Happiest place on earth!

Today Christi and I spent the day at Disneyland. It was so cool to watch her face because it was just like it was the first time I took her when we first got married. For us it was the happiest place on earth today. The kids are with the grand-parents and this is the first time since Trevor was born that we have gotten away for an extended time. This time has been a blessing for us and we have been able to reconnect.

Here are some thoughts and a warning these thoughts are random:

I have been to Disneyland a handful of times and the whole notion that it is the happiest place on earth is load of you know what. Sure it is a great place and people can have a great time, but here is what I have noticed.

1. Most of the time I see un-happy chidren with frusterated parents. The children are either scared out of their minds because they fell out of the Indiana Jones ride right between the snake and the ball that is about to squish you. Years of therapy will be needed for those poor kiddos.

2. Every attraction is very well designed to draw you into the experience but almost every ride dumps you out into a giftshop, where you feel you need to buy cheep plastic toys that keep the disney economy afloat. It is rather ingenious to place the shop at the end of the rides.

3. The $1.75 banana. Need I say more? The cost of being healthy? I think not. Actually these are special disney bananas and when you eat them you can experience a whole new side of disney. Tinkerbell appears out of no where and offers to be your guide for the day. Then you magically get to be first in line on every ride. And the real miracle of the fruit is that Its a Small world now incoorporates a 3 g turn and 4 upside down loops...Wait til you try the apple!

4. The reality struck me when we were watching a movie that was well produced about living the California Dream. I felt like it was a total setup for feeding the notion that we need to be materialistic and that we can achieve fufilment on our own. The reality is that no materialistic thing will ever satisfy our desires and our fulfilment can only come by experiencing community in the Kingdom of God not the magic Kingdom.

I am not anti-disney--Disney inspires me to achieve greatness, strive for moments of wow and to push for deeper levels of creativity. I thought of a new series I am going to work out for this fall.."The Monsters we Face" Inspired by Monsters INC.

Well tomorrow is another day...