I’ve always hated everything Disney. Hated Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Hated Snow White and Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty. Hated the song ‘It’s A Small World After All’ and especially hated the score to ‘Mary Poppins.’ Worst of all was Disneyland, a theme park I was subjected to several times as a youth due to friends birthday parties and from which I could not get home soon enough. Which makes it odd that I find the above 1957 infomercial about the building of the park as interesting as I do. Perhaps its the boldness in the raping of the land (they refer proudly to the removal of rivers and lakes) to carry out Walt Disney’s (whose Mustache I hate) maniacal vision of what he thought was paradise that I find fascinating. And let’s face it, I’m in the minority here–the place remains wildly successful and was only the beginning of the Disney Amusement Park Empire. Here’s the thing, though; looking at it in this sixty-five year old film makes it look kind of…well…cool, even lovely. I don’t recall it being as charmingly developed and well-crafted as it appears here. Has time and the addition of more stuff eroded this feeling? All I remember were the endless lines which eventually got you on a ride I didn’t want to be on. And the food sucked too. Honestly, I’m kind of curious to see Disneyland now. Maybe next trip to LA. On my last trip over the holiday we went to see the ‘Valley Relic Museum’, a celebration of all things related to the mid-century life in the San Fernando Valley, housed in a hanger at the Van Nuys Airport. If I can justify an eccentricity like that I imagine I could look at a trip to Uncle Walt’s playground–Mouseshwitz, as the employees refer to it–in a similar way; as a visit to a curiosity, as well as a way to kill some time in a city which has long ceased to fascinate me. Oh, I also hated the Mickey Mouse Club–except for Annette Funicello, of course.