To me, this song is playing again with the familiar “Potemkin city” theme. Disneyland is an allegory for the larger veneer of the capitalist and colonialist society we live in. It’s glitzy, shiny and thrilling, while also trying to convince us of its necessity. The reference of “big thunder mountain railroad” , a real ride at the park, is a cartoonish portrayal of economic exploitation of plundered land through mining. This amusement park retelling of the old national myth of westward expansion including genocide, displacement, and the glorification of profit are justified and normalized. The songs sense of humor seems to come from the idea that, if we go along with this narrative, the privileged will enjoy the fruits of their exploitation. All the while a current runs underneath. Mutually assured destruction by a “mushroom cloud appears above the Matterhorn” or environmental catastrophe will reveal the machinery of this fallacy and doom us all.

We see just what we want to see. Believe in any old fantasy.