fly me to the moon

It's noon on Sunday, and my fiancé and I are having lunch at Kennedy Space Center. We are sitting at a cafe located in a large, warehouse-type building which houses a Saturn V rocket. The place is eerily quite. Even as bus groups arrive, the volume never lifts above a low conversation. After the constant roar of Universal and Disney, it's a little unsettling.

The noise level isn't the only thing that's different. Throughout the day I've noticed that the average KSC visitor is easily over 50. There are a few younger people, mostly foreigners, and families with small children. But I can't help but notice that gray hair and Hawaiian shirts dominate the facility.

As a kid, my family vacations always included something educational. We never visited Disney World, but I did see the St. Louis Arch, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Mansfield home, local state parks, and many state capitals. Museums and art galleries are still some of our favorite places to visit, thanks to my mom's insistence on taking us from a young age.

Part of this was out of necessity-- theme parks are expensive; historical sites are cheap, often free. But even if my parents had had a bigger budget to work with, I know they still would have favored history over pure amusement. Historical sites, campgrounds, museums, etc. are often more fun. They're certainly less crowded, the food is usually better (and reasonably priced), and the quality time spent together is more meaningful when it doesn't take place in the hour long line for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

And aren't historical sites and museums the places children should be visiting anyway? It's one thing to learn about American history in the classroom, but it's much more meaningful seeing it in person. You can be told that the Saturn V rocket (the one that got us to the moon) is longer than a football field, but to actually see it... well, it's really amazing.

But maybe kids don't find that amazing anymore. Landing on the moon is old news. Going into space is just another thing we do. Or rather, another thing we did. With the grounding of the space shuttle fleet, NASA's space program is slipping further into the past. Further from our grasp. Further from our imaginations.

when you wish upon a star

One of mom's favorite stories about her grandmother is from their family trip to DisneyWorld.

It was the first year the park opened, and there wasn't much there. Just DisneyWorld, surrounded by dozens of acres of orange groves. At one point, they rode the monorail out to an a-frame building, which contained renderings for future park development.

"Mmmmm-hmmm. That Walt Disney sure is a big dreamer!" My great-grandmother said in a loud southern drawl.

My great grandmother was very much a child of the Great Depression. The stories told to me by my mother and her siblings depict a frugal, no nonsense sort of woman. She packed picnic baskets with fruit and sandwich fixings on cross country road trips, rather than pay for expensive processed snack foods and restaurant meals. She took home half-squeezed lemon wedges from restaurants to rub on her skin, because they were still good and shouldn't go to waste. Bananas were a cure-all wonder drug, and aspirin was saved for true emergencies.

This is exactly the sort of woman who would look at an orange grove in Florida and think that it would always be just an orange grove in Florida.

As we drove to Disney's Hollywood Studios (we skipped The Magic Kingdom, having visited Disneyland many times already), I couldn't help but wonder what my mom's grandmother would think of Walt Disney's big dreams if she could see the area some forty years on. The parks are still fairly secluded, set back in the trees and visible only once you enter the parking lot. But there are so many more of them now: The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon. There are also hotspots for shopping and nightlife, and endless resorts catering to every type of visitor.

I think my great grandmother would be appalled at the audaciousness and extravagance of it all. How wasteful to spend hundreds of dollars to ride roller coasters and take home cheap toys. What self-respecting adult would dress up in long robes in the hot Florida sun just for Star Wars Weekend. Why is there a giant golf ball in the middle of this park?

But maybe a little part of her would be impressed. One man's dream transformed the wilderness into a tourist mecca. A vision that captured the imagination of her great granddaughter, who made it one of her goals in life to visit that place, ride those rides, and see what exactly was inside that golf ball. (An increasingly dated looking journey through time, currently narrated by Judi Dench.)

In any case, I'm sure she's giving Walt an earful up in heaven. Nobody should have to pay $14 just to park their car.

i've got the magic in me

The first time I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone I was forced into doing it. My sister, then in middle school, was reading the series and couldn't stop talking about them. I, being the sophisticated and mature high schooler I was, dismissed them as kid's books:

"No Sally, they're really cool."

"Whatever, Sister. Magic is for babies."

"Just read them! I promise you'll like them!"

After several weeks of badgering, I agreed to read the first one-- but only the first one!-- just to shut her up. The joke was on me, though. I was instantly hooked, and haven't shut up about the books since.

In college I continued my Potter obsession. I attended midnight book releases, midnight movie releases, and even started a private Potter-themed sorority with my dorm mates. Every situation could be brought back to the books somehow, whether it was shouting "Alohamora!" when unlocking the front door, or wishing each other "Happy Christmas Ron/Happy Christmas Harry" via Facebook.

So naturally, upon hearing that a Harry Potter theme park would be opening at Universal Studios, we literally jumped for joy.

We planned on visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter together, but life got in the way. We've gotten married, bought homes, lost our jobs, started new ones. Still, our love of all things Potter is great enough that when I announced that my fiance was taking me to the park, they were genuinely excited for me. Jealous, but excited.

I am happy to report that the Wizarding World is just as cool as we all imagined. It could be bigger, but then I think the only way Potter fans could truly be satisfied is if Hogwarts were suddenly revealed to be a real life school and we all received our owl post acceptance letters. The rides are fun, the Hogsmeade shops are amazingly detailed, and the perpetual winter landscaping is a nice touch.

My favorite moment was sitting in the cool dark Hog's Head pub, sipping a butter beer. For a moment I could almost believe I wasn't in sunny Florida, but instead in cloudy England. I was having fun with my classmates, putting off our History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures homework until the last moment as usual. Later we would pop into Zonko's for some trick wands, and then head back to the castle just in time for dinner.

It would be the perfect end to a perfect day.