I hate Disney

I realize I may be speaking heresy to some but I do in fact hate Disney (no offense intended toward former or present employees of said corporate behemoth).

Maybe it is the way they advertise their new movies on Disney DVD ... like they invented it.

Or perhaps how the corporate cutthroats distribute their classics for a limited time and then advertise with great fanfare and pressure that it will be put in the 'vault' after a certain date, hurry now and buy, buy, buy!

Then again it could be that this corporation tried to swallow the truly creative and pioneering Pixar Studios that annoys me?

Or, the way the advertising department attempts to make every parent feel as if their child's childhood won't be complete without the latest from Disney.

Oh, I know, it must be the $3.00 bottle of water they sell at their themeparks.

Or maybe it is that Disney just seems to represent all of the negative things I associate with American mass consumption and comercialization of every avenue of life.

Yes, I do hate Disney Corp., but...

We were recently given free passes to the Magic Kingdom by some friends I helped move (they had A LOT of stuff, almost as much as Scott). I would have much rather preferred the same dollar equivalent in say a Borders gift certificate, but alas, twas not meant to be. Anyhow, my wife wanted to go during the summer and on a weekday as to avoid the crowds, so we went yesterday. I won't bore you with all the details. . . well, not all of them anyway.

I hate Disney, but I have to admit, I had one of the best times of my life yesterday. We had not been to Disneyland since 1997. They have improved a bunch of stuff. But that wasn't the best part. I think what nailed it for me was that I was with my family. My oldest boy had never even been, and the baby, well he won't remember a thing.

Everything was new. I was actually able to see things through my son's eyes and for the first time. It's a Small World was never better. The Jungle Cruise, hilarius, because my oldest had never heard all the same jokes. The Mark Twain Riverboat might as well have been chuggin' up the Mississippi for real. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Pinnochio's Daring Adventure, Splash Mountain, Astro Orbiter (though I got dizzy) and the baby fell asleep in my arms while we all rode Pirates of the Caribbean. All of it was new. And all of it better than I ever remember it as a kid.

Not just that, but the people seemed more interesting and entertaining. Disneyland is one of the few places where you can go and meet people from dozens of countries. Before we left I gave my son the lecture about how this might be one of the few times that foreigners will see how American children behave, so it was important to have fun, but also be polite. He was. But the people, and there were many of them despite our efforts to avoid crowds, just seemed to be more interesting to me. Did you know there are rude people from every continent? Plus I heard at least 8 diffrent languages that I could identify and witnessed children throwing tantrums in 3 languages other than english. It was great. I could hear "It's a Small World After All" ringing in my ears.

And at the end of the day, after over 10 hours of being on my feet walking, running, laughing, behaving like an idiot for my kids, we all settled down to watch the fireworks. I don't think I will ever forget the looks on the faces of my children as they watched spellbound. It was, forgive the cliche, magical.

And I was able to put aside all my negativism, cynicism, pessimism, skepticism... all my isms for a day, to suspend my disbelief and be a 34 year old kid. It felt great. I grudingly admit that Disney had something to do with that.

So maybe I don't hate this iconic corporation as much as I thought.

But they have got to drop that DVD thing.

Be well all.