Why I Allow Mickey Mouse to Rob Me Blind

[Elizabeth Grunewald]

Why I Allow Mickey Mouse to Rob Me Blind

My wallet is always so much lighter after visiting Mickey's place down in Florida.

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[GreigKM]

This article is exactly what happens to me every time I go, and fuck the waist, I want a goddamn ice-cream sandwich shaped like Micky Mouse, I want to look for the picture of my 8-ish year old self on a slab in front of Spaceship Earth, because I am a nostalgic idiot, and I love it.

 

[Citizen Snips]

I'd have to agree it's Disney. I've always had at least one family member work there, so I common tag line to any trip was, "Oh we have to go see your uncle or cousin or twice removed brothers room mate!" I was lucky to get to go as much as I did as a child, and that has definitely continued as I grow up. Entering the Magic Kingdom still gives me goosebumps, and it's a feeling that I wouldn't trade for the world.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Disney owns my soul. They have since 1989.

 

[Monshroud]

I had a friend pick on me once about various spending obessions. He was really good at pointing out how much money I have wasted on Disney stuff, and Gaming stuff.. Then I pointed out how much money he spends buying Concert T-Shirts. When he said to me "Yeah, but this stuff is worth something"

I replied "Pot, meet Kettle..."

 

[Aris Khandr]

I had a friend pick on me once about various spending obessions. He was really good at pointing out how much money I have wasted on Disney stuff, and Gaming stuff.. Then I pointed out how much money he spends buying Concert T-Shirts. When he said to me "Yeah, but this stuff is worth something"

I replied "Pot, meet Kettle..."

Show him how much the Disney Bears go for on Ebay, especially the event ones. Watch his mouth drop.

 

[Erja_Perttu]

Disney, always Disney. It costs an extortionate amount, takes 8 hours to get there, has some of the worst roller coasters I've ever ridden in my life and I'd go back in a heart beat because it just makes me happy.

I passed a barbershop quartet singing on a street and some teenagers danced and there was a parade, Mickey waved at ME so suck it kids! All the bad things in the world don't exist anymore, because there's children smiling, a real sense of joy in the air and hysterically overpriced cookies and coconut macaroons. Damn I love me some macaroons. Heaven.

Mickey Mouse can have my money any day. I bow to that kind of diabolically effective marketing.

 

[cynical conservative]

Seeing the Mouse is always a good time. I have fond memories of the first breakfast I went to, the fireworks, and the Indiana Jones stunt show

and I love the world of tomorrow

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

I definitely don't get that with Disney personally. I don't have any sort of allegiance to them that makes me spend tons of money on their crap, but then again, I've never actually been to Disney World. Yeah, maybe if I went I'd get it. I dunno.

For me personally, the equivalent would probably be Rock Band. They just keep coming out with new stuff, and I just keep on buying it and loving it. Pro drums with cymbals? Sign me up! New keyboard peripheral? Where do I get one?! Vocal harmonies needs extra mics? I got it covered! Pro guitar?! Fuck yes! At this point I just hand Harmonix my wallet and hope they don't hurt me too badly.

 

[YodaUnleashed]

Star Wars is my go to franchise for copious amounts of money-spending, I mean the ironic thing is I really despise commercialism but I'm one of its biggest whores as well. Self-hate isn't good people

 

[SimuLord]

I've been to Disney World nine times. (go ahead, use the Ferris Bueller voice. You know you want to.) Blame unimaginative parents (or, if my mother is to be believed, blame me and my brother for wanting to go there every year). And I hate that place with every single fiber of my being.

I despise the Mouse. Everything Disney World and the Walt Disney Company stands for is everything I stand against. The crass corporatism and blatant temples to marketing and consumerism make me ill to even consider. And I hope like hell that I meet and marry a woman who's not going to insist that we take our kids there---that instead we find better places to take them on vacation like the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna or the battlefield memorial at Gettysburg or even just a different NBA arena road trip every year.

And to answer your original question, the one about overpaying? I will overpay for computer equipment. I will overpay for food, eating at nice steakhouses when I'm perfectly capable of making a steak dinner at home that's every bit as good if not better since it's done by me to my own personal taste. And I will spend ungodly amounts of money to travel, especially if it's in service of some crazy adventure I can tell stories about for years to come (ask me about the girl in Bristol, Virginia and the 24-hour Greyhound Bus ride I took to visit her sometime.)

But the Mouse? Wouldn't go to Disney World if you only charged me a nickel.

 

[The Funslinger]

I was having a half-joking conversation with my friend about how children that get lost at Disney World/Land get snapped up as child slaves. He was like "shut up, no they don't." At this moment our Geography Teacher was giving out Disney Land pamphlets for a lesson on tourism. It read: "Disney Land Paris has been luring children through its gates for..." blah blah blah. WIN.

My happy spots are the movie Hot Fuzz, the Scary Movies, the Sherlock Holmes movie and Halo 2. Why? Because a friend I've known all my life used to do these things together (occasionally drinking while doing it and having a good laugh) unfortunately, our families had a MAJOR falling out, and he took a totally different educational route to me. We saw less and less of each other until almost a year ago, we haven't really seen each other since. So those things are very nostalgic for me. (Note: I like the scary movies, but hate everything else by those people.)

 

[Dooly95]

I can't stand amusement parks full stop, so I suppose that doesn't really apply to me. Do I have something like the Mouse for me?

Hm... I go through phases, I suppose. If my meagre comic collection says anything. I suppose being financially insecure does that. I know I spend a lot at bars, but that doesn't count, everyone does that, and my sense of cost-value ratio goes right out the window when I'm under the influence.

Food, I suppose. I can't make anything to save my life, but I know after a... few.... er... many attempts I could get something edible. But, to save me time and effort needed, I usually buy pre-packaged food to nuke, or if I'm feeling especially good, go out to a restaurant.

 

[ShadowKatt]

I've only been to disney world once in my life, and it wasn't a vacation. I played with the Alpena High School Marching Band in the Disney World Millenium Parade(Seriously, no shit. Go look it up, we're the marching band in forest green and white. Added bonus, see if you can find me, I'm the only guy playing clarinet. I'm towards the back with the other woodwinds). Still, even though it was for work, we did tour most of the parks, though I didn't feel any real attraction to most of them. I did love the wild kingdom, and I had to be dragged away from the Legoland in Epcot, but the rest...was actually rather forgettable for me.

What wasn't forgettable though was when we went it was only like 65F outside. We were wearing t-shirts while wandering through Disney, everyone else was wearing parkas and snowmobile suits. We actually got in trouble for laughing at people!

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Disney does it to me, every time. Actually, increasingly anything cute or batman related does it (hence the sackboy keyring and batman wallet). It makes me happy, so I roll with it

 

[Elizabeth Grunewald]

I was born and raised in Florida and have been to WDW many, many times throughout my life and I still have those feelings when I go there

 

[WarCorrespondent]

I used to be Assassin's Creed Obsessed, but the second game's special box set dissapointed me.

However I lose all my cheap-ass inhibitions when it comes to Gorillaz. I spent my very last $50 on a T-shirt.

The T-shirt was pilling within 2 days of wearing, but I'd do it again.

 

[justnotcricket]

I live in New Zealand, so when we went to Disneyland when I was 9, it was a big deal. And I loved it. =) I'm not toally sure I'd have the same feelings if I went back though. Perhaps I'll try going to a theme park as an adult and see if it works. ;-)

My happy place, and the thing I spend the most ridiculous amount of money one is pretty much any combination of adventure (sport) and travel, *and* the equipment that goes with it.
Let's face it, if you go into a store like Kathmandu (er, nearest US equivalent = REI?), you know the gear is expensive. But I just can't resist the siren calls of high tech thermals and four season sleeping bags and skis and...

OK, I've never bought anything that I didn't have a use for, but I probably could have, say, bought polyprop instead of merino. (which is something that bothers me - I live in NZ, and merino is expensive here. WTF???)

In short: I am a sucker for nice outdoors and travel gear, and the adventures that go with them.

 

[MasterChief892039]

A grown woman who cries visiting a monument to children's entertainment? I'm trying not to judge.

I mean, I'm female, I like theme parks, and I'm pretty big into Disney (I'm an animation major), but I honestly can't see any emotional justification for getting that worked up over Disney World.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I'll let you know when my Desert Bus stuff gets here. I'm kidding. It was for the childrens, so I know that it's for a good cause. The fact that I get something out of it is a bonus.

I live about twohours from WDW but have never been, and don't really have a desire to.