When I was six, and Disneyland still had it's new-car-smell, I loved it. From the bad puns at the Jungle Ride and Tiki Hut, to the rapey pirates from somewhere down south.
As a former denizen of SouthCal, I regularly went to Disneyland every year and enjoyed myself thoroughly every time. It is the most well-run and guest friendly amusement park in the world.
My favorite land, of all, was Tomorrowland, with it's mid-century "Jetson's' architecture and an incredibly optimistic view of our future. It will be a "big bright beautiful tomorrow" that promised trips to the moon and portable phones small enough to fit into your car.
I lived overseas for many years and when I returned with a teen daughter, our first stop was, or course, Disneyland. We waited through the interminable line to ride "Space Mountain", a 62 minute wait for a two-minute ride. They had removed several of the older, more upbeat rides in favor of a 15 minute Michael Jackson music video with special effects that would make Ed Wood cringe.
The mid-century "futuristic" architecture had been replaced (in many cases just covered) with more dystopian, steam-punk style.
The biggest disappointment was "The Carousel of Progress", an audio-animatronic musical extravaganza that highlighted the wonderful technological progress from the turn of the last century and promised that future of hoverboards and robot restaurants.
The theatre where the audience moved and the stage stood still was replaced by a dusty, poorly lit, static display of smart phones and tablets that would be in the discount shelf at Best Buy as last year's technology. Yesterdayland, if we took out all the good parts like openly condoned sex and alcohol in the office.
I've never seen the "death of fun" more coherently personified than at the "new" Disneyland.
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