I was only there for a day, but (as you can probably tell) it was a pretty important day for me, and I would love to share a little bit of it with you.
A few things that I noticed about Disneyland:
1. It's not nearly as overpriced as I was expecting. Don't get me wrong- $100 (ish) a person to enter the park is steep. I'm not going to argue that. I was hugely blessed by being able to enjoy my day at Disney for free, so I didn't have that price tag to deal with, which was amazing. However- all my life I feel like I've heard people talk about how ridiculously expensive Disney is. From the souvenirs, to the clothing, to the food- I've always figured it was some sort of highway robbery operation that would make airports look like dollar stores. I am here to tell anyone who believed the same as me- IT'S NOT TRUE! Maybe I'm a little jaded because I've spent a fair share of money at airports, but I can't even tell you how pleasantly surprised I was at the prices while I was there. I'm talking barely above what I would pay for a meal at the mall, and significantly less than what I would pay to feed myself at an airport. I can't even begin to tell you how shocked and happy I was to find out that I wasn't going to spend $25 for lunch. So happy. Even the souvenir shops aren't much more than I would expect to see at stores at the mall. And it's Disney for crying out loud! I'll take a Disney sweatshirt over a boring mall sweatshirt for the same price any day.
2. People at Disney are so happy. Again, maybe spending too much time in airports has beaten me down and made me forget that sometimes people are friendly, but wow! I expected the cast members to have about the same disposition as a TSA agent, or a Walmart cashier on December 24th. Again- I was so wrong! I've never seen a happier bunch of people! From the start of the day when a cute little old man congratulated me on being a first time visiter, to they guy running the Matterhorn, to the parking lot attendant at 10:30 in the evening- everyone was charming, friendly, and legitimately seemed like they were having fun, and wanted you to have fun too. Maybe it was all acting, but I'll take someone acting over a genuine scowl, thank you very much. (I'm a bit obsessed with customer service. I can monologue on it for a good bit, so you can understand why this excellent customer service struck such a chord with me.) I'd just like to take a moment and say Thank You to a company that clearly understands the value of their customer's money. Disney understands that people are spending their hard-earned money with them, and they appreciate it. They want your experience to be worth what you paid for. In this society, I feel like that's rare. I was pretty impressed.
3. Disney is full of beautiful details. This was probably my favorite part of Disneyland. I was privileged to be able to tour the park with someone who is in the Disney college program, so I got a ton of random facts and trivia about Walt Disney, the company, the parks, and the history of Disney which made the day way more interesting than just wandering around aimlessly. Bri knew the best places to go, the not-so-well-known places that were interesting, pretty much every hidden Mickey in the park, and the best times to get in line for various rides- it was perfect. And while we wandered all over, what I noticed the most were all the little details. You know how sometimes you go to a play and the set design barely makes it to the edge of the set before the paint stops, or the fabric runs out? In Disneyland, even places that people probably aren't looking are beautiful and thoughtfully designed. Even little details that most visitors likely will not notice, (like making sure that an odd number of red and white lightbulbs alternated perfectly- see my picture below), were thought of and attended to. Nothing was considered too small to notice. I love that. It was this aspect of Disneyland that reminded me of God. How many lovely little details of life does He take care of, and make beautiful, that I never notice? He doesn't do anything halfway. Everything He touches, everything He creates, even things that we don't see, or don't bother to see- is beautiful. There's thoughtful design in all that He does. I love that about Him. I love His artistry and the fact that He has allowed us to be artists as well.
Did I really just write 5 paragraphs about Disneyland? Yes I did. I can't tell you how happy I was that it did not disappoint. All of my dreams and fantasies about what it would be like when I finally got to go were not let down. And on top of that- I feel like I have a new appreciation about my God. That's a good day in my book. If you haven't ever gone- Go. Make time at some point to visit. If you ever cried in Fox in the Hound, or held your breath as Beast became human again, or secretly wished you could have a pet tiger named Rajah, or felt any sort of affinity at all toward any Disney movie through the years- this place will blow your mind!
My only disappointment for the day, was that I didn't get my Mickey moment. I was there for 12 hours and still didn't see that famous mouse. It might be just as well though, I told my parents that I would probably knock small children out of my way as I ran for my hug. Guess I'll just have to come back...
~Princess Jasmine
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| Just a teeny bit excited... |
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| Hidden Mickey! |
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| Why yes, I am wearing my "First Time Visitor" pin |
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| Check out that red and white lightbulb. Apparently Walt Disney was a little bit OCD and didn't want there to be two whites or two reds next to each other. |
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| Best tour guide ever! |
Here's that commercial- I can still remember being little and imagining the day when this would be me
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