"The happiest - spectacle - on earth!"

Every year millions of people from around the world travel for miles (at a considerable expense) to experience the wonder of Walt Disney Studio's many resorts, from the comparatively modest Disneyland to the expansive multi-park-empire of Disney World to the recently developed Disney Paris and other attractions worldwide. Sheer spectacle reigns sovereign here, created not only by the attractions - theme park rides, fairy tale castles, animal kingdoms, the ever-present, iconic costume characters, the grand performances and exhibitions - but also by the crowds of visitors, young and old. The visitors, after all, provide the missing link - in order for these theme parks to continue, they need people to come. And they succeed, year after year. Marveling at the crowds lined up in anticipation to experience whatever it is that Disney promises to provide is astonishing enough, not to mention the sheer number of laborers and performers required to keep the theme parks running like clockwork.

But what is it, exactly, about a place like Disney World that draws us? Is it the mere escape from reality (after all, in the Magic Kingdom, "all your dreams come true")? Or is it the idea that we are to become (for a few moments) not only observers but living, breathing members of a fantastical, larger-than-life happening? Unfortunately I've never been, so I might not be the best person to judge. But to watch an advertisement for Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom is to watch the interaction between a child and Minnie Mouse, the awe on the face of that child as they get to have tea alongside Minnie, the delighted participants on an amusement ride, the observers who raise their hands and dance along with the members of the Disney Street Party Parade. It's the human presence in a fantasy world.

To put it as simply as I can, I think that what Disney World and similar attractions provide is an opportunity to be a living part of a spectacle, not just an observer separate from it. It's creating an ever-evolving kind of community out of strangers. So spectacle can create human connection. Interesting.