Disney World Report

[redpikachu]

From March 22 to March 25th, I went to Disney World in Orlando for the first time in seventeen years. Because of fond childhood memories and being a huge Disney fan, this trip meant a lot to me.



Stayed at: Port Orleans Resort in the French Quarter
All weekend Mike was pointing out attractions or places in Disney World that looked like it came straight out of Left4Dead2. Our hotel looked like the motel from “The Passing.”

Day 1
Hotel check-in around 11AM

Magic Kingdom: Mike and I were able to meet up with my brother and spent the day at the park with him.

• Liberty Tree Tavern - A place where they actually had vegetarian options! Plenty of pescatarian stuff too.
• Enchanted Tiki Room - Still intact from the old days. Untouched, as opposed to the one at Disneyland, where it has been updated.
• Swiss Family Tree house - Still intact as the original. Unlike the one in Disneyland, which is now “Tarzan’s Treehouse.”
• Stitch’s Great Escape - Brand new experience for me! The animatronics were incredible. It was a cute show (sans the one kid freaking the fuck out when it went pitch black in the room).
• Tom Sawyer Island - New experience for me! We got on a raft and explored this quite little island with cabins and caves.
• Splash Mountain - We fast passed this one. I absolutely love this ride. I haven’t been on it in a few years, but it weirdly just occurred to me how dark the story being told is. (Briar Bear gets stuck in a beehive, Briar Rabbit gets hanged,  etc.) I am on a mission to find a decent quality copy of the movie.

We couldn’t spend too long in the park because we had to meet for dinner with my family at Wolf Gang Puck's Cafe. It was a delicious four-course meal  that ended up taking three hours. O_O The kids were literally falling asleep in their chairs.

Day 2
Horribly failed attempt to get to the Polynesian by 10AM. After blowing over an hour of wait time and busses, we finally head over to my favourite park, Epcot. The garden show was happening and there was a lot of stopping and admiring the creative topiary of Disney characters all around the park.

• The Seas with Nemo and Friends - There were surprisingly a lot of attractions I had already experienced in my regular trips to Disneyland. Most attractions that were the same as the ones as Disneyland’s were usually redubbed some other name. I can tell you right now, they are two different rides and the one in Disneyland is better. However, after you get out of the one in Disney World, there is an aquarium. We easily blew over an hour of time in the aquarium. It kept us out of the sun and their tank displays were really pretty. We then moved onto the Land Pavillion to get a fast pass for Soarin’. We stopped to have a snack and got into a random line for a ride we had never been on.
• Living with the Land - This was a totally awesome boat ride through some eco-friendly lessons and a back door farming laboratory Disney runs. They employ a bunch of agricultural scientists to see how much they can grow, what they can grow, and how they can grow it in a small space.  They grow their own veggies for restaurants in the park and farm their own fish. It was one of the coolest things I saw all weekend.
• Circle of Life - Everything in this movie we pretty much already knew. It was pretty much a kid’s movie teaching them about the evils of destroying and overusing the Earth. It was nice to see the eco-friendly message going out to kids, though.
• Mexico Pavillion - Really neat indoor area we went through to get on the Three Caballeros ride.
• Norway Pavillion - I learned about Vikings and thought about True Blood the whole time. Then we waited 30 minutes in line for, “Maelstrom.” I would like to say we rode that ride ironically, but we actually got on it thinking it was more than two seconds. It was hilariously bad and we joked about how they should update it by throwing you into a freezing room, mimicking a forest at night in January, and then you see a metal band come out and play guitar solos for 10 minutes.
• Germany Pavillion - I stopped to pee in Germany.
• France Pavillion - I had to get my photo with Marie! I was so excited to see this costumed character. We waited around and met with my sisters and my brothers-in-law for a super delicious meal at Bistro de Paris. The restaurant was full of Frenchman. I can’t help it. Their accents make me want to laugh. I also felt compelled to say things like, “le mew.” Unfortunately, I was in a place where the entrees were $50 and I had to keep my maturity level up. I had a wonderfully delicious dinner and great conversation with everyone. Afterward, we went to a French bakery to get delicious pastries.
• Soarin’ - Mike’s first time on the ride. My favourite ride in California Adventure. We got the best seats too! It made me really miss California.

We rushed out to see the fireworks and meet with my family again. We passed by Mitsukoshi in the Japan Pavillion. I saw big, cute plushies of Turtwig and Chimchar and had to run inside. I pretty much had a serious nerdgasm. My sisters got a kick of me running around the store and squealing at everything I saw. I’m sure everyone in the store thought I was a huge weirdo too. I spent a stupid amount of money in there. Peggy was able to find some stuff for the kids too. We spent a little bit of time in the China Pavillion and then walked towards Test Track. At this point, we parted ways with my family and got in line.

• Test Track - AMAZING. Please ride this.
• Journey into Imagination - My sisters have fond memories of me as a tiny person really in love with a dragon named Figment. I barely remember this dragon. Every time we reminisce about when we went to Disney World as kids, my sisters talk about how much I loved Figment. I guess I must’ve really loved Figment and I wanted to see what I was so fascinated with a little kid. Well, it turned out to be…something a three-year-old would like. I’m weirdly attached to the story my sisters told me, so I appreciate the character in my own way.

Day 3: Animal Kingdom
I had never been to this park before! It was a completely new experience!

• Kilimanjaro Safaris - My brother met us in the park for one last ride before he flew back out to Chicago. We got on a truck and saw lots of animals, some super close-up. The ride was about 20 minutes long and we saw a really impressive environment which looked like the animals had a really nice life.
• Forest Exploration Trail - We were in a little outdoor enclosure where exotic birds flew around and we got to see more animals.
• Dinosaur - It was like Indiana Jones ride, but with Dinosaurs.
• Wildlife Express Train to Discovery Island - We got to look into some labs and learn about how they take care of the animals in animal kingdom.
• Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade - We had no intention of seeing this, but parades are something that just happen and stop everything in the park. (It happened in Magic Kingdom too.)
• Expedition Everest - Holy shit, I don’t ever want to ride this again. I think I almost had a heart attack.
• Finding Nemo The musical - After I got off the last ride, I needed to sit down…for forty minutes. Perfet! I’ll just watch this very impressive song and dance puppet show.

The park closed pretty early (7PM) and we headed back to the resort. We ate there and headed over to Downtown Disney to wander around the shops. We also walked through Pleasure Island and then headed back.

Day 4: Epcot (again)
When I was last at Disney World, Hollywood Studios was my least favourite park. It’s kind of like California Adventure, but with stunt shows. We skipped it and when to Epcot again. The sad thing is, we still didn’t get to see everything there, even though we went there twice.

• SpaceShip Earth - Mike wanted to know if you could go inside the ball. It turned out you can! Even though the animatronics are still original, they put these fun little interactive quizzes in your seat.
• Mission Space - Holy shit, how did I not vomit on this ride? I was like, “THIS IS VERY IMPRESSIVE, BUT ABSOLUTELY AWFUL AT THE SAME TIME.”
• Mexico Pavillion - Delicious Mexican food.
• China Pavillion - We watched a very cool Chinese acrobats show.
• Japan Pavillion - We back to Mitsukoshi and were pleasantly surprised by an exhibit about traditional Japanese creatures and how they are still in anime, games, and movies today. They even had a bit about TANUKI!!! I was super excited to see it.
• UK Pavillion - I bought some tea. Unfortunately, no Mary Poppins puppets hit us in the head.

This trip absolutely EXHAUSTED Mike and me. I am a big Disney fan who goes to Disneyland regularly and now have been to Disney World three times. I was absolutely thrilled Mike actually wanted to go. As soon as we booked the trip, I was really excited, watching most of the Disney movies I had.  It didn’t seem like Mike’s kind of place, but it meant a lot to me that he was really awesome about planning most of the trip. Dean gave us notice maybe a year ago about going to Disney World for Peggy’s 40th birthday. It was great seeing my family and it was good meeting up with them the few times we did.