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In Defense of Adulting at Disney Parks
Friday’s New York Post released an article, “Sorry, childless millennials going to Disney World is weird,” commenting on a rant by an angry mom who is clearly morally superior based on her obscenity-riddled Facebook post that has gone viral. The story was that a childless young woman was in line ahead of a mom and her 3-year-old son to get a pretzel, and because it took too long and the mom got frustrated, her child cried. Lady, nobody made your child cry but you, when you told him, “no,” because you did not feel like waiting. Perhaps you should have used this as a moment to teach your child how to wait in line and how to be patient. Rather, you post a vicious attack on Facebook that anyone without a child should be banned, blaming them for entitlement and creating long lines… all while strongly believing you should be able to skip ahead – how ironic.
Johnny Oleksinski laments in his article that people between 23 and 38 (mostly millennials) have an “unhealthy” relationship with the biggest corporation geared towards children in the world. The claim is that adults are “throwing their money away” on frivolous things meant for children. Certainly there are some that are a bit… overboard… on the Disney stuff. You know the ones – they have the full-on Little Mermaid themed bathroom, or Mickey ears for every single occasion… it’s a little weird, but what really is the harm in capitalism?
By the way, my husband and I are 37, childless, and Disneyland Annual Passholders.
According to Oleksinski, it is causing us to miss out on seeing different places around the world, which is not true at all. I will be the first to admit that we are lucky, since we have the luxury of driving to Anaheim and spending a couple hours at Disneyland. This also has not hindered our ability to watch great films or read good books. Sure, we will be entertained by the latest Marvel or Pixar flick (Spider-Man was fun, and Toy Story 4 was very cute and clever, by the way), but this is only part of our lives, and we pursue many different interests. Nor has enjoying Disney “infantalized” us – my husband and I work extremely hard at our jobs to the point we have each gotten praise and promotions. We maintain several responsibilities (fiscal and otherwise), and I just put myself through graduate school on my own dime while I ran for local office (and won) while full-time. What’s it to you – or anyone – if I want to relax and have fun as a kid at heart after mentally exhausting myself?
None of what I just said does not mean I cannot appreciate the meaning of the Disney Parks for children because I do not have any of my own – several of our friends have had babies in the last year or so, and we have been trying for our own, and cannot wait for them to be old enough to take them and see their little faces light up with joy!
Here is where I do find myself agreeing with Oleksinski and “Mother Gothel,” though. Between the recent brawl in Disneyland’s ToonTown a few weeks ago, someone punching an employee on Orlando’s Tower of Terror, and the grossly inappropriate dress of (mostly female) guests needs to go (to note, most of these people were there with their kids). It is still a family park and adults need to act with decorum in public – I do not think any child needs to see a woman wearing shorts with her butt-cheeks hanging out (and, frankly, neither do I).
Disney knows what they’re doing. Nostalgia in any form brings feelings of happiness. The redesign of California Adventure park has turned it from “cheesy” to a beautiful trip to Old Hollywood, which is lovely to stroll through on a summer evening (oh, have I even mentioned the exercise benefit? We usually get about 7-10 miles in each visit!). The Food & Wine Festival showcases tons of great local and international flavors. But the best thing about Disney Parks? Every time we go, we know we will be welcomed by a pleasant experience every single time in terms of cleanliness and customer service that truly is second-to-none. In the gift shops, the restaurants, snack stations, rides… everyone is pleasant and has a great attitude. It is refreshing, as many places of business the service has continually gone downhill.
Regardless of the negativity, adults are still going to come in droves to Disney, so as Elsa sings… LET IT GO.
Published in Entertainment
Ok, a tradeoff:
If people without children ain’t allowed at Disney, then We don’t want Yer whiny-ass children in restaurants. And We sure as hell don’t want Yer whiny-ass children on airplanes.
I went to the real DisneyLand when I was thirteen. My favorite thing was the Robinson Crusoe treehouse.
The part of the day that was scary was when my dad’s business partner decided to drive us through Watts, which was having a full out riot at the time. Luckily for us in the car, we “toured” Watts during a lull in the proceedings. So except for being terrified as our host slowly drove us past burning and burnt out cars, the main thing I remember was how Disneyland surpassed my expectations.
Flash forward to the late 1970’s: I went to DisneyWorld Orlando. I thought it would be so cool to do this again with my parents, but even more importantly with my three year old son.
However he was terrified of the Pirates ride, and never got into the swing of things after that. This left me with the impression that maybe Disney stuff might be best for older kids and adults.
I mean, why should little kids have all the fun?
Honestly, even the “kiddie” rides can be terrifying for little ones – Snow White, especially!
The last time we went to Disneyland was in 2014 and I am always looking forward to the next time we go. My kids are teenagers and I love doing things with them. Disneyland is one of my happy places. I don’t intend to grow out of it. Ever. :) Kids or not!
Then it either is not nostalgia or you’re a masochist. The “-algia” means pain, as in neuralgia (Nerve pain). Nostalgia implies painful longing for a place that you cannot go back to (such as a home that has been torn down), not a place you can get season tickets for.
Perhaps you are looking for a word that might mean something like, “Experiences which spur recollection of happy childhood memories.” I don’t know a word like that offhand, but there ought to be one.
Just thinking about nostalgia has me thinking of all the places I can’t go back to:
As for Disneyland, I’ve only been once. I was somewhere in my late twenties. Should I have been banned for having no children? I don’t think so.
I visited Disneyland twice when I was in my twenties, once with my parents and my 10-year-old sister when they were visiting California, once with some people my own age.
It’s a lot more fun when you can experience it with a kid.
I’ve had the rare opportunity to have visited Disneyland at each stage of my life, starting in its first year of operation, so 1955 or 1956, as a young kid. Then as a teenager, as a college student, a parent of a young family, chaperone of teenagers, then just Mrs. Quietpi and I. Now hosting grandchildren, and again on our own as a seasoned couple. Understand – we live in northern California. The trip takes planning.
Every stage of our lives has been unique and more fun than the previous ones, or almost. Our second – favorite was just us as adults. That was our favorite – until grandchildren.
We haven’t been to Florida yet. From our offspring we understand that we will love it in an entirely new way.
Much of Disneyland is wasted on the kids.
Of course there’s the five – year – old who hasn’t met a rollercoaster she didn’t love…
We took our son to Disney World when he was 5…over 30 years ago. NEVER AGAIN.
I loved going to Disneyland with my parents as a kid, loved going with my kids as a parent, and my wife and I have enjoyed going alone. Not as much fun as with the kids, but still fun.
The start of this controversy with the woman in the pretzel line (Ah, nostalgia, I’d love to eat pretzels again!) reminds me of how the Disney parks had to change their policies. If I recall correctly, it used to be that if you had someone who was wheelchair bound in your party, you got to go to the front of the line. So, people started bringing disabled people with them so they could get more rides in in less time. There developed a form of rent-a-disabled person business. I don’t remember the new policy, but it changed it so that no longer worked.
Of course, this is the same factor in human nature that brings people to lobby Congress and state legislatures to allow them to cut in line in various ways.
You’re right, but there’s no word for it!
This is true. And anyone who has tried to buy their kids activity books or coloring books from the grocery store knows how true it is.
Did you know that between the book stand and the magazine rack in the checkout at your local grocer, you can find at least 5 different adult coloring books? But only 1 kids coloring book, ostensibly suffering from gender-typed trademarked characters, consisting of only about 15-20 pages.
Ever since the Weekly World News stopped publishing a print edition the trip through the checkout has been a sadder experience.
Lol. I do my coloring at work, and get paid to do it. Though the drawings I color probably aren’t as interesting as the ones off the rack.
I have been to Disney twice. Both were the most expensive vacations ever. I can go about anyplace else for half the price and almost no lines.
Consider, for a moment, the awestruck happiness of a 16-month toddler experiencing the wonder of a Disneyland ride for the first time, instantly forgetting the antsy boredom of a 45+ minute wait while gazing in rapture and joy at the magical world around her.
Now imagine that you’re the horrible monster who has to tear her away from the most fun she ever had in her little life after about 5 minutes, and carry her, crying in abject misery over her loss, to wait for another 45+ minutes to experience this all over again.*
It might be best to attach a minimum age restriction to that statement, is what I’m saying.
*This was my eldest sister’s experience, I think she still has PTSD whenever she hears ‘Small World’.
Amazing the rights people coin for themselves at a theme park owned by someone else.
We need to make one up. Hey, @misthiocracy! We need a neologism.
Curse you for mentioning that song. It is an instant ear worm. I will now be hearing it in my head all day.
Sounds like the loophole being used on our southern border. Hey, maybe if we changed our immigration and amnesty policies . . .
That generation spends way too much time spouting and complaining, too much time on social media and not enough time being grateful.
Adulting at Disney Parks may be weird. It may not be weird.
Whether it is weird or not is immaterial and ignores a larger issue. Adulting is harmless. A free society allows one to be weird in harmless way. Restricting harmless behavior because it contradicts your belief of “proper” behavior works against freedom. It is, in fact, fascistic.
When people are prevented from adulting, using plastic straws or disposable plastic bags, or expressing unpopular opinions we have lost freedom. This woman is certainly entitled to express her opinion that adulting at Disney Parks is weird. (Personally I think it weird.) That is her right. Writing a long and obscenity-filled Facebook is weird too. Even weirder than adulting.
But that is just my opinion. And you can think those opinions weird, if you wish. That is the basis of a free society.
Some may find the inability to crack down on others’ weird behavior unpleasant. Trust me. They will find life in an unfree society even more unpleasant.
What’s even weirder is using the word “adulting”.
And because it is a free society, I get to use it, despite its weirdness.
And that it means the exact opposite of behaving as an adult…
It used to have the same meaning. I remember the “adulting is hard” meme as it applied to keeping laundry clean, financial planning, and food management.
When did “adulting” turn into embrasure of childish behavior by adults?
About ten years after the start of the current millennium. I thought the boomers were bad about not growing up, but it is like the millennials saw boomer behavior and collectively said, “Hold muh beer!”
I’m not buying that. 10 years ago was “adulting is hard”.
I can totally relate. I figure most adults find it hard, too.
The rise in childishness in adults is because they weren’t taught how to be adults.
Their parents failed them. They bear responsibility for refusing to rise above their lack of know how, but the parents absolutely deserve blame.
I’ve been doing a crash course in popular media from when I was a teen (that I didn’t watch at the time), and I can see the nexus of the problem building up in the culture. At some point, the true fact that our brains are still developing until age 25 was used to defend a parenting style that just refused to teach their teens how to be adults.
Disney works hard to be fun for people of all ages. As others have said, there is much at Disneyland that goes right by children. Also, as has also been pointed out we can go to the same place at different stages of our lives and experience it differently each time.
I spent most of my life in Southern California, and much of that (teen through middle age) in Orange County, and went to Disneyland many, many times, though only once in the last twenty years.
My all time favorite visit was as a college student pushing my then-one-year-old cousin around. My enjoyment came from seeing him so excited about everything he saw. I don’t even remember whether he went on rides. I do remember though his then-four-year-old sister did go on rides, but was scared of many of them, illustrating that children can react differently.
Second favorite was a visit during which our then-five-year-old son and my father spent a lot of time trying to look under the cars of various rides to figure out how they worked. Yes, our son went on to become an engineer.
As childless newlyweds, Mrs. Tabby and I enjoyed date days at Disneyland with a fancy meal at Club 33 (a private dining room in New Orleans Square to which my then-boss had a membership that he allowed his employees to use, provided we paid for our meals). Strolling Disneyland as adults admiring the architecture and people-watching without an agenda to ride every ride is a different way to experience the park.
And back when I was in high school (geezer alert –when admission to the park itself was cheap but each ride required an individual ride ticket “A” through “E”) my friends and I would go to Disneyland for inexpensive entertainment. Our high school bands and choirs often performed at Disneyland, and for each performance Disney handed us books of ride ticket. We always had excess “A” and “B” tickets, which are mostly good for the “kiddie” rides. We’d wait until night when most of the families with small children had left the park (our parents and our church leaders had taught us to let the children have first priority) and re-live our younger years by riding the kiddie rides. Other than trying to spin the Teacups as fast as possible, we behaved ourselves. As park closing time approached, we would sit on one of the porches on Main Street to bid farewell to the departing guests, express hope they enjoyed their visit, and wish them a safe trip home, as though we were part of the park hospitality.
So, at every age, and depending on who else is in the party, a Disney park visit is a different experience that may be appropriate for everyone.
I am not at all saying it’s everyone’s cup of tea, by any means… my point is that (1) If I want to go to a theme park, who cares? and (2) People like this mom who rant and rave like a crazy person show more of a sense of entitlement than the childless adults having fun do.