What to do, what to do. Max, our eight-year-old son, having become enamored of geography and foreign culture-his third-grade class studied and performed an African dance this year-was ready to see the world. But, being eight years old, he wanted it to have rides.

I knew the time had arrived-just as every Muslim must take that Hajj to Mecca, the dutiful American parent, sooner or later, visits Mickey. Our vacation this year would lead us to Walt Disney World.

I know what some of you are thinking: The kid is eager to experience the Roman Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids of Egypt, and you-the editor of a world music magazine!-are taking him to…Orlando, Florida? Child abuse!

It's not that he wouldn't have loved every minute of a journey abroad-we'd already taken him to Hong Kong and that had been a booming success. And, to be honest, my wife and I wouldn't have needed much arm-twisting to spend our days off in Prague or Tokyo or Cancun rather than a series of theme parks.

But the Mouse beckoned and-guess what!-we're glad he did.

The decision to patronize Disney World did not come without pause, however. The idea of throwing support behind the Disney corporation worried me. Never the most progressively-minded of organizations, Disney has come under fire for many reasons over the years, among them questionable employment and environmental practices. As one website put it, Disney-whose Florida property alone comprises 47 square miles, roughly double the size of Manhattan-"covers open space with pavement, shopping malls, golf courses and hotels, [which] creates traffic problems that increase air pollution and encourages a psychological detachment from the natural world."

Indeed, the word "Disneyfication," defined by another website as "the process of turning the real, physical world into a sanitized, safe, 'entertaining,' predictable but profitable 'hyper-real' replica,'" has fallen into mainstream usage, so emblematic is the image it suggests.

But thousands of other corporations also develop open land (Wal-Mart, anyone?) and I'm not so sure that a world that is "safe, sanitized and entertaining" is necessarily a bad thing. So there was only one way to find out if Disney was just a big playground or an evil empire: For one week we lightened up, put the political correctness aside and surrendered to the "happiest place on Earth."

Our ostensible mission: to determine whether it was possible to find true culture-in particular the global kind-amidst what might just be the most manicured, manufactured environment in the entire U.S.A.

Our less high-minded objective: to have a great time. This was, after all, a vacation.

The first question was where we would stay. With the help of a Disney "cast member" familiar with our objectives, we were booked into the Animal Kingdom Lodge, one of Disney's deluxe resorts. It was the perfect choice. To call AKL a hotel would do it a tremendous disservice. It's an adventure in its own right (and one with a heated pool, at that). Set on 33 tropical acres, the Animal Kingdom Lodge is designed to give the impression that the visitor has set down not in central Florida but in Africa herself. For starters, half the rooms overlook a wide savannah stocked with giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and nearly 30 other species. Pathways on the grounds allow for closeup views of the grazing animals as well.

The Lodge is tastefully decorated with African-style furnishings, artworks and artifacts, and each of the guest rooms maintains the theme, down to the wallpaper, lighting and bedding (complete with mosquito netting). African music plays constantly in the lobby, and even the walk to the parking lot is enriched by the dulcet voices of Ladysmith Black Mambazo emanating from the shrubbery.

And the food! Two extraordinary onsite restaurants, the upscale Jiko, with its open-hearth kitchen, and the buffet at Boma, offer exquisitely prepared and imaginatively flavored authentic African cuisine in addition to more common American, Mediterranean and Asian offerings. Jiko also exclusively stocks a full list of South African wines.

AKL is, unsurprisingly, not far from Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park, with its towering, 14-story, 50-foot-wide hand-carved mock-baobab "Tree of Life" as its centerpiece. The rides, shows and attractions at Animal Kingdom-the most education-oriented of the WDW parks-focus primarily on the wildlife of Africa and Asia, both real and imagined, highlighted by the exciting Kilimanjaro Safari, which takes visitors on a bumpy, open-air truck ride past a menagerie of freely roaming creatures, making a few stops along the way to search for nasty poachers.

If we were going to squeeze our world tour into seven days, though, we'd need to get to Epcot. Split into two sections, Future World is the place to head for rides and World Showcase is Disney World's nod to the international community. Where else can one get a taste of Germany, China, France, Italy and several other nations in a day-all without ever presenting a passport?

Disney, thankfully, didn't skimp or condescend when planning Epcot's tributes to its featured countries (all of which, incidentally, employ cast members from those countries). Architects and artisans from the showcased nations themselves worked closely with Disney in designing each country's section, and featured entertainers make this half of the park that much more rewarding: the fiddle group Spelmanns Gledje in Norway, mariachi in Mexico, Chinese acrobats, the taiko drumming and tin toy exhibition in Japan, the belly dancer at the marvelous Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco.

There were still two more Disney theme parks on our agenda, and now it was time to forget about culture and just have some safe, sanitized, entertaining enjoyment. The Magic Kingdom is the original and most famous of the Disney World parks (and the most similar to California's original Disneyland, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year). This is the one that turns up in all the promos, with its splendiferous Cinderella Castle, the old standby attractions Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and a dazzling fireworks display. Magic Kingdom is all about escape and wonder, and it still provides ample amounts of both.

Disney-MGM Studios, as its name suggests, is for the movie lover. Attractions are correlated with various familiar names (Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular), but for one kid named Max who happens to be addicted to TV game shows, the highlight was undoubtedly Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Play It!, wherein audience members get to participate in a live remake of the now-canceled program on a replica of the show's original set.

Not all of Orlando is about Disney, although it often seems that way. SeaWorld provides aquatic jollies and its Shamu Adventure killer whale show is a jaw-dropper even for the most jaded adult. Universal Orlando, like Disney-MGM, ties rides and shows in with perennially popular films, and some of them-Earthquake: The Big One, Jaws, Twister and ET Adventure-are among the best in town. Most of the parks also present both 3D and "4D" films (the latter adds tactile touches, like sprays of water when a dog sneezes in your face or skittering at your feet as mice are let loose). Universal's Shrek 4-D and Terminator 2: 3D are well worth the wait, as are Disney's It's Tough to Be a Bug and Honey I Shrunk the Audience.

For a truly surreal evening out, especially for a Yankee, there's Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, a roadside dinner show (minus Dolly) featuring ostrich and pig races and nothing less than a capsule recreation of the Civil War (audience participation, of course). For something little more awe-inspiring, the 45-minute drive to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral is a side trip worth allowing time for. Keep your eyes on the side of the road-alligators abound.

So did we find culture in Orlando, Florida? You bet, plenty of it. Perhaps not the high culture we would have encountered in Paris or Milan, but something else to be savored on its own terms: American pop culture at its most ingenious and entertaining.

And sometimes that's more than enough: For one eight-year-old named Max, and his pleasantly surprised parents-along with millions more per year who succumb to the "magic"-Orlando's plethora of tourist traps provide a guaranteed good time. It may not be the most relaxing vacation you'll ever take, but it may be the most fun.

Besides, Europe will still be there the next time we're ready to pack our bags and explore. Kids are only eight once.