It was Christmas, 1988. Actually, let's
backtrack to a few weeks earlier. It
was an unspecified day in December,
1998. I was three years old, and our
family had just finished the visit to
Santa at the mall. As we were walking
through
Macy's or some other department
store, a bright and colorful box caught
my eye. It said in big bold letters
that I couldn't read, "Disney
Magic Kingdom Playset." Right
there, right in front of me, was a
little bit of Disney. A castle! A
genuine toy castle that was modeled
after the Walt Disney World Magic
Kingdom! Better yet, it came with
Mickey and Minnie and Donald and
the whole gang! And there were a bunch
of transportation vehicles that they
could ride around in! A horse, a bus, a
train. A TRAIN! To a three year old,
this is pretty terrific. It's the best
toy in the world.
And so, like any three year old, I point
this magnificent toy out to Mom and Dad
and tell them, "I want this. Can we get
it?" Naturally, they have to say no.
My birthday was months ago. Christmas
was coming up and I'd be getting other
toys. There's no reason for me to have
this playset now. Not even the most
important reason of all: I wanted it.
I was upset. What more could a little
kid do? We walked past the display, and
I'm not sure if I threw a minor tantrum
or not. I was a tantrum-y kid, I will
admit it. Then again, we had just
visited Santa, and so I might have had
that looming over my head, thus knowing
I shouldn't protest. And so, I
reluctantly left the toy display and
continued about my business until
Christmas 1988 finally came.
The big Christmas party at our house
made me forget about the toy. I had no
idea if I'd be getting it for Christmas
or not. I was too excited by the great
big gingerbread house that one of our
older cousins brought. It had removable
chocolate pieces that I would sneak
every so often, hoping no responsible
adult would catch me and tell me not to
spoil my
Christmas dinner. And, of
course, I was too excited that my other
cousin brought his Nintendo over. I
wasn't allowed to play it, but watching
them play was just as fun. Plus, I was
just happy that so many family members
were here. The more family members, the
more presents. The more presents, the
more chances I could get that Magic
Kingdom playset. So yeah, I guess my
mind was always on that toy.
It soon became time for the gift-giving.
Santa
Claus emerged and all the kids
took pictures with him. He then started
picking up gifts and announcing who they
were for. All the kids were anxious.
None of us could open a gift until
they'd all been given out. Imagine my
joy when Santa picked up a big box and
said, "And this one's for Albert!" It
was a big box! It had to be Disney
Magic Kingdom, it just had to be! None
of my other presents were as big, so
obviously none of them were the playset.
The Disney Magic Kingdom Playset would
be mine!
I couldn't just open this gift in front
of all the cousins. They'd want to play
with it too, and I wanted some alone
time with my Magic Kingdom before I'd
have to share it. So, I took the
big-box-gift and sat myself down on the
kitchen floor, next to the refrigerator,
and tore at that wrapping paper. Just
as I hoped, underneath that paper was
the Disney Magic Kingdom Playset. The
bright colorful pictures, the Mickey and
the Minnie, the "Li'l playmates" logo.
I tore at the top of the box, a flimsy
piece of tape held it shut. As soon as
I opened it, I managed to pull out the
castle, and all the other bags of
accessories came out as well.
My aunt Gayle came over and saw me
struggling with some of the packaging.
My three-year-old hands couldn't open a
couple bags that held the little
figurines, so she did it for me while I
concentrated on the bags with the car
and train and horse. As she took out
each little figure, she'd ask which
character this was, and I'd answer her.
When she had finished opening the bags
for me, she left, and once again I had
some alone time with Mickey and Minnie.
Of course, this didn't last long because
my older cousin Lia then came over. She
saw that I had separated myself from the
rest of the cousins. Maybe because
earlier, I was fighting with my little
brother over a present and she had to
separate us. But no matter, she saw me
playing and decided to join in. She
didn't care for Nintendo, so she
wouldn't be joining the boy cousins with
that.
Yep, that Magic Kingdom playset got a
lot of playtime from me in my youth. It
served as a little home for my Disney
figures, but unfortunately, I lost most
of the little figures except for
Pluto and a couple random people.
But I still have the castle and the
cars, and I wouldn't trade them for
anything in the world. And the castle's
seen other inhabitants as well. PVC
Disney figurines from Kellogg's cereal
boxes. McDonalds
toys from the early 90s. Even the crew
of the U.S.S. Enterprise during my "Star
Trek" years.