"We hope that it will be unlike anything else on this earth: a fair, amusement park, an exhibition, a city from the Arabian Nights, a metropolis of the future, in fact, a place of hopes and dreams, facts and fancy, all in one."
I’m in the Bahamas, but before I start talking about that, allow me to geek out about my Disneyland trip for a moment.
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In the interest of avoiding crazy Christmas crowds, I arranged for my trip to take place over a Monday and Tuesday. I was able to kidnap my friend Djuna from her job for two days to come along with me. We made it to the park by early afternoon and made fast work of the west side (Adventureland, New Orleans Square and Critter Country), then spent the rest of the day trading off between eating and riding things that didn’t have astronomical lines (which was most of the rides, except Finding Nemo. I could retire and start getting social security while waiting in line for that ride.)
The next morning we had a quick breakfast before meeting Disneyland’s publicity and broadcast team at the hub (or, the statue of Walt and Mickey in front of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.) When I went to Disneyworld, they’d offered to do some broadcast stuff so that AOL could run some videos of me discussing the park alongside my articles. When I hooked up Disneyland at Christmas, we were able to arrange the same. So when I met with the team that morning, the woman leaving my shoot said, “We’re going to do our first shot on the roof of the Plaza Inn so the castle shows in the background over your shoulder, okay?”
Yes. Yes, that’s perfectly okay.
So we walked backstage and climbed the steps up to the roof of the eatery that I’d had pot roast and turkey dinners at ever since I was wee and harboring dreams of becoming Barbara Walters. I immediately walked to the edge to look down at Main Street, the hub, the castle. As the sound guy hooked up my mic, I said, “If five year-old me could see me now, she’d wet her pants.”
It was so much fun. We did the opening and closing on the roof, then went down to the Baby Center to interview a cast member about their programs (the video was specifically about what there is for toddlers to do at the park, and how it’s actually really accommodating to the younger set), then wandered into Toon Town, where we recruited a little girl in a princess costume to sit on the Jolly Trolley while I did my stand-up. The whole thing was over by early afternoon. The team, Djuna and I went for lunch and talked about how insanely protective people get over Disneyland, sharing stories of our own childhoods spent on rides and clinging to our favorite characters.
How did this happen that part of my job requires me to go to Disneyland? I have no idea, but all of this has worked out better than expected. Actually, I don’t know that I even expected anything like this. Maybe that’s the key?
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