Leslie Moreno                                                                                                      Moreno 1

English 114B

Professor Macklin

May 11, 2012

Disneyland: A child forever

            Walt Disney once said, “That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up.” Walt Disney believed that happiness and laughter was the best thing in the world. He created Disneyland for that very purpose, to make people happy. It is a theme park that was created to remind society that there is a child in every human being. Disneyland has an influences society that, “Dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” (Walt Disney) Millions of people go every year to Disneyland to enjoy an entire day of happiness with their families and friends. Although many people enjoy the happiness of the park, there are people who wonder about the happiness of their wallets. Disneyland has a power that not many places can compete with; it has the power to fill people with joy and laughter. Disneyland shapes our conception of self by making adults feel like children, and children feel like they are free to dream. It is a place that is a little expensive but completely worth going to spend time at with family and friends, but Disneyland didn’t just come to be it began with a mouse and a man with a dream.

            Walt Disney created a very clever mouse known as the famous Mickey Mouse in 1927, in 1928 he released the film of “Steamboat Willie” which made both of them famous. During the 1940s and 1950s Disney had made films which had captured the attention of society. One day he

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had decided to build America’s first ever theme park. Disney wanted to build the park at Burbank, California, but local officials voted against the building of the park because at that time carnivals had a bad reputation, and they believed a theme park would be the same. Later in 1954 Disney chose Anaheim as the chosen site to build the park and so construction started, and the parked opened on July 17, 1955. The day of its opening only six thousand guests were invited to attend the opening of the park, unfortunately for Disney there were twenty-two thousand counterfeit tickets. People were so desperate to get in that they made tickets just to be at the opening.  The entry fee was a dollar each; over the next three months Disneyland had received one million guests. Walt Disney said at the opening ceremony, “To all who come to this happy place - welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” (Walt Disney)

            When Disneyland opened there were eighteen attractions distributes over five lands, Adventureland, Fronteirland, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and Main street USA. Throughout the years Disneyland has added many new attractions and new lands such as New Orleans square, Critter country, and Mickey’s Toon Town. One of the most popular lands, and my favorite land, is Fantasyland. It is famous for its Sleeping Beauty walk through castle I think it is the best part of Fantasyland, I can actually say I am a princess when I walk through it. As DIS says, “This enchanting land brings the magic and wonder of famous childhood stories to life. Located just beyond Sleeping Beauty Castle, Fantasyland brings out the child in all of us with its imaginative rides, unforgettable characters and striking architecture.” (DIS) Fantasyland is the land that     

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makes all of the people feel like children again, when you walk under the princess castle women feel that little princess inside them waiting for their prince charming to come for them. As men walk under the castle it brings that inner prince come out, fighting dragons to rescue the beautiful princess. Some people might say that it is silly to think in such a way, but I don’t, I love the feeling that someday I will find my true love and live in my own castle. When I talk about my fantasies outside of Disneyland, it is ridiculous to people, they think I am crazy. I step through that gate in the front of the park and I can hear dreams and fantasies of all the people who walk in. We can talk about our wildest dreams and our deepest desires and people don’t judge because it is the one place where our fantasies and dreams seem real. Fantasyland is the place out of the whole park where people feel freer to fanaticize through its attractions and boutiques.

 The three most visited attractions in Fantasyland would be the peter pan ride, where you hop into the magic ship that flies over London to Neverland on the second star to the right and straight on til morning. People complain that the line is so long to get into the ride which is about a minute and thirty seconds, yet they still wait in line because even though the ride is about one minute it is the best, happy minute of our lives. I would wait an entire day if I had to just so I could ride the ride of Peter pan. The Disney movie Peter Pan is about three kids who tell stories about a boy, named Peter pan, who lives in a land where you never have to grow up. The reason I think this ride is so popular is because when I get on that ride that minute and thirty seconds feel like an eternity, I feel like I am in Neverland, flying and never having to grow up.

 In the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique little girls over the age of three can become a real princess. They go and get a complete princess transformation, it is a little expensive, but the little

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girls feel like the princess they know that they are. I always dreamed of becoming a princess, when I heard about the boutique I screamed for joy, although I was never able to get m hair done. Every time I went to Disneyland I would stop at the boutique and I would see the smiles of the little girls, the biggest smiles I ever saw. Even women that are a little older get a princess transformation because they finally can be the princess they always wished they could be. The last main attraction is the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire, which is the one place in the entire world where little girls and women get to visit their favorite Disney Princesses!

The girls have to wait in line but to see their favorite princesses, that they admire so much, and see the smiles on their faces are priceless. There are people who say that the Disney princesses show little girls to just wait for their prince charming, and that they will live happily ever after they get married. This is not entirely true, the Disney princesses followed their heart to what they knew was the right thing to do. Princess Aurora learned that even though things were tough she had to have faith that the one she loved was going to help her. Princess Cinderella didn’t wait for her prince, “She believed in dreams, all right, but she also believed in doing something about them. When Prince Charming didn't come along, she went over to the palace and got him." (Walt Disney) Princess Ariel wanted to learn about a new place, and fall in love with her prince, she had to work to get to her prince she didn’t just wait for him. Princess Jasmine fought for her freedom and for what she knew was right for her. The Disney princesses teach girls to not be afraid to work hard for what they want. Princess Tiana worked her whole life to make her dream a reality, and Princess Rapunzel never stopped believing that she was meant for greater things. Princess Belle showed girls that there is nothing wrong with being a girl with a brain.  Disneyland appeals to the little girls dreams and brings them to life; it’s what  

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makes Fantasyland so successful with girls and women. Disney said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible,” (Walt Disney)

            Disneyland is extremely successful, and the main problem that people have is the prices of the tickets and the merchandise. The prices skyrocketed within the last few years, around 2000 tickets were forty-five dollars and by 2010 the tickets are about eighty to ninety dollars each. Disney’s original merchandise are above the roof, a jacket can be up to one hundred dollars. When you enter the park the first place you have to pass to get to the main attractions is Main Street USA, which are the shopping areas at Disneyland. Even though society says that Disneyland became too expensive it still gets packed. In 2012 leap year February 24^th, the park was going to stay open for 24hrs, the parked opened at 8am, and within the first hour the parked opened it had reached its capacity levels. They had to send people over to Disney’s California adventure and within another two hours they had to close both parks because it had reached the capacity levels of both parks. People still want to pay to go to the park, the one extra day that comes every four years people had decided to go to Disneyland instead of somewhere else. “All right -- I'm corny. But I think there's just about a hundred and forty million people in this country that are just as corny as I am.” (Walt Disney)

            “Disneyland is something that will never be finished. It's something that I can keep developing. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need change. A picture is a thing once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor, you're through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. But I can change the park, because it's alive.” (Walt Disney) No matter how many people say that Disneyland is too expensive or the lines are too long, it is the only place that makes you feel

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happy. People can criticize and say that the movies are bad values or that they don’t teach the right things but if it was really bad why do people still watch them? They watch them because these movies are an escaped to a world that only is yours. Disneyland is that escape, it is the escape from reality and the stress free place, the one place where magic does indeed exist. It is the one place on earth that lets adults be kids again, and reminds them that dreams are real you just have to make them real. Disney said, “Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows. Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil.” (Walt Disney)

                                                            

                                                    

Works Cited

·         Heather, Potter. "The History of Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California." USA Today. Travel . USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc., n.d. Web. 29 Mar 2012. <http://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-disneyland-park-anaheim-california-40569.html>.

·         . "Disne'ys Inspirational (and often very funny) quotes! ." Angelfire. Amgelfire, n.d. Web. 29 Mar 2012. <http://www.angelfire.com/movies/disneybroadway/quotes.html>.

·         "Disneyland." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/165726/Disneyland>.

·         . "Walt Disney Quotes." Notable Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar 2012. <http://www.notable-quotes.com/d/disney_walt.html>.

·         Rosenberg, Jennifer. "1995-Disneyland Opens." About.com 20th Century History. About.com, n.d. Web. 29 Mar 2012. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/disneyland.htm>.

·         . "Disneyland Park ." DIS. Werner Technologies, LLC, n.d. Web. 29 Mar 2012. <http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland-california/disneyland-fantasyland.htm>.