Tuesday, July 21, 2015

How Do You Get To Wonderland?????????????????



                          When I went to Disneyland, in CA, the first time, back in 1964, at the tender age of 9, the Alice In Wonderland Ride was my favorite. I could not stop going on it, because I was so dazzled by it visually, and it gave me the Wonderland experience I wanted.

                              When Disney World, opened, years later, on my initial visit to Fantasyland, I was devastated to see they had no included this attraction.  It made me less interested in going there, and I don't know, decades later, if they have added it. If any of you know, tell me on here, because I will make a mad dash for it.

                                 Which brings me back to the question
. How do you get to Wonderland?  It used to be so much easier.

                                   For one thing, you have to be child sized. As an adult, your imagination can take you any place you want to go--and yes, one can still ride the Alice In Wonderland ride

                                    But I can remember when Wonderland was all over the place. It ran alongside the brook, in  a field across from my house, where, as children, we enacted all sorts of things. There was a spot I used to call "Frankenstein's Island," after the opening scene in the 1958 film, "Frankenstein-1970!," when that year seemed forever off!  Further down was a drainage pipe which one could monitor, like Alice in the rabbit hole, or sit scrunched up, talking with friends for hours. The water--or its quality--that we used to wade in--well, it is a wonder any of us are still alive now. But we are.

                                     Wonderland was also in the park, where, while still small enough I would spin the merry-go-round to maximum speed, then stride it, with my head underneath, so the world would be topsy turvy.  I loved that feeling.

                                        Of course, before Disneyland, and its franchises, became conglomerates, before the arrival of Great Adventure and Six Flags, there was an abundance of fantasy themed parks throughout many states, including my home one of New Jersey.
.
                                    Like the Land Of Make Believe, in Hope, New Jersey, with its Peppermint Stick Forest; my favorite!

                                  Or Storybook Land, in Egg Harbor, Township, NJ, where Wonderland fantasies became real for a day!

                                 Then, there was Story Land, the one I went to, off the Asbury Circle, not far from Freehold!  I went there several times, and a day there was like entry to another world!  Just like Alice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                  And, of course, there was the famous Gingerbread Castle, in Hamburg, NJ, which, at Halloween time, became the Ginger Dead Castle.  Another bit of Wonderland!

                                 I had wondered, aside from the Disney ride, if there had ever been an Alice In Wonderland Theme Park.  It turns out there had been; an English theme park, so titled, set by the Yangjae Stream in South Korea, in a park called Culture And Arts.  It was open as far back as ten years ago, but somewhere before 2013, it was demolished.  Now, it is an abandoned setting, not unlike "Follies."

                                 So, how does one get to Wonderland?  "Over the hills, or under land, or just behind the trees."  As children, all of the above, as adults only in the heart and mind.

                                  Wonderland is where you feel happiest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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