Disneyland: Medicinal Mickey Day

[darkrail]

Thought some of you guys might get a kick out of this.

It's an essay I wrote for my friends describing my first trip to Disneyland while high.

Things you might want to know about me before reading it: I've only been smoking for about two years. I never smoke more than twice a week (always at night for pain or anxiety); this means that my tolerance remains so low that it's easy to have a near-hallucinogenic experience any time I smoke, if I smoke enough. I imagine some (most?) of you who smoke more often would have different results than I did. I'm also in my thirties and a professional writer who has too many responsibilities to be wasting his time on juvenile stuff like this... but I love doing it anyway!

DISCLAIMER: While "Medicinal Mickey Day" may be a funny title, it is in no way meant to demean the serious medical qualities of cannabis. This is simply an exploration of one of the fun side-effects.

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Medicinal Mickey Day - A Critical Analysis

As some of you may have noticed, I've acquired an appreciation of weed over the last couple of years. Weed is fun, and weed is a good friend. What better idea than to combine it with my other good friend Mickey Mouse? Sounds like fun-squared.

My experience with weed thus far has almost exclusively involved staying home. On a couple of rare occasions I've ventured out to a restaurant and devoured some extra-delicious food. MMD (Medicinal Mickey Day) was a first for many things: using weed during the daytime, walking around a lot, dosing twice during a single day, etc.

Disneyland was inexplicably packed yesterday. It was the most crowded trip I've taken to Disney in years. I'd say the walkways were even more crowded than the rides, if that makes any sense. Wait time for e-ticket rides was about 20-25 minutes, and even my sober girlfriend had to shove her way through crowds to successfully get from one ride to another. It was not an ideal day for the experiment.

The experiment started out very well, only delayed about 15 minutes by traffic. I medicated in a comfortable environment (my friend's condo 5 minutes from the park) with some strong Super Jack (sativa). After a few hours, I returned to the apartment for a quick nap and some Herojuana (hybrid) to keep up the high.

After vaporizing the Super Jack, I felt immediately euphoric and excited to go see my favorite mouse. The 5-minute ride to the park (sober girlfriend driving) was pretty terrifying. The walk from the car to the park was long and nervous. I kept forcing myself to look sober so the ticket-taker wouldn't call security on me. Once I got to the entrance gate, I channeled Abe Lincoln and handed the employee my ticket with dignity to spare. I had slain that dragon and was free in the Happiest Place On Earth... but I didn't feel the glee I expected. This is where I first started to realize weed's incompatibility with Mickey.

Here's the thing: to successfully navigate Disneyland (especially on a busy day), I needed to mentally dampen the effects of the weed. Weed seems to work wonders when I'm locked in my dimly-lit house with very selective stimuli. Albums are fascinating, food is fascinating. But when I was out in the chaos of society, weed mostly felt like an impediment, a handicap. I was slower to react and more frightened of things. When planning the day, I figured fear and paranoia would be fun on the rides... and they were. But the rides seemed like such a small part of the day, while walking around and waiting in line was the primary experience. My anxiety and annoyed mindset really changed the high, suppressed it. I guess weed provides euphoria like growing a gorgeous, fragile rose: it only blooms if properly nurtured. At Disney, the weed felt more like a gray glue in my brain.

There were a few highlights. At one point on the Disneyland Railroad I successfully believed that the track was running through the middle of a deep, vast forest. Pirates of the Caribbean was darker and more menacing than usual. The only true success of the day was Space Mountain. I could have ridden Space Mountain 20 times in a row! It was unspeakably more fun than usual. Haunted Mansion had one unexpected extra: a costumed cast-member was standing next to the track early in the ride. He surprised me, then stared me down and spookily reached out at me, just inches from my face. I yelped and shrunk away from him in terror. That was fun! My girlfriend laughed for a solid minute at my reaction. And looking at the brand new lighting scheme on the exterior of Small World was utterly hypnotizing [the ride itself had a three-hour wait, so we skipped that one].

The highlight of the day was mid-day, when I went back to my friend's condo and lied down in a dark room for a nap. That, and Space Mountain, were the only two times that I truly felt high. This leads me to conclude that for me, a full, healthy enjoyment of weed requires relaxation, isolation, darkness, and quiet.

On a slightly more philosophical note, I think weed is better as a sensation-enhancer than a full-out hallucinogen. Rides like Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain were fun--but not much more fun than usual. They, like most Disney rides, are about the story. They involve thinking and actively suspending disbelief. Suspension of disbelief happens a lot while high, but it's not something I could control. When the sensations were extra strong in Space Mountain, suspending disbelief was easy! I was so pummeled by lights and motion that I didn't have time to remember I was just some rube in a carnival ride. I was truly an astronaut; Jodi Foster on a journey to Vega in CONTACT; or a molecule bounding around at the heart of a nuclear reaction. Weed loved Space Mountain like it loves headphones blasting Nine Inch Nails, like it loves Cheetos or chocolate, like it loves bed and darkness. Weed hates gray crowds beneath overcast skies.

In summary, yesterday will probably be my only MMD. I could see an unlikely scenario in which I do it again. I would need to spend most of my day repeatedly riding Space Mountain, with occasional breaks for Indiana Jones, Thunder Mountain and the Matterhorn (none of which were ridden yesterday). However, this would require two things that I don't know how to achieve: 1) A guarantee of a crowd-free day, and 2) Someone who would want to spend the day doing that with me. My girlfriend was feeling sick after one Space Mountain, so she's out. I'm guessing such a day will never happen.

Kids: say NO to drugs & Disney.

[Dr. 215]

Hahaha Nice essay man. Very well written. I think its definitely different for me though. I've been to Disney land high and it was awesome! I think the main difference is your tolerance and your social anxiety when high. If you can just block that out and just remember that truly, no one knows that you are high you would have had a better time with the crowds. Again i really liked your essay, and hey, did you hit up Star Tours? thats my ultimate favorite high, or the Soarin' Over California in California Adventure park.

[xsmokinbudx]

wow great write up, like Dr. 215 stated, it seems you have some anxiety in public, for a semi new smoker its extremely understanding, especially smoking high quality pot. Like he said no one knows you are high!

[Soniq420]

Fantastic Essay Darkrail, you had me "in the moment" with your narrative

[darkrail]

Thanks for the comments!

No, I didn't hit Star Tours or Soaring. Both were on my list, but the crowds were just awful. I was really surprised, since early-December is often the best time to go. I think it was so crowded purely because of the new Small World thing.

You're both probably right about the anxiety--I've definitely got some. Maybe I need to practice more outings and work my way up to another Disney trip. It sounded so fun, and I'd hate to be a quitter :)

[HappyKitty]

Thanks for posting this, I enjoyed reading it.

We went in the middle of January and had the place to ourselves. We never stood in line, and sometimes even had to wait for enough people to show up so the ride would start. I rode the Indiana Jones ride till I got sick to my stomach, soared over california over and over, went in the bug's life show so many times we took on the stinkbug smell. you name it we did it. Three women running around like we were 12.

After a short break for lunch, we enjoyed a nice doobie (to disguise the stinkbug smell, of course) and headed back for a ride on the giant mickey rollercoaster. Big mistake. I should have rode it earlier, before the break. We shot out of the chute on that ride like a bat out of hell. I immediately started shouting for God, my mother, and anyone else that might be able to help me survive this machine. I would never recommend that ride stoned. It was this gal's last ride on a coaster.

It was the best trip I ever had to Disneyland. We were able to enjoy our buzz and our surroundings. The greatest thing is that we never had to stand in line or fight a crowd. It's like they were waiting just for us!

So next time, make it mid-January. Thanks again for the story.

[Alaska Lady]

That was pretty cool. I remember going to Disneyworld and Epcot in Florida baked. I was even with my parents (who were NOT smoking) and I had to remember not to have my lips bypass my brain! lol
When I am really stoned I tend to make conversation and my brain cant keep up with my lips, so I have to keep telling myself to stop talking. But we had alot of fun on the rides, in the shops and especially the fireworks every night! That was almost the best part, the perfect end to each day! Then back to the motel, another joint, another meal, lots of talking and laughing, and then bed. None of us could wait to wake up and start the next day.
I used to be way paranoid in crowds until I got more comfortable with being in public while stoned. Now I just have to keep telling myself to shut up!
Dont give up on Mickey just yet, but like HappyKitty said, try it again when the crowds are not so pressing, and go with someone who can keep up with you.
That was great! You make me want to go on a new vacation now!