Is it really a small world, after all?

by Lori:

I had the opportunity recently to visit Disney World, a first for me. I know, right? What child raised in America in the last 30 years didn't go to one of the Disney parks as a kid?! Well, money was tight for us growing up in a family of seven with only one parental income, so for me the visit was deferred until now. Though amusement parks have never really floated my boat, Disney interested me as a great place to observe multitudes of people of different races and countries, all packed together for the sole purpose of having fun.

I must say, despite less-than-ideal conditions of crushing crowds, long lines, and almost intolerable heat and humidity, for the most part people conducted themselves very cordially. It seemed most people were in a good mood and determined to enjoy themselves. The few rude comments I did hear were exchanged between Caucasians, and I never heard any racial slurs in the crowd or observed any impolite stares toward people of color or from other countries. Unfortunately, it was my companion who commented that because it's quite expensive to visit Disney World, "you don't see a lot of Hispanics or black people, because they tend to have large families and can't afford it." I was appalled at this observation and told her so, because she's normally quite open-minded and not at all prone to racist comments. After she thought about her statement, she recanted somewhat, especially once I pointed out that it wasn't really true...we heard plenty of Spanish spoken on every side, along with a snippet or two of nearly every foreign language you could think of. The majority of visitors were indeed Caucasian, though.

My friend did make a good point: Disney World is not cheap. They do provide many excellent services for their guests, and I realize that most of the rides are amazingly high-tech pieces of machinery, so it must certainly cost a fortune to run the place...not to mention paying the legions of staff required to pull it all off. However, it's a shame that for the most part only the upper-middle class gets to enjoy this place. It seems like somewhere that all children should have an opportunity to experience at least once. And that's what kind of turned me off about the whole thing. Surely the Disney corporation makes enough money on its movies, music and other franchises that they don't need to scalp you quite so severely on both park admission tickets and everything else from food to sunscreen once you get in the gates.

Among the rainbow of visitors, we saw two different white couples both looking to be in upper middle age, with apparently adopted Asian daughters of about seven or eight years old. Neither had any evidence of siblings, and I wondered again as I often do, what life is like for these girls. On one hand I suppose they're being given a better life and much more opportunity than they would receive in their native countries, but at what cost? Is it worth the alienation stemming from the differences between them and their adopted families, not to mention social considerations in their communities of friends and school? I like to think and I do believe that our society is becoming more color-blind, but my heart still goes out to these children.

There's no better place than Disney World to illustrate the fact that we all love to have fun and be entertained, regardless of race or national origin. One had only to watch middle-aged Asian mens' faces light up with glee on the roller coasters, or small African children screaming with delight in the Tower of Terror, or people of all ages and backgrounds being thoroughly charmed by the Beauty and the Beast musical, to realize that we truly are so very similar underneath our outer appearances and self-imposed roles. Though the slogan should probably be changed to "The happiest place on Earth (for those who can afford it)", Disney does remind us that most everyone in this world basically just wants to be safe, happy and enjoy life. It seems like that shouldn't be so hard.