Springsteen, the Matterhorn, and a Tunnel of Love

Pardon me, this is going to be a bit of a stretch. Besides being a fan of Disneyland, the Disneyland Traveler is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. Springsteen's song from the early 90's "Tunnel of Love" is one of my personal favorites. It may not be in the top 10 of my favorite songs by the Boss but certainly in the top 15. It was written at a time when Springsteen was just coming off a divorce from a brief marriage and took and ill-advised break from creating music with the mighty E Street Band. Tunnel of Love is a very personal song from a very personal album of the same name that uses the metaphor of an iconic amusement park ride against the relationship of two people.

Disneyland does not have a tunnel of love, not should they. As much as the tunnel of love is an amusement park ride ascended into folklore status, for the most part they were pretty cheesy rides. But I like the song and when I think about it and have it humming in my head and take a look at Disneyland through the words (and music) of Tunnel of Love I think about the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn now sits behind scaffolding and netting as it goes through its six month refurbishment. Gone will be what was known as "cuddle seats" in the bobsled cars. Sitting together wrapped in tandem, careening through the tunnels of the mountain, feeling every jolt, every bump along the, seeing monsters, and ending with a splash are the memories of the roller coaster ride of the past. The new and improved Matterhorn is suppose to be "enhanced", new paint job, updated monsters, digital projections, new lighting - but sometimes the new and improved can't beat memories of what was behind. We'll see in about 5 months from now.

Fat man sitting on a little stool
Takes the money from my hand while his eyes take a walk all over you
Hands me the ticket smiles and whispers good luck
Cuddle up angel cuddle up my little dove
Well ride down baby into this tunnel of love

I can feel the soft silk of your blouse
And them soft thrills in our little fun house
Then the lights go out and it's just the three of us
You me and all that stuff were so scared of
Gotta ride down baby into this tunnel of love

There's a crazy mirror showing us both in 5-d
Im laughing at you you're laughing at me
There's a room of shadows that gets so dark brother
Its easy for two people to lose each other in this tunnel of love

It ought to be easy ought to be simple enough
Man meets woman and they fall in love
But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough
And youve got to learn to live with what you can't rise above if you want to ride on down in through this tunnel of love