Disneyland and Tokyo Olympics have definitely been this summer’s vacation highlights.
These cultural icons, as well as tennis and pool time with grandparents, have been key antidotes to last summer’s isolation in quarantine. Back then, a well-scheduled day was the only aspect of life chartable in the uncharted waters of living in isolated pods. It felt confining yet somehow liberating to be cut adrift temporarily. Yet, it streamlined life to such a degree and duration that the psychological imprint of 1.5 years’ isolation remains. Working from home, spending a lot more time with family. Watching your kids grow before your very eyes. The enforced diet from face to face interaction or with masks on. The world seemed to be at a standstill except for the virus and inclement weather conditions around the world. Fires ravaged homes and lives, generating air pollution across California. The year seemed to be about just surviving COVID’s passage throughout the world.
One year later, there’s hope in the air with the promise of schools resuming in person. It feels like the difference between night and day to feel like there’s a school the kids can attend in person at the end of this summer. Even going back to Disneyland felt like a resumption of life before with our kids, which we visited in 3-4 year intervals.
Disneyland: The Reset Button
Disney truly has the monopoly on myth and fantasy making experiences. Disneyland felt like a true immersion into another reality called vacation. It’s been a year and a half since quarantining and traveling on a one week vacation for us. A theme park was the first big share we’ve had with crowds. This collective hunger for a vacation and the vastness of this fantasy world’s reach became very real when the park flooded back to its pre-COVID population but without a FastPass option.
Virtual queues got you to lengthy 45-minute lines surrounded by a majority of unmasked people. We were outside but we also rode elevators together. We couldn’t be certain that everyone was vaccinated. We went right after the 4th of July, on the 5th. By then, we could be certain that the Delta variant, even more contagious than the first waves, was spreading in the U.S. within our midst. We masked up with KN-95’s. Our 10 year-old is not vaccinated, and we didn’t want to get sick or exposed even with our vaccines. We weren’t feeling ready to go around unmasked in a densely populated public venue with people coming in from all parts of the country.
The classics, top left and bottom right: Cars Land and Radiator Springs Racer at California Adventure; Tarzan’s Treehouse and Splash Mountain at Disneyland, Dr. Strange’s Ancient Sanctum wall detail and inner sanctum, Guardians of the Galaxy, Mission BREAKOUT ride, California Adventure
Fantastic Landscapes
Despite the lines, the new Avengers Campus at California Adventures and Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland made the trip worth it. It was our third time at the theme parks with the kids, so we were strategic in our focus on the two new campuses. Plus, we all were at this point in the target demographic of these two sites. No more Mickey Mouse or Disney princesses. Or belief in elves or fairies. Instead, it was for the kids, how did they do that?
These fantasy landscapes create the illusion of magic, mysticism, and escapism we all seek. We are on set in this staged fantasy, happily playing along in the illusion, in the imaginary realm. Even once we give up on magic. Mash ups of fantasy, science fiction, foreign cultures and mythology, like General Onaka? General “Stomach” (in Japanese)? These names have an ethnic touch but re-encrypt into fantasy code.
Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge was a very immersive experience. Thoroughly outfitted for riding, shopping, and eating, it had two potentially motion sickness-inducing rides, Rise of the Resistance and Smuggler’s Run. That much would be expected with turbulent spaceships and flat screens creating the illusion of 3D motion.
Park Fare
By the fifth day, Disneyland was also a great reset button for what I missed about my regular life outside of park protocols and fares. It was nice to reach my kitchen counter and have food available to me within arm’s reach rather than a few football fields away through the crowds around Downtown Disney.
From Terran’s Treats (cream puff with purple cheesecake cream filling) and Pym’s Test Kitchen, the fares available through virtual queues were imaginative in theme and creative guises. I was impressed at the trend of meat substitutes and some proportions of vegetables for those who sought it out. I loved the presentation and the various thematic dressings on standard American fare, like hot dogs, pasta, and caesar salad. The maximal proportions of meat and starch to veggies, nuts and fruit was about the same as any park fare. There was one wonderful steak salad I can’t forget one rare night at La Brea Bakery at Downtown Disney. My husband also enjoyed the Shawarma Palace cart, with its Impossible meat option and Infinity Gauntlet. Other than that we had, vegetarian hotdogs and meatballs, meat hotdogs, churras, lots of ice cream, chili, pasta, Mexican and Louisiana fare at Tortilla Jo’s and Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, some of the few spots we could get a reservation a month ago.
Food at the Land of Oz, aka, Disneyland/California Adventure: From top left, Chili Cone Queso (Cozy Cone Motel at California Adventure), Ronto Wrap + Paddy Frog Sipper (Ronto Roasters, Galaxy’s Edge Disneyland). From Pym’s Test Kitchen, Cinna Pym Toast, Oversized Vegan Meatball eaten with a miniature fork served in an oversized spoon. Ditto with crouton of a one leaf caesar salad I ordered. At Avenger’s Campus Terran’s Treats’ Cosmic Cream Orb (cream puff with purple cheesecake filling) and Sweet Spiral Rotation (very green pineapple flavored churro). Infinity glove at Shawarma Palace cart. From Hollywood Land, plant based philly dog and carrot cake funnel fries at Award Wieners.
Disneyland updated me on the food trends: meat substitutes, Impossible…or not, in American fare upgraded with more vegetables. I got me once again to appreciating American fare with fused with immigrant and neighboring cultures: Korean spices with cajun, Mexican, and Lebanese cuisines integrated into this imaginary world. Vegetables beyond the standard corn, potatoes, and cabbage.
Once I got back, I got on a plant-based diet recipe marathon from a magazine by Forksoverknives.com. I wanted to incorporate as many veggies in my meal without first focusing on protein or meats, which had been my default.
Novelties and treats (pictured above) dotted the landscape. I was grateful to have the exercise of walking the distance of the two parks to burn the calories I was consuming. But it was tiring and the confines of a hotel room also limited our motivation to do little else but sleep and immerse ourselves on our screens. I guess I missed cooking or having more choices in the menu.