Probably should’ve been a PM. Oh well. Please forgive me DisBoards for my giant wall of text
I grew up in San Francisco,
Big Hero 6, was sort of a living form of this
“San Fransokyo” =)
and Ive been eating sushi since I was two
California roll =)
as far as
Disneyland is concerned, UC irvine is 10-15 min away and its known for being the school of Asians, so with all the college kids in the area (theres a good five or six schools
including my alma mater, Chapman University) where if youre a student you have an annual pass, so that may have skewed your experience somewhat.
When I was at Legoland, in the Ninjago section, that’s when I finally came to the realization of the level of theming that all these parks go to. I mean, at the World Showcase at EPCOT, they hire only Japanese or Chinese to work those very specific sections. Why wouldn’t they fill the parks with Asians? I mean, as busy as it was, I never really had to wait very long to ride anything. All that I could figure was that it was the stereotyped relaxed CA lifestyle combined with the belief that they’ve been there a million times, so no need to rush and do everything. But in reality, Disney hired them to be there, to create a truly emersive experience.
Honestly, if you are Caucasian you’re a minority in CA at this point.
There was such a variety, honestly. There were times when I couldn’t tell if someone was Asian, Hispanic, Caucasian, or even a combination. Again, “Don’t stare! Don’t stare! Don’t stare! Why are you staring? Does it seriously matter what they are?” It didn’t, it was just a different atmosphere that I wanted to absorb and get to know better.
But when I was at Legoland, eating pizza at a noodle restaurant, people watching, as there was no line for pizza, but any place that served Asian style food was packed, and my husband so had to have that, so I had plenty of time to do my people watching. Other than the woman in front of me who decided to change her babies diaper in plain view while I ate, there was a Caucasian man wearing the exact same shirt I had considered but chosen not to bring, which had the word “native” on it, and the state of TX within. I found it so amusing that he would have this shirt, as there are a zillion forms of it, but this could have only come from DFW.
Texas pride is an obvious stereotype, but a display of it is more common in areas where I live, as we are an unknown minority. Very few people are originally from here, let alone the huge massive state. There’s a sort of “I was here first!” mentality from people who have only lived here for a few years. The shirt is more of a “no, I’m not causing traffic on your streets, you’re causing traffic on mine.” ...a way to cast off judgement and hate without having to say anything. But I chose not to bring it to CA, or even wear it this year at home, as there are also quite a lot of real foreigners, and I worry that instead of a show of pride, it might be seen as a display of hate. I can’t even imagine what people would have thought if I showed up at the DL gates wearing it when those DACA dreamers decided to protest there.
San Diego is high military presence
I only noticed this directly north, near the deserty area in between north SD and south of, I dunno, where OC ends?
Anyway, my Asian experienced did not end at Legoland or Sea World. My husband decided to drive me to this mall near his company’s corporate office is located. Like a (no offense) Asian tourist, I took soooo many pictures of random things that amazed me, but probably seem common boring everyday things to everyone else. One of the things I did not take a picture of was the food court. Other than the one token pizza place, everything was Asian. You had your Thai, your Korean, your Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese... ...a couple others that were unknowns to me. It was just really really interesting to see such a thing. A fusion of Asian cultures coming together to fight hunger. Our malls will have one, maybe two, if you want to include Indian as being “Asian.”
