While I have never been to Disneyworld, I remember fondly all my many, many visits to Disneyland which opened up in 1955 close to my California home. While I didn’t go on opening day, I did attend during the first month and several times a year from then until 1962 when I married and moved to Northern California which reduced my visitations to once a year for the next 20 years.
There are many stories to tell about the adventures on Tom Sawyer’s Island, just ask any California female of my age group about the dating service at Merry Go Round Rock, or the course I could give how to get from land to land at record speed and avoid standing in lines or where they put the telescope in Star Wars and other trivia. That is for later years.
Now normally I wouldn’t recommend dating outside of one’s species, but I must confess that because of Disneyland, one very pleasant evening was spent romancing a deciduous growth. As you can see from the photograph above, he was a rather handsome tree.
In 1961 Disney had just released Babes in Toyland. To promote this event, the space just to the right of the entrance was given over to a walk-through exhibit of the scenes of the movie with music. My girlfriend and I skipped this until the end of the day and thought we would make it the last stop. Once walking through the scenery and since we had been on our feet all day, it seemed like a good idea to sit on the low wall at the exit area until heading for the car. Leaning back against the very stationary forest also seemed wise until the tree said, “Please don’t lean on me”. Once the leaping up in startled surprise and shrieking stopped, I apologized for getting too familiar with his trunk.
My tree and his leafy friend indicated they were about to get off work and would we stick around for a while until they changed. Now until you have found yourself gazing into the eyes of a forest growth asking you for a date, you haven’t quite exposed yourself to all that life has to offer. It was a pleasant one-time evening due to geographic undesireability, but a pleasant memory.
