When you work at the vacation of the world, where do you go on vacation? I get that question often. Since I just returned from a vacation to San Francisco, I thought I'd give you an answer: As Far Away From Disney As I Can.
My first vacation from Disney was to Australia. Twenty-four hours into my Disney escape and we walked into a restaurant that was giving away a free Disneyland vacation. It was at that point I realized that I could never truely get away from the Mouse. In my nineteen years since, I have a running bet with myself to see how long I can go with out seeing the Mouse or some variation there of.
My best 'Where's Mickey?' moment was during a small group tour I did to Greece. We stayed in a little port town called Gerolominas (sorry if i spelled it wrong). During our hike up the mountian to see an ancient temple, we saw very few locals. In fact one town we walked through was practically a ghost town. The only person we saw was a young child standing on the door steps of her house. She must have heard there was a bunch of Americans walking through her village that day, because she wore Minnie Mouse head to toe: Minnie dress, Minnie tights, Minnie shoes, A Minnie hair thing.
We were going the Parthenon, the cradle of civilization and philosophy, and we ran across a vendor selling plastic Mickey junk. . . .I mean merchandise. That's just not right.
Several years later, a friend from work and I decided to go on a volunteer trip to Montana. For two weeks we'd be helping to build a playground at a school and various other projects on the Blackfoot Reservation. Since Disney managed to piss off many Native Americans with thier depiction of Pocahontas, I figured there would be no way I'd run into that Mouse on this vacation. WRONG. During the tour of the Headstart school where we'd be staying for the next two weeks, the second room we walked into, on the wall, bigger than life, is a hand drawn picture of Mickey and Minnie in Indian buckskin. My friend and I busted out laughing.
A different friend and I did a driving tour through England, Scotland and Wales. In Edinburg we were really late getting to our bed and breakfast stop for the night, but the family's little girl waited for us to get there because she had to meet the people who knew Mickey Mouse.
A side note: My friend had brought a Disney-MGM Studios jean jacket she had relocated from the wardrobe building. When we got back, we realized there were very few pictures of our trip we could show anyone, since my friend wasn't supposed to have had that patrticular jacket. Now, it doesn't matter since we take the clothes home. Back then, she had to smuggle the item out. . . .She was such a rebel. :)
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