memoir
The Day When Mickey Mouse Went Bad
(Or at least my sister did)
By: Cristina Cornejo
Disneyland is always packed with people, but on my sister’s
birthday it felt as if it was more packed than usual. I also had a very
weird feeling at the bottom of my stomach. Maybe that was supposed to
warn me of what was to come. Maybe it was a sign. Or maybe it was just
the heat. The heat was horrible, like entering a crowded bus with no
air conditioning. And it smelled bad because it smelled like
perspiration and air. HOT HUMID AIR!! We were waiting in this huge line
to get into the restaurant (even though we made reservations). Everyone
was really close together and we were all sweating like crazy. I, being
short, ended up right underneath some guy’s armpit. And the worst
part was that the guy was one of those guys who gets easily in a bad
mood and so he started to shout at the hostess that was standing on the
side of the line. And every time he yelled he raised his arm up as if
to give more meaning to what he was saying. But every time he raised
his arm up…. it was like a stink bomb had been dropped. He
sounded some thing like this, “What is going on here? We have
been waiting here for over an hour? Why isn’t this line
moving?”
And
then since no one was listening to him (or trying not to at least) he
decided to get louder and started to threaten the hostess with things
like, “If this line doesn’t move I am leaving! Just watch
me walk away! I will do it if you don’t make this line
move!”
He
was acting as if his presence was special or something and that if he
left all of Disneyland would crumble or something. Yeah right, to tell
you the truth I wanted this guy to leave. Then the hostess shot back
with a somewhat polite answer, “Sir please calm down, Sir please.
You may leave if you feel is necessary, I am sure we will get it up and
ready soon Sir, there are many people here Sir, could you please keep
your voice down?” and finally she gave up and left.
So
maybe that was what made me feel weird. Well whatever it was, I totally
ignored it as we walked into the entrance of Disneyland Resort
Restaurant. We were at Disneyland in Orlando, Florida. It was my
sister’s birthday, and we had promised her breakfast with
Cinderella and the Disney Princesses. Yet when my mom called to make
the reservations, a very bored lady answered the phone and said that
the princesses were booked for six months, but they had an opening for
Peter Pan. So she started to give my mom reasons why she should book
breakfast with Peter Pan.
Then my mom said, “Do you have any openings with Mickey?”
And she said that she did, so instead, my mom got breakfast with
Mickey and his Friends. We did not tell my sister this until we got to
the restaurant. My sister was slightly disillusioned, but still happy
that at least she got something. The minute I got into the restaurant I
felt the refreshing cool sweet welcome of AIR CONDITIONING!! Man did it
feel good. So after I had praised the air conditioning and taken a lot
of fresh breaths, (no sweat) I began to study the restaurant. My first
impression was a poster right in front of me that had a picture of the
Tower of Terror and people screaming. It also said “Can you take
it?” I decided that I couldn’t and made a mental note not
to use the elevators. The restaurant was, as usual, packed!! The
wallpaper pattern was Mickey, then Mickey, then Mickey and then just to
make it more interesting: Mickey. Then there were posters everywhere
with pictures of the rides at Disneyland. It was pretty creative. It
took me a while to realize that there was a stage filled with pretend
palm trees and bright colors everywhere. That just shows how slow I am
to get things. Right in the center of the stage there was a picture of
the logo with Mickey and all of his Friends. So we got to our table,
sat down, and ordered. Meanwhile Mickey had not come out yet. Then
suddenly, we heard Mickey’s voice on the intercom saying,
“Hello Boys and Girls and welcome to Disney Land in Orlando. I am
Mickey these are all my Friends.”
Then, there was a loud blast of music and lots of colored lights,
followed by Mickey and all his Friends. And that was when it all
started. My sister started to cry……….. a lot. Keep
in mind that she is only turning 3. If you are wondering why, she was
crying it was because, my sister was afraid of Mickey and his Friends.
She would not go near them. But the problem with Mickey and his Friends
was, that they would come near us. They would walk around the tables
doing the salsa dance, stopping for pictures and everything. But my
sister was crying the whole way through, and that’s when it got
more embarrassing.
My
mother asked us to do the salsa with Mickey so that my sister would not
be afraid. So my brother and I were trying our hardest to look happy
and to hide behind the chairs at the same time. I am sure we were not
giving the impression my mom wanted because my sister continued to cry.
Since we were hiding behind the chairs, it probably looked like we were
trying to hide from Mickey but the truth was were trying to hide form
the people. Of course my sister was too young to notice. That was
really embarrassing.
Finally my mom had us come back and eat. My sister’s crying was
reduced to just occasional blubbers and sniffling. And Mickey went to
the other tables so my sister continued to calm down and was able to
eat. Then after eating, Mickey came back to our table, and my sister
started to cry again, and everyone was staring at us, I mean literally
everyone. My father on the other hand, did not want to miss this
opportunity, so he asked Mickey for a picture. But at this point my
sister was probably thinking, “What is my dad doing and why is he
carrying me towards the monster?” My sister cried even more, and
tried to pull back from my father’s grip, but she couldn’t.
So my dad stood right beside Mickey, and we got the picture, but, this
made her angry, so she cried even more, and then just to make matters
worse, Mickey came and hugged her. HUGGED HER????? I mean really hugged
her. Well, since I was 8, I decided that Mickey was very dumb because
OBVIOUSLY, my sister did not want to be hugged by a
“monster”. So then, she was TERRIFIED and wanted to get out
of the restaurant; so we left as quickly as possible, because if we had
stayed there, we knew she would never want to go to Disneyland again.
Then my dad told my sister that Mickey and his friends did not want to
hurt her, they just wanted to make her feel happy on her birthday.
After that, he asked her to name one thing that Mickey had done to her
to make her feel bad, but she couldn’t answer. Next my dad said,
that if she was scared like that we would never go back again, and that
meant no more rides, especially the teacup one. And that straighten my
sister out. She loved the teacup ride, and she definitely wanted to
ride it again. So she promised she would not humiliate us again. Now,
she loves the Disney characters, and she loves going to Disneyland. But
this happened when my sister was 3, and now she is 7. The next time we
went to Disneyland she was already 5 and since my brother and I had
talked to her about it, she got over it. Age really makes a difference,
now she knows that Mickey and his friends are not out to get her, and
that they won’t hurt her. Now she is all better. That is one of
the most embarrassing and funniest memories of my life.
