Disneyland is truly a magical experience, but from time to time, you experience a little giggle at the expense of others.
First up, the Customised Matching Disney T-Shirts. Apparently some families, well, a lot of families, make a big deal out of coming to Disneyland. So much so, that they jump online and order customised t-shirts for the entire gang to wear during their vacation. I guess it makes it easy for you to spot one another, but it's hilarious to behold.
Exhibit A:
This family was huge. They all sported fluro yellow shirts. On the front, they said "Family Fun 2011....Priceless". At first, I thought there were Chinese characters on the back, until I got closer.
Turns out they're Disney representations of the entire family tree. They're obviously good breeders!
And here they are next to ANOTHER t-shirt coordinated family, this time in blue!
Here's another tribe.
And another.
Ah well, it's all good fun - but I can't see it taking off on Aussie beach camping trips, somehow.
Second thing: Disneyland is perhaps the only place on earth (with the possible exception of Tokyo) where you can sport Mickey ears without ridicule. And they come in ALL possible incarnations. We saw a lot of Mickey Graduate Cap Ears, what with the high school and college students wrapping up for the year.
And you can still be a big tough dude and be a Mouseketeer:
If Mickey ears aren't quite a strong enough statement, but you're too big for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to cater to your needs, you can, well, dress up however you best see fit. Although I'm not too sure what these girls were thinking:
On a more sombre note, it was sad to notice the overwhelming number of morbidly obsese Disneyland visitors. I'm talking so fat, that they couldn't even walk, and were riding around on scooters. How horrible - to be so overweight that you can't properly do the minimal activity that will start to reverse the situation. It made me appreciate just how fortunate we are to be fit and healthy and able to skip happily around the parks with energy to burn.
I don't know how much causality there is behind this correlation, but, during my time as a student in the States, I also noticed that a lot of overweight people seemed to have a Peter-Pan-style neotaneous obsession with Disney.
Given the complete suspension of reality afforded, I wonder if this is about escapism and denial, by reverting to a "safe" place where simply wishing upon stars, rather than hard work and exercise, makes dreams come true. Perhaps it's even an attempt to cling to safe memories of childhood, or of times when they weren't fat.
It seems to me that there's some sad psychological dark sides to the magic of Disneyland.
But there was no time to dwell deeply on Disney-driven psychology. We were up at sparrow fart / the arse crack of dawn on Friday, and on the shuttle to LAX, where we passed the time chatting to a New Zealand family who came to Disneyland every year - on a 14 day pass!!! Now THAT'S how to do it!!!!!!
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