Two months ago, I was warned that my article for the July issue would be about my first memories of Disneyland. I knew from the outset how hard this would be. If I had been asked about my first visit to Florida's Magic Kingdom this would be easy. It was November 18th 1988, which was Mickey's 60th birthday. I could write reams about my memories: the parades; my first trip on a monorail; finding ...

According to Disneyland's corporate marketing parable, Mickey's Toontown isn't new; it's been there since the 1930's, but we couldn't see the secret hideaway until January of this year. That was when the cartoon community decided to go public and allow us non-toons-real-life human beings-not only to visit but also to take tours of Minnie and Mickey Mouse's houses. Yeah, right. Don't try running this ...