Happy new year everyone! Sorry I’ve been away so long. (Save The Bay’s communications world keeps me very busy.) But I am attempting to commit to blogging weekly in 2011. And I’ll begin by confessing that my family has just returned from a holiday trip to Disney World. It’s like the anti-green vacation, but I felt obligated to go — my in-laws were paying and Sofie’s princess-obsessed eyes lit up at the notion of seeing Cinderella’s Castle. How could I refuse?
There’s nothing quite like the Magic Kingdom in the week between Christmas and New Year’s when hordes of families descend upon the resort and your day is marked by how many two-hour-long lines you’ve waited in just to enjoy a 60-second ride.
I’m typically not a fan of crowds, and it definitely makes me grumpy when the crowds are composed of tired, whiny children and parents with glazed expressions, stumbling through a the “vacation of a lifetime.”And what is this vacation really but a series of rides contrived to simulate outer space, the Wild West or a jungle with its plastic elephants and scary stereotypes of tribal communities?
When riding “It’s a Small World” I couldn’t help but wonder: how much energy goes into maintaining such an attraction? The electricity, the water, the amount of nonrecyclable materials used in production is probably astounding. It was this excess of resources that bothered me most on the trip.
Sofie loved every minute of her experience (you wouldn’t know it from her face in most of our photos), but I worried about the messages Disney sends to these impressionable kids.
I will give Walt some credit. His original plan for Disney World included dedicating one-third of the park property to conservation habitat, which today adds up to 10,000 acres of conservation area including research to aid sea turtles, elephants and the cotton-top tamarin. Disney is trying to give themselves a greener image by sponsoring green challenges for kids. Is it a sincere start or is it a distraction? Apparently, the corporation does have some green goals toward net zero waste.
I know I sound like such a downer, but I didn’t let my inner bitterness ruin Sofie’s time. I gave her space to meet the princesses, enjoy the rides and take in the whole Disney experience, figuring that this would be her only visit there. She wants to know when we’ll go back, of course, but I’m determined that our next family vacation will reek of greenness and will likely involve some hiking, sleeping under the stars and a serious lack of mouse ears.
