Disneyland

Will Butler:

So I had a first this past week, Carolyn.

Caroline Desrosiers:

What's that?

Will Butler:

I mean, technically it wasn't a first, but it was something that I was deprived of as a kid that I felt like I was experiencing for the first time. Can you guess what it was? Well, you can guess because you know what the episode is. But can you pretend like you're guessing?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh Yeah. I don't know. What could it be? Something you haven't done.

Will Butler:

I was trying to do like a magical... It's Disneyland. You're listening to Say My Meme, the podcast that describes the Internet's best memes for a blind audience. I'm your co-host Will Butler from Be My Eyes and I'm joined by Caroline Desrosiers from Scribely.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I love Disneyland.

Will Butler:

Did you grow up going as a kid?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh, we went every year, at least once.

Will Butler:

Right. You're a [Inaudible 00:01:04] you're an Orange County person.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yes. Grew up 20 minutes...

Will Butler:

Long Beach.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I mean, both the right. But I grew up 20 minutes from Disneyland. So my parents, they never stopped hearing about us wanting to go. Yeah.

Will Butler:

It's such a different experience from so many other kids for whom Disneyland is like a once in a lifetime experience.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. So how was Disneyland? How was your day?

Will Butler:

It was amazing. They actually do a really good job with accessibility and stuff. And they have these special attendants who will help you get through the line if you have a disability. So anyone who's going, definitely take advantage of all those services. They're there for you and your friends. So that was awesome. We did like 11 rides. We were there for 12 hours. It was epic.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Wow. Was it packed?

Will Butler:

They're doing 25% capacity. I just can't imagine what 100% capacity feels like.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh you don't even want to know. You really don't want to know. So it was like, ended up being a good thing, even though it's Disneyland during COVID, you're at 25% capacity. So that's like a much better experience.

Will Butler:

You know what's funny? I kept walking around saying like, "This isn't as big as I thought it was." And then we would go to like a whole other part of the part. I guess it's designed to feel intimate. But it's also huge, right?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. What was your favorite land?

Will Butler:

I mean, anything in space was amazing.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Nice.

Will Butler:

All the Star Wars stuff was incredible and even just the old school stuff like... It's vaguely Star Wars like Space Mountain, or Star Tours, all great.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh my gosh. So fun. I'm glad you got to go.

Will Butler:

I did Indiana Jones for you.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yay.

Will Butler:

It was a little dated, maybe.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. I bet it was at this point.

Will Butler:

But Pirates of the Caribbean still holds up for sure as like a fun little jaunt. But yeah, let's go into some Disneyland meme. Shall we?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Let's do it all.

Will Butler:

Okay. All right. Hit me with the arrival one. Like what happens when you pull up at Disneyland.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Right. Okay. So this is a meme that reminds me of when I was in high school, because growing up in Orange County, a lot of friends were Disneyland regulars, right?

Will Butler:

Right.

Caroline Desrosiers:

People had annual passes. And so-

Will Butler:

People were very proud of their Disneyland knowledge.

Caroline Desrosiers:

... Exactly. They feel like, I know this place, right? So this is a meme about that. And picture also Walter White from Breaking Bad because this is a freeze frame from Breaking Bad.

Will Butler:

Got it.

Caroline Desrosiers:

And he's looking very intimidating and talking down to you. And the caption above is, "When you just arrived at Disneyland and your friends are looking for a map." And then Walter says, "I am the map."

Speaker 3:

You clearly don't know who you're talking to. So let me clue you in.

Will Butler:

"I am the map." I remember that scene in Breaking Bad. That exact thing happened.

Speaker 3:

I am the one who knocks.

Will Butler:

People are like, "[inaudible 00:04:30] don't worry. I've got you."

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh my gosh. And you know what? This one totally reminded me of my older sister, because she's like, "Oh, I know the way to go. You don't need a map. Just follow me. This is the fastest way to get across Disneyland." Or "This is the secret way through this section." And she just had such an ego about it.

Will Butler:

Yeah. "I'm the one who knocks."

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, right.

Will Butler:

Love it. Amazing.

Caroline Desrosiers:

All right. Next one?

Will Butler:

Yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Okay. So this one is for fans of the movie It. It's not the most recent one, the remake, it's the one with Tim Curry. It's a scene where Georgie, who's a young boy, is playing outside in the rain with his yellow raincoat. And he has this little paper boat that he's sending down the gutter, right? It's moving down towards this storm drain, right? He's falling it down and then it falls into the storm drain, and he looks inside and he encounters Pennywise, which is the It clown.

Will Butler:

In the drain.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yes. So it's terrifying. That scene is really dark. But yeah, this meme, it includes that scene. So picture the moment where Pennywise is peering out from the drain with this crazy look in his eye and he's like fully a clown with red hair and a white face and a red nose. And he's got this creepy, strange smile with yellow teeth. And the caption under the photo reads, "I have Rise of the Resistance boarding passes." And below this, a second caption simply says, "Me." And it's three photos of a girl slowly climbing into a storm drain.

Will Butler:

Oh my God. So basically this meme is saying even the little girl would climb into the storm drain with Pennywise for Rise of the Resistance passes.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Because I haven't experienced this. Maybe you have. But it's really hard to get a boarding pass.

Will Butler:

Yeah. So when you go to Disneyland right now, Rise of the Resistance is the new Star Wars. Right. And you have to log onto the app at exactly 7:00 AM or exactly 12:00 PM. And you have to be in the park while you're doing it. And within a minute you have to refresh the page and then click the boarding pass. Some people like use a second phone with the world clock on it so that they know which is this clock that Disneyland uses too. It's insane what you have to go through to get one of these passes. I guess the moral of this story is do not accept candy from strangers and certainly do not accept Rise of the Resistance passes.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Even if you want to go, try to resist.

Will Butler:

That is a deep bizarre, dark meme.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I know. Well actually, weirdly enough, a lot of these are. I think that-

Will Butler:

Really?

Caroline Desrosiers:

... This is like a dark side to Disneyland, right?

Will Butler:

Yeah. Okay. So brace yourselves for more dark.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Okay. So this next one, it's about taking breaks at work for me. Right. And whenever you have a break, like sometimes there's a break room, there's a place people could actually go. But other times you just have to make your break outside or something like that. But this meme takes that and it makes it about Disneyland. So it's side-by-side photos. The first is Mickey and Minnie characters and they're not wearing their giant mouse heads, right. So you can see their human heads. And they're smoking a cigarette together. Right. The second is a man doubled over, grabbing his stomach. Like he's just totally in pain. And the caption is "Right in the childhood."

Will Butler:

Like you got me right in the childhood.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Which is an amazing. I love that caption. It's so funny. I never heard that before. But it's true. If you saw something like this, it would hurt.

Will Butler:

Yeah. Sometimes you see them and you're almost like, is this staged, Micky and Minnie smoking a cigarette on a curve? That sounds like a cliche that someone would come up with about Disneyland.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. And I look this up. They're definitely not actually a Disneylander working at Disneyland. This has to be like in Hollywood or something.

Will Butler:

Right. And the fact that they're smoking the cigarette together is part of the performance art or something.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. It could be totally. Disneyland, you always have to be in character. Even if you're just sweeping up trash. Right. Everyone is in character. So they would love this. [crosstalk 00:09:59]

Will Butler:

When we walked into the Star Tours ride and we got into the room, and we had our masks on, it smelled like one of the attendees had just got off a smoke break. And I typically don't really mind the smell of cigarettes, but in Disneyland, like a worker reeking of cigarettes is a really jarring experience.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh yeah.

Will Butler:

Because everything is so dialed. Everything is just so. All the way down to the smells. Going into the Star Wars, right, and having it smell like cigarettes it's like, oh, what's going on here? It is like, oh, you got me right in the childhood.

Caroline Desrosiers:

And they're destroying your happiness.

Will Butler:

Yeah, exactly.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Well, I had to look this up because the last time I went to Disneyland, few years ago, they still had smoking areas. But I guess they've banned it completely in the park.

Will Butler:

Oh, I didn't know they did that even.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. They have these tiny little areas where you could smoke.

Will Butler:

It shows you how far we've come.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I know.

Will Butler:

This next one I like a lot because it's super simple. It's easy to describe.

Caroline Desrosiers:

It is. Yeah. And I feel like it's just like the most important visual here is Cinderella Castle. Actually, that's a Disney world. So picture that. But I'll describe the castle because it's glorious. It's white and gray stone with these royal blue turret roofs and golden spires. It's stunning. There's a dense crowd of people walking towards the castle gate. So just picture that. And then the caption reads "A people trap set by a mouse." So good.

Will Butler:

It's great. That's a good one. That's like very sharable.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. I love that one.

Will Butler:

I would just shoot that one off to everyone I went to Disneyland with.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Totally. I thought first of the game mouse trap when I found this meme. But I suppose it's also, it could just be about a regular mouse trap, right?

Will Butler:

Yeah.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Both work.

Will Butler:

So this next one is about all the rides. People love rides, but people also get weird about rides too, right?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Totally. I don't know. Do you like when they take your photo during the ride? Do you enjoy that?

Will Butler:

For a number of reasons, but I'm not super into it.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Well, I've never liked that either. And then it's just on display for everyone. And you go out and you check out the photo and you're like, oh God. Let's just move on from that. But yeah, this is about those photos they take during rides and it's also a Karen meme.

Will Butler:

Okay.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. So I don't know. Well, can you sum up what a Karen is? I feel like everyone knows by now, but...

Will Butler:

Every time I hear people in public talking about a Karen moment, somebody asks, what do you mean Karen? And then someone has to explain it. So I feel like we're not fully there yet, nor should we be because it's not really that fair to people named Karen. But it's a cranky white woman. You know what I mean? It's like people of privilege who insist on exerting their privilege in ways that are obnoxious.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. That's a perfect definition. And Karens have a certain look. They definitely do.

Will Butler:

So this Karen caught on a roller coaster, right?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, it is. So the first row of people in the photo, we could see a woman and she's smiling. It looks like maybe there's like a child that's leaning into her, but they're clearly having a good time on this ride. In the third row, it's a man and a woman and they're just terrified on this rollercoaster and screaming. But also having fun in a different way. In the second row, in between these two groups is a woman. She probably in her late 40s, early 50s and her arms are crossed and she's staring weirdly directly into the camera. Just this very stern expression. Her neck is all strained and her lips are purse. She just looks pissed. But the caption is "When the ride isn't even over yet and you already want to speak to the manager."

Will Butler:

It's like how did she know where the rollercoaster camera was? Or did she, or this is just a totally coincidence? Because she is looking directly into the camera.

Caroline Desrosiers:

It's creepy actually. I mean, this is clearly a fast rollercoaster because everyone's hair is blowing back, right? So for her to maintain this very stoic expression and be this still is incredible.

Will Butler:

Yeah. It's impressive. Okay. So this one, you gave me a trigger warning because it's a Hitler meme. What is going on in this one? Because I couldn't tell whether or not this was real or what.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. No. I actually had to look into that as well. I guess there are Hitler memes on the internet and they're mostly making fun of the whole thing. But also it's very tragic. But we're, we're not shying away from dark humor here. But this one is basically like, so picture two side-by-side photos and the first one is three middle school girls and they're all wearing Minnie mouse ears. And they're making like sassy faces at the camera. Some of them have colored sunglasses on. And they're standing in front of the Walt Disney World Castle.

Caroline Desrosiers:

The caption below that reads "Go to Disney with your best friends." And then the image below is the punchline. It's a punchline image and it's a black and white photo of Hitler and two other guys posing in front of a very well Photoshop Disney World Castle, right. So it's like middle school girls versus Nazi Germany. I had to look this up because they expertly Photoshopped this Disney World Castle into a historic photo.

Will Butler:

Yeah. And it makes you wonder like, what were they posing in front of? Because it really literally looks like Hitler got his two besties. And they're like, this is going to be such a great photo. What were they in front of?

Caroline Desrosiers:

I actually found it. They were in front of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. It's very appropriate because that's the castle that Disneyland used as the inspiration, right? It is very Disney.

Will Butler:

Oh seriously?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yes. It has like towers and turrets and spires just like that. It's very ostentatious.

Will Butler:

So they didn't even really need to Photoshop this because there would have been a big castle in the background anyway. Huh?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah, it is. Like you can tell it that it is Neuschwanstein Castle, but it's cut off. So they basically took the bottom part of that photo and then they completed it by adding a castle.

Will Butler:

So half of that castle is the real deal. But they put the top part of Disney on it. Oh my God.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Pretty good.

Will Butler:

That's crazy.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I know.

Will Butler:

Did they use that photo from the girls? Maybe. I don't know.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I don't know. Maybe they did for like proportions, but...

Will Butler:

Wow.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Pretty good.

Will Butler:

Did we get as deep as why were Hitler and his buds so indent in Neuschwanstein Castle?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Well, I did look that up and I know that they hung out. The Nazis hung out there a lot. And I think that Hitler went to like a Wagner festival out there. I don't know if that was like this particular time because it's really hard to find information.

Will Butler:

It's a festie photo. Festies and besties.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yes. So they were actually having a good time, even though they look very serious. I think this was a fun photo.

Will Butler:

And there's like murmurings. I don't know the validity of them between Disney, Nazi connection and all that. Right.

Caroline Desrosiers:

I think that this is actually a comment on that too.

Will Butler:

Right. But it's all very subtle so that the mouse doesn't come and scrub it off the internet. Right. Wow. Very deep, heavy meme there. People should, if they can, they should definitely go check that one out. It's really interesting.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Okay.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Next one definitely has a lighter mood to it and it's...

Will Butler:

I'm glad you didn't end with the Hitler meme.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. This is a super famous meme and it features a three-year-old girl who has become an internet celebrity at this point. Are you familiar with Side-eye Chloe?

Will Butler:

No.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Okay. I feel like-

Will Butler:

I'm sure our listeners would love to learn more about her.

Caroline Desrosiers:

... Yeah. This is like Side-eye Chloe must be up there with grumpy cat. But it's a 2013 viral video of two sisters and they're in the backseat of the car and their mom is taking a video of them because she's going to surprise them that they're skipping school that day and going to Disneyland. And the mom wants to get the kids' reaction. So the older sister, Lily is just welling up with tears, overcome with joy and she's just freaking out. And then the camera's going back and forth between Lily, who's crying and very emotional and Chloe who is having a hard time understanding the moment and the level of emotionality of her sister. Like she's just trying to place it and has these really funny facial expressions in the video.

Will Butler:

Wow.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. So the look on Chloe's face is everything. That's why it's famous. So you need to understand that. But her mouth is slightly open and it looks like she's curling her bottom lip back and under her front teeth, which are like tiny baby T teeth sticking out. And there's like a gap in the center. Her eyebrows are crossed and giving her this confused and disturbed side-eye look and she's looking directly at the camera at her mom. And to me, it's like she's got this look like, seriously, be cool right now. Like calm down. Yeah. And the caption is, and this is supposed to be Chloe saying this to her mom, "Disneyland? Yes. But you work."

Will Butler:

So did she actually say that?

Caroline Desrosiers:

No. She's just has cute little kid reactions, but someone put this response on Chloe, which is like, "We're skipping school today? "Yeah." "But don't you have to go to work?" It's like, come on.

Speaker 4:

What about your doctor's appointment?

Speaker 5:

I don't have a doctor's appointment. Oh, I love you.

Speaker 4:

I love you too mom.

Speaker 5:

See, we're going to Disneyland.

Speaker 6:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Will Butler:

Because I haven't seen Side-eye Chloe, but I feel like she's probably been used in a lot of different contexts, right?

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh yeah, definitely. And there's some really great captions out there and taglines. Others include like "When your best friend starts talking about ghosts." I love that. Yeah. Totally.

Will Butler:

My face when someone says you look pale.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yes. Which I get all the time because I am very pale and it's like, Hey, what can I do about it?

Will Butler:

You give him the side-eye. Give him the old Side-eye Chloe.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Don't say anything at all.

Will Butler:

What was the other one? How I feel about Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Yeah. Also mega side-eye Chloe, for sure.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Yeah. Like really? We are doing this already.

Will Butler:

Well, I hope there are very few side-eye Chloes at Disneyland. I personally had a great time. I did not expect to have such a good time, but I really, really enjoyed it. And now I'm thinking about checking out California Adventure next.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Oh, very cool. Yeah. It's a little different than Disneyland, but it's fun. Lots of roller coasters.

Will Butler:

Oh, great.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Your favorite.

Will Butler:

My fav. Cool. Thank you Caroline And we'll see you next week.

Caroline Desrosiers:

See you next week.

Will Butler:

All right. Bye.

Caroline Desrosiers:

Bye.

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