This Christmas break, my family and I decided to spend our holidays visiting my grandfather who lives in California. Just a couple days after Christmas day, my grandfather took us all to Disneyland to celebrate his 75th birthday, so my five year old cousin could experience, as Disneyland calls it, “The Happiest Place on Earth.” What seemed like “The Happiest Place on Earth” when I was my cousin’s age was clearly not the case any longer.
As soon as we arrived at the gates there were extremely long lines, but we had already bought our tickets in advance. For $120.00 per person, this is not the ideal way to be starting an experience. We took pictures in front of the famous Disney entrance and went on our way to find rides that would be fun for everyone.
Throughout the day there was nothing but lines that had wait times of 120 minutes or longer, people were walking in every direction, making it almost impossible to roam throughout the park, and there were little children screaming and running everywhere.
Food and store lines were also a disgrace, and Disney employees were on the streets trying to get everyone to walk on the right side of the walkways to avoid traffic, although they were failing miserably. There were no Disney characters around to take pictures with, as there were back in the day, due to the growing amounts of people inside the park. It felt almost as if Disney had lost their fun and exciting spirit.
Nevertheless, at 20 years old, I was extremely disappointed with what had once been my favourite place to go to as a child living in Florida. Today, all these big corporations care solely about making money, and often forget that the experience is what makes people want to keep going to these parks. Not being able to walk around comfortably and going on two rides in ten hours is disappointing and not what is expected when going to “The Happiest Place on Earth.” All that kept going through my mind when there was that I never wanted to come back and have to bring my children here in the future.
It is sad to see that the new coming generations of today will never know a Disney like I knew before. A Disney that was once so magical, so fun, and so memorable is exactly the opposite of what I felt walking through the park a couple days ago.
What upset me the most about this day was the fact that so much money is being spent on tickets, however, people aren’t getting the Disney experience that is expected. Rather than having a good time for my grandfather’s birthday and spending time with my family in a memorable way, I was often stressed and overwhelmed, and wanted to leave as soon as possible. It is safe to say that Disneyland is actually “The Most Crowded Place on Earth.”
So Disneyland, please stay true to your slogan and leave a happy, rather than disappointed, memory to those who continue to frequent your park.