By Lauren Kelly, Editor-in-Chief
This summer, I went to Disneyland for the first time. Iâve spent much of my life having people be shocked at the fact that noâI had never been to Disneyland. Not when I was a kid, and not as a teenager. When a coworker asked about my vacation and I told him I went to Disneyland for the first time, he replied (jokingly, I think) âDid your parents not love you as a child?â
Disneyland has this strange magic about it that always confused me. Itâs an amusement park themed after childrenâs movies. I loved Disney movies, and amusement parks are fun, but I never really had a strong desire to go to the âHappiest Place on Earth,â even when I was young.
Donât get me wrongâI was excited to go, and I had a fantastic time. I ran from ride to ride with my boyfriend, planning the whole day around fast passes and line lengths. It was exhausting, but great. We were lucky, too, since it was a Monday and, even though it seemed very busy, it was apparently quite slow. We did Space Mountain four times! We had an absolute blast. Howeverâand I do think the memories were very worth it, but this canât be ignoredâit was also $125 Canadian per person just to get in.
Thatâs what I find kind of baffling about the whole thing, ignoring the glorification of the place itself. Many families donât have the money to go to Disneyland, either by car or by plane, pay for accommodations, and pay for passes. Itâs not fair to expect parents who are working their asses off to support their families to also be able to go on extravagant vacations. And even if there is enough disposable income to make it possible, there are usually better ways to use that money, and much cheaper ways to still have very fun family vacations.
This isnât to take anything away from parents who take their kids to Disneyland or Disneyworld. My aunt and uncle did a full road trip with their three kids recently, and they all had an amazing time and were filled with stories and advice when I told them about my upcoming trip. Just like them, Iâll never forget the memories I made with my boyfriend at Disneyland and California Adventure. This is just a defence of those adults who canât find it in their budgets to take their whole families to the bottom of the US, no matter how much they love them.
