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greendalek303Just wrapped Day #2 in Walt Disney World. Today was spent at the Animal Kingdom, the newest of the Disney theme parks. All the elements of a major zoo AND a theme park rolled up into one pretty darned vast enterprise. This was my first-ever time at this park, having declined to go with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mama_hogswatch and eldest the last time they went, some 5+ or so years ago.
While of course Disney's Animal Kingdom was enjoyable, something about the park just didn't sit 100% right with me. Wasn't able to put my finger on it until after the animal safari --the animals (giraffes, rhinos, elephants, warthogs, antelopes, and darned near every other denizen of the Serengheti) were always perfectly positioned, always matching up with the rote-memorized spiel being delivered (more like phoned in) by our driver, as precise and as on-cue as if there were a stage manager just out of sight behind the tree. Now, I've never actually been on a real African safari but I'm reasonably sure the animals aren't that cooperative, no matter what the travel agent promises. And sure enough, later in the day I learned that this was precisely how it worked --the animals spend their evenings in compounds where they're fed and inoculated and groomed and all the rest of it, then are trucked out to their "habitat" positions in the mornings (the vegetation having been carefully restocked the day before), and are then called in at the end of the day, back to their compounds. I know the theme park is supposed to be a testament to the earth and the delicate balance of nature and the vital role we all play in any given ecosystem, but... at the end of the day this park is as artificial a construction as The Magic Kingdom. That being said: it's still a delightful time, there's opportunity to learn a great deal, and there are certainly plenty of exciting rides and shows, to say nothing of the endless assortment of gift shops and merchandising opportunities to pick up yet another item with a Disney character depicted on it (preferably one that promotes a current or upcoming movie release or television series).
That came across as far more cynical than it should: understand that I am a longtime Disney fan. I'm not blind to what the company is nor the amount of power it wields as an entertainment giant that also --disturbingly-- delivers the news. But my appreciation for this company and what it stands for actually goes back to the story of its founder and namesake, and the odds he faced in getting such a company to even get off the ground. We all need at least one good solid failure in our lives, to help get us oriented and focused, and that's definitely what happened here.
One other observation I feel I need to make herein, and that is the events of the previous day, Sunday, which also happened to be Fathers' Day. Besides this trip being done to honor my eldest and his acheivements to date, this also serves as the first-ever time he and I have been at this resort together, and Fathers' Day chanced to also be Star Wars Weekend at Disney Hollywood. For obvious reasons there's a lot of excitement at Disney over the upcoming hype surrounding the next Star Wars installment, and this year, rather than keep trying to ignore a fan-driven tradition, instead embraced it wholeheartedly and pulled out all the Star Wars stops. Throughout the park, it was a constant stream of stormtroopers, Jedi, Mos Eisley Cantina critters, and John Williams music. You would think it would be Nerd Heaven.
And somehow... it didn't feel real. Like this was no longer being driven by the fans who spend months creating costumes and memorizing dialogue and practicing lightsaber choreography --it was now being driven by a very powerful movie house with deep pockets and a huge budget for perfect costumes, perfect sets, and perfect props ...and performances being delivered by minimum-wage actors who couldn't possibly care less about Star Wars. Seriously, something had taken the passion out of our favourite saga and turned it into a socially-acceptable pop culture event on the order of 1978's Star Wars Holiday Special. I mean, don't get me wrong: at some level Star Wars has ALWAYS been about cheesiness, but this was somehow the wrong kind of cheesiness, if you get my meaning. There's more sanctity in a gathering of volunteer members of the 501st Legion at a local comic-con, than there was in an entire theme park full of Star Wars schmaltz. Too many lame Wookiee jokes delivered by game show hosts, not enough attention paid to the fallen-father-vindicated-by-the-son at the core of the story. And on Fathers' Day of all days.
-sigh- I care about this waaaaaay too much and am almost certainly leaving any readers with the wrong overall impression. I'm actually having a wonderful week with my son andmama_hogswatch and am thoroughly enoying myself. But for one bady-timed thunderstorm over Orlando that delayed our flight, this has been a smooth vacation, with the happy moments outnumbering the not-so-happy moments by about 50 to 1. Tomorrow we hit EPCOT (my personal favorite of all the Disney parks), and the Magic Kingdom the day after that. There'll be more travelogue-ing for them 'wot's interested.
mama_hogswatch and eldest the last time they went, some 5+ or so years ago. While of course Disney's Animal Kingdom was enjoyable, something about the park just didn't sit 100% right with me. Wasn't able to put my finger on it until after the animal safari --the animals (giraffes, rhinos, elephants, warthogs, antelopes, and darned near every other denizen of the Serengheti) were always perfectly positioned, always matching up with the rote-memorized spiel being delivered (more like phoned in) by our driver, as precise and as on-cue as if there were a stage manager just out of sight behind the tree. Now, I've never actually been on a real African safari but I'm reasonably sure the animals aren't that cooperative, no matter what the travel agent promises. And sure enough, later in the day I learned that this was precisely how it worked --the animals spend their evenings in compounds where they're fed and inoculated and groomed and all the rest of it, then are trucked out to their "habitat" positions in the mornings (the vegetation having been carefully restocked the day before), and are then called in at the end of the day, back to their compounds. I know the theme park is supposed to be a testament to the earth and the delicate balance of nature and the vital role we all play in any given ecosystem, but... at the end of the day this park is as artificial a construction as The Magic Kingdom. That being said: it's still a delightful time, there's opportunity to learn a great deal, and there are certainly plenty of exciting rides and shows, to say nothing of the endless assortment of gift shops and merchandising opportunities to pick up yet another item with a Disney character depicted on it (preferably one that promotes a current or upcoming movie release or television series).
That came across as far more cynical than it should: understand that I am a longtime Disney fan. I'm not blind to what the company is nor the amount of power it wields as an entertainment giant that also --disturbingly-- delivers the news. But my appreciation for this company and what it stands for actually goes back to the story of its founder and namesake, and the odds he faced in getting such a company to even get off the ground. We all need at least one good solid failure in our lives, to help get us oriented and focused, and that's definitely what happened here.
One other observation I feel I need to make herein, and that is the events of the previous day, Sunday, which also happened to be Fathers' Day. Besides this trip being done to honor my eldest and his acheivements to date, this also serves as the first-ever time he and I have been at this resort together, and Fathers' Day chanced to also be Star Wars Weekend at Disney Hollywood. For obvious reasons there's a lot of excitement at Disney over the upcoming hype surrounding the next Star Wars installment, and this year, rather than keep trying to ignore a fan-driven tradition, instead embraced it wholeheartedly and pulled out all the Star Wars stops. Throughout the park, it was a constant stream of stormtroopers, Jedi, Mos Eisley Cantina critters, and John Williams music. You would think it would be Nerd Heaven.
And somehow... it didn't feel real. Like this was no longer being driven by the fans who spend months creating costumes and memorizing dialogue and practicing lightsaber choreography --it was now being driven by a very powerful movie house with deep pockets and a huge budget for perfect costumes, perfect sets, and perfect props ...and performances being delivered by minimum-wage actors who couldn't possibly care less about Star Wars. Seriously, something had taken the passion out of our favourite saga and turned it into a socially-acceptable pop culture event on the order of 1978's Star Wars Holiday Special. I mean, don't get me wrong: at some level Star Wars has ALWAYS been about cheesiness, but this was somehow the wrong kind of cheesiness, if you get my meaning. There's more sanctity in a gathering of volunteer members of the 501st Legion at a local comic-con, than there was in an entire theme park full of Star Wars schmaltz. Too many lame Wookiee jokes delivered by game show hosts, not enough attention paid to the fallen-father-vindicated-by-the-son at the core of the story. And on Fathers' Day of all days.
-sigh- I care about this waaaaaay too much and am almost certainly leaving any readers with the wrong overall impression. I'm actually having a wonderful week with my son and
mama_hogswatch and am thoroughly enoying myself. But for one bady-timed thunderstorm over Orlando that delayed our flight, this has been a smooth vacation, with the happy moments outnumbering the not-so-happy moments by about 50 to 1. Tomorrow we hit EPCOT (my personal favorite of all the Disney parks), and the Magic Kingdom the day after that. There'll be more travelogue-ing for them 'wot's interested.
