I often like to read pop culture essays and summarize/respond. This essay by Susan Willis appears in Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. I happen to have the Second Edition (1997), but Willis' essay is also in the newer Third Edition (2000). Seeing as how the essay was written a while back, it is not the most up-to-date when one considers DisneyWorld and its attractions. But most of what Willis has to say holds true now as it did when she wrote it.

In this essay, Willis examines DisneyWorld as a private state open for public use and amusement. Willis points out that while DisneyWorld gives its visitors the illusion of spontaneity, the truth is that the environment is very controlled. Take for example the weaving pathways of the parks; although they wander, they are still well-defined. It reminds me of a sign I saw while visiting the Animal Kingdom park a few years back. The paths in the Indian-themed part of the park wind through jungle-like overgrowth and past glassy animal enclosures, and a sign designed to invoke the feel of outback Imperial India said something about "keeping on well-marked trails" in order to stay safe. Not that DisneyWorld visitors honestly think they're going to get eaten by a tiger, but the sign, like so many other things at DisneyWorld, was an odd juxtaposition of authority and play-acting.

Willis goes on to note that DisneyWorld adventurers often claim to enjoy the fact that they don't have to think about anything because it's all taken care of. Again, Disney is in control. Visitors immerse themselves in the Disney-ness of the parks and resorts. And the reason it works, Willis suggests, is that the visitors know on one level that it's not real, and yet it's all real enough that they can also forget the real world for awhile. (Note, though, that if the world were like Disney, then Disney would be out of business. It's only by virtue of the fact that trash and panhandlers exist elsewhere that DisneyWorld can offer its escape.)

What's not there is part of what makes Disney a viable vacation spot. As I mentioned above, there's no trash to speak of, no bums. But Willis points out other interesting lacks: intimacy and real play.

Willis writes about being surprised when she noticed a husband give his wife a peck on the cheek and again later when two children opted to romp at Epcot by performing an impromptu Mexican Hat Dance on the steps of the Mexico attraction. In both cases, she says, she hadn't noticed the lack of intimacy and play until confronted with instances of them. DisneyWorld is a clean place; sexuality is not part of its overall image (although many a honeymooner or loving couple might be able to tell stories to the contrary), and "play" at DisneyWorld is again controlled. "Play" = rides + eating + shopping for souveniers. "Play" at DisneyWorld is not the kind of romping kids might do at any other time in any other place. "Play at DisneyWorld is "family fun."