It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to Disneyland. This is one of the longest breaks from going to the parks that I’ve had since moving to LA. I know that one year of missing Disney was due to the parks being closed, but they reopened almost a year ago and I still haven’t returned. And this is for a few different reasons.
First, I still am anxious about being in crowded places. I know that when they reopened the capacity was reduced quite a bit, but it was still a lot of people. And now, I have seen photos of friends who have gone and the parks are just as crowded as before. I know that I won’t have this fear of getting sick forever, but I don’t see the need to push myself to go to the parks when I’m still uncertain. I’ve waited this long and I can wait a little longer. And right now, even though the numbers are getting better, they are still pretty high and I don’t need to add another risky behavior to my life. I know that going to the gym is still a risk, but I’m trying to be selective with the risks I take.
And they also just announced that vaccinated guests will no longer be required to wear masks at Disneyland, so I think I will want to wait longer before returning. I don’t know if they will be asking for vaccination cards when people are entering if they aren’t wearing masks, but I don’t know if that matters. Once someone is past the front gate, there won’t be regular checkpoints checking vaccination status. So someone who is unvaccinated could easily not wear a mask and I doubt anyone would know. I’ve seen what happened when there was a measles outbreak that was mainly around people who went to Disneyland. I worry that there could be the same thing with COVID-19 with unvaccinated guests not wearing masks. And I also know that being vaccinated doesn’t guarantee you can’t get others sick, so anyone not wearing a mask could be a risk for me. In some ways, I’m glad they announced this because now I’m even more certain about not going to the parks until things are safer. I’m not questioning my choice as much as I did when everyone is masked. Now, it just feels way too unsafe for me.
But even if I wasn’t worried about getting sick and being in crowds, there is another reason why I haven’t returned. I actually had a chance to meet up with my cousin at Disneyland this past weekend and I seriously was considering it. But I also don’t have an annual pass anymore so I would have to buy a 1-day ticket. And for the day I would be able to meet up with them, a 1-day ticket was over $200. When I had an annual pass, it was about $600. I can’t imagine spending 33% of what I spent for an entire year for a single day. Especially when I don’t know how often I would or could go now. I used to have Mondays free from work, and now I work Monday-Saturday. I will eventually start going back and I have a feeling I will buy the new type of annual pass since it’s worth it to me, but I can’t think of spending the money until I feel like I will be able to get the use out of it.
Since everything shut down almost 2 years ago, I have gotten a lot of my old life back. But I am still missing a lot of things, and going to Disneyland is one of them. If I went now, it wouldn’t be the way I remembered having Disney days. In the past, they were days to be carefree and have fun. Now, I don’t think I could have that same carefree feeling and it might be more stressful than other things in my life. One day, I’ll be back to being able to enjoy Disney and escape the regular world, but I’m just not there yet.
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