It has been at least two decades since visiting Disneyland. I came before there even was a “California Adventure”, when this extravaganza was just an asphalt sea of parking.
With two decades of architecture under my belt, the biggest change is the understanding that there were humans behind every bit of this manufactured world. Nothing is to be taken for granted, neither the initial execution nor the continued maintenance of this idyllic universe.
When you come as a kid, it just is. When you come as an architect, it became.
Yes, you notice the seams and the people behind the magick, but it is all the more impressive this way.