Notes from Disneyland
June 22, 2007I recently attended the launch, literally and figuratively, of the Finding Nemo submarine ride at Disneyland. Although I didn’t grow up in Southern California, I’m starting to understand the sometimes-creepy nostalgia for a Disneyland of the past that almost seems like a Coney Island of the Mind, as Lawrence Ferlinghetti put it.
While many rides of the mythical ‘E-Ticket’ era are gone, the Cold War era Disney submarine fleet (launched 1959) has returned from mothballs with a vengeance, to take us on a wonderous undersea journey chasing the little fish Nemo. Disney has also bowed to the green era; the 8 subs are now clean electric-powered.
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| The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland |
Disney should open an attraction called “The Line Experience.” No ride, just a long line, with lots of hot, tired people from around the world waiting to be entertained.
Disney employees have two retirement plans: their 401K and the stuff in their basement.
As press, we had an unusual experience–visiting Walt’s apartment. Anaheim was strawberry farms when Disneyland was built, with no freeways or hotels. Rather than drive the 35 miles back to Holmby Hills, Disney had a small apartment built above the fire station on Main Street.
Like much of Disneyland, it’s preserved in immaculate creepiness; the early 20th century furniture and footstools covered in doilies, the inevitable Edison phonograph (a victrola-like device with a huge horn) and the two day beds, 15 feet apart, where Walt and wife slept apart from one another. It smelled like Grandma’s house.
I picked up the ornate white rotary dial phone. There was a dial tone, as if waiting a call from The Maker. At night, they leave the light in the window on for Walt.