by Hailey Robertson

The last time I was at Disneyland I decided to make this video when I found that the Ferris Wheel looked eerily like a hypnotic spinning wheel. Guests of the park are hypnotized into throwing their money at the park and leave with nothing but a blurry memory of rides, lines, and a stuffed Olaf.

disneyland daze from phantom limbbbb on Vimeo.

Disneyland is a fun and family friendly place, enjoyed by young and old alike. But to view it purely as an amusement part would be to ignore its principal purpose–to make money. Families enter the park at a high price, only to be bombarded with more spending options within the park: cheaply made souvenirs, eleven-dollar slices of pizza, a photo in front of the castle with Tinkerbelle photoshopped in. To top it all off, fountains litter the property ready for a children’s wish to be thrown in by way of your last pennies.

The last time I was at Disneyland I decided to make this video when I found that the Ferris Wheel looked eerily like a hypnotic spinning wheel. Guests of the park are hypnotized into throwing their money at the park and leave with nothing but a blurry memory of rides, lines, and a stuffed Olaf. There is a beautiful chaos to the park that I tried to capture in the film, which is cut up by the wheel and fountains full of pocket change; it’s propaganda to spend money at the park–just what they want you to do.

Walt Disney’s opening day speech from 1955 is looped and layered over itself to show the manipulation of his original vision of the park. Every year the prices rise, leading for a new high in profits for the corporation. In 2013, the theme park branch alone made $2.2 billion dollars for the Walt Disney Company. Walt always said that he didn’t do anything to make money, but to make movies. His goal in life was to entertain and make people happy, but after his death the company has created more and more ventures for them to rake in the cash. Corporate greed has overtaken what once was “The Happiest Place on Earth” and turned it into an overpriced family vacation.