Walt Disney World Trip Reports
Topic: My week in WDW (longer version)

#	Author	Message
81	Inspector 57 Thu 2/7/2008 9:58p	And a question... According to your mini-Report, there was a gay, gay, gay aspect to your experience. Can you tell us about that here? Or do we need to switch over to LP After Dark?
82	jonvn Fri 2/8/2008 1:35a	"Interesting. In my experience, we midwesterners really DO deserve our stereotype that we're a friendly lot." The flight crew (out of Denver) even said something. We heard it because we sat across from the stewards. She said after the door was closed "My god, does she never smile?" But they were all like that at the airport. I heard they were supposed to be friendly people there, but wow. The other thing on the flight is that the stewardess was fiddling with the light switches. There must have been like 20, and they were trying to figure out which one was the right combo for whatever it was that they were doing. So they kept tapping buttons. I finally looked up at them and said "You know, you're not exactly filling us with confidence here..." "You pay extra for a luggage-handling service that services you by making you wait a day for your luggage?! Do they tell you this up front?" I think it is free if you stay at the resort and no, they don't tell you this. But the luggage was there in the morning before we left, so I was able to change into something else. "I thought DL's SM2.0 leaves WDW's SM in its vapor trail." I have not been on SM2 yet. But I have to tell you, the entrance and exit and loading area are way way better themed than at Disneyland. No comparison. Not only that, but the light effects on the ride that make it look like you are zipping through something faster than you are, are more plentiful and better done in Florida than SM1, at least. "Stop relying upon TELLING us how Magical a parade is " If they have to tell you it is magic, then it's not. And ten bucks for a balloon, at least this kind of balloon, is not magical. At MILF, in the entrance lobby, they kept repeating over and over "This is funny, you must laugh, this is funny, you must laugh." I mean, if it were really funny, we'd be able to figure it out. They have to know they are pushing a lot of hogwash towards the public, and must think the public is too dumb to notice this. And perhaps most of them are. There are two meanings behind the gay gay gay comments. First, the thing is if you went into a place, and you all of a sudden noticed that EVERYONE was left handed, then it starts to strike you as very odd and stepfordish. The number of gay people in this country is a small percentage, but in WDW, there are so very many gay male employees, that it started becoming really very noticeable. The other thing is that the magic and dreams blither is just so festive and precious. Over the top precious, and comes across as a effeminate ethos that is just grating after a while. A little bit is nice. It softens the hard edge of things. But I walked out of the Magic Kingdom thinking that the Magic Dreamy Gay Police were going to arrest me for not grabbing the rear end of the guy in front of me. So of course I had to. But really, it was just like if the employee was under 100 years old and male, they were very likely gay. Maybe they're attracted to the warm weather. I have no idea.
83	Mr X Fri 2/8/2008 2:48a	I think you'd be better off saying "monsters inc." than using the acronym. :p **So of course I had to.** lol.
84	TDLFAN Fri 2/8/2008 11:53p	>>Most people simply are not going to go to Tokyo. It's not something they will do. Either they can't afford it, or have no interest.<< Exactly the reason why I bring it up when necesary. Most people need to know their precious WDW is not delivering in the same level of excellence, but instead, choosing to deliver in quantity, and that is not good, espcially since they over charge. Now, if you were from Wichita and came to WDW and got wowed! then I would understand why people still love going there. >>I would like a park like TDS here, but that's not likely. Finances and the tastes of the public are a bit different in Japan, and it probably just would not work here, at least monetarily.<< Well.. I agree with the finances situation since now, all of the money at WDW goes to the resort division, and not so much the parks, which is why they are falling apart and in the MK's case...outdated. However, I honestly do not agree with your assessment of the Japanese being a different audience, concidering the LOVE Disney to the core, plus the fact that most westerners who have been to TDS love the park a lot. I think only a few britons may disagree and prefer DCA better... but that's why the europeans may seem more disconnected with the true legacies of the Disney parks.. If that makes sense. Bottom line is.. no matter if we are americans or asians.. they love Disnet all the same.
85	jonvn Sat 2/9/2008 6:02a	"Most people need to know their precious WDW is not delivering in the same level of excellence" I don't think it's precious. I think it's fun to go to, albeit pricey for what it is. I'm sure what is in Japan is great, but it's in Japan. There are all kinds of things all over the world that are more interesting and better to see and do than things in this country. We have the Grand Canyon and New York City. France has Paris and the Alps. People aren't going to go there, it's in another country. They aren't going to go to Tokyo, certainly. Not in great numbers. "Bottom line is.. no matter if we are americans or asians.. they love Disnet all the same." I think they like animated characters far more in japan than they do here.
86	butterbarre Sun 3/9/2008 3:52p	jonvn - terrific report. We were treated to a WDW vacation one month ago by/with our son who had just returned from a year's deployment as a lieutenant in Afghanistan for our 30th wedding anniversary. We absolutely had the best time - magic indeed. I found your observations entertaining and spot-on. It's all about sharing time with those you love.
87	jonvn Tue 3/11/2008 8:46a	Thanks! I'm glad you had a good time. We did too. That's what it is about, and congrats on 30 years. It's only 20 for us!
88	butterbarre Tue 3/11/2008 3:59p	Some quick observations: 1. Disney's Magical Express added a lot to the experience. It worked perfectly for us. Same day luggage. 2. MGM or whatever it's called now was our favorite. Sure, MK always has a special place in our hearts but lots of the changes didn't do much for me. Our last visit was 1994 - no more 20K, no more skyway. Tomorrowland has faded further into yesterday. Life today is unfortunately more Flintstones than Jetsons and we'll never go to that special zeitgeist again. Pity. However, ToT, Rockin' Roller Coaster were great. Same with that action stadium stuff. 3. Animal Kingdom was a let-down. The gorilla walk-through was spectacular. The safari ride was unremarkable if you've ever been to a quality zoo before. It seemed like Jungle Cruise with live animals. The story-line wasn't needed. Just let us watch the animals. I'd imagine in the heat of summer I might skip it entirely. 4. We only had 4 days Wedn afternoon through Sunday morning (in early Feb)so we decided to skip Epcot. I'm sorry we did - Soaring and test-track look interesting. Instead, we spent Wedn magic hours and all day Sat at AK. Oh well...never saw it before. 5. The monorail ain't quite the big deal it used to be. Most of the whole WDW isn't even on it. We stayed at the Poly to relive our first trip in 1987. It was still magic, watching the lagoon night show from our patio same as it was 20 years ago. But the magic of loading kids/strollers on the monorail and finding yourself in the MK just wasn't needed anymore. We much more enjoyed taking the boats back and forth. Everywhere else, you pretty much had to catch a bus. 6. The Pirates/Princesses thing ticked me off. It was on a Sat night. We had scheduled ourselves to hit the MK then figuring it would stay open to 11 or 12. It did, but we didn't want to shell out a double admission. 7. It was great to find the brick we bought in 1994. We got it like the first week of the program so it is about 5 paces to the left of the center VIP section. Kudos to the 2 CMs who helped us find it. They are numbered, but not laid out by number. I googled the program to discover that the brick was only good for x many years - then I guess they re-sell the rights. Funny, I thought it would be for as long as the park was there. It is worn some, but still quite legible. I spent the better part of Space Mountain wait time trying to estimate how many millions? of feet have tread on it. Let's see 40k per day ave attendance times 5000 days is 200 million which is 400 million "foots". I'd estimate that at least 1% of the crowd is routed over our brick. So I came up with 4 million tread-upons. 8. The food was much better than it was 15-20 years ago. 9. Pleasure Island still doesn't seem to fit - although we had a blast there mainly at the Adventurer's Club and the 70-80's club. The Comedy Club was kinda weak and it took the whole show to get one silly bag of popcorn. Jeesh. 10. OK, I love everything Disney. Always have, hopefully always will. I noticed - as you remarked about the omnipresent vacation club promos - a bit of cash creep. I mean, we all know we're going to find pirate swords/etc at the end of PoC. But did they really have to dig up 20K Leagues for a Pooh landfill? No tie-in merchandise for 20K, I guess. It just seems that the very existence of the park depends upon the ability of an attraction to make us buy tie-in stuff. You can almost hear the abacus click with every footstep. I don't think that's what Walt had in mind. 11. Still and all, we had the best time of our lives!
89	butterbarre Tue 3/11/2008 7:17p	A few more (random) observations: *the Fast-pass system is brilliant. *Photo-pass seems a bit pricey. *getting sushi plates at 0200 after coming back from Pleasure Island at the Poly all-night food kiosk was a treat. *Turkey legs @ 1600 hrs are a great way to get food poisoning. *The CMs at Haunted Mansion in Feb didn't seem to care about being in character. Maybe that's because they have been PC scripted. 15-20 years ago they seemed to be part of the attraction - kinda like Tower of Terror is now. *I liked the way PoC was before the re-do. Sparrow just seemed to be added for marketing. *OTOH, the Haunted Mansion refurb made the best ride even better. *the back-lot ride at Studios isn't very good. I used to like the sit-com row of houses. Now you just ride past weathering junk. *somehow I still can't get the urge to go to Tom Sawyer Island, climb on the Swiss Family Treehouse, or go to the Tiki Hut. We did those 20 years ago, but once is enough. *the grill feast at the Poly Ohana is incredible. Good value, great taste and we still have those plastic ice cubes from those funky blue drinks. *we had dinner at Cinderella's Castle. The food was great, my son and I really enjoyed the lamb chops. Much better than our experience 20 years ago. Watching the Cinderella photo's of other families and their little princesses just about brought a tear to my eye - memories so thick you have to brush them away. *Liberty Tavern is a great place for a sit-down lunch. Centrally located, tasty food. I'm a sucker for the turkey plate. *In early Feb we ate wherever we wanted without a reservation and no more than a 5 minute wait - except for Cinderella Castle dinner. *I don't think the meal plan is all that good especially in the off season. It makes you fixate on eating all the time - I'm glad we passed on it. *I missed the Magic Shop and arcade on Main Street that was there 20 years ago. Another case of cash creep. If it ain't turning over tie-in merchandise, it's gone. *the water fountain water is really bad. I remember a 1988 guidebook that stressed how WDW made sure there were cold water drinking fountains. Now they aren't, and the water tastes of sulfur - I guess the drought got the water table down pretty far. *the fireworks are great shows, but believe me (or rather, my son) they are tough to take after a year in combat in Afghanistan. *20 years ago, the sound/music was just amazing. Remember, CDs were wowing us when they replaced cassettes. Now we have gotten so used to it that the wow factor is (usually) gone. *I've never been a big fan of parades - but I miss the Main Street Electric Parade. That was really something. *the fingerprint system seemed to only work 40-60% of the time. That and the pointless security bag check semed silly *Crocs (the shoes) make the vacation much more enjoyable.
90	danyoung Wed 3/12/2008 4:25a	Thanks for your thoughts. A couple of thoughts on your thoughts - >Turkey legs @ 1600 hrs are a great way to get food poisoning.< Did this happen to you, or are you just concerned about it? >the fireworks are great shows, but believe me (or rather, my son) they are tough to take after a year in combat in Afghanistan.< I've actually wondered about this. I guess you could look at it as good reconditioning of a soldier, so when he hears a loud bang he thinks fireworks and not head for the bunkers!

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