Mouseland
We live about a two to two and a half hour (depending on traffic) drive from the Disney mecca in Orlando. For many people around us, that's a wonderful thing. The Disney fiends love the fact that they can buy an annual pass, and cruise down there anytime the urge hits. I know lots of them. I'm not knocking them. They love that place and that's great...for them. It's never really been that much of a big deal for us. Oh, I like to go. I enjoy the Disney parks, as well as Universal. I like roller coasters, so any place that has a few of those is OK with me. It's not something we do a lot of though.
My sister, on the other hand...is a fanatic. She and her family love all things Disney. They have a time share place down there (very nice) and make the pilgrimage from suburban Philadelphia at least once a year, usually right after Christmas and through New Year's Day. Then they go at least one more time during the year. They're Disney experts. They plan out the whole week, making lunch reservations on arrival in each park for the day(s) they plan to be there. They have the whole fast pass thing (where you wait in shorter lines) down to a science....how many they can get, when they can get them, all that.
We...just aren't all that. We've been there a few times, always the Magic Kingdom or Epcot. We hadn't been there in a few years though..like 4 or 5. So this year I traded e-mails with my sister before Christmas on an unrelated matter, and she said, "We'll be in Orlando from the 27th until the 2nd. Love to see you if you can make it." I thought, why not?
We had a few other things to do over the holidays, but I thought, we could take a day and road trip down. I looked at the calendar and thought...Tuesday. I talked to the wife, and she informed me she had to work Tuesday, but she's not a "ride" person anyway. The youngster and I should go. So I called my sister on Saturday. They were getting ready to eat dinner in Epcot. They had Animal Kingdom on their schedule for Tuesday (lunch reservations already made). Perfect. We've never been.
So the youngster and I set out Tuesday morning around 7:15. We were in the park by 9:30, meeting my sister at the entrance.
Now, I should stop and say, the youngster isn't a "ride" person either. He's especially not a roller coaster "ride" person. When we do go to amusement parks, I usually have to do roller coasters solo. Maybe that's one reason we don't go a lot. The youngster also knows the people we are going to see are huge "ride" people. He really wants to see his cousins, but he is more than a little anxious about what rides may be in store. I looked online the night before, and assured him, it looked like there was one roller coaster. It's not anything extreme though. It looks a bit like Thunder Mountain at the Magic Kingdom, but it has a part where it goes backwards. No time spent upside down in loops or rolls. That was some comfort, but not a whole lot. I told him I didn't expect him to ride it, and I'd stay with him while the others did. That wasn't much comfort either. He knew he'd feel pressured to ride it.
It's with that frame of reference we go back to the entrance, meeting my sister, who informs us her husband and kids are already waiting in line for Expedition Everest (aka. the roller coaster) and we are supposed to join them there. The youngster is in apprehension overload.
We make it through the line and we sit near the back of the train which is the ride. We strap in and start with a few little twists and turns before climbing up the big hill. It's then he turns to me and says, "I don't know about this." I grabbed his hand and said it'll be OK.
Long story a little shorter, he loved it. Spending the rest of the day with my sister and her fast pass efficiency was great. We rode that coaster several more times, as well as just about everything else in the park, and got to see two elephants humping on the safari ride...oh joy. Some guy in the back of our car was cheering them on. In the youngster's mind, that was one of the highlights of the trip, right up there with the roller coaster. We spent the morning in the park, ate lunch, rode the big water ride (and were soaked, but it was 70-something degrees on December 30th, and we weren't the least bit cold and dried off in about an hour). and went back to their time share place, played some miniature golf, and went back to the park in the evening, which worked out well. Animal Kingdom can pretty much be seen in less than a day, especially if you roll with the experts. We had our fill, spent some family time, and were home by 10:30.
My sister, on the other hand...is a fanatic. She and her family love all things Disney. They have a time share place down there (very nice) and make the pilgrimage from suburban Philadelphia at least once a year, usually right after Christmas and through New Year's Day. Then they go at least one more time during the year. They're Disney experts. They plan out the whole week, making lunch reservations on arrival in each park for the day(s) they plan to be there. They have the whole fast pass thing (where you wait in shorter lines) down to a science....how many they can get, when they can get them, all that.
We...just aren't all that. We've been there a few times, always the Magic Kingdom or Epcot. We hadn't been there in a few years though..like 4 or 5. So this year I traded e-mails with my sister before Christmas on an unrelated matter, and she said, "We'll be in Orlando from the 27th until the 2nd. Love to see you if you can make it." I thought, why not?
We had a few other things to do over the holidays, but I thought, we could take a day and road trip down. I looked at the calendar and thought...Tuesday. I talked to the wife, and she informed me she had to work Tuesday, but she's not a "ride" person anyway. The youngster and I should go. So I called my sister on Saturday. They were getting ready to eat dinner in Epcot. They had Animal Kingdom on their schedule for Tuesday (lunch reservations already made). Perfect. We've never been.
So the youngster and I set out Tuesday morning around 7:15. We were in the park by 9:30, meeting my sister at the entrance.
Now, I should stop and say, the youngster isn't a "ride" person either. He's especially not a roller coaster "ride" person. When we do go to amusement parks, I usually have to do roller coasters solo. Maybe that's one reason we don't go a lot. The youngster also knows the people we are going to see are huge "ride" people. He really wants to see his cousins, but he is more than a little anxious about what rides may be in store. I looked online the night before, and assured him, it looked like there was one roller coaster. It's not anything extreme though. It looks a bit like Thunder Mountain at the Magic Kingdom, but it has a part where it goes backwards. No time spent upside down in loops or rolls. That was some comfort, but not a whole lot. I told him I didn't expect him to ride it, and I'd stay with him while the others did. That wasn't much comfort either. He knew he'd feel pressured to ride it.
It's with that frame of reference we go back to the entrance, meeting my sister, who informs us her husband and kids are already waiting in line for Expedition Everest (aka. the roller coaster) and we are supposed to join them there. The youngster is in apprehension overload.
We make it through the line and we sit near the back of the train which is the ride. We strap in and start with a few little twists and turns before climbing up the big hill. It's then he turns to me and says, "I don't know about this." I grabbed his hand and said it'll be OK.
Long story a little shorter, he loved it. Spending the rest of the day with my sister and her fast pass efficiency was great. We rode that coaster several more times, as well as just about everything else in the park, and got to see two elephants humping on the safari ride...oh joy. Some guy in the back of our car was cheering them on. In the youngster's mind, that was one of the highlights of the trip, right up there with the roller coaster. We spent the morning in the park, ate lunch, rode the big water ride (and were soaked, but it was 70-something degrees on December 30th, and we weren't the least bit cold and dried off in about an hour). and went back to their time share place, played some miniature golf, and went back to the park in the evening, which worked out well. Animal Kingdom can pretty much be seen in less than a day, especially if you roll with the experts. We had our fill, spent some family time, and were home by 10:30.
Labels: Family Stuff
John put this out here at 7:52 AM
1 Comments:
I'm so glad he was brave enough to try it! It takes a lot of guts when you're not a big ride person. I had never been on a roller coaster until I was 20 years old, and I was PETRIFIED. Till this day whenever we're standing in line for a ride, I get a little anxious. It's scary!!!
PS- You really made me miss Disney! I went for the first time last year and LOVED IT!
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