Friday, June 24, 2011

[bearshorty]

Getting up at 6:30 for the 8am shuttle to Disney World. I just like how all the logistics are going off without a hitch this week. We got there around 8:25 and bought tickets for Magic Kingdom and then rode the monorail, which was cool. It is pretty land with a lake and grounds.

Disney World is a park more geared for kids as the rides are less scary but it did mean that I actually could ride the rollercoasters since they didn’t go upside down and I actually really enjoyed them. And this park really likes animatics as many rides were all about animatics. And while this is meant for kids I did get giddy at the most silly things like taking a picture with Goofy and standing in line for pictures with Mickey and Minnie and the Princesses, especially Belle. I can’t believe I’m 31 and was so silly about meeting the Princesses. But I figure Disney World is the place to be a kid. And I went on all the classic rides like Slash Mountain, Big Thunder and Space Mountain despite being nervous and I liked them a lot. Because of this I think I’ll try the Hippogriff ride tomorrow.

So this was our day in Disney World: we started in Adventureland and worked our way clockwise:

1.Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse – pretty cool
2.Pirates of the Caribbean – I got a pirate duckie (I sort of collect rubber ducks)
3.Jungle boat ride – lots of silly puns
4.Aladdin carpet ride – kiddy ride but I was surprised how much I liked it since (heights not my thing either)
5. Splash Mountain – there is more to the ride than the drop but I spent most of the ride in anticipation of it. I survived it! I did like the background and scenes along the ride.
6. Big Thunder Rollercoaster – I haven’t been on a rollercoaster in a long time and I loved this one. It was just the right speed and I liked the angle of the curve and there were no dramatic drops. And it made me brave enough to go on Space Mountain later.
7. Tom Sawyer Island
8. Haunted Mansion – I liked the graveyard and ghost mirror where a ghost switched Bear’s and mine head
Then lunch – salad with chicken and French fries
9. It’s a small world – that was a bit creepy. I liked seeing a Jewish wedding and singing the song in different languages
10. Mickey’s Philhar Magic in 3D – that was awesome, Disney songs with 3D effects, one of my favorite things, very well done.
11. Snow White’s Scary Adventures – for little kids but it was amusing especially watching the little girl in the front seat.
12. Watching the Parade while eating ice-cream. I really should not be this giddy over fictional characters.
13. Stitch’s Great Adventure – we never actually finished this ride. We waited online, got through couple of stages, sat in seat, the ride started and then fizzled out due to technical difficulties. Because of that we got a FastPass on any ride, which we then chose to use on Space Mountain, which was actually lucky since it had a 60 min wait. So yay.
14. Space Mountain – I liked it. I was very nervous about it but I liked the light tunnel and I liked that it was a rollercoaster in the dark since I couldn’t really see it and get too scared. So I’m really glad I did this.
15. Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress – it started to rain while we were in Space Mountain so it was actually fortuitous to go on this and sit inside. All the animatics were amusing and so was the storyline of technology. I loved seeing something very classic. Did the girl really just have to be concerned about boys, though?
16. Meeting Mickey and Minnie with Bear - since we have to wait online I count it as a ride.
17. meet the Princesses – Aurora from Sleeping Beauty (I had to look her up online), Belle from Beauty and the Beast (my favorite story) and Cinderella. Bear did go shopping while I waited in this line.

Then we did some shopping – I got Alice in Wonderland tea and biscuits for my Dad and tea towel for Mom. I got some magnets earlier too.



main street in Magic Kingdom


Splash Mountain


Castle


Haunted Mansion graveyard


Belle and Beast on Parade


Cinderella


Then we got dinner to go since we had to take the monorail back to meet our shuttle van at 8pm. I got a veggie burger and more fries. I’m eating too much fries lately. By the time we got to the monorail it was pouring rain. And pouring hard.

When we got back to our room in the hotel, the TV there got replaced by a flat screen TV – sweet.

So, Disney World is really more for kids unlike the Universal Park, at least the Magic Kingdom. But it was such a childhood dream that I felt like a little kid all day and I could do all the rides. And Bear went along with everything without complaint, although he didn’t have as much interest in Disney as in other parks. When I was little, maybe nine, there was a book with a Russian Olympic Bear and his interactions with Disney characters and it was an awesome book. We also had Disney cartoon panels in a popular gum brand (and I still have them) and every Sunday we had a Disney cartoon block on TV. When I told my classmates that I was moving to America just before we left, they all pretty much asked if I was going to Disney World. So it is a very much a childhood thing. I think it would be more fun in ten years if/when I can bring my own kids here but this was definitely a good silly day.