Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Must romance also be clichéd?

This post has been kicking around in my head for awhile, probably since I first read a magazine article a bit ago about what the average woman finds romantic.

It bugged me how clichéd it all was. Women liked flowers, stuffed animals, and long walks on the beach. All very predictable.

I guess this is how we get 2300 couples per year getting married in Walt Disney World. I had the third couple I know mention that they as adults love to go to Disney for a romantic vacation.

So what's the deal with that?

The guy tonight was telling me about how he and his wife were going to eat in the big castle with a view of the whole park.

Barf.

I did some Googling and found that Disney does a brisk business in honeymoons and romantic vacations.

And weddings. Carefully packaged weddings.

I kid y'all not. I love Mickey and Minnie. Could they act as Best Man and Maid of Honor at our wedding? is a question on the Disney wedding FAQ.

(Answer: "No," oddly enough. Though they will show up at your reception if you pay for it.)

I am so disturbed.

CC

4 comments:

TheCSO said...

It's interesting just HOW carefully packaged - and what they're carefully excluding without directly saying so. Basically, it appears that a valid Florida marriage license is an absolute requirement - even though you can bring your own officiant and have Disney's involvement be limited to that of a caterer and event planner.

Maybe Disney isn't trying to make sure no one has a same-sex partnership/committment/whatever "not exactly marriage because we're not allowed to call it that" term you want to use ceremony.. but it sure looks like it to me.

LaReinaCobre said...

This must explain the Mickey and Minnie and other Disney character themed wedding invitations I saw in a catalog the other day. (A coworker is getting married). I was like, WHAT? Is this for people who are getting married right out of high school? I couldn't even imagine who would want that.

Disneyworld makes sense to me as a honeymoon destination because, having been to Disneyland once as an adult (with my mom), I can attest to DisneyCorp's total escapism. Man, I am used to wandering around empty streets of strange cities on my own at dawn, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself for those 2.5 days at Disneyland. Didn't read a newspaper, watch the television, or think about work for 2 solid days. I had NO clue what was going on in the world, and was so worn out from the day's activities that I slept like a baby every night.

Still, I wouldn't be so cheesy as to have my honeymoon there! I'm thinking more along the lines of Portugal or Venezuala. Hey, but the original vision idea for Epcot was really interesting!

Paul Wilczynski said...

CC,

Why does what other people do in a Disney environment disturb you? They're certainly not hurting anyone and it doesn't affect you directly or even indirectly.

Anonymous said...

I don't get the whole stuffed animal aspect of romance. I had a boyfriend give me a stuffed animal once, and I thought it was so weird. I remember thinking, "But I'm twenty-two!"