Some people vacation at WDW every year. I don’t. Let’s get that straight. To people who never go (there are a lot of people who hate the place, usually drawn from their experience of having never been there), anyone who even goes once in a while is seen as a habitué beyond understanding. So be it. My main vacation this year will be in England, the good Lord willin’ and the volcano don’t rise. The DDA is simply an add-on.
In the beginning of WDW, one would not think of it as one does now. With only one park, the Magic Kingdom, it was for all practical purposes simply the Florida version of Disneyland. For my family, it was a day trip. Liz and I did stay there once in those early days, at the Contemporary Hotel, not long after we got married. But that was unusual, at that time. With one park, it wasn’t what it became. It was fun, but as I say, it was just another Disneyland, albeit, for me, more accessible.
Kate was born roughly two years before Epcot was born. The first time we took her to WDW, when she was four or so, that second park was in full swing; we stayed at the Polynesian, which was the only other hotel on property at the time other than the Contemporary. One monorailed to one park or the other, took young children by the hand as one was advised endlessly, with breaks in the middle of the day to swim and relax. I remember is was September, and the joint was deserted. They would wave you on to repeat the rides because it was easier than unloading you. [Sigh.]
Other trips followed. A stay at the Grand Floridian during a Presidents’ Week vacation. A stay at the Caribbean when that opened, this time with my mother in tow, making this a three-generation affair. At various other times we stayed at Dixie Landings and Montezuma’s Revenge (the name of which, I think, I’m not quite remembering exactly). Years passed. Kate kept getting older. More parks opened: MGM Studios. Animal Kingdom. Blizzard Beach. Pleasure Island. Down the road Universal started warranting occasional visits. There was SeaWorld. Cape Canaveral isn’t far. Going to WDW would become quite an adventure, and you could spend a lot of time there, or nearby. On occasion we made archaeological visits to Disneyland or Disneyland Paris, just to compare. Not habitués, no, but fans, definitely.
What changed as more parks were built on property, and more hotels and more entertainments, was that the place became a complete resort. There was plenty to do for quite some time without ever going to a park, and then, of course, there were also the parks. Now one could stay on the grounds for days and days, and you became absolutely immersed in Disney. This became inescapable because, literally, the place could not be escaped from. You stayed on property and had Disney values/culture surrounding you at all times. Every moment of your day was themed, one way or the other. It wasn’t all Mickey Mouse, as some people might contend, because that would have been easily resisted. It was music and scenery and design to the tiniest detail, so you knew you weren’t home, and you were in a place that was, well, not real, but an awful lot of fun. One can deride simulacra, but if the simulacrum is wonderfully entertaining, why would you? Add to the intense theming the commercialization of everything. There is a gift shop everywhere, with both general merchandise and merchandise specific to the spot on which you are standing. You can get a souvenir of your hotel, of a ride, of a park, of the swimming pool. You can get a souvenir of the souvenir shop. For reasons I don’t quite understand, you get sucked into a lot of this. I absolutely feel the need to acquire Disney hats, for instance, the moment I arrive. That is, in fact, my first official action, the acquisition of the (perhaps first) hat. Kate and I also found ourselves last time getting sucked into pins. I don’t know why, but there’s something about them, and they look nice in a little display box I have at the chez. Sometimes the insanity is inexplicable, which doesn’t make it any more insane. As I said, this stuff is fun. In a word, you go to this resort and, to enjoy it to the fullest, you give yourself over to it. Your reward is that you have a great time. That’s not the world’s worst thing. As I also said, it’s not as if I don’t travel elsewhere. With a few exceptions, I have been to all the countries represented in Epcot. I’m no slouch with a passport. Which doesn’t stop me from liking WDW.
Bottom line? It’s fun. Are there other things? Of course. I can bat around Disney deconstruction with the best of them. But that doesn’t stop me from having fun. It just makes it all that much more interesting.
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