Disneyland At Half Past Youth Poem by Bill Grace

These molten words will change but Disneyland will always be divine
This Kingdom Khrushchev could not enter
A great magnet for older wallets and youthful minds
And entertainment some find sublime.

500,000,000 is quite a throng
So nothing could be terribly wrong
To view and play this entertainment Mecca
And for a moment join its vast old song.

Mickey never came and greeted
Money was needed everywhere
The true artists were in short supply
In the shops to my eight year old and even I
The silent urge was: Buy! Buy! ! Buy! ! ! .

I will miss the joy of swirling tea cups
The terror of speedy space in a strobe light mountain
Friendly cho cho transport around this teeny town
And memories of the ancient: 'It's a Small World After All.'

But for all the magnetism of marketing hype
There's something missing that seemed once to be there
And forty six years later scratch my head and wonder
Could it simply be this time I had to pay the fare?
I HAD TO PAY the fare.