Dia de Los Muertos is not something I grew up celebrating. I’ve mentioned before that I started celebrating to keep my grandparent’s memories alive and to teach my kids who their great-grandparents were. We’ve never been to a place that had ofrendas, calaveras, or that celebrated Day of the Dead in public so when the kids saw this display at Disneyland their faces lit up and they had all the questions.
This Calavera was the first thing we saw. She was tall, bright, and everything I’d imagine when I thought of Calaveras in Mexico in parades. There were people admiring her. She had to be one of my favorites in all the celebration.
The ofrendas had sugar skulls, zarapes, pan, fruits and flowers among other items. My kids knew this was much more than what we saw as COCO or what we thought Disney knew as Dia de Los Muertos.
While this might not be 100% traditional it’s exactly what we envisioned. We felt proud and were excited to see a place like Disneyland embrace our culture even if just for a small display!
Disney also has other opportunities with a glimmer of Day of the Dead over at California Adventure, like this display of Miguel with Dante. They also have a short show with some of our favorite Coco characters, musica, and opportunity to leave a deso for our ancestors to read! It’s really interactive and beautifully displayed.
And if you head over to CarsLand you can see a Calavera car surrounded by bright orange marigolds. It’s magical to see our culture sprinkled all thru the parks even if just for a moment. Gracias Disney for celebrating with us!
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