Does anyone remember Circus World?
Whenever my family drove from my grandparents' home in St. Petersburg to Walt Disney World, my squirrel brain would get distracted by the giant "CIRCUS WORLD" marquee that loomed above Interstate 4 outside Haines City. We only had a few exits to go to reach Disney, but every time we passed the sign, the advertising did its job in provoking me to whine to my parents that we really, really ought to go visit Circus World, too, one day.
We never did... though I did end up spending a few days at the Boardwalk and Baseball theme park that replaced Circus World in the late 1980s.
The reason I bring this up is because one of the world's biggest clown shows apparently has returned to Central Florida. Here's a round-up of today's reviews:
The TL;DR? Florida Governor DeSantis wants to undo the deal that the old Reedy Creek Improvement District made that gives Disney Parks nearly unlimited control over development at the Walt Disney World Resort until King Charles' last living descendent passes away. [See Here's How Disney Played Florida's Ron DeSantis.] And he wants Walt Disney World rides - but not Universal's or SeaWorld's - to be subject to state safety inspections. Current Florida law exempts all theme parks with more than 1,000 employees and full-time safety inspectors from state inspection requirements. That covers Universal, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Legoland. But DeSantis wants to exempt theme parks in special districts from that exemption - an exemption exemption that would apply only to Disney.
And if all that fails to get the American public to pay attention to DeSantis (and his foundering Presidential campaign), he also threw in a suggestion that Florida could build a state prison next to Walt Disney World, too. (The monkey's paw is just begging to assign that facility's first inmate, isn't it?)
All this is political theater, of course, but admission to the circus does charge a price. I feel sorry for the fans who have loved Disney and its theme parks but who now feel like they can't enjoy them anymore because the right-wing clown show has made Disney its latest target for the Two Minutes Hate - just like they have given up drinking certain beers, watching targeted comedians or listening to particular musicians they once liked.
And I feel even worse for the families, friends, and loved ones of those people who have been lost to Fox News, talk radio, QAnon conspiracies and the other circus performers who have worked for years to isolate so many Americans within their tent of perpetual anger.
The clown show is running Florida... and trying to take over the country, too. But if good people do the right thing, they will reject this clown show and shut it down like so many failed Florida attractions in the past.
