We finally made it to Disney World
So here's my Disney story. In 1973, my family took a vacation. This was a big deal for us, since my dad was a farmer and an electrician; he took his two weeks vacation in the spring and fall, one week to plant crops, one week to harvest. We occasionally went to my uncle's cabin, but other than that, didn't take regular vacations. So for whatever reason he decided we were going to go to Florida. He even built a camper out of a flat bed truck so we could go. (Yes, built it all himself. Took him two winters. It had a toilet and sink, kitchen, dining area that folded out into sleeping surfaces for four: it slept six total. Just like a Winnebago except that he built it all himself.) So we were going to Florida. I was eight.
I had grown up on "The Wonderful World of Disney," which aired every Sunday night after "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom." Every week I would see the spinning teacups and the fireworks over Cinderella's castle in the opening sequence. And we were going to Florida, to Walt Disney World. We got as far as the main gate, and the line to get in the parking lot was long. Five miles long, my dad said. Too long to wait. So we didn't. I had made it as far as the gate, and we didn't go in. We did other things on that trip, but not Disney.
This has been in the back of my mind for many years. About fourteen years ago, Bill and I took a class (or maybe it was one of the workshops I did as a hairstylist), and wrote down goals: a car that runs reliably, a fireplace, a nice house in a decent neighborhood. I also wrote down "Disney World." Last year, we talked about vacations with S & J. I asked them if they wanted to go to Disney World. They had grown up on the movies like "Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast," but it wasn't on their list of top things to do. I asked if they would like to go to Disney World with my cousin's family, whose girls are five and eight (prime princess ages). They thought that might be fun. So we started planning.
Well, we spent Thanksgiving at Disney World. It was wonderful, magical, very clean (some would say sanitized), street musicians were great, parades are annoying (especially when one is trapped behind the "Do Not Cross" lines and hearing the same song for 15 minutes with each repetition going to a higher key), lines move faster when there's cool stuff to look at, EPCOT is like going to the Festival of Nations or I-Day, not really like visiting the country but one can purchase stuff from the country (like miso soup and rice crackers) that is NOT stamped "Disney," the Mexican pyramid had a beautiful darkened indoor courtyard with Mariachi Cobre playing and a lovely exhibit of Mexican art (painted animals from Oaxacan), the Chinese pagoda had replicas of the Terra Cotta warriors. There aren't very many rides at Disney, but I got to do everything on my "must do" list: Pirates of the Caribbean, the Mad Tea Party, Space Mountain, It's a Small World (not half as much an ear worm as that parade song). We did Mission:Space (the green version, not the orange version-I didn't want to be sick for the rest of the day). We saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Show at MGM. Not as much for us to do at MGM, so we decided as a collective unit to go back to our rented house about 2:30 in the afternoon. I guess we can only suspend disbelief for so long. :-)
The fireworks at EPCOT are amazing.
I had grown up on "The Wonderful World of Disney," which aired every Sunday night after "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom." Every week I would see the spinning teacups and the fireworks over Cinderella's castle in the opening sequence. And we were going to Florida, to Walt Disney World. We got as far as the main gate, and the line to get in the parking lot was long. Five miles long, my dad said. Too long to wait. So we didn't. I had made it as far as the gate, and we didn't go in. We did other things on that trip, but not Disney.
This has been in the back of my mind for many years. About fourteen years ago, Bill and I took a class (or maybe it was one of the workshops I did as a hairstylist), and wrote down goals: a car that runs reliably, a fireplace, a nice house in a decent neighborhood. I also wrote down "Disney World." Last year, we talked about vacations with S & J. I asked them if they wanted to go to Disney World. They had grown up on the movies like "Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast," but it wasn't on their list of top things to do. I asked if they would like to go to Disney World with my cousin's family, whose girls are five and eight (prime princess ages). They thought that might be fun. So we started planning.
Well, we spent Thanksgiving at Disney World. It was wonderful, magical, very clean (some would say sanitized), street musicians were great, parades are annoying (especially when one is trapped behind the "Do Not Cross" lines and hearing the same song for 15 minutes with each repetition going to a higher key), lines move faster when there's cool stuff to look at, EPCOT is like going to the Festival of Nations or I-Day, not really like visiting the country but one can purchase stuff from the country (like miso soup and rice crackers) that is NOT stamped "Disney," the Mexican pyramid had a beautiful darkened indoor courtyard with Mariachi Cobre playing and a lovely exhibit of Mexican art (painted animals from Oaxacan), the Chinese pagoda had replicas of the Terra Cotta warriors. There aren't very many rides at Disney, but I got to do everything on my "must do" list: Pirates of the Caribbean, the Mad Tea Party, Space Mountain, It's a Small World (not half as much an ear worm as that parade song). We did Mission:Space (the green version, not the orange version-I didn't want to be sick for the rest of the day). We saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Show at MGM. Not as much for us to do at MGM, so we decided as a collective unit to go back to our rented house about 2:30 in the afternoon. I guess we can only suspend disbelief for so long. :-)
The fireworks at EPCOT are amazing.