I found out first hand this week when my family of five—plus our friends, a family of three who were visiting from Chicago—made our annual pilgrimage to Disneyland.
We tried to be as sustainable as possible. We packed in an organic lunch—after first confirming online that dietary concerns were justification for bringing in outside food, then nervously covering the food with sweatshirts as we entered. We had anticipated a showdown in which we would have to explain the concept of pesticide-free as a justifiable dietary concern, but nobody even blinked.
We also brought stainless-steel water bottles, which we filled up each time we found a rare water fountain. (Then we caved and let the kids get icees, which probably blew their high fructose corn syrup allotment for the year.)
In between, we went on as many rides as we could cram into a 10-hour period. It’s probably stating the obvious, but the amount of energy used to run these rides—plus restaurants, lights, trains and the other electrically-fueled experiences that make up Disneyland—is mind-boggling. With the place smack dab in the middle of sun roughly 350 days a year, the lack of solar is a crime.
We did find bottle and can recycling bins, but they don’t accept any of the immense amounts of paper and plastic used to package and deliver the snacks, sodas and fries that we consumed once our clandestine organic lunch was complete. C’mon Disney, even the Los Angeles Zoo uses biodegradable plastic cups!
Now that studio head Dick Cook—the former park tour operator who spent 38 years working his way up the ladder to studio head—is out, word on the street is that things will change dramatically at Disney.
Here are some changes I’d recommend: Solar. Wind. Biodegradable plastic. Organic options. More water fountains!
Other than that, Disneyland is perfect. Thanks, Walt.
