Travel essay: A family finds itself in the happiest place on Earth

By Russ Tibbitts
Special to The Seattle Times

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Editor's note: The Travel Essay is written by our readers about a travel adventure or insight.

What with the Walt Disney Co. so much in the news lately — boardroom conflict and shareholder revolt, I decided to do some fundamental research.

Actually, I took my family to Disneyland. What I learned startled me. I observed scenes of chaos, dissent, and at times, utter hopelessness. Of course that was just inside my car. Disneyland itself seemed to be in pretty good shape.

If you have been on a family vacation and have not suppressed the memory, then you know that such journeys have moments of pain — and pleasure. After getting through the painful moments (rained on, lost, yelling at kids, yelling at wife, yelled at by wife and kids) I can say that overall we had a nice time — and learned that there is no way we could have experienced that kind of family growth by simply staying home and renting movies.

Disney is one of those institutions that evokes a negative reaction among certain types of people — namely snobs. I myself have memorized many a Disney animated feature. And I am sure that I have contributed a not-unsubstantial portion of CEO Michael Eisner's bonus in toys alone.

On the other hand, there must be a reason for the voluntary spending by people like me, and I got hint of it during a recent trip. As the Serengeti is to observing wildlife, so Disneyland is to people-watching. For instance, there were teenage couples making out. Maybe they go there for the privacy. There were people riding electric carts for various reasons. There were counterculture/antisocial types. One heavily tattooed guy wore a tank top that said, "Keep staring, I might do a trick."

But mostly Disneyland was populated by kids having the time of their lives, accompanied by parents who, like me, were enduring sore feet and rapid weight loss in the wallet area while taking pleasure in their children's pleasure.

Granted this wasn't a fair sampling of the human population, but I came away with this sociological bombshell: No matter what their culture, people care a lot about their kids and want them to be happy.

There is a place at Disneyland, one of the newer areas, called Mickey's Toon Town, where you can visit Mickey and Minnie Mouse. We met Mickey first, then went next door where Minnie was holding court on her front porch. I decided to wait while the kids stood in line.

I watched as each visitor came up for a picture and autograph. Most of the kids were excited but reserved. However, one girl, who was maybe 3 or 4 years old, ran up and gave Minnie a hug that would have made a bear proud. She stood next to her idol for a photograph, wearing a genuine, irrepressible smile.
 
In such moments a person is sometimes moved to deep thinking — well, deep for me, anyway. I knew it was all make believe. But that little girl knew she was with someone she loved, and I could not argue with that.

Something there was real, and the only conclusion I could draw was that it was something that began with Walt himself, and here 50 years later was being perpetuated and magnified by many people, including whoever was inside that costume.

So if you can overlook for a moment the overpriced toys, endless merchandizing and nine-figure salaries, in the end we parents gladly throw some of our money Disney's way because it gives us something that is priceless — namely, the hour and a half of peace and quiet that an animated feature in the DVD player will get you.

(Russ Tibbitts lives in Renton.)

The Travel Essay runs each Sunday in The Seattle Times and also online at seattletimes.com. To submit an essay for consideration, make sure it's typed and no longer than 700 words. E-mail to travel@seattletimes.com or send to Travel, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111.