Living Vicariously Through Someone Else's Disneyland Adventure

So my friend and co-worker along with his wife arrived in Disneyland about 10 o'clock this morning. Since then there has been a steady flow of text messages and pictures transmitted to my cell phone. He got his Radiator Springs fastpass, rode Toy Story Mania twice because there was only a 5 minute wait, was standing in line for California Screamin' when the ride shut down, had the new lobster roll from the Harbor Galley (liked it alot), got on Pirates and Finding Nemo before having the bacon, caramelized onion, and arugula flatbread pizza from Village Haus in Fantasyland. He also bought a new hat because the top of his head was getting abused by the sun. Tonight he will have dinner at Catal in Downtown Disney. Tomorrow he is slated for lunch at Club 33 because he has connections.

 

In the meantime, I sit in a cubicle and work. The background on my PC has this...

So for the next couple of days I get to live vicariously through someone else's Disneyland trip and stare at a picture of Mickey. This will be repeated at least twice more during this month with others. At least some people get to have a good time.

 

As for me, I get to dream - and smile a little bit as the text messages and pictures roll on in.

Disneyland In The Digital Age

Standing In Line For A Dole Pineapple Whip In Disneyland
Yesterday

Remember the days when a family would take a trip to Disneyland and they would come back and couldn't wait to tell you what a great trip they had? And then you would wait another week or two for them to get their film developed and you would maybe plan a night when you could go over the trip and the pictures and all the fun, or at least what they could remember of the fun now that their trip was a couple of weeks ago after getting everything together. Remember? Probably not. But I do. Then again, I'm older than dirt.

My sister is in Disneyland right now....been their since Wednesday. She has been texting me pictures, asking me questions, filling the down time of standing in lines or waiting for someone to get off a ride by keeping me posted of  her Disneyland events of the day. Last night during World of Color, she sent back video clips while the show was going.

In the days of Facebook, Twitter, and the broadband transmissions through the internet, it is almost possible to feel like you are part of a Disneyland trip even though you may be hundreds or thousands of miles away. You can see what family members are eating at the time they are sticking a fork in their plates of food or see smiling a faces while a ride is in motion. Ah yes, Disneyland in the Digital Age.

Does all this immediacy of technology somehow diminish the Disneyland experience? Is some of the magic gone? On some days, maybe a person can feel that way but its also kind of nice for me to be a great distance away but still be a part of the happiness. Yes, I wish I was with my sister right now but she's done her best to give me the next best thing.

My Morning Disneyland Greeting

My neighborhood is now pretty much suburbanized but 40 or 50 years ago, it was strictly rural.  And there are still pockets in my area where rural property still exists.  I don't have to go too far to find horses and sheep and goats and chickens and roosters. That's right - roosters. Every morning about a half before sunrise I am awakened by the sound of a crowing rooster telling everyone within ear shot that it is time to get up. I don't need an alarm clock to get up and get ready for work but the stupid rooster doesn't take a day off so I hear the same crowing on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, he doesn't even care if its raining.

Fast forward to 7:00am. While I find some aspects of social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.) troubling and I'm a very distant social media participant mainly because I do not understand all the ins and outs of them, I do subscribe to a few Twitter feeds.  I have my Twitter feeds (text message to my cell phone) silent between the hours 11:00pm and 7am.  I learned my lesson about silencing texts very early on when I was getting text messages from Twitter at 1am in the morning from some dufus standing in line for the Matterhorn. So my first Twitter text of the day, just like a rooster crowing, arrives at 7:00am and it is always from the Disneyland Resort, a feed I subscribe to. The message is always the same - "Good morning from the Disneyland Resort - Today's hours........".  So my first message of the day from the outside world of Twitter is always a greeting from Disneyland with the day's park hours.  I start my day with at least a bit of a connection at the park even though I'm hundreds of miles away.

You can get pretty quick with the delete finger Twitter, a lot of what I get is just nonsense. But there is something about special about that Disneyland message. On any given day, I always know when the park opens and closes. There is something reassuring about that.