From where I stand thousands of miles away, it sounds wonderful to be able to live next door to Disney. If I go to Disney World, I’m looking at organizing transatlantic flights, hotels, restaurants and all the other associated tourist costs. To be able to visit Disney World without all that additional expense sounds like a dream come true.
Imagine being able to buy discounted annual pass and be able to take the kids to any of the Disney parks whenever you felt like it. Could there ever be a day when there wasn’t something to do with the kids during school vacations? What a dream!
I have to wonder however, whether locals actually make use of the parks to the extent that they could. Do they revel in their location and good fortune in having Disney more or less on their doorstep? Or have they become slightly jaded and bored with the idea of a superstar tourist attraction so close?
This thought comes to me because I live about 5 minutes drive from one of Sweden’s leading zoos. It’s home to our famous and beautiful white tigers and is part of a project that is concerned with building the world’s white tiger population. Each year we buy our special annual passes which only cost about 1.5 times the day admittance rate that other visitors pay.
Yet, in the past 2 years, we’ve only visited the zoo twice. Because it’s so close, it’s not really anything special anymore. Of course as our boys grow, they are increasingly interested in visiting the animals and learning about them in the various child education programs, but as adults the urge to visit the zoo hardly ever crosses our mind. It’s just something that’s there and whilst we appreciate the work they do, and take pride in the birth of each litter of tiger cubs, we just don’t spend the time to go there.
In the UK I lived near to many historic buildings (such as Alnwick Castle home to Harry’s Hogwarts!), museums, beautiful countryside, coastlines and heritage sites, but hardly ever thought to visit any of them. Since moving out here to Sweden, I’ve probably explored more of the area where I used to live then when I was resident there because each visit home means we check out another area of interest.
Are the eyes of a tourist so very different to those of a person who lives local, or do we as locals take our attractions for granted? If I lived within a few miles of Disney, would I have the same urge and passion for the parks as I have now? I have to wonder.
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