I’m a bit late to the party, but I finally got around to reading this incredible tirade on Facebook by a mother against childless couples at the Disneyworld theme park. In case you missed, here it is, in all of its unhinged, insane glory.
I have so many feelings about this, as someone who loves to go to Disney theme parks as an adult with other adults.
I’m not without compassion for families that go to Disney, and how stressful it can be on parents. You may have been saving for months and months to get to take your children on this magical vacation. And here’s your day:
- You pay $25 to park your car, and still have to walk miles to get into Disney.
- You wait on endlessly long lines… for every damn thing.
- You buy your kid an $8 hotdog that he decided he doesn’t like because it “tastes weird.”
- You console your crying child because he’s too young to go on Space Mountain.
- You have to endure the horror that is It’s a Small World. THE HORROR.
- You buy your other kid a $9 Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwich, which she promptly drops on the ground.
It’s rough. It’s enough to break even the most chill, loving parent.
So you see a young couple enjoying their $12 Mickey Mouse pretzel. Maybe they have matching Mickey ears. He’s got a perfectly sculpted beard, skinny jeans, and an Oswald the rabbit tee-shirt. She’s in a Frozen crop-top and skimpy Daisy Duke shorts. They are laughing as they both bite off the pretzel ears together. The pretzel that your kid really wants.
And you just LOSE YOUR SHIT.
It’s easy to hate on this ranting person because she is so unhinged. But she does that classic human thing that I’m sure a lot of us have done — to envy someone else’s happiness. To see someone else feeling happy when we are miserable makes us feel somehow even worse. I”m having a shitty time, why should they have so much fun?
I’ve definitely felt that. It’s a weird thing when you are feeling low, to want everyone else to feel as low as you do. There’s probably a German word for the feeling.
I wish for this human (assuming she is real) and her child nothing but love and hope that she can get to a better place, where she can see that happiness is not a competition, it’s not a finite resource that you need to fight over. Where she can appreciate someone else’s happiness, even if she isn’t having the best day. Not just for her sake, but for her kid and his emotional and psychological health.
For another instance of a disgruntled park visitor, check out an encounter I had last year with someone at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I’m afraid some people are just determined to have a bad time, and reality accommodates them.