8 Days at Disney World

[davekempmeister]

Just returned from Disney in Orlando. Never been there and came away from it happy for my 6 year old. Mind boggling in scale and a study in organization and marketing know-how. The 3-D stuff kills - especially the Bug's life short in AnimalKingdom. That's a must. Epcot''s got something called "Soarin' " that is like an IMAX effect while simulating a hanglider experience over picturesque regions of CA. Definitely not my normal vacation M.O., but nice to do it with my daughter at the most age appropriate time.

Couldn't work there though, as I'm unable to maintain an unfailingly positive and happy demeanor at ALL times. Also, seems a little bit "plantation" to me. Just enough to make me uncomfortable. Ask any questions now because in a few days I'll have forgotten most everything - it was that substantive.

[KingCrimson]

On the Soarin ride, did you notice that they spray stinky stuff at you? It's fantastic, until you inhale a bunch and get it in your nose..then it's jus ta sneezing fit.

[tex1230]

I had the misfortune of going there for a week last year with my 6-yr old. He loved it. I felt like they attached a shop vac to my wallet. I had good memories of that place from childhood, but I have no Idea how a middle class couple with 3 kids (like my parents when we went) could possibly survive a week there.

It used to be "the happiest place on earth"

Now it's "You distract them with that shiny thing while I take all of their money selling useless crap to the kids"

Not Going Back.

[Pow]

My family goes there every year. The past two trips ive spent longboarding around the resort hotel. its fun for the most part, once you get past the fact that florida is one of the flattest places on earth.

[spil]

its fun for the most part, once you get past the fact that florida is one of the flattest places on earth.

Florida is actually the flattest state in the U.S. From its lowest point (sea level) to its highest point, Britton Hill, is a whopping 345 feet above sea level.

The more you know...

[skategoat]

Dave:

Good thing you went this year because they are closing down the "Small World" ride soon. What child's life would be complete without that ride - the ethnic stereotyping, the animatronic robots, the annoying song, the oh-so-slow boat.

Two things that really stuck in my mind other than Small World:

1) The turkey legs in Frontierland. The strangest idea for a snack.

2) The big frickin' bass in the ponds around the Yacht Club Resort. Made me wish I had brought a rod.

[scotts.Scheinman]

Ive been there every summer with my dad and bother for like the past 8 years. I love it

[kjl]

Ah, you went like 2 months too early! I just spent the last couple of months working on a ride that opens sometime in May. The ride will be like the most bestest thing ever - it's a 3D shooting gallery - like Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters meets all the cool 3D stuff.

I've been riding, er... "testing" it every once in a while when they send me down to Orlando or LA, and it's really, really, awesome.

davekempmeister: <i>"Mind boggling in scale and a study in organization and marketing know-how"</i> - yeah, I don't know a ton about it myself, but like it or hate it, it is absolutely amazing how much thought went into Disneyworld (not just in organization and marketing, but in just design). It's like the alien in "Alien": it kills people, but you've got to admire its purity and efficiency :D.

Like for example, you never, ever see workers who are not in character, like you never see guys walking to their jobs at the restaurant, or the guy in a half-open Mickey suit smoking a cigarette on his lunch break. That's a conscious choice to have make the world seamless for the visitors - and so there are underground tunnels connecting everything for the workers to walk through, supplies to be delivered through, etc.. Unfortunately, Florida being flat and the water table being not very deep, they had to build all the tunnels on the ground floor and built all of DisneyWorld one story up on top of it. The whole mile long monorail ride/ferry ride from the parking lot to the entrance is so that by the time you've gotten to the entrance, you can't see the normal world (parking lot) any more - you're in Disney World. And everything inside has been carefully crafted to maintain illusion - you can't really see much of, say, the space land (TomorrowLand?) from whatever wild west thing is next to it, because they've carefully setdressed trees or boulders or what-have-you to hide all the space towers from AdventureLand, or the Haunted Mansion from TomorrowLand, or whatever.

Anyways, I find all that stuff fascinating. Kind of creepy, but I really have to appreciate seeing work done by people that really, really cared about what they were doing.

p.s. riding a half-completed Disneyworld ride 40 times in a row while you're supposed to be paying attention to things (other than hitting all the high point targets) is not as much fun as you would imagine. The seats were hard, I was trying to take notes, but I was wearing 3D glasses and most of the light was blacklight, and the car was twisting and jerking around, and the music... Sheesh.

[skatha]

Ahhh, Disneyworld....

Sorry to hear about the small world ride. I took my kids in April 2002 and it was already unbelievably humid. That ride was the only thing that saved us. 15 minutes in A/C....

Funny story, my parents came with us (my kids were 3 and 5). We were driving back to the campground (yes, I'm a big goof with a camper) and saw a 7-11. Big deal, you say, but there's been no 7-11's in Texas for about 20 years now(at least Fort Worth, Dallas, or Houston, I think I saw one in Austin last month)

Anyhoo, we decide to get slurpees. The kids are asleep and I walk into the store, serve myself 3 small slurpees and go to the register. I have been used to paying multiple dollars for everything all day so when the guy said "That's $2.87, lady" I felt compelled to tell him I had gotten 3 slurpees, not 1. He said "That's the price for three"

Of course, I remember when slurpees were 25 cents for a large one. My parents stopped to pick one up for me right after we went to the polls and they voted for Abraham Lincoln for president:p

[skategoat]

If you ever go for multiple days, try hiding garbage somewhere. For example, put a penny on top of a bathroom stall. Or, shove a Kleenex deep inside a bush. Next day, it will be gone. It might even be gone by the time you go home.

Another distraction is to find "hidden Mickeys":

http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/HiddenMickey.html

In the 90s, I went for 7 or 8 years straight for an entire week for a trade show. You had to find something to keep your sanity.

[carvediem]

speaking from experience of 10 years ago I liked Universal way better than Disneyland near LA (was it called Anaheim to which we spent too many hours on the bus traveling to? a couple of hours in the other world were enough though seemed to be soooooooo only for kids except for this in the dark rollercoaster ride which was actually somewhat radical)

anyway I just loved the Back to the future ride at Universal that one rocked :) did find the raise of general entrance fee every year a bit harsh though wouldn't be surprised if they were at 60 bucks or more by now

[pebu]

except for this in the dark rollercoaster ride which was actually somewhat radical)

Space mountain... That was pretty neat. Everybody I talked to swore that those spinning red lights were going to take their heads off. Me included, and I was short at that time.

[davekempmeister]

I'm pretty certain that the Buzz Lightyear ride is up and running - my wife and daughter rode it while I played with my little 6 month old and watched an amazingly beautiful Chinese (they wear nametags with home country) woman serve the turkey legs that Skategoat referenced. Strange snack indeed. My daughter loved that ride, but I accepted from the outset that, like the Smithsonian, I'd probably see about 1/2 of 1% of the place. I stayed at the Beach Club Villas and saw painters on staff working with the housekeeping crew everyday. Middle-upper level managers walk around with those clamp things used to pick up trash. Most impressed with the cleanliness. Personally I felt that the Aerosmith (formerly Cheap Trick) roller coaster at MGM was superior to space mountain. Same indoor concept but smoother and includes incredible initial acceleration. Also at MGM is a stunt show on a movie set that depicts James Bondesque high speed chase scenes. That is certainly worthwhile if for no other reason than to see pro drivers do what they do. Personal historical retrospections will probably be kind to the place largely because I already wrote all the checks before I left. That, for me, is the first step in remembering a vacation fondly. Ha!

[davekempmeister]

btw, Tex is right. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$