The Unhappiest Place on Earth

We took Baby M to Disneyland last weekend.  It seemed like such a good idea.  He is a few months away from 3 years old which means he is tall enough to go on most of the rides but still gets into the park for free.  He is familiar with some of the Disney characters from YouTube videos and really likes Goofy.  Baby M has generally been good with crowds, loud noises, and new experiences.  I thought he would have a blast.

The trip did not go well.  It started off so promising.  We met up with some of my extended family and took the shuttle bus to the park.  Baby M could barely contain his excitement.  He happily walked down Main Street, watched a marching band and walked through Sleeping Beauty's Castle.  We rode the carousel and then tried to convince him to go on the Dumbo ride.  He took a look at it and shook his head no.  So, and here is where we made our big mistake, we decided to try Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  Now this was one of my favorite rides as a kid, but I'd forgotten how scary it could be for a young child. Baby M happily climbed into the little car with his dad and grandpa, but once the ride started getting dark and loud, crashing through walls and descending into hell he was more than a little frightened.  He kept repeating "I want to go back" with increasing frequency and volume until finally the ride ended.

After that he just wanted to leave the park.  Every few minutes he would say "I want to go back to the shuttle bus and go to our car and go home."  We dragged him on the tamest ride we could find-- The Storybook Land Canal Ride, a slow moving boat that floats past miniature villages in broad daylight, but he cried to get off the whole time. We tried Toon Town, which has a small playground I thought  he might like, but it also has firecrackers going off every few minutes so that was a no go.  Honestly, I'd never seen Baby M so agitated.  I felt awful.

We decided to give up on the rides and get some lunch on the Tomorrowland Terrace.  We had a great table near the stage where cast members were putting on the "Jedi Training Academy" but Baby M refused to sit anywhere near it so we found a table behind the stage and next to a well placed pillar that completely blocked the show from his view.  Baby M picked at his Mac N Cheese until, suddenly, a hidden platform rose up next to us revealing in a cloud of mist Darth Vader, waving around his light saber and threatening the Jedi.  That was it.  Baby M was out of there and my husband carried him around Tomorrowland until the rest of us finished eating.

We walked around the park a little more, hoping something would entice Baby M, but he had made up his mind-- Disneyland was the scariest place on earth and he wanted out of there.  He was even scared of the paddle boat that steamed by us as we strolled down the sidewalk.  Aside from the carousel, we did find two other activities that Baby M enjoyed in Frontierland- the petting zoo and a cabin with free coloring pages.  We probably should have just gone to Griffith Park.  On our way out we stopped for dinner at one of the Main Street restaurants and once Baby M saw there were no more rides with "scary tunnels" he enjoyed eating a hot dog while watching the parade.   We even stopped and took a reasonably happy picture with Mickey Mouse.

I always thought of Baby M as this fearless explorer, but looking back I realized that I missed some of the signs that his personality is evolving.  I remember him as the baby who would crawl over to the big kid playground without looking back and not the toddler who was frightened during the planetarium show;  the boy who comforted the dog during our neighbor's illegal firework display and not the one who refused to the enter the darkened room showing a film about storms at the museum.  It seems Baby M is becoming more cautious, and yes, more fearful as he grows up.  He now requires a nightlight to sleep, greets new experiences with trepidation and literally requires hand holding when entering unfamiliar places.  This may all just reflect an increased awareness of his surroundings and a more developed imagination that allows him to conceive frightening scenarios.  Or maybe Disneyland really did scar him for life.  We'll just have to wait and see.