Disney notes

February 22, 2004

Tomorrow life returns to “normal”. It was a fun vacation, but not a relaxing one by any stretch. Some random Disney World thoughts:

* The first time I went to Disney World was in 1977 with my parents and grandparents. I remember spending the later part of the day riding the trolley through Main Street because we only had A & B tickets left and didn’t want to waste them. No more tickets, no more trolley come to think of it, and there’s a loss of attention to detail. I remember seeing someone throw a cigarette butt on the ground and within seconds there was a happy cast member scooping it up. The park was spotless. I’m not saying that it was dirty this time, but it’s just not the same. Someone spilled a soda on a bench at the Boardwalk Villas which we noticed at 7 pm while waiting for the bus to Downtown Disney. The next morning, the puddle was still there as we waited for the bus to take us to Animal Kingdom. Years ago a mess wouldn’t have lasted an hour, much less overnight.
* There are no bargains in Disney World and they make it way too easy to spend money everywhere.
* The transportation system is excellent. We didn’t have a car with us and we didn’t miss it. We were a short walk to Epcot, a boat ride to MGM and a quick bus ride to everything else. Probably the only thing left that’s free.
* Emily (aged 5.5) is getting older and wiser. She clued in quickly that the Mickey Mouse pavilion in the Magic Kingdom is set up the way it is so Mickey can be in more than one place at once. We took the girls at separate times to get Mickey’s autograph along with a picture (since Emily had to make a bathroom run while Laini was on line) and Emily noticed that the backgrounds on their pictures was different. She also wondered how Minnie could have been inside at the character dinner we went to as well as be in the parade and show going on outside.
* The best meal we had all week was at Boma Restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was a buffet of different African foods that I never would have selected off a menu but were delicious to try. I don’t want to think of how many points I ate that night. Fortunately, I only gained about 1/2 a pound on the trip. We did *a lot* of walking.
* While waiting for the “It’s a Small World” ride I looked up and saw someone I know from here in Stamford, CT! Oh, and we sat behind Phil Donahue on the train between Mickey’s Toon Town Fair and Frontierland.
* It was much busier this year than when we went two years ago. We think we’re going to go over the summer from now on instead of in February. It will be hot, but at least we won’t have to carry our winter coats around.
* Mission: Space at Epcot is awesome. I wasn’t going to do it, but Eric came back and insisted that I had to go. There’s a separate “singles” line that moves very fast and I was sitting in the simulator within 15 minutes. I had to do some deep breathing through the first few minutes but after that it was very, very cool. I definitely wouldn’t do it immediately after a meal. They also warn you *thoroughly* that if you have any fear of spinning or a problem with motion sickness you better bail before getting on the ride.
* Journey Into Imagination at Epcot brought back the Figment character and it’s much improved. My kids are still a little skittish on rides (they wouldn’t do Peter Pan or Buzz Lightyear and forget Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Carribean) and they loved this one.
* Disney now offers broadband in the resort rooms. $9.95 a day.
* No more animation in Florida, so the animation pavilion at Disney/MGM had a sad closing-up-shop feeling to it.

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