Jan Talking Meme: Trip to Disneyworld
(This one is for Dec 3! Will get Dec 4 in later tonight I hope!) for blackrabbit42: Trip to Disneyworld!
OK, so I absolutely love Disney World -- my parents took me and my sister a few times as children, and I have various really vivid memories of the place, which for me is really unusual. (I have a brilliant memory for things like quoting the subtitles to the credits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail word for word and absolutely nil memory for faces or events in my past. Our family gatherings invariably have my sister saying, "Remember that time we [did something very fun]," with many details, from when she was six years old, and me saying blankly, "No," even though I was ten.)
But I have really clear memories of making up Lex Luthor fanfic about the whole space mining thing that used to be in the Space Mountain waiting line (from which I can draw a line straight to Moving On, haha), and then there was the time when my parents (who were bored stiff) let me take my sister and go around the park ALONE (I was I think 13-14 or so? the freedom was heady), and I could sing the Tiki Tiki Room song by heart (although I misheard the line "flowers croon" as "flowers bloom" and have been trying to fix it in my head since I discovered the mistake when I looked up the youtube video of it for Hypatia).
Anyway, so to be honest one of my motivations for having a child was (a) to get to show them Star Wars unspoiled (the ORIGINAL ones obvs), and (b) to take them to Disney World. :D
I should note that my own natural inclination about going to Disney is to treat the whole thing as a minmaxing game (I refer you to
synecdochic's posts about her trip), but it doesn't really work now with Hypatia, because we can't make lots of plans in advance. If I'm going to have fun, I need to be able to adjust things based on her mood, so she doesn't get overtired or stressed out.
And it's a bit early for Hypatia to really enjoy Disney -- she is sadly noise sensitive (fireworks are a big NO) and nervous about any dark or scary story bits, which means most of the "child" rides like Peter Pan etc are too scary.
But one of the things about having a small kid for me has been learning that vacations are NOT vacations anymore. If I go somewhere "relaxing", I end up spending all my time providing the entertainment and activity and death-prevention. One of the reasons that Disneyworld is a perfect vacation right now is that if you do just go with the flow, it can minimize thought. Wherever you are, there is guaranteed to be in your immediate vicinity a bathroom, food, and ten different things to do. So even though she isn't ready for loads of stuff, it's still an easy place to go.
My discovery this time was that contrary to most of the advice you find about doing Disney with small kids, Epcot and specifically the World Showcase is BRILLIANT for a kid her age. They now have these coloring stations at each "country" pavilion where you can get a stamp for that country and color a bit more of a paper platypus they give you, and the various small stores are all full of non-branded fun merchandise and they are tolerant of little children playing with the stuff. :)
With a small child, there is nothing that beats staying in a Disney hotel in walking distance of one of the parks. There's a couple where you can walk to the Magic Kingdom, and several where you can walk to Epcot or Hollywood Studios, and the ability to go back to the hotel and take a break/nap whenever you need to and not have to factor in 1/2 to an hour of travel time each way makes a massive difference.
This trip we couldn't do that, alas -- we booked too late. (One of the problems with Disney is that it has gotten even more popular and busy, and almost everything books up 180 days out.) So we went with the Animal Kingdom Lodge where you get to look out at the animals. (There were seven of us -- my parents and my sister & SIL came with us.) It was indeed a pain to get to and from the parks, confirming my advice, but it would be a great place to go with an older kid who can spend the whole day out at the parks, and it really is hard to top seeing a giraffe chase a wildebeest away from her baby from your balcony. Hypatia loved it.
Anyway, those are my best bits of advice for this stage (well, and also that going in the three weeks after Thanksgiving and checking for last-minute dining reservations is an excellent plan).
Jan 1:
resonant: A character who would make New Year's resolutions, and a character who wouldn't.
Jan 2:
gingicat: Luring children into fandom
Jan 3: blackrabbit42: Trip to Disneyworld
Jan 4: cathedral_junki: Harold/John
Jan 5:
setissima: Tony/Pepper
Jan 6: miss_pamela: Tim/Kon?
Jan 7: trobadora: Thor/Loki/Jane
Jan 8:
appleqb: Any unrealized plot bunnies, WIPs, or sequels in some of your old fandoms you still thinking about writing?
Jan 9: athynto: the time Thor managed to get himself into trouble and Loki realized it right away but had a hard time getting anybody to help, because they all thought it was a new trick of the liesmith and Loki then kind of flipped out and said they had to go and f. help right now if they wanted Thor back in one piece.
Jan 10:
qian: your favourite of your own stories!
Jan 11: amber1960: What made you think of mixing dragons with history, and what was it that drew you to the Napoleonic era?
Jan 12: ariss_tenoh: Thor/Loki fic. Maybe fixing the new film's ending?
Jan 13:
sef1029: stories to tell about the unloved life?
Jan 14:
ambersnake: your favourite TV trope
Jan 15:
hedda62: either a) speculation on upcoming POI plot arcs, or b) favorite LOST character who's not Ben Linus.
Jan 16:
laurashapiro: thoughts about vidding, particularly any reflections on how it has changed -- broadly and for you personally -- since you made your first vid.
Jan 17: tariqa: FOOD
Jan 18:
marginaliana: if you could commission the perfect piece of fiction (fannish or nonfannish), what would it be like and why?
Jan 19:
sheron: Your least favourite (popular) fanfiction trope? And why
Jan 20: flaming_muse: about your John Sheppard! Or I'd love to hear about any fics in your head you know you'll never write but you wish could make exist without any effort.
Jan 21: yunitsa: what are the things that you most enjoy seeing in (fan or pro) fiction? Has that changed over the years?
Jan 22: citrusjava and realolacola: Dean/Sam
Jan 23:
kass: The awesomeness of Michael Emerson / Ben Linus / Harold Finch (any and/or all of the above.)
and/or the relationship between writing fic and vidding -- do you find that certain fandoms draw you more toward one or toward the other? Do you approach the two genres differently? What appeals to you about each?
and/or what fandom is giving you the most joy right now?
Jan 24: neery: talk a bit about the process of writing the Temeraire books. How much of that huge overall plotline did you have planned when you wrote the first book? How much did you know about the characters? Was there anything you regretted establishing as canon later on because things changed on you? Anything you wished you could have included but couldn't fit in for some reason or another?
Jan 25:
luminosity: how you keep your creative juices flowing
Jan 26:
error: what you think of superheroes or superpowered characters navigating what's 'normal life' for other people, like superheroes working out things such as groceries, insurance (how do you even calculate premiums on an immortal, anyway), social media, pop culture and so on.
Jan 27:
piscaria: how you balance between original writing and fanfiction
Jan 28: bookishwench: If you could invite any seven fictional characters to dinner, who would they be?
Jan 29:
burnishedvictory: talk about Eric and Vince from Entourage?
Jan 30: acchikocchi: what it's like traveling for writing research, please!
Jan 31:
meri_oddities: Fix "The Crossing" in anyway that makes it work better.
Extras:
avidrosette: I'm wondering about your process of world-building, particularly for fandoms like Merlin or Thor that have strong historical or legendary aspects. Do you do a lot of research, and if so, what sort? How do you find yourself interweaving the historical/legendary material with your original plot and character ideas?
killalla: any thoughts or comments on Aubrey/Maturin (the series or the pairing!)
chelletoo: What are your plans for 2014? Must see movie, vacation, etc.
imwalde: What makes your OTPs your OTPs? (Or OT3s, don't want to leave out Haven...) Do you recognize common characteristics across your fandoms?
laura47: Where do you want to see the marvel cinematic universe go, or specifically thor and loki
silksieve: Video games: how you prefer to play? Favorite themes or characters in games? Games vs. tv/movies? Dragon Age in particular?
princessofgeeks: Why You Love Dragons
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comments)
OK, so I absolutely love Disney World -- my parents took me and my sister a few times as children, and I have various really vivid memories of the place, which for me is really unusual. (I have a brilliant memory for things like quoting the subtitles to the credits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail word for word and absolutely nil memory for faces or events in my past. Our family gatherings invariably have my sister saying, "Remember that time we [did something very fun]," with many details, from when she was six years old, and me saying blankly, "No," even though I was ten.)
But I have really clear memories of making up Lex Luthor fanfic about the whole space mining thing that used to be in the Space Mountain waiting line (from which I can draw a line straight to Moving On, haha), and then there was the time when my parents (who were bored stiff) let me take my sister and go around the park ALONE (I was I think 13-14 or so? the freedom was heady), and I could sing the Tiki Tiki Room song by heart (although I misheard the line "flowers croon" as "flowers bloom" and have been trying to fix it in my head since I discovered the mistake when I looked up the youtube video of it for Hypatia).
Anyway, so to be honest one of my motivations for having a child was (a) to get to show them Star Wars unspoiled (the ORIGINAL ones obvs), and (b) to take them to Disney World. :D
I should note that my own natural inclination about going to Disney is to treat the whole thing as a minmaxing game (I refer you to
synecdochic's posts about her trip), but it doesn't really work now with Hypatia, because we can't make lots of plans in advance. If I'm going to have fun, I need to be able to adjust things based on her mood, so she doesn't get overtired or stressed out.
And it's a bit early for Hypatia to really enjoy Disney -- she is sadly noise sensitive (fireworks are a big NO) and nervous about any dark or scary story bits, which means most of the "child" rides like Peter Pan etc are too scary.
But one of the things about having a small kid for me has been learning that vacations are NOT vacations anymore. If I go somewhere "relaxing", I end up spending all my time providing the entertainment and activity and death-prevention. One of the reasons that Disneyworld is a perfect vacation right now is that if you do just go with the flow, it can minimize thought. Wherever you are, there is guaranteed to be in your immediate vicinity a bathroom, food, and ten different things to do. So even though she isn't ready for loads of stuff, it's still an easy place to go.
My discovery this time was that contrary to most of the advice you find about doing Disney with small kids, Epcot and specifically the World Showcase is BRILLIANT for a kid her age. They now have these coloring stations at each "country" pavilion where you can get a stamp for that country and color a bit more of a paper platypus they give you, and the various small stores are all full of non-branded fun merchandise and they are tolerant of little children playing with the stuff. :)
With a small child, there is nothing that beats staying in a Disney hotel in walking distance of one of the parks. There's a couple where you can walk to the Magic Kingdom, and several where you can walk to Epcot or Hollywood Studios, and the ability to go back to the hotel and take a break/nap whenever you need to and not have to factor in 1/2 to an hour of travel time each way makes a massive difference.
This trip we couldn't do that, alas -- we booked too late. (One of the problems with Disney is that it has gotten even more popular and busy, and almost everything books up 180 days out.) So we went with the Animal Kingdom Lodge where you get to look out at the animals. (There were seven of us -- my parents and my sister & SIL came with us.) It was indeed a pain to get to and from the parks, confirming my advice, but it would be a great place to go with an older kid who can spend the whole day out at the parks, and it really is hard to top seeing a giraffe chase a wildebeest away from her baby from your balcony. Hypatia loved it.
Anyway, those are my best bits of advice for this stage (well, and also that going in the three weeks after Thanksgiving and checking for last-minute dining reservations is an excellent plan).
Jan 1:
resonant: A character who would make New Year's resolutions, and a character who wouldn't.
Jan 2:
gingicat: Luring children into fandom
Jan 3: blackrabbit42: Trip to Disneyworld
Jan 4: cathedral_junki: Harold/John
Jan 5:
setissima: Tony/Pepper
Jan 6: miss_pamela: Tim/Kon?
Jan 7: trobadora: Thor/Loki/Jane
Jan 8:
appleqb: Any unrealized plot bunnies, WIPs, or sequels in some of your old fandoms you still thinking about writing?
Jan 9: athynto: the time Thor managed to get himself into trouble and Loki realized it right away but had a hard time getting anybody to help, because they all thought it was a new trick of the liesmith and Loki then kind of flipped out and said they had to go and f. help right now if they wanted Thor back in one piece.
Jan 10:
qian: your favourite of your own stories!
Jan 11: amber1960: What made you think of mixing dragons with history, and what was it that drew you to the Napoleonic era?
Jan 12: ariss_tenoh: Thor/Loki fic. Maybe fixing the new film's ending?
Jan 13:
sef1029: stories to tell about the unloved life?
Jan 14:
ambersnake: your favourite TV trope
Jan 15:
hedda62: either a) speculation on upcoming POI plot arcs, or b) favorite LOST character who's not Ben Linus.
Jan 16:
laurashapiro: thoughts about vidding, particularly any reflections on how it has changed -- broadly and for you personally -- since you made your first vid.
Jan 17: tariqa: FOOD
Jan 18:
marginaliana: if you could commission the perfect piece of fiction (fannish or nonfannish), what would it be like and why?
Jan 19:
sheron: Your least favourite (popular) fanfiction trope? And why
Jan 20: flaming_muse: about your John Sheppard! Or I'd love to hear about any fics in your head you know you'll never write but you wish could make exist without any effort.
Jan 21: yunitsa: what are the things that you most enjoy seeing in (fan or pro) fiction? Has that changed over the years?
Jan 22: citrusjava and realolacola: Dean/Sam
Jan 23:
kass: The awesomeness of Michael Emerson / Ben Linus / Harold Finch (any and/or all of the above.)
and/or the relationship between writing fic and vidding -- do you find that certain fandoms draw you more toward one or toward the other? Do you approach the two genres differently? What appeals to you about each?
and/or what fandom is giving you the most joy right now?
Jan 24: neery: talk a bit about the process of writing the Temeraire books. How much of that huge overall plotline did you have planned when you wrote the first book? How much did you know about the characters? Was there anything you regretted establishing as canon later on because things changed on you? Anything you wished you could have included but couldn't fit in for some reason or another?
Jan 25:
luminosity: how you keep your creative juices flowing
Jan 26:
error: what you think of superheroes or superpowered characters navigating what's 'normal life' for other people, like superheroes working out things such as groceries, insurance (how do you even calculate premiums on an immortal, anyway), social media, pop culture and so on.
Jan 27:
piscaria: how you balance between original writing and fanfiction
Jan 28: bookishwench: If you could invite any seven fictional characters to dinner, who would they be?
Jan 29:
burnishedvictory: talk about Eric and Vince from Entourage?
Jan 30: acchikocchi: what it's like traveling for writing research, please!
Jan 31:
meri_oddities: Fix "The Crossing" in anyway that makes it work better.
Extras:
avidrosette: I'm wondering about your process of world-building, particularly for fandoms like Merlin or Thor that have strong historical or legendary aspects. Do you do a lot of research, and if so, what sort? How do you find yourself interweaving the historical/legendary material with your original plot and character ideas?
killalla: any thoughts or comments on Aubrey/Maturin (the series or the pairing!)
chelletoo: What are your plans for 2014? Must see movie, vacation, etc.
imwalde: What makes your OTPs your OTPs? (Or OT3s, don't want to leave out Haven...) Do you recognize common characteristics across your fandoms?
laura47: Where do you want to see the marvel cinematic universe go, or specifically thor and loki
silksieve: Video games: how you prefer to play? Favorite themes or characters in games? Games vs. tv/movies? Dragon Age in particular?
princessofgeeks: Why You Love Dragons
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth (
comments)