Disney

[low_delta]

The entrance to EPCOT. The monuments are etched with thousands of little images of people who paid to have their pictures put there.


This was our room at the Contemporary Resort. It was very nice.



This was on the monorail on friday afternoon. The teenager on her mother's lap was recoiling in horror from the little girl who had just told her she was a vampire.

It's always interesting to watch the people, in places like this. And the kids, of course. You see a lot of tired, irritated looking kids, being carried around by their parents... at eleven o'clock in the morning. And then you see happy kids like that one in late afternoon.

I had just gotten on the bus on afternoon, when three good looking little blond girls got on with their two good looking blond mothers, and their good looking blond mother. One girl who, I'd guess, was not quite four, ran up and jumped into the chair next to me. Her mother sat down next to her and said, "why don't you sit on my lap." Sensibly, since not only was the bus crowded, but you don't really want your kid sitting next to some old guy on the bus. I mean, who knows what kind of pervert he is? A guy by himself at Disney? Anyway, then the two-year-old came around and climbed up next to me. "Why don't you come back over here?" "No. I wanna sit here!" Then she squirmed around in the seat and saw me. She looked up at me, smiled and said "who are you?" "I"m Kevin. What's your name?" She said her name, and then told me something else. I said "Oh! Yeah." Her mother said to go back and sit by her sister and "stop bother Kevin." I didn't mind, really, but it's just as well because I couldn't understand a word the kid said. Then the girl on her mother's lap said, "sorry about that."

It's funny about communicating with strangers in a place like that. Any place, really, but it's more pronounced there, because everyone is there to have a good time. Why don't we talk to the people around us? We're all in it together. Why don't we act like it? I spent three solid days in the parks, and hardly spoke to anyone. Maybe it was more noticeable than usual, since I was by myself so much. I never really know how to strike up a conversation. I talked a little bit to the guy I was paired up with at Big Thunder Mountain. We mostly talked about the ride, though. That was just about it. That was fine. But why do we feel the need to keep inside our little bubbles?

Comments

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

Your photos are really fun to look at.

Tess had a revelation when she was about 5 or so. I'd taught her to introduce herself to kids she didn't know. Trying to combat this adult phobia of talking to strangers, maybe?

So one time she was swimming in the kiddie pool at the JCC (Jewish Community Center...think "YMCA") in Albuquerque, and she cheerfully said, "Hi, I'm Tess!" and the older girl sneered at her and made some comment back like, "Who cares? You're weird!"

I felt like I'd been teaching my kid that Santa Claus is real or something. It was heartwrenching for me to hear the story, and yet....that's how we are, isn't it? We are not a friendly society..... on the surface.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that was a good lesson for her too, and I hope it wasn't too painful.