The sweltering August day
produced bizarre scenes:
o In the parking lot, shiny hearses peeking
out from the rows of minivans.
o Six Goth men and women lining up to take
pictures with Mary Poppins, then trotting to Pinocchio's Daring
Adventure. Watching the black-clad cluster approach, one wide-eyed
little girl looked at her mom. "I didn't know this was supposed
to be a scary ride," she said. "Goodie."
o Santa Monica hair salon manager Ven Faiz,
23, plopping a set of Mickey Mouse ears over her purplish-black
bob without a hint of irony.
o In the restroom near New Orleans Square,
a woman in a black, patent-leather cat suit gushing over Lyn Harton's
fuchsia dreadlocks as tourists in bright-colored T-shirts and
shorts waited in line. Half an hour later, Harton, 32, and friend
Jennifer Frey, 29, rode down Main Street in a red carriage, waving
with beauty queen precision.
The event is held now because the park
has longer hours in summer and the last Sunday in August is the
first non-blackout day for season ticket holders. And you'd be
surprised how many Southern California Goths have annual passes,
said San Diego Web designer Joey Large, 33.
"Most of the Goths I hang out with are
not dreary people," she said. "They're pretty perky."
Large brought her 7-year-old daughter,
Zoe. The freckled, blue-eyed girl had her dyed-red hair in pigtails
just like Mommy's, along with a black shirt and skirt trimmed
with patent leather.
The disconnect between Goths and Disney isn't
as great as one might think, Large said, adding that Disney has a lot
of evil - think Pirates of the Caribbean, the "Nightmare Before Christmas"
movie or Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty's nemesis.
But Sunday, Goth-filled boats floated through
the kitschy "It's a Small World," and there were black blurs on the
spinning teacups.
On Sunday, at least, Disneyland was a Goth world
after all.
Copyright 2003 Los Angeles Times |
