Disney World opens with its attention-grabbing catchphrase Let the Memories Begin written big on billboards and flyers — advertisements made so picturesque and imaginative one wonders how to contain all the memories gathered and how many of these will be remembered and looked back to in the ensuing years. There’s much I can look back to, memories remembered with eyes misty and a heart that beats with sadness because someone is no longer with us, to return nevermore. Ah, the sweet sadness of reminiscence…

Last weekend we had an extended birthday celebration for my granddaughter Danika in Florida’s Disney World, nearly a five-hour car-ride from my daughter Randy Raissa’s residence in South Carolina. Being Disney World aficionados, the family bought a year-round season pass availing themselves of large discounts. It was FUN, FUN, FUN (yah, in bold capitals) for the child who said that her Lolo is no longer around to share the fun. Danika’s Lolo, from his vantage point up there, must be awashed with glee seeing the zest of how Danika imbibes with pure innocence the wonderment of Disney wonderland.

How to relate the Disney fantasyland to Bayan Ko? It gives me that queasy feeling of old Scrooge hoarding all the goodies to himself. I’m thinking of the children in the Third World deprived of the wonders of technology. How many of them will see Mary Poppins’ balloon flying up high? Rides aplenty, push-button games, symbols and statues to marvel at, a wide range of animations, etc., etc.—how many kids will enjoy all those? Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious preposterous questions? Some such things akin to Disney’s may exist in their countries, but even in their native land, how many of their youngsters would be exposed to the blessings of the computer age? How well-equipped are the schools in the far-flung barangays of our country? How qualified are the faculty? The corporate 1% has something to mull over before things go helter-skelter.

It might be wishy-washy of me to worry about the less fortunate kids in other countries but the fact remains that these kids may NEVER see the likes of Disney in their lifetime. There won’t be any memories for them to unfold and much less for any fantasies for them to dream.

EPCOT that has become a byword for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow fascinated the hubby and me. Some countries were given their “place under the sun” — UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, China, Japan, and of course, the U.S. of A. Why is the Philippines not included? It might just be a pie in the sky, but realities can have a searing effect in Disney. Bangladesh does not have its own “place under the sun” either. My son-in-law David said these particular countries might have constructed and financed their buildings and exhibits in partnership with the Disney CEOs. It was a delight witnessing these countries putting their best foot forward. Add the fact that they employ their own nationals. Thus Yo te amo, Je vous aime, and Ich liebe dich, as the case may be, evoked quick answers and big smiles from the bevy of lovely staff.

In the end segment of It’s a Small World, the word Goodbye is written in different languages i.e., Adios, Au revoir, Auf wiedersehen, etc. but there is no Paalam. I asked why, to which my daughter said the reason could be that Filipinos don’t say Paalam. We bid farewell by saying Goodbye or ‘Bye. We Filipinos are Englicized or Americanized, don’t you think? We also say Hasta la vista, Baby in jest ala Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Hasta la vista, Disney World. It was St. Augustine one more time before we proceeded back to home sweet home in South Carolina, Sunday morning of Jan. 27. 

Let me just quote this from the tour brochure in the Visitor Center: “The story of St. Augustine is a long and exciting chronicle of a city that has existed for 444 years. It is the longest chronicle of any city in the United States. St. Augustine was founded in the sixteenth century in 1565, gradually strengthened its settlement in the seventeenth century, survived several international wars in the eighteenth century, entered the United States when the peninsula of Florida was acquired in the nineteenth century and commenced modern development in the twentieth century. And, now, the old Florida city exists in the twenty-first century.” We sauntered around the formidable St. Augustine fortress, a testament of war that reminded us of the historic walls of Manila’s Intramuros.

The Basilica of St. Augustine was for a brief prayer. Said to be America’s first parish, it was founded on September 8, 1565. Lunch was at the Italian restaurant PizzAlley along the famous St. George St. thickened by the Sunday crowd. We bypassed Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth, a popular tourist haunt. I still have a bottle of water from this legendary fountain secured when we first visited. It is kept as a souvenir, and not for the water’s “youth” value. Youthfulness? Hey, who is fooling who? (Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )