Ways that Lagoon and Disneyland are similar:
1-They both cost too much money. And the food costs too much money, too.
2-Both have rides.
3-There are lots of people dressed in totally inappropriate clothing. ‘Nough said about that.
That’s about it.
Ways that Lagoon and Disneyland are NOT similar
1-Disneyland has “themes” and “characters” and there is a story to each ride. The rides also have theme music. Lagoon has none of that.
2-Disneyland has rides that parents and kids can ride together. And there are rides that I can ride without losing my lunch. At Lagoon, I stand around waiting for my little people to go on the kiddie rides again and again, while Ryan aka the fun parent, takes the big kids around and rides all the rides which would make mom sick. This year I didn’t take any chances. I seriously only rode on rides that would NOT make me ill, as it’s just no fun sitting around waiting to not feel sick after riding a ride with too much circular motion (last year it was the flying aces. Yes, I’m a total wimp, I know.). So, my ride choices were limited to: Dracula’s Castle (what a sad, sad excuse for a haunted house ride. Remember when it used to be kind of scary? Now, they don’t even care. As we were going through, a Lagoon employee was just sitting there at the side of the ride.), the Merry-go-round (but only once, please), Rattlesnake rapids (the best ride in the park), the skyride about 5 times, the train, and….is that all I rode? Wow. After a show when we all met up together, Jenna decided she wanted to go with dad so she could ride the bat. Then it was just me and John. Riding the kiddie rides. Soon there will be no one left to hang with mom. I guess that will be the day I bring a book and sit by the pool all day while the kids go off with their dad. That might be nice, actually!
3-Disneyland employees act like they are happy to be there. At Lagoon, quite a few of the employees have names like Vladamir and Stroika, and NOBODY looks really happy to be there. We discussed this, and Ryan is of the opinion that they import cheap labor from Russia, but I don’t think so. There was one lady (Linda), who was running the little kid bumper cars. She checked each child for a seat belt, then turned or pulled each car so it wasn’t pointed directly at another car. Then she turned the steering wheel so that it would start out straight. Then she yelled “turn your wheel, Turn your wheel!” at the little kids who were getting stuck. Isn’t running into other cars the whole point of the ride? I think she was taking her job a little too seriously. But at least she was doing her job. Remember the days when there were actually cute guys who worked at Lagoon? And we would go on the terrorride about 6 times in a row just to see “cute Lagoon guy”? Well, he doesn’t work there anymore.
4-at Disneyland, one day is never enough. One day at Lagoon is plenty for me, thanks.
5-Disneyland has parade, fireworks and other street side entertainment. Lagoon used to have a band. I wonder why they don’t do that anymore.
6-People come from all over the country to experience Disneyland. People come from all over Northern Utah to go to Lagoon.
We did have a great time. Aside from a couple of “misunderstandings”. Like when I told Ryan I’d meet him at Rattlesnake Rapids, and then he got there first because we stopped to look in the little pioneer cabins and the church and schoolhouse. I didn’t even know those were there! I thought he would walk right by us, see the stroller parked out in the sidewalk and know we were in those little cabins. But he went the other way, got there way before us, and wondered why we weren’t anywhere in line. Another time Ryan made fun of me because I wanted to go and see the Broadway review, and I fired off some comment like, “I can only ride 5 flippin rides in this park, and i will go and see the Broadway show if I WANT to!” Megan had to tell me to use nice words. Ugh.
I did have a brilliant thought when I included flip flops for everyone, though. Before we rode the Rattlesnake Rapids (a ride which gets everyone very wet), we all changed to flip flops, then when we were done, we changed back to our tennis shoes. Ryan didn’t want to bring his sandals, so we brought a nice dry pair of socks for him. It’s not so bad walking about in sopping wet clothes if your feet at least are not making that squish sound with every step.
So, it was a fun day. The kids had a blast, and we all enjoyed our day.
In the last few years we just go to see the musical performance – for free.
I’m pretty sure they *do* import eastern European workers. There are just too many of them to explain it otherwise.
I dreamed about Lagoon last night. You should check it out at my blog. I think Lagoon is great in comparison to what I went to!