MURRIETA, Calif. - When I was 12, I would have skipped dessert for a year, collected 10 tons of aluminum cans and walked across the Arizona desert to earn the privilege of spending a day at the "happiest place on earth."

Today, my kids turned down a free trip to Disneyland. My boys snubbed the House of Mouse.

Back in the 70s, as a pre-teen in Albuquerque, I was incredulous when my cousins, who lived within fireworks-viewing distance of Disneyland, yawned and rolled their eyes as my visiting family excitedly planned our day at the park. The older cousins had been to Disneyland more times than they could count. Fantasyland, Tomorrowland and all the other lands of awe were blase.

Years later, when I became a mom of two native Californians, I promised myself I wouldn't raise kids who would take something as fun and fantastic as Disneyland and become nonchalant about it.

I would bring up children who didn't have a sense of entitlement, or even worse, a sense of boredom about places that brought magic to the masses.

In all fairness, my boys didn't intentionally snub Disneyland. It seems they have just moved on. But as I know, and the Disney Machine knows, calculated, intense marketing makes the mouse go 'round and 'round.

From generation to generation, people return to relive their youth at Disney's amusement parks in California, Orlando, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.

Disney makes no attempt to hide this strategy.

The bean counters know they can count on repeat business as new parents roll their sleeping offspring around in a stroller for hours. Children under 3 are free, but once those mouseketeers hit the 3-year-old mark, it's $49 a head. Current adult day pass admission is $59 for adults.

At best, little visitors have fuzzy memories of their first visits to Disneyland. Parents will again pay the steep price to mold memories at pre-school age, then again, when the child hits double digits. You see, the powerful allure of Disneyland captures memories and through their vast marketing campaigns, ropes you back in at different points in your life.

The Disney marketing machine will lose my kids for a bit. At 11 and 13 years old, Vincent and Dominic are rejecting the land and all it encompasses, including the tasty churros. Their spending power will be redirected for a few years.

Driven by our boys' need for speed, our family has turned its collective interest to the north of Los Angeles: Six Flags Magic Mountain. The allure can be described in two rides: X and Tatsu, the newest in their collection of 16 world class roller coasters.

No matter that Disneyland has neglected some of its upkeep, failed to bring new rides into the lineup, and keeps raising its prices. (Perhaps the oil companies have studied the Disney method.) The company gets away with this because it can.

As for my family, chances are good that the Badillo boys will one day be pushing their own babies around the Disneyland at $149 dollars a pop. And I'll be there, videotaping the whole thing.

Dolores Sanchez Badillo is a longtime Albuquerque resident now living near Los Angeles.