Tag: adventure

Categories
Grace Koepele

The Happiest (And Most Theatrical?) Place on Earth

Last week I traveled to California to visit my cousin who recently moved to Marina Del Rey. I enjoyed spending the week doing some sightseeing (you know I couldn’t miss seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s star on the Walk of Fame), catching up with family, and trying lots of new food spots. My favorite part of the week, however, had to be the two days my mom and I spent at Disneyland.

A young woman (the author, Cami) wearing overalls dress and pink Mickey Mouse ears, poses in front of a castle at Disneyland.

I was lucky that my parents took me to Disney World a few times as a kid, and a lot of my best childhood memories were formed there. This recent trip was my first time ever visiting Disneyland. I had the best time getting to ride LOTS of rides, meeting Minnie Mouse, and trying a Mickey Mouse-shaped fruity pebbles funnel cake that was as amazing as it sounds. One thing I couldn’t help noticing is that Disneyland is a VERY theatrical place. Although you wouldn’t necessarily expect the park to be theatre-related, during my time there, I found that Disneyland has an undeniably theatrical spirit.

A plate of funnel cake, covered in fruity pebbles and whipped cream shaped like Mickey Mouse ears.

My delicious fruity pebbles funnel cake

First, every single person who works at Disneyland is referred to as a “cast member,” not an “employee.” This is because the Disneyland cast members are pretty much performing at all times. Disney obviously places the utmost importance on the happiness of its visitors, and its cast members are entrusted with the job of creating magical moments for guests. To do this, they are always friendly, smiling, and using a specific themed language to add to the immersive experience of Disneyland. They want to make the overall experience the best it can be.

Secondly, Disneyland is basically a hub of all things needed for a show—costumes, sets, props, etc. Each land in Disneyland has its own unique feel and set pieces that transport you to that area: Fantasyland is marked by Sleeping Beauty’s castle and brightly colored cottages, while Frontierland is adorned with red rock, railroads, and western style trading posts. In addition, Disney cast members and many of the guests are in costume. One of the best parts of Disneyland is seeing the adorable kids visiting the parks dressed like their favorite Disney characters.

A decorative white and gold wall shaped like towers and turrets in Disneyland.
A view of the teacup ride at Disneyland, with multiple people riding giant, colorful teacups underneath vines with hanging, colorful lanterns.

Lastly, Disneyland is packed with live performances every single day. While I was there, I saw Frozen Live at the Hyperion Theater. I had previously seen Frozen on Broadway, and while this was a condensed version of the story, the quality of both shows was pretty comparable. It’s geared towards families, of course, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and appreciated the diverse casting that Disney used in this production. I love that there are opportunities to watch live theatre all day, every day at Disneyland.

With all of its theatrical elements, it’s probably not surprising that I cherished my time at Disneyland. I greatly appreciate the effort Disney puts into making their parks an immersive, interactive, and memorable experience. We were lucky enough to be there on Disneyland’s 64th birthday—commemorating 64 years of creating happiness and lifelong memories. Whether you’re a child or an adult, Disneyland can be a magical place for everyone. Most importantly, I love that Disneyland allows you to feel like a kid again, where everything is magical and anything is possible.

Fireworks explode at night over the lit up Disneyland castle.
Two women, Cami and her mother, stand in front of a building and Mickey Mouse-shaped garden with a circle sign that reads "We're 64 today!" for Disneyland's 64th anniversary.

Celebrating Disneyland’s 64th birthday

Categories
Grace Koepele Italy

Third Time’s The Charm

My third camp of the summer brought me to Cimadolmo, a small town nestled among the Prosecco hills of the northern Veneto region of Italy. Along with a South-African, a Canadian, and a fellow Michigander, we had an incredibly eventful first week.

Six young women pose outside in a row, smiling and wearing red or blue shirts that read "ACLE CAMP TUTOR."

At the beginning of the camp, the children were quite timid with our morning circle songs and activities—something that is not uncommon — but their level of apparent disinterest made me worry that they would be an unenthusiastic bunch. Thankfully, the first afternoon of habitat games came around and my worries were alleviated. In habitat games, we divide the campers into teams and have them compete in various relays to select the animals, colors, adjectives, and places that will become their team names. By the second game, practically every kid was invested in the competition and in the fate of their groupʼs name. Once the names were selected and each group began designing their team crests, every camper had at least one marker in hand and was making some contribution to the artwork. After this activity we soon came to know that any artistic endeavor required at least 30 extra minutes because the kids loved so much to draw and create absolutely anything.

Several young children lean over a large sheet of paper, coloring a landscape.

Other afternoon activities fortunately proved to stir similar levels of excitement throughout the week; during our camp-wide scavenger hunt we had one Freddy Mercury impersonator, three human pyramids, four love letters to for us tutors, and 35 giddy campers running from one side of the school to another in an effort to solve all of the tasks first.

A young boy with his back to the camera posts a drawing on an orange wall next to several other drawings.

Once water games day came around we were in for a treat. Not only did we have 200+ water balloons to launch at one another but also a surprise “celebrity” participant (a camper impersonating Johnny Depp), a couple “Baby Shark” references, three water-war waging tutors (including myself), four completely soaked helpers, 10+ water relays, and countless buckets of water poured on anyone within range.

Young children smile and pose for a selfie--one wearing large, red aviators with the remnants of a fake mustache on his lip.

We ended the first week of camp with an eclectic talent show featuring everything from magic tricks, to the Macarena (courtesy of our lovely camp director and assistant), to gymnastics, to a re-telling of a Roman battle, to a dramatic reenactment of the time I was chased by a moose (which featured one of our camp helpers giving another a piggy-back ride so that they could chase me around the stage pretending to be a moose).

In addition to the excitement of camp, during my first few days in Cimadolmo, the Prosecco hills surrounding the town were officially named a UNESCO heritage site! Over the weekend, my host family and I visited a castle on one of the hills, where we made friends with some donkeys, admired the panoramic view of the nearby towns and countryside, and hurried down the hill back to the car when a hail-storm began aggressively pelting us with hail. Due to the storm, we spent 30 minutes hiding under trees, bridges, and overhangs in our car rather than drinking Prosecco but the adventure was lovely just the same (although I think Prosecco would have improved my sentiments toward the situation…. and lowered my panic as we scurried from one partially-safe spot to another).

A beautiful Italian landscape with old, white buildings in the background, rolling green hills in the foreground, and stormy clouds brewing.

All in all I enjoyed my first week in Cimadolmo and I look forward to what little adventures come my way next week!

Til then, ciao for now!