It is a seven-letter word, beginning with an O and ending with an O and it has land in it. Have you guessed it already or must I spell it for you? Ah well then, it is Orlando! And needless to say Mr Walt Disney has a huge hand in this, and America is known best for it, entertainment and the business of Happiness. No I am not talking about the content happy, not the peaceful happy, not the marvelous happy, not the satisfied happy, not the altruistic happy, I am talking about the happy happy. Orlando is the happiest place in the world with all its gazillion theme parks, its perfect weather, not too hot, not too cold, the winds of fortune and a story telling quality that results from an imagination set wild. This was my third time in Orlando and I have loved it just the same. It never ever disappoints and I wish the theme parks business never goes out of style, I may even buy some stock to make sure it has a few more takers at the stock market atleast. The world of magic that Disney started with Mickey and his friends, I personally love and vibe with the charm, grace and optimism of Minnie, getting us to believe in fairy tales, is taking on in its own way with Harry Potter, the Marvel super heros and when Universal walks in Disney’s footsteps one is happy that this trend is here to stay. Checking oneself into one of these parks is like literally gifting oneself a day of happiness. I couldn’t help but feel so very happy, no it isnt always internal, happiness can be manufactured and it certainly is contagious. And it is most evident in the world that started it all, the Magic Kingdom!
This would be Disney’s greatest gift to the world, though they do their bit in every piece of the pie, the online streaming, the merchandise, the production of movies, but it is here that they literally collaborate with even their main competitors to bring out the best to the average park goer, no wonder most of the people I met there and struck up long conversations with, mostly Brazilians speaking Portuguese with alacrity and having kids in tow, come in year after year, sometimes 35 times a year, to have a good time. If that is your purpose in life then I would recommend the annual pass tickets for all the very many years you have left! I am a disney child, in the 90s just having discovered language I first read the disney fairy tales, graduating to their kid literature, their young adult fiction, and now science fiction as I cover a third of my life. I pretended to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast, why I even was Belle at my own birthday party, sang along to all the Disney songs, flew on the magic carpet with Alladin, and set my imagination on fire as I read, I have also watched all the Disney movies, in rapt attention. When the fireworks come on and the chant is now go home and make your dreams come true, I believe what I am told, that we can all make our dreams come true. Walt Disney’s quote that stayed with me from my second trip in 2000 was that if you can dream it you can do it, well the manifestation experts say that today, and manifesting is trendy today, but Disney had covered it long before. The park is marvelous the attention to detail is so very comforting, and the rides well they are the bursts of happiness.
The magic of Disney is lead forth by Universal too, with their Islands of Adventure and their theme park with the best of the rides, not to forget the Harry Potter world. I once was a major potterhead, immersing myself into all the stories all through school, but time had me forgetting so many details, yet Lumos and Stupefy came to me and the spell of Patronus. In the Harry Potter world the charm comes alive especially at Olivander’s wand shop where the wand supposedly chooses you. The Diagon Alley, the train ride at Kings Cross and the Hogsmeade village were so believable, yet Hogsmeade my favorite. Stepping into your favorite piece of fiction is somehow a dream coming true. My favorite Hagrid had a ride to his credit but the waiting time even with an express pass kept me waiting! The beauty of the Harry Potter world, the magic it has is just the magic of the fairy tales going strong even in the 21st century! And when they add food to the mix, the magic just gets into your system, am talking of the butter beer and the butter beer icecream, just so right to be had in that world. The Gringotts bank and the Hippogruff rides make the magic real, just as so many others. The minions and the transformers had my little munchkin transfixed. There are plenty of parks by Disney and Universal, not to forget the Lego land and all else. Yet this magical land with Disney Springs and all the allied locations has Mickey and his friends accompanying them everywhere. After a day of Jurassic world, Harry Potter, Minions, Transformers when we stepped into the Popeye ride we came out soaking wet, to the bone and for the first time ever stepped into a person dryer and boy that was fun!
Epcot is so very cerebral with its educational rides and has always been a go-to especially as they always have something new up their sleeve. All fun while teaching the laws of the land, if not those of physics, chemistry and some biology. Everything in epcot is my favorite as they marry science with the world of travel. The world pavilions bring the best of every country around a man-made lake that is also the background for the most spectacular fireworks at the end of the night. The Japanese pavilion has a the best vantage point with the red Torii framing the Epcot ball, the geodesic dome, (EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype for the Community of Tomorrow) showing off all that the park has to offer, yet the French pavilion is undoubtedly the most snazzy with the Eiffel tower standing out. I am biased to France, Air France is the only airline in the world that offers Hot chocolate along with coffee and tea, it is the birthplace of Belle, the place of voule vous, Napolean and ofcourse Pain au chocolat! But yes also the place of the Seine, of drinkable water from every tap, of the book store Shakespeare and Company, of Monet, of Art Deco and this pavilion does it all to capture the best of France! The Guardians of the Galaxy ride, a brand new one at Epcot is the funnest ever and will have me busy watching the trilogy as I finish this post. Wonder what kept me away. Like I said, a trip to Epcot always gives me homework. The other one being the show Down to Earth. Phew! For the curious, time is never enough!!
But my favorite park to this day is and probably will always remain the Magic Kingdom. While Mickey handles all his friends very dearly, Donald is at his grumpiest best, Goofy is well just happy and Minnie is her stylish best, she is my favorite with her poodle Fifi and polka dots, (Figaro her cat was incidentally Walt Disney’s favorite character, who’s so very cute too!), Disney has kept all of that and come ahead with fairytales from every country, a trend they are still winning at with Frozen from Norway, Coco from Mexico and Moana from Hawaii, in case you haven’t guessed I am totally crushing on Moana at the moment! But moving beyond all the fairy tales Disney has made one solid leap with their latest ride of TRON. As I am into science fiction now, Passengers the movie began the trend for me, yet this story of TRON is as intriguing as the ride. Even if the story is incoherent and gets the critics talking, the latest ride at the Magic Kingdom, that of Tron will silence anyone! Sitting on the light cycle or the motorbike, it is stunning with visuals, and the ride up to the ride is so very thrilling. All that build-up, with ominous music and very fancy interiors, made me wary of the ride, but the ride is anything but wary, so very enjoyable that sitting on a bike kind of a way. The harness holds one from behind, the whole experience utterly futuristic. Watching others on the ride trunk up my heart beat but being on the ride was not scary at all. The future may well be the place to be, to aspire to be but on the rides and at the Magic Kingdom, the present may well be the only place worth being. And the most delightful and relevant experience of them all probably came from the Laugh Floor of Monsters Inc, as the audience laughed the characters from Monsters Inc showed a battery that charges. I for one, feel recharged laughing and that makes this magical science so true for me.
When my boy said Have fun guys to the folks ahead of us at the Space Mountain ride in Disney’s Magic Kingdom, in a parlance we don’t often use, I realised that America rubs off onto us and onto the world with every single move of it. I sure hope its unbridled confidence and belief in itself rubs onto me. The founding fathers did something really right with it from the very beginning. Into its 3rd century as a country, they booted the British first and long before many others with their landmark Boston Tea Party and becoming the Land of Opportunity. What I really like about the country at large is their fearlessness to fail, dropping out of college is normal, as is marching to the beat of your own drum, if not gun, yet it is the kindest country to entrepreneurs, that allows more that ever facilitates thinking beyond, getting on with the necessities through a button life and going beyond the toils of living, not holding back to customs and traditions, one that factors in a strange mix of soaring to the skies yet having a social welfare net. Talk of the benefits of early realizations I say. We’re awesome! Here’s a toast to the land of Chipotle, Apple, Instagram, WordPress, Disney, New York, the Skyscraper, Lincoln, Twain, Franklin, Gatsby, and hence Fitzgerald, Two Faced, Shea Moisture, Costco, Harvard, Boston, Public Libraries, Ihop, Ann Taylor, Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Micheal Kors, Facebook, Whatsapp, NASA, Marvel, Ironman, Spiderman, Batman, Times Square, Ghirardelli (though I may have to rethink chocolate, that’s for another post though), Amika, American Express, Starbucks, Amazon, Sheila G’s Brownie Brittle, Malin & Goetz, Tiffanys, the MOMA, Warhol, Frank Llyod Wright and lots more. With all that love for the United States of America, I constantly wonder why life never planted me there. I dream of living in Boston, as a professor at Harvard, if not building that skyscraper in New York or having my latest book a bestseller at Strand. God Bless you America, you are always great to me! You are the Happiest Place in the World, my favorite too!
Vedasri Siddamsetty 