The first verse describes a beautiful scene in which the two protagonists, as children, try to bike to Disneyland. Of course, they don't make it, but they have fun pretending they actually went there.
The second verse talks about becoming older and losing the idealistic perspective they had as children ("These things we've imagined were never to be"). When you grow up, your perception of the world changes and you can never experience things in the innocent and happy way you did as a child. Perhaps, suggests the speaker, it was better to never experience things that way to begin with, if it only gets crushed later.
In the third verse, the protagonists finally go to Disneyland as adults and it is nothing how they thought it would be as children -- there are crying kids and lines everywhere. And the people in the lines are "craving...something we had long ago." In other words, the people wish to reclaim the happiness and the simplicity of the world they had as children.
"And you realized it seemed better when you weren't here before
Yes, sometimes things are quite better
Just lying on the floor
Of the garage with our naive hopes"
This might be the saddest part of the song. Sometimes, the way you imagine something to be turns out better than the thing itself. Your expectations disappoint you, especially when you're young and naive and concocting wonderful visions in your head.
The last verse is also heartbreaking. As adults, they realize their lives have become the same as others', going through the same routines at similar jobs, day in and day out ("these things that already have been lived before"). In time they'll know there's more to the world than childish fantasies. And Disneyland doesn't matter any more.
This song is so terribly sad.
The first verse describes a beautiful scene in which the two protagonists, as children, try to bike to Disneyland. Of course, they don't make it, but they have fun pretending they actually went there.
The second verse talks about becoming older and losing the idealistic perspective they had as children ("These things we've imagined were never to be"). When you grow up, your perception of the world changes and you can never experience things in the innocent and happy way you did as a child. Perhaps, suggests the speaker, it was better to never experience things that way to begin with, if it only gets crushed later.
In the third verse, the protagonists finally go to Disneyland as adults and it is nothing how they thought it would be as children -- there are crying kids and lines everywhere. And the people in the lines are "craving...something we had long ago." In other words, the people wish to reclaim the happiness and the simplicity of the world they had as children.
"And you realized it seemed better when you weren't here before Yes, sometimes things are quite better Just lying on the floor Of the garage with our naive hopes" This might be the saddest part of the song. Sometimes, the way you imagine something to be turns out better than the thing itself. Your expectations disappoint you, especially when you're young and naive and concocting wonderful visions in your head.
The last verse is also heartbreaking. As adults, they realize their lives have become the same as others', going through the same routines at similar jobs, day in and day out ("these things that already have been lived before"). In time they'll know there's more to the world than childish fantasies. And Disneyland doesn't matter any more.