Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, whereas all of Los Angeles and the America that surrounds it are no longer real...
at some points you wish that disney was exempt from legally-obligated nuisances that disrupt the perfection of the illusion, like illuminated FIRE EXIT signs mandated by the fire code - "But once the 'total fake' is admitted, in order to be enjoyed it must seem totally real."in 1963 walt disney bought and built on 160 acres of orange groves admidst rural outskirts outside of los angeles; now the city's flat begridded outgrowth flows right up to disneyland's border uninterrupted, rows of trees to rows of houses. the seasoned cynic might be tempted to scoff at all the insipid rhetoric within disneyland about "making dreams come true", but the truth is that disneyland's very existence is a massive monument to one man who did just that. its oldest and most beloved features are the result of his special interests and momentary whims: the front entrance is an idealized recreation of his missouri hometown, his interest in transportation resulted in a railroad and later a monorail, his refusal to accept a "no" when his engineers told him "bro we can't put a mississippi riverboat in the middle of coastal california" means there's now not only a mississippi riverboat in coastal california, but also in the florida swamps, the french countryside, and reclaimed land in tokyo bayif they made part of it water again for the boat, does that mean that land is now unclaimed? declaimed?. sure, it was just one man's dream, but that of a man able to impose his dream upon reality, a man who dreamed big enough for everyone, a man who sucked everyone else into his dream. perhaps we are all merely living in the collective dream of the few who bear that power...
to me, it seems clear why disneyland inspires such a devoted following. the outermost layer is purely metaphysical, operating only on a subliminal level, and not even an effect that's been deliberately cultivated. i first noticed it when considering an apparent paradox: although physically disneyland is objectively inferior in several ways to the new-and-improved versions it's spawned across the world (most strikingly, disneyland's castle centerpiece is way less impressive than its counterparts), it did not detract from the experience whatsoever. i think it's because this is disneyland we're talking about, the happiest place on earth, it is preceded by a mythos, the whole area permeated with memetic aura that gives it additional appeal completely unconnected with the quality of its physical presence, imbued as a result of seventy years of vast psychic investment into a single hundred acre plot of land, creating the closest thing in america to sacred land. those mental energies do not simply get soaked up and vanish into the earth, instead it builds up in the collective consciousness until the area exerts practically gravitational attractive energies upon people's minds. the navy blue hoodies they sell at the gift shop are printed on the back: Disneyland / AUTHENTIC * ORIGINAL. facially this appears to be an absurd claim, what's "authentic" about disneyland? but no one protests because intuitively we understand it makes perfect sense, disneyland is authentic because it is authentically disneyland.
the next layer of disneyland's appeal is what's known as "Disney Magic", the distinctive vibe meticulously cultivated as the primary selling point not just of disneyland, but of disney's entire "parks and experiences" domain. fundamentally, what is referred to as "Disney Magic" is the extraordinary attention to detail in every aspect of the park experience: architecture, design, staff costumes, food, customer service, and so on. it's a level of effort put into everything that is rarely seen in middle america, elsewhere it might even be derided by the average visitor as "snobby" or "tryhard". however, within the strict boundaries of their parksspecifically, within the public-facing areas of the parks. in disney's terminology the non-public facing areas (that so much as taking photos of results in immediate excommunication) are called "backstage", which therefore makes the public-facing areas the "stage". disney staff are referred to as "cast members", but are park visitors the audience, or part of the production as well? disney has been granted license to perform it, in fact the creation of so-called "Disney Magic" has become the expectation. their attention to detail is accepted and even celebrated, most notably in the popular "hidden mickey" game played between park designers and visitors.
especially remarkable is disney's customer service and the attitude of their staff. i've discussed previously that part of the reason japanese customer service is so good is that it's not seen as cringe in japan to put the absolute maximum effort into performing the lowliest service jobs, and within america disney has managed to carve out a small space in which the same is true. disneyland staff members are insistently referred to as "cast members", and perhaps herein lies the trick: no matter what job they're responsible for, every employee has permission to go all out because it is a performance, at the end of the day the disneyland janitor is really an actor, working together with their fellow "cast members" as part of a daily production called disneyland. it is similar to how japanese janitors see themselves as essential components of a larger machine, disneyland has put pride into the lowest-status jobs by tying it all to a higher purpose, every disney cast member understands themselves to be a vital participant in the daily creation of "Disney Magic".disneyland paris has famously struggled to get off the ground, there are many theories but perhaps it's because the french, coming from a snobbish culture, weren't as wowed by the "Disney Magic" since that level of effort and attention to detail is closer to the norm there. does the popularity of disneyland in america imply that americans secretly crave the Disney Magic and that it should be incorporated into life outside the parks as well, or is the Disney Magic a fascinating but dangerous novelty kept securely contained within disneyland, as in a zoo?
the final layer was only revealed to me during an evening performance of disney's daily show "fantasmic!", which has been running longer than any show currently on broadway. leading up to it, there were stirrings of something big about to happen, anticipating building as various cast members began peforming well-practiced, almost ritualized crowd control procedures. even if you have no idea what's going on, you stick around and jockey for a spot because if everyone else is it must be worth it.
what ensued was essentially a religious experience. dfw once observed that there is actually no such thing as atheism, everyone worships something, so when the magic has left the old gods people become desperate for something to fill the gap, re-enchantment... Disney Magic. disney's imagineers are some of the only ones with the expertise to craft an experience so mentally overpowering that it's able to break through even to the overstimulated modern man. where once a gathering of neighbors, tall ceilings, stained glass, some ritual, music (the only time the average person would hear music centuries ago would be in church) may have sufficed, now a much more spectacular production is required: an audience of several thousand, pyrotechnics, light displays, beefy sound systems with orchestral soundtracks, fireworks, video projections onto a screen formed by fans of water, stunts and dances with elaborate costuming performed on passing boats, six jets of water that alone move with more grace and emotion (and of course, fluidity) than i've ever expressed in my life. the total effect is enhanced by building off of childhood nostalgia, incorporating characters and themes from disney movies, and of course don't forget that the whole spectacle takes place within disneyland, the happiest place on earth. there are probably some audience members out there who've seen it dozens if not hundreds of times, and yet it still hits for them. i imagine it must be a source of comfort to disney devotees that whether you're there or not, there's a performance of fantasmic every single day right in that little corner of los angeles' suburban sprawl, within it but not of it, always there if needed...