A Children’s Story.

At Disneyland, there’s a famous attraction based on the movie, Alice in Wonderland called the Mad Tea Party. If you don’t know it, let me explain.

(1) You and your family pile into a giant tea-cup. (2) Giant tea-cup spins like mad. (3) Experience more g-force than NASA astronauts endure.

Okay, maybe not that last one, but Disney’s equilibrium test is definitely not for anyone who experiences motion sickness!

This classic ride has been a fan-favourite for many years. Kids love it and parents endure it; often with some nostalgia of past visits to Disney’s park. Today, I have a story about Disneyland and in particular, the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Ride.

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Alice.

Alice loved all the Disney movies and all the Disney characters. That being said, as you can imagine with a name like Alice, her favourite Disney movie was of course, Alice In Wonderland.

One day Alice’s Dad and Mom told her that they would be taking a trip to Disneyland in California. She was so excited! She would get to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Goofy, and all the Princesses!

Maybe she’d even get to meet the real Alice from Wonderland! And of course, she would get to go on the famous Mad Hatter’s Tea Cup Ride.

Alice was so excited!

Sure enough, in a couple of weeks, Alice and her parents traveled down to California. They got to stay in a hotel overnight, and the next morning they walked through the gates of Disneyland.

The morning went great! Alice got to meet Mickey and all his friends. She went on a bunch of rides with her parents. And just after their lunch break, Alice squealed with excitement!

“There it is! There it is! It’s the Tea Cup Ride! I’m going to be just like Alice in Wonderland! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!“

As they walked over to the ride, Alice’s Dad looked at all those spinning teacups, then looked down at Alice and said, “Your Mom will take you on this one Sweetie.“

(For lunch, Dad had eaten a Mickey Burger, a Goofy Dog and a huge plate of Buzz Light-Year Nachos. Classic Dad!)

So Alice and her mom approached the ride. The line-up was massive and a little sign said, “Wait Time: 1 Hour“.

Alice didn’t care.

She had been waiting for years, what did another hour matter?

So they waited, and waited, and waited.

Soon they were only a couple of people from the front of the line. Alice couldn’t stand still. She was so excited! Then, suddenly a mom with a little boy walked up and cut right in front of Alice and her mom!

“Who does she think she is?“

Said Alice’s Mom, quietly to herself. The other people in line also started to mutter and grumble as well. Some of them were downright angry. There comments were getting louder.

“Tell her to get to the end of the line!” one man yelled. “We’ve been waiting for over an hour! Someone should tell her off!” another woman added. Alice’s mom decided she would be the one speak up.

“Excuse me miss. But the line starts way back there and we’ve all been waiting for over an hour.“

The rest of the people in the line fell quiet, listening intently as Alice’s mom spoke up; waiting for the woman’s reply.

The woman replied.

“Oh, I know. My husband was holding our spot while I took my son to the washroom.” Motioning with her thumb, to a very tall man standing just in front of her, talking on his cell phone.

Alice’s mom didn’t remember seeing them in line before, but she also hadn’t been paying much attention. It did make a lot of sense.

Alice’s mom was just about to apologize for misjudging her, when all of a sudden, the man talking on the cell phone turned around and said,

“I don’t know this lady. I’ve never seen her in my life. I’m here with my daughter!” Turned slightly, revealing a little girl about Alice’s age standing in front of him.

Well, if the parents in the line-up weren’t angry before, they were furious now! Alice’s Mom’s was also very angry.

Not only had this woman cut in line, but she had also lied about the man on the cell phone. The woman thought he wasn’t paying attention and wouldn’t hear what she was saying. She was lying that he was her husband.

That plan didn’t work.

Well little Alice hadn’t said a word this whole time.

She had watched the whole situation and understood what was taking place. She was so joyful and excited when she first got in that line. Now she just felt sad, looking up at all these parents arguing with each other.

Their faces and voices actually reminded her of all the evil villains from the Disney movies that she loved. Alice decided that she would speak up. In the middle of the arguing, she said,

“Excuse me Miss.“

She looked up at the woman who had cut in line. A hush fell over the crowd. Alice continued.

“I was thinking; if my mom and I went to the back of the line, you and your son could just take our spots. Then no one behind us would be angry anymore, because there would be the same amount of people in front of them.“

And with that, Alice didn’t even wait for her response. She grabbed her mom’s hand, stepped out of line and began walking all the way to the end of the line.

Before anyone could react, the gate opened for the next group of people to get on the Tea Cup Ride. If she hadn’t of stepped out of line, she would have been on that next ride.

Romans 12:21

As they reached the end of the line, Alice’s mom thought about what had just happened. It reminded her of something that she had read in her Bible a few weeks earlier.

In Romans 12:21; God led Paul to write these words:

“Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” Let me say that again: “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.“

Without even knowing that Bible verse, Alice had followed it perfectly.

Evil, simply put, is all the bad behaviours and wrong things that people do. All the bad behaviours we do when we’re not following God.

Bad Behaviour Spreads

When that lady cut in line, that was a bad behaviour. It made a lot of people angry. Then those people started speaking poorly to each other about the lady, which is also bad behaviour.

Soon, everyone was overcome with anger and in turn, nasty words. It was like wave of bad behaviour was spreading down the line-up. All the parents were being overcome with this anger, this bad behaviour.

That’s when Alice thought they sounded like villains from the movies.

Alice Chose Good

Thankfully, Alice overcame the evil or bad behaviour with a single good behaviour. In a small way, she did what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Alice made a small sacrifice to overcome an evil act. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice to eternally overcome evil.

The End of Our Story

By the time Alice and her mom got to the end of line, her dad was feeling a lot better. He decided to join them. With pride, Alice’s mom explained everything to her dad. They were so proud of her.

But it get’s better!

It turns out that the man who operates the ride saw and heard the whole situation. He told his manager about Alice’s good deed. The manager was so impressed that he had a surprise waiting at the front of the line for Alice:

The real Alice In Wonderland was waiting to go on the ride with Alice and her parents!