Surprisingly enough since I was born in southern California, I’ve only been to the original Disneyland only twice now, and just in the last few years; the last time a little over a year ago. I’ve come to really like the new California Adventure park. It has elements of Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, plus some California specific stuff and it really appeals to me, more so than the original Disneyland, which I went to more as a pilgrimage. I’m going again for a few days this December and really looking forward to that, and a month with my brother in Oceano. At some point I should probably blog about getting my Disneyland annual pass, then losing it, then getting it again. 

You walk into the Disneyland parks on the west side entrance by way of its Downtown Disney zone, which is between the Disneyland Hotel and the two parks. This is different from Disney Springs in Walt Disney World, which is a completely separate from the parks area. Both are free to enter shopping and dining areas. Disney Springs is large enough (like everything else in Walt Disney World) that it also has dedicated entertainment venues like House of Blues and Cirque de Solari. Downtown Disney is crammed into a small space because that entire original Disney park is crammed into the only available space to it in Anaheim. Walt Disney was taking a big gamble when he built it in 1954-55 and he bought as much land for it as he could afford. Then it became a big hit and all sorts of other commerce began nuzzling up to it to get a piece of the action and he couldn’t expand. So he went to Florida. But over the decades they’ve been buying a piece here and a piece there in Anaheim and they’ve been able to add new things to it. California Adventure was made out of what was the original parking lot, after they got space enough to build a huge parking garage nearby.

So everything in Anaheim is on a much smaller scale to those of us who came to know Walt Disney World first. I suppose people who’ve only known Disneyland are awed by the scale of Walt Disney World.

And so…burying the lede…as I was saying, if you’re entering on the west side, you walk into the Disneyland parks by way of Downtown Disney. Walt Disney called it the Happiest Place On Earth, and the parks are definitely some of my happy places, along with Ocean City New Jersey, Oceano and Pismo Beach. And the open road. I am expecting, hoping, Needing in these stressful times to enter my happy space, at least for a little while, to remind myself from time to time why life is a great adventure, and worth the static it often throws in the faces of us gay folk.

I’m all smiles as I’m walking into Downtown Disney. Then I look to my left and see this…

There…in the upper left…two boys on a scooter…

Two boys who are trying hard to keep the townsfolk from knowing they’re really sea monsters…

Yeah…that movie.

I’ve said pretty much all I want to say about that movie in that blog post. But can you appreciate why it was the first thing my eyes locked on as I walked into that happy place. Oh well…it can’t be all pixie dust and magic.

I’m bringing this all up again because apparently that movie is being re-released, and we’re already beginning to see another round of run up to the (re)release publicity. This appeared in Epcot Italy…

It’s temporary chalk art that they put around Epcot for the Arts Festival. Which is good because it can be easily washed off before Ron DeSantis gets mad.

I can’t even look at these characters just…just being happy together…without knowing how that pure and wonderful first teenage crush (they’re 13 in the movie) has to be smothered and denied if it’s two boys, for the sake of not rousing the howling bigots. But then they’re not boys, they’re monsters, and monsters don’t have teenage crushes, let alone fall in love.

It gets better this time around…apparently. The run-up t the (re)release let’s get the gays interested and increase ticket sales publicity that is. This came across my Instagram photo stream the other day…

This makes my heart ache. I did a little digging and found another…

This is art from the story lead on the movie director Enrico Casarosa was pleased to assure everyone was not about a teenage crush, but rather the “pre-romance time in boy’s lives”. I’m guessing they didn’t get the memo.

And digging further, I found some fan art…

Is it too much to wish that maybe this time, just maybe, this time, there won’t be any more tut-tutting from the director Enrico Casarosa over the suggestion that these two are in love? Because the goddamned story lead sure thought so, and I’m pretty sure they weren’t the only one on the crew who thought so. Is it too much to wish upon a star that a budding romance between two teenage boys is treated honestly and everyone be happy for them?

Probably.