It's magic when you believe

So Mickey sings, ad nauseam, as you are swept along from Mainstreet, into the manicured outer provinces of the magic kingdom. This being my seventh Disney pilgrimage I have to admit to having a crisis of faith - 20 minutes into the 30 minute queue for 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ride. 

There's no doubt about it, my long suffering nearest and dearest were being subjected to Pete on the subject of the symbiotic relationship between sentimentality and cultural imperialism. Did I really see the Disney Corporation in conspiracy theory terms as an unpaid willing volunteer arm of the CIA? Probably not! What was really going on was a Fifty plus tantrum because my daughter Laura was planning to go on Space Mountain but I'd been banned from indulging my passion for rollercoasters because of the undiagnosed cardiac condition that had scuppered the America trip. One sure fire sign of grumpy Pete is a marked increase in the level and frequency of half-baked theory. Maybe I could make  fortune from marketing a new self help book called 'Anger Management Through Talking Bullshit; it works for me!

Anyway, by midday Gill and I, who were getting mightily bored in the main park, it being our seventh visit to one Disneyland or another, persuaded Laura to hightail it over to the Disney Studio Park..

Goofy heads the parade of  cool cars, dancing with surprisingly 'gay' abandon

I liked this evocation of a Hollywood backlot. Cinematique, a half hour show that mixes live action with cunningly edited clips from Hollywood classics manages to pay homage to the development of cinema from the silent era, through the introduction of technicolor to today's technical wizardry; it's done with style, panache and a humour which reveals a real love for the art form. Along the way classic tropes such as the custard pie fight, the car chase, the shoot out, the battle scene and of course, the long goodbye and the lingering screen kiss are all cleverly incorporated into the boy meets girl story. What comes between them is the physical barrier of the screen itself which, through the 'magic' of cinema is at times asserted then sometimes denied.

Space mountain at night - is mine a lifetime ban?

Equally impressive was the multimedia light show at the end of the day which has replaced the traditional end-with-a-bang firework extravaganza. Using Sleeping Beauty's castle as the centrepiece, flanked on each side by giant screens formed by Bellagio style walls of water, animated characters and dreamlike sets were projected onto the castle which appeared to melt and reform before you. All this accompanied by a classic rich orchestral soundtrack and punctuated at key points by some serious exploding rocketry.

Along with scores of other motor homers we spent the night in the car park, theme-parked-out; we slept like the dead.

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