By Japhy Grant

Throw on a Red Shirt and Mouse Ears -- It's Gay Days Disneyland!

It's a place that fairy tale princesses and swashbuckling pirates have called home for 50 years. Every afternoon, men and women in costumes of beaded sequins and taffeta march down the street, singing popular show tunes. Even the pavement is designed to keep you light on your feet. No, it's not gay heaven, but from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2, it will be the closest thing this side of the afterlife as Gay Days Disneyland returns to Anaheim.

Gay Day 2 was started in 1998 as an alternative to its older East Coast sister in Orlando. While the two events have many similarities, Jeffrey Epstein, who started Gay Day 2 after visiting the Orlando party, has worked to make its Anaheim incarnation more inclusive. Epstein explains, "One of the things I had seen happen in Orlando is this barrage of promoters descended on Gay Day. There are two sites that claim to be the official Gay Day site, there's all these party promoters and clubs, and everyone's kind of trying to take a piece of the pie for themselves. What I love about our event is that I'm a Disney geek; I love Disneyland and I wanted all of our events that happen during the weekend to tie into Disneyland. You can go to a circuit party anywhere, [but at our event] everything from the parties to the screenings to the events, all tie back into our informal mission statement to make everyone feel welcome."

It's a mission statement that's reflected in the cornucopia of events offered. The weekend begins Friday night with Wonderland, a party at Downtown Disney hosted by drag diva Momma with Tigerbeat's DJ Ray Rhodes at the turntable. Queer Eye for the Straight Girl's Honey Labrador hosts the Ladies' Lounge.

The main action takes place on Saturday, when thousands of gay men and women don red shirts and head into the parks. Throughout the day, there will be meet and greets for youth (sponsored by The Trevor Project), gay families (presented by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center Family Services Program), women, singles, and even bears (hosted by OC Bears). There's even a scavenger hunt. While Disney does not officially sponsor the event, Epstein explains that "they don't treat us any differently from any other group which comes to the park. They treat all their groups pretty special."

When asked how he would respond to criticism that the gay community has no place at a family park, Epstein is circumspect: "It's funny because I've been to the park so many times and seen heterosexual couples make out in such a graphic display that I feel completely uncomfortable. It may not ruin my experience at the park but it's certainly not something I want to see. The gay people I've seen at the park aren't out there to ruin anyone else's good time. I've seen gay couples holding hands or exchanging a loving kiss, but certainly nothing which I've seen straight people do on the park benches of Main Street."

As the sun sets, you can choose from an intimate dinner at Brennan's Jazz Kitchen or a V.I.P. cocktail lounge hosted by out-star Chad Allen, Calpernia Adams, and Survivor's Jerri Manthey, or chill out at the Entertainment Center and watch the tender (and amusement park-related) coming-out movie Edge of Seventeen. All of this is just an appetizer for the main course when Downtown Disneyland heats up at 9:30 p.m. with Gay Day 2's E-ticket attraction: Kingdom, taking place at the House of Blues with music by DJ Kimberly S and special performances by '80s pop star Tiffany. For those of you who are either too young or too tuckered out for a night of dancing, there will also be a special screening of Margaret Cho's new film Assassin.

Sunday offers a brunch, a ladies' ice cream social, and a screening of the premiere of here!'s new series Dante's Cove.

With so many events, chances are you'll meet someone new and that's what Epstein is counting on. "We realize that all gay people want to be with all other kinds of gay people," he explains. "There's this incredible energy that happens when you get all these different kinds of gay people together -- it goes back to what some of the original gay pride events felt like before they became as commercialized as they are now. I love the idea of everyone coming together."

Epstein recommends that before going to Gay Day 2 to do a little research planning. "Going to the park on a normal day can be a bit much, but add to that the excitement of thousands of other gay people around and the dozens of events we offer, it can be a little overpowering." In addition to the official Web site (www.gayday2.com), Mousequeerteers can find a complete schedule and assistance at the Gay Day Information Center, located in the Disneyland Hotel's Pacific Room throughout the weekend. See you, real soon!