So I took my kids there... it was OK. Very crowded, even though we went at an off-peak time. OK, not great, rides; the kids thought it was neat to go on rides that I went on when I was a kid (e.g. Space Mountain), but otherwise the rides were... just OK. And OMG expensive.

I doubt we'd go back, even without this groomer business. Now Universal Studios is another matter. Top notch rides, and they even do the immersive experience thing better (e.g. Harry Potter world). In CA, they do the shows better too (not FL though). They've stayed out of the culture war stuff for the most part-- they're interested in making a buck, not picking a side, which is OK with me.
#18 Janet on 2022-04-02 07:23 (Reply)
Agree with you about Universal. It's a much better buy.
#18.1 rebeccaH on 2022-04-02 14:30 (Reply)
It is wonderful with kids. Especially if you do what I did. Stay in a Disneyland hotel on the monrail, go to the park at 6am with your early access thing and do all the popular rides, come back mid-day, swim, have a nap, and then go back for the parades and fireworks.
#19 Paul (Link) on 2022-04-02 11:11 (Reply)
Lots of vacations are fake. It's just a question of which kind of fake you enjoy.
#20 Jim (Link) on 2022-04-02 12:23 (Reply)
We went there a couple of times with our grandchildren when they were small. It was a great time, with something to see and do everywhere you looked, and it was kept clean and well run. The last time we went with the grown grandkids, I noticed it's beginning to look a little rundown, the lines are exponentially longer, there's a lot more trash floating around, and the food is mediocre and expensive. Add to that the chance of getting caught in a brawl between ferals, and the fact that Disney has now decided to be the frontline of the "queer agenda". Never going again.
#21 RebeccaH on 2022-04-02 14:27 (Reply)
"why anybody would use their rare time from work to go to a fake place?"

That's a bit harsh. Do you read fiction? Watch movies?

Most fiction is about fake places. Narnia, Wonderland, Hogwarts, possible pasts, the imagined future...
#22 Earl Wertheimer (Link) on 2022-04-02 14:33 (Reply)
Conservatives at Disney [i] wrote a letter! [i] When will you realize the Disney queer agenda people want you gone! They will not listen to you. You should not even exist at a place such as Disney. Read carefully: They want you gone.
#23 SgtBob (Link) on 2022-04-02 16:13 (Reply)
I can.

I never went until I was 55, and (at the time) an employee. It was the beginning of the firm's corporate devolution into some bizarre Woke nightmare.

At any rate, the main reason people go is tradition, at least today. Entertainment is still critical in peoples' lives.

But when Disney started, people couldn't afford to go out of the country with any regularity. So Disney brought the world to them. Is it fake? Yes. Is it fun? Yes. Is it well managed and enjoyable? Depends on what you enjoy - but most people would say yes.

I wrote about it several years ago. I was amazed by it. Not because I had a great time and would go back. I wouldn't. It's not my speed. But I DO understand why people enjoy it and go, and let's just be clear - one person's trash is another's treasure.

I don't judge peoples' taste. If they love this stuff, good for them. It's escapist. It's exciting at times. It can be fun. For me, I was just watching other people to see exactly WHAT it was that attracted them.

Now I know, and it's all good. Disney sure knows how to put on a show.

That said, I told my family from Ireland "the one thing Disney knows is how to separate you from the money in your pocket, and do it in a way that makes you happy to give it to them."

So I refuse to give it to them...they've got enough other people doing that.
#24 Bulldog (Link) on 2022-04-02 22:27 (Reply)
Not just fake. Fake and gay.
#25 ccoffer on 2022-04-04 21:34 (Reply)
They designed a whole town, named "Celebration." The houses were pretty and the streets were neat, but something about it just felt so phony. They were real houses, but the whole thing felt like the set of The Truman Show.
#26 Anne DeRuiter on 2022-04-05 12:10 (Reply)
Years ago, I did a "customer satisfaction" seminar that lasted a couple days at the Orlando park. We were told that Disney (then) aimed the experience at thrilling 10 year olds. Their biggest concern was that parents, once inside the park, turned off their "protect my kids" alarm system. After all, it's Disney, right? hence perfectly safe....

Well, those days are now over, and frankly I wish them a corporate crash.
#27 PubliusII on 2022-04-05 18:29 (Reply)

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