VIEWPOINT - CUDC Quarterly 3:2 - Summer 2003
Mad About the Mouse
Byan J Evans
Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio
Vacation time is upon us once again, and the choice of destinations is seemingly limitless. There’s New York, the city that never sleeps...the Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world...or Alaska, where the sun never sets, well hardly ever in the summer, anyway. Still, with all these amazing choices, so many Americans still choose to go someplace really special: Disney World.
What is our obsession with Disney World? Well, it is typically 80 degrees and sunny in central Florida, and the grounds are meticulously cared for and clean, and there are all those people dressed up as cute characters running around. But are those the real reasons why people flock to the land of the mouse as if following the pied piper? Of course they have something to do with it, but there’s no denying that the ambiance of the place is what keeps people coming back time and time again.
Picture a place with a bustling main street lined with dozens of shops and cafes, with people pouring out onto the sidewalks. Picture a place where the dining options are limitless. Picture a place where you never need to get in your car...in fact, it’s actually easier to walk or take public transportation than to drive! Picture a place where everything is so convenient that it just makes you feel at home.
Now why aren’t you living in a place like that?
Every year, Americans work hard for 50 or so weeks. They then choose to spend the precious little vacation time afforded them, and a decent chunk of the money they’ve made over the rest of the year, to go to a place that offers them all of those wonderful luxuries...the main street...the dining...the "at home" feeling...all to escape the rigors of suburban life. So why don’t we just choose to live in places that offer those same luxuries? In Disney world, I can stay at the Boardwalk Resort and have a few attractive dining and entertainment options at my door, and I’d be only a fifteen minute bus ride from Downtown Disney, the home to dozens of eateries, shops, bars and shows! Funny–my house in Lakewood has all the necessities within a ten minute walk, and I’m only a fifteen minute bus ride from downtown Cleveland, which, despite its general lack of characters (well, people intentionally dressed as characters, anyway), has decidedly more dining and entertainment options than even Downtown Disney can claim.
Granted, it can hardly be said that it’s generally 80 degrees and sunny in Cleveland, and we all know that downtown is far from "meticulously cared for and clean," but we can still have those simple luxuries in life all the time without spending an extra penny or our coveted vacation time. Yet we still choose to live in the far-out suburbs, slaves to our cars, and disconnected from society. If I live in Avon, I’m only a 10-minute drive from all the necessities, all of which will be separate and will require finding separate parking spaces. It’s only a 30 minute drive to downtown (non-rush hour), where I can pay 15 bucks to park for an event, find limitless dining options where I’ll be forced to deny myself a couple beers because I drove, and have the pleasure of waiting in traffic after the event is over. That’s not even mentioning the time and money I spend commuting to and from work, day in, day out, all year long.
But after doing that all year, look at how relaxing Disney World will be!
I’m not totally discrediting Disney World. I’ve been know to spend time there with the family, and it does have some great things about it. The roasted turkey legs in Adventure Land are amazing, and in Norway at Epcot Center they have a building with an actual, working green roof! But those things and the cleanliness and the characters aside, it’s in many ways like a big neighborhood. There are interesting things and people everywhere, it’s walkable, it’s convenient ...hmmm...sounds kind of like Ohio City.
But why would we want those things in our everyday life? Maybe some people like to deny themselves the "luxuries" of convenience so that the reward after those 50 long weeks of working is that much sweeter, like eating cake only once a year on your birthday. Me? I’m enjoying my cake every day...you can have your cake everyday, and eat it too! Move to a true neighborhood, work hard for those 50 weeks, then go and visit Yosemite this summer. I promise you’ll have a good time...mouse or no mouse.
