Garaphernalia 7.5

Day 4

I was alone most of today. I woke up to get to Epoct by 9 so I could take the backstage tour of the World Showcase, but found out when I got there that I needed to reserve a spot before hand. (BTW, why is it that people from NY/NJ are all dicks?)

I wound up walking around, going all the way to the Boardwalk and the Swan/Dolphin hotel, before coming back to Epcot to go on the Soarin’ ride. Soarin’ is a new attraction at Epcot which simulates a hang glider flight over California. Its a curved screen of IMAX height, and your elevated to the middle of the screen to make it seem like your flying. Its not bad, but they had too many edits and tried to cram too much into one short ride.

Epcot Hydroponics

I also did the backstage tour of the The Land exhibit, where they show you how the hydroponic gardens are run. This is really (to me at least) the really entertaining part of Disney. I want to do a few more tours before I leave. They actually grow everything hydroponically for all their gardens at Epcot

Unfortunately, the level of explaination given to their science and technology exhibits is about a third grade level. The tour can jack that up to about junior high/high school. I don’t expect much more than that really, but it would be nice if they didn’t dumb everything down so far.

BTW, at Epcot they have “futureworld”. Guess what is totally lacking in “Futureworld”? Oh, the internet. There is NO internet anywhere other than overpriced ethernet in the hotel rooms, anywhere at Disney World.

I’ve been walking around with an eye for what I’d be doing on my trip. My camera is good for something which can fit into my pocket, but its not great overall. You’ll see some photos on Flickr that don’t look very Disney. That’s because I’m just trying to take photos as if I weren’t at Disney. I’ll be goofing around with Photoshop with some of them when I get back. I’ve shot some video, but the quality is very poor (its from my digital camera) and I can’t zoom or do anything once the video starts.

Tomorrow I’ll be at the Magic Kingdom and MGM studios I think. Schools in Florida were out Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully it will be less busy.

Day 3

On Monday, we went to Animal Kingdom in the morning. The idea behind Animal Kingdom is a good one, but the implementation isn’t very good. The park is small, there aren’t as many attractionas as there are in other parks, its crowded, and there seems to be more souviner and food sales than anything else. The park also closes earlier than the other parks.

We ended up just leaving in the afternoon because of the lines. I did do the Dinosaur ride, which was OK, and that was about it. They have a new Everest roller coaster, but we didn’t get to try it.

Once problem Disney World has compared to parks like Six Flags, is that they are compelled to over theme everything. They can’t just build a cool roller coaster. They have to link it to a movie, an animated character, give it to imagaineers to make it look like something else, and then link a large gift shop to it. As a result, the rides they have usually aren’t as fun as a Six Flags type ride, and usually cost a helluva lot more.

We had dinner at the Grand Floridian, which was pretty good. Not as good as the France pavillion, but more than passible. I’m not sure if my caloric gain from this trip has been greater than what I’ve burned from walking.

At night we went to the MGM studios because it was opened after hours for people staying at the resorts. Unfortunately, they shut down all the cool rides so it was sort of stupid.

One thing I’ve noticed is that there are as many electric scooters being driven by the old and obese as there are strollers for children. Part of this is just a matter of demographics. People are getting old. (We met one guy on a scooter that had more gold Disney pins around his neck than Mr T. He is retired, lives nearby, and visits Disney World EVERY DAY) Mostly, its people who just refuse to walk. Some I’ve seen were my age. If your on one of these scooters, its not like being in a wheelchair. You can walk. The people I’ve seen go to amazing contortions with their scooters to not walk. They drive it in a restaurant, knock over chairs and tables, rather than park it outside and walk 20 feet to their table.

They are great for some eldery people, but the majority of people driving these things really don’t need them.

Day 2

Our first full day at Disney World was at Epcot. (Trivia: EPCOT = Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow).

Epcot is my favorite park at Disney World. Its the one which is least designed for kids. They haven’t changed a ton since I was last here. They put a big stupid tower with a sign near the Spaceship Earth ball (why?) and added a few attractions, but that’s it.

Traveling with seven people can be hard, especially when the age range is so huge. My niece and nephew probably weren’t interested in any of the science or international stuff. I, however, love it.

We did the new Mission Space ride, which is supposed to simulate what its like to be launched from a rocket. They did too good of a job. The ride takes place inside of a centrifuge. From what I’ve heard, they had to tone it down by 30%, but even that was still too much. All of the adults in our group got sick on it, me included.

After that, my brother’s family and my dad went back to the hotel while me and my mom stayed in the park. Most of the really neat stuff we saw after they left. The chineese acrobats, the french mime/acrobats, and most of the neat International Showcase productions.

We had dinner in the France pavillion which was far better than I expected. We’re on this meal plan where you pre pay for meals, so I expected to get hit for the cost of 2 meals, but it was only 1. Not only was it good, but the price turned out to be very reasonable considering what the pre-pay was.

The laser/fireworks show they have at night is probably the most impressive I’ve ever seen.

I tried to go the entire stay without buying anythin with mickey mouse on it, but I had to buy a hat because I forgot mine at home (bald+sun = no good). I managed to get one with the smallest logo possible.

Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom.

Check out the Flickr badge on the right for images.

Day 1

My nephew really likes ketchup

I’m writing this from the Artisan Point lounge in the Wilderness Lodge at Walt Diseny World.

As I noted earlier, I’m here with my family. In particular, my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece. This is the trip we never took when we were younger and now my mom and dad really wanted to take everyone and the grandkids. They saved up for this trip by collecting dimes and quarters for the better part of a decade. I’m not kidding.

This was the first time my niece, nephew and sister-in-law ever have flown in an airplane. Its also the first time any of them have been south of Milwaukee. Even my parents don’t travel a ton, so they like to take adavantage of every little thing offered, like free pretzles on the plane. I’m so jaded of travel at this point I never take anything, and just to my best to enter a trance like state for the duration of the flight to get it over with sooner. I managed to go both legs of the 13 hour flight to Buenos Aires, sitting in the middle seat, without so much as getting up to stretch my legs.

My thoughts on Disney World are random and are in no way intended to be consistent. Please remember, I’m very tired AND have had a glass of wine.

– I haven’t been here in 6 years. Everything is familiar, but there are no memories that come flooding back.

– Last two times I was here I came with my ex-girlfriend. Its a very different experience being here with another adult vs. being here with your family and some kids. I really wish I had someome here to hang with in addition to my familty. Nothing against them, they are good people, but its just not the same.

– Disney World proper is about 47 square miles. That’s huge. There are four major theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM Studios, and Animal Kingdom). The Magic Kingdom is by far the lamest. We went there tonight after we got in for about 3 hours and I have no desire to return.

– The carousel was probably a great thing 100 years ago, but it just doesn’t cut it anymore. As my nephew put it rather well “that was the lamest ride ever”.

– The Carousel of Progress, however, is one of my favorite things at Disney World. Its a anamatroic recreation of the Disney pavillion at the 1964 Worlds Fair. The audience moves in a circle to different scenes from 1900, 1920something, the late 1940s, and “today” where grandma play “virtual reality” games on the “high definition TV”. Mom just got done programing the home voice automation program,which ends in hillarity when dad tries to cook a turkey. Its cheezy, but I really like it. Cheesy is good.

– Disney World seems like a litmus test for people. Either they love it or they hate it. Usually for the exact same reasons.

– I’m amazed at the attention to detail that they have here. Once you pay for park admission, there is no marginal revenue to anything of the attractions in the park. It would be easy to cut corners here or there to try and save money, but they don’t do it. They could increae the time between paintings by 10%, they could cut down on the pyrotechnics by 10%, they could do lots of little things that I’m sure most people wouldn’t notice. But they don’t. The entire organization is amazingly streamlined. I think about 50,000 people work for Disney Worlds in all positions. I have yet to meet anyone who isn’t nice (or at least they’re not jerks).

– Though clearly listed on their wine list, I think I’m the first person ever to order the Malbec here. The guy who took my order didn’t know what I was talking about and it took him 5 minutes to find it.

– I’m going to try and take several backstage tours while I’m here. I’ve been through the parks 3x, so I’m not missing much by seeing everything a fouth. I’m really interested in seeing how everything runs and am willing to pay extra to do it.

– They do not have wireless internet access here. WTF. I get the fact that they are trying to milk you out of every dime you have. I can accept that. But occasionally, just pretend your getting a deal. Even Motel 6 will give you a free donut and coffee in the morning.

– Must all men where knee lenght shorts, sandals, a baseball hat, and a polo shirt?
(or wife beater T-shirt with some sort of failed humor on it)???

I want to share some of the music I’ve discovered over the last few days from the SXSW Bittorrent. All the music I’m linking to is free. I’ve never heard of any of these artists before a few days ago. I’ve also yet to scratch the surface of the almost 1000 songs available.

• Freewheel – Duke Special
• All Over Now – Eric Hutchinson
• In Anticipation of Your Suicide – Bedroom Walls
• Electrified – Dressy Bessy
• Pleasure Principal – Lesbians on Ecstasy (I really really really want to make a video for this song)
• Mr. Edison’s Electric Chair – Ronnie Elliott
• Holiday – 1986
• Dominoes – Office
• June Gloom – The Like
• Old Britannia – Hey Negrita
• Pills for Sara – Winterpills
• The Obscenity Prayer – Rodney Crowell
• Priest, Poet, and the Pig – Vietnam

That’s just some of the stuff I’ve found so far. Maybe more later.