Theme Parks

Today we went to Sea World San Diego with my brother-in-law's family, who are visiting from a foreign country. It's a very strange experience. On the one hand, it truely is very entertaining; the animals are clearly well taken care of, and they seem to enjoy performing. The performances themselves are quite incredible. I am not a PETA animal rights fascist and I believe in part of the mission of theme parks such as Sea World to promote education and wildlife conservation among a (and I know I'm sounding elitist but what I'm saying *is* true) typically ignorant general public. On the other hand, these places are such goddamned tourist trap rip-offs that it pisses me off to no end. $20.00 fucking dollars to get 3 crappy pictures of your kid and her cousin sitting on top of a fiberglass model of Shamu the killer whale?!? Fucking $8.99 for a large Pepsi in a "souvenir" Sea World plastic cup?!? If that doesn't upset you just hearing about it, you are certifiably insane.

What really gets to me is how typically rational, well educated people get into this buying frenzy once they step into a theme park. Any semblance of sanity is left at the door and wallets are whipped out for overpriced plastic trinkets, crappy food, and unhealthy sugary treats. I thought that enjoying the performances, visiting the animal exhibits, and spending the day with your family would be well worth the $50.00 admission; apparently Sea World management thinks $50.00 is not enough and works hard to wring every last cent out of we hapless tourists.

*sigh* theoretically we are going to (or will try to go to, the kids are pretty tired tonight) Joshua Tree National Park tomorrow. I have high hopes; it's a National Park (tm), it's got to be AT LEAST as good as Sea World, right? If not, if the kids are bored out of their minds, if we search in vain for a gift shop with a prefabricated fiberglass photo-op in front, then I'll know the capitalists have won and we're all doomed.