Disneyland

Mom Bloggers and Disneyland have a complicated relationship. It’s no secret that many Mom Bloggers are in it for the swag, the review items, the trips. The days at Disneyland.

I am not. I promise you, I don’t want your tchotche, I don’t want a trip with a publicist, I want a trip with my family. I don’t need a spa weekend away, I’ll take the cash, buy some advertising and let me worry about the content. Capiche? Do we have that out of the way?

During the months (yes it’s only been months) that I’ve been blogging here I’ve had a number of emails from Disneyland. I am ThisClose to posting them all here. The essence is this, they send banner advertising and suggest to me that I “share this great deal” with my readers. Over and over again I’ve said, “that looks like an advertisement, would you like to buy ad space?” and they never respond.

Last year Disneyland invited Mom Bloggers to Disneyland during the first nights of Passover. If you are not Jewish you might not know. During Passover Seders are held on the first two nights (in my home) and you tell your children the story of the Exodus. It’s a wonderful holiday, with wine, songs and food that makes Thanksgiving look like a Jenny Craig meal. If you are a mother, Passover requires a lot of cooking. Oh, also during Passover you don’t eat bread or anything leavened (that’s pretty much everything at Disneyland).

When I contacted the folks at Disneyland’s PR department to say that this was quite a slap in the face, the response I got was this:

Did you check your email. Did you see that the head of our PR department has a Jewish last name.

They went on to explain to me that Passover is at night and this was a day event.

Message delivered. I heard ya. I’m reminding myself that I don’t blog for free crap. It’s a little hard to remember… but I’m trying.

We don’t really go to Disneyland, it’s 90 minutes in the car, and it’s expensive. It’s hundreds of dollars for a day with the kids, during the X-Mas season it’s hideously crowded and you will spend your entire day waiting in line for thing. Oh, unless you are her (hold your vomit folks, it’s not a press junket, it’s another mom blogger muddying the waters. If it were a press junket there would have been press there).

So as a parent I never liked Disneyland, because a day of skiing is less expensive and more fun. As a parent I’ve taken my kids to Disneyland a number of times and once during the XMas season, it was horrible. There were lines that lasted for hours, kids crying everywhere, parents yelling at the crying kids and telling them to stop. It was bad. My kids? My kids loved it. It’s geared for them. As a parent, like so many of you, I have a push and pull relationship with that gawdforsaken theme park. My kids love it, I hate it, it’s expensive, we go anyhow. That is the reality of Disneyland.

If you are reading blogs, you might think that going to Disneyland is free and breezy. Well, it is, and that’s wonderful PR in play. Of course you’re having a great day when you don’t spend the $400 that the rest of us do and you leave with a ton of swag. Erin (once again) does it best, explaining that Disneyland is great when you’re a mommy blogger being hosted.

Moving forward, my friend Ciaran’s kids learned the hard way that Hanukkah is not celebrated at the Happiest Place on Earth.

But wait, very few people celebrate Hanukkah! (you tell me) I get it, really I do. There’s a big problem though. When I go to Disneyland.com I see this:
Read More »I’m Not Asking Disneyland To Say The Motzi