Diosa Does Disney

We took a family trip to Disney World at the end of January. You know, that obligatory family trip that's practically a rite of passage in this country. I know all sorts of families that have differing opinions on the Disney trip. Some just refuse to do anything quite so cliché and commercialized. Others make the trip a yearly tradition. And then some, like us, make the trip once, maybe a second time. Of course, we're talking families that can actually afford vacations. Let's not forget that not everyone is quite so fortunate.

Now, by saying the trip is obligatory, that doesn't mean that it's not enjoyable. Disney is pretty amazing. It's different for this generation than it was for me, though. I went to Disney once as a kid. I was nine and I was a huge fan of the Disney channel. The Disney channel is still around, but it's not what it used to be. My kids barely knew who Mickey and Donald were before we went. They've never seen the old Disney cartoons. Maybe they show them at some specified time or not at all. I have no idea. And seeing that I have two boys, the whole princess-thing is of no interest. They've never been fans of Little Einsteins, Hannah Montana, Handy Manny or anything else Disney. Trouble has recently discovered the Jonas Brothers, but I don't think it's clear to him they have anything to do with Disney.

So while my boys were excited to go to Disney, they weren't really sure why they were excited. It was like they knew they were supposed to be excited, and they were trying to be, but couldn't really muster the actual emotion.

It turns out one of their favorite parts of the trip was watching the old Disney cartoons that they showed constantly in the hotel lobby. I'm thinking I need to buy them a DVD. Every night when we got in they wanted to spend half an hour watching cartoons in the lobby.

And as you can see in the following clip, the boys learned to appreciate Mickey Mouse while we were there.

Trouble was excited to be in Florida in January, period. As soon as we stepped out of the airport and he felt how much warmer it was, and saw palm trees for the first time that he could remember (he has been to visit Polly and family in San Diego, but he was only five and doesn't remember much), he was in love. 

You are taking a chance visiting Florida in January, or practically in any season for that matter. In the fall, you're taking your chances with hurricane season. School vacations, I hear, are a nightmare. Summer is too hot. We had days that it was 70 and we even managed to hit the one water park that was open. Blizzard Beach was closed for maintenance. These are the chances you take when you visit off-season. We had other days where it rained and was 50. We also didn't have to wait in extraordinarily long lines. We used Fast Passes for only the most popular of rides. Most times you didn't even need them.

One thing about Disney is that it requires a great deal of planning and the choices are overwhelming. You can stay at a Disney resort or stay off-site and rent a car. There are certain perks to staying at the Disney resorts. You don't need to rent a car or pay for parking and there are extra magic hours available at one of the parks each day. We decided to stay at one of the more economical Disney resorts - All Star Sports. It was nice enough. The room was roughly the size of a shoebox, but seeing that we spent less than one waking hour in the room most days, that didn't matter much. There was an outdoor heated pool, but the one big drawback was no jacuzzi.

We also did the Disney Dining plan with one quick service and one sit-down meal each day. I spent two hours on the phone with a Disney booking agent arranging our dining a couple of months before we left. Curls tipped me off to that. 

You can't expect to be able to make dinner reservations once you're down there. You have to do it months, or at least weeks, in advance. And to book your meal reservations, you have to know which park you're going to be in each day because you don't want to have to leave a park and spend an hour traveling to another park for lunch or dinner. Like I said, a lot of decisions and planning.

The best part of the dining plan was that some of our meals weren't actually at the parks but at different resorts. And some of those high-end resorts are amazing. We got to see the Boardwalk, which must be five star. It's one of the resorts where they perform weddings. From there, we caught the ferry over to Epcot and entered that park through the back door. We also saw the Animal Kingdom resort where you can watch the giraffes while you soak in the hot tub. And the kids' favorite was the Wilderness Lodge. The way the different pools all connect and follow a path through the resort --wow. And then inside, the main lobby goes straight up through the five or so levels of rooms which are an open, log cabin design. Very cool.

LT was also very thrilled to learn that he was tall enough to hit the height requirement of 42" on most of the rides. I think the only place there were some rides he couldn't do was at the water park.

And Trouble even got to train as young Padewan.

I wouldn't want to go back and do Disney the way we did this time. It was a great trip, but not one I'd want to repeat. I could go back and spend a week at the Animal Kingdom Lodge or Wilderness Lodge, they're resorts in and of themselves, and spend some time outside of Disney. Visit Sea World and Universal. Of course, we're talking an even more expensive trip than the one I'm still paying for.

But it was totally worth it.

One thing you want to make sure you don't miss if you go is the show Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios. Truly awe inspiring and magical.

 

Blackstone keeps telling me that our next couple of trips should be to see the icebergs before they melt and Venice before it's under water. I think he has a point.

Comments

[Polly]

I see Blackstone's point but with the way global climate change is progressing, I'm afraid I'd be in Venice at the tipping point and end up under water.

[Pandora]

I'm not trying to brag here, but I'm sort of the resident Disney freak. It's probably because I was the last generation to grow up with 2D Disney. Yeah, Pixar's good, but I had none of that Home on the Range bullshit. I had the goods. Aladdin was shown in theaters and Mufasa being thrown to the stampede of Wildebeest changed my outlook on life and death. Pretty sure I've seen all the princess flicks at least a hundred times. Baby Dol thinks that because she's 5 she knows more about princesses--sister is seriously mistaken.

Living in Northern California for most of my life, we only did Disney once a year. Oh, but when we did it, we did it hard. 8am-1am. Yep, 15 solid hours of Disney bliss. I can draw you a map of the park with an accurate location of each ride and or attraction. You need a bathroom? No worries, it's never an issue with me.

I went last time on my birthday--fo free ya'll--and let me let you in on a little secret. Sure fast passes are great but, I have the ultimate way to maximize your Disneyland experience. WHEELCHAIR. For the small deposit of 30 bucks, you can too can have the Pandora Disney Experience. The ride operators never question you and you get to go through the exit line. Just make sure you have a manly man with you to push you around. Oh, shame on you Pandora! It's alright though, positive I'm going to hell already.

[The Dol]

I have never been to DisneyWorld. We've done Disneyland plenty of times, but I know that it's not on the scale of that great mecca of mouseketeers in Florida.

Sounds like it was a great trip, even if it did take some major planning to make it happen. I'm sort of exhausted just thinking about it.

And Pandora: for shame! (Although, there is part of me that is sort of proud of you for doing such a ballsy thing.)

[Sistah]

My parents took us to Disney World when I was 9 over a February school break. Although we had a wonderful time and I made great memories there, I grew up and thought it was just for kids. When I graduated from grad school, my mom offered my husband and me a 7 day trip (4 in the parks and 3 on the cruise) as a graduation trip. I was thankful for the thought but really was thinking I would have preferred the dough. We didn't even have kids and at that point in my life I didn't even like kids. We decided to give it a go with very low expectations.

Our trip was scheduled for 9/29/01 so when 9/11 happened, we nearly cancelled. We decided to flip the bird at the terrorists and go anyway (I have some Jingoist tendencies). The pilot was surprised and thrilled he had a full plane and told us to keep our seatbelts fastened because he was going to make "evasive maneuvers" with the plane if he felt we were threatened. As a frequent yet terrified flyer, I immediately felt threatened. Nevertheless, we did make it.

Despite the palor over the rest of the western world at that time, Disney is a perpetually happy place. It was a good place to escape. And no one NO ONE was there. We would ride a ride, get off and get right back on.

And I'm not a cruiser either but the Disney Cruise was perfection (although the fleet of divers who went under at every port looking for terrorist funny business under the ship was a little disconcerting.

We are really looking forward to taking the kids. Thanks for reminding me of our trip, Diosa! It sounds like you had a great time! I better start saving…

I have an ex who did the same as Pandora. I should introduce you (except who would push the chair?). Just kidding--he's even older than me--it would be icky.

[Chance]

Great Story Diosa...Disney was one of the few truly great childhood memories. I went again years later as a grown up and couldn't quite capture the same feelings. I think with kids it could be a wonderful time for different reasons. Some day!

[The Band Geek]

My mother and I have always wanted to take a trip to Disneyworld. She loves anything and everything Disney. And we've been to Disneyland plenty of times. How different from Disneyland is it, though? I assume it's much much bigger.. but still. Hopefully she and I can make sometime pretty soon.

Glad you had fun, though! Definitely looks like it. And I agree with the Disney channel being different now. There is nothing original at all. They used to play some newer Mickey Mouse cartoons when I was in middle school.. but now Mickey and Minnie and the gang are no where to be seen. It's quite depressing.

@Pandora, you think YOU'RE the Disney freak? Yeah, I lived down the street from Disneyland for 13 years. And both of my parents worked there. AND. When I was 2, my mom made me go to Disneyland 40 days straight. I was screaming and crying that I didn't want to go to Disneyland. Not something you hear everyday. Plus, I have a pass. Still. :)

But honestly, I don't think I could ever get sick of Disneyland.

[Diosa]

@Polly - I don't expect it to happen that suddenly, but who knows.

@Pandora - I don't think I could invest that much of my life into Disney World. And I'm not the type of person to pull the wheelchair thing.

@Dol - It is exhausting. No doubt about that.

@Sistah - I'm sure you and your family will have a fabulous time when you go.

@Chance - Yeah, I know there's plenty of adults that do Disney alone, but I don't see the point. Maybe in combination with some other points of interest in Orlando. I also didn't get all the pregnant women. You never could have gotten me there pregnant.

@Band Geek = I've never been to Disneyland, so I really can't compare either. I hear it's much smaller. I used to feel that way about the circus as a kid. My grandfather worked at a radio station and used to get free tickets all the time. It got to the point where I hated the circus.

[Pandora]

@Band Geek, I realized after I typed out that whole thing, you'd try to one up me because you could. I'll get my pass--one day--and we'll go to Disneyland every weekend!

[The Model]

Oh god, I don't get the pregnant women either. No way. Screw. That.

Back when we had TV, Spawn 1 liked Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but that's her only real reference to the old characters outside of our park visits. She also went through a princess phase and for a while I was cool with it, but in more recent history I've been really trying to downplay/discourage the whole Disney Princess thing. At least until the princesses have smaller heads/eyes and bigger waists/feet. (We once had a Sleeping Beauty singing doll with realistic proportions, which was cool.)

We went to Disneyworld with both spawn several times when I lived in Florida and once when I was a kid and it's nice and all, but Disneyland is where it's really at. Sure, it's smaller, and the whole territory of Disneyland could fit in the parking lot of Disneyworld, but it's the original, it's cleaner, it's just better all around. I haven't actually taken my kids to the 'Land since Spawn 1 was but a wee babe, but I'll definitely be taking them soon. My brother lives down the street, so it will happen.

Now, my other brother works down the street from Six Flags Magic Mountain and THAT place is like a second home to me. We lived about a 25 minute drive from it starting when I was 11, so once my oldest brother got his first car, the three of us would get season passes and go all the time. We used the hell out of those passes. That's a park I could draw you a map of by memory. Easily.

[Bookgirl]

As someone who has been there. no, you can't always get to the front of the line in a wheelchair. They made me wait just like everyone else. Bastards.