Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

proper answer is epcot btw

EPCOT

How many days u goin?

literally in the birthing stages of planning after finding out a buddy has free lodging and discounted tickets there. i'm hoping for 5-7 days because no way i'm not retracing every single step i took as a child. like, i'm excited to hang out on pleasure island. disney has a weird effect on me.

epcot

I nerded out over this place when I was finally there at the age of 12/13 or so

Pleasure Island is p much in half working order right now.

I'm planning for a 7-8 day trip sometime in 2012 tbh

xp i remember hearing they're renovating it, but still. worth it for disneyquest which was just about the coolest idea ever when i was 13 (roller coaster simulator!)

Right, Disneyquest is part of "Downtown Disney" not Pleasure Island, come on son

:P

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/attractions/maelstrom/

aw yeah

no idea what i'd vote 4 in the poll, haven't been to disney in a while

fuck yeah the maelstrom

Exploring Norway's heritage isn't going to be smooth sailing, so buck up like a Viking would!

uh BLIZZARD BEACH god damn

my man

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/blizzard-beach/attractions/cross-country-creek/

Epcot wins because it's so much fun to get hammered while Drinking Around the World.

I haven't been to the Orlando parks since high school (before that I visited several times a year), but it's now & always the Magic Kingdom. EPCOT's fun: does the dinosaur ride still have smell-o-vision or whatever it was? I listen to the land. The studio was pretty bad, at least in the early 90s. (The studio at Paris Disney was bad too last year.)

that kid feeling of waking up, parents say we're going to Disney today, stay all the hot day until it's late, watch the Main Street Electrical Parade & the fireworks, still ache to leave, exhausted, the 1.5 hr drive back home half asleep: that's kinda my filter for a good day still.

I gotta make a trip to Orlando one of these days.

I still go with friends approximately every eighteen months. If you stay in a Disney hotel, you can drink to your heart's content, and their table service restaurants are surprisingly very good to excellent (Disney takes the newly formed "foodie" crowd seriously).

Epcot is fantastic, my family would spend two days there and only one at the Kingdom. But I voted Magic Kingdom for nostalgia's sake.

Go to Universal instead

we're trying to fit it in but shit's expensive. universal > disney stans can fuck right off tho

What the fuck, ban Number None, give me a fucking break

Eh, i've only been to either once and i enjoyed Universal more. I'm not a "stan" by any means

OK,

1) Me Too

2) Epcot was bob, except for the 'around the world' bit, that was fine.

3) Animal Kingdom was best.

Magic Kingdom - The most robot rides. All the same ones as Disneyland I think. (Except maybe Alien Encounter which isn't really a ride). The Disney World Mr. Toad was better than Disneyland's Mr. Toad but it got cremated.

Epcot - Most different stuff than Disneyland. Less of a kid place. The Norway troll ride is kind of classic.

I'll stan for Magic Kingdom

EPCOT

And don't miss some of the sit down restaurants - Le Cellier in EPCOT is a great steakhouse, and Boma over at Animal Kingdom is great stuff, too. Be sure to make reservations in advance, however...

Magic Kingdom has a cool Monsters Inc. show where 3D characters can interact with you in real time

it weirds me out that Whiney is down with Disney World

It weirds me out that they have a place called Pleasure Island.

it weirds me out that Whiney is down with Disney World
--pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned)

Haha, why?

it just seems to me like a whole lot of the stuff about "the culture" that you'd hate is the whole Orlando vibe & especially Disney World. where I grew up we'd go to Disneyland at least twice a year though and it was kinda like no matter who you were you liked Disneyland in one way or another: sincerely, or as a cherished & relivable memory of childhood, or in a snotty fuck-shit-up-but-don't-front-this-place-is-fun teenage way. but like if somebody'd lightning-rounded me "quick, what would Whiney G. say about Disney World?" I would have said "Whiney G. wants to be the aerial DJ during the strafe bombing of Disney World"

Why I love Disney World:

I've said to fellow Disney stan PappaWheelieV that Disney World is the "triumph of attention to detail." A friend of mine called it "the positive aspects to fascism."

Basically every corner of Disney is microdesigned to perfection, working hard to really drive home the illusion that you're actually in fantastic places that previously only existed in some imagineer's mind. I think the cult of folks who try to find the "hidden mickeys" that the designers will hide in design elements like lamp posts and wall art is a testament to this theme. Even waiting in line for shit at Disney is fun, because there's always plenty to look at and think about. Anyone who pulls that "well, universal studios has better RIDES" ish is not exactly seeing the forest for the trees, and has a really shallow perception of the capabilities of a theme park. I always get sad at Disney when I luck out and get something with no line, and some dudes are just RUNNING past all the environment...

Also, like, a lot of people's anti-Disney arguments basically amount to COMMERCE ON PARADE! WAKE UP SHEEPLE! And I actually find some comfort in something that's WHOLLY inauthentic like a theme park or a cruise ship. You know that anxiety of sitting in Berlin eating a pig's knuckle at a pub because a guide book told you that was authentic, yet wondering exactly how authentic it could be if it was in a guide book? Or that initial shock when you learned that our beloved Burritoville is a chain? The search for "authentic" experiences is like mission number one on h*pster vacations, which is why so many of them so to unsafe and not very fun places to see the favelas or the rice paddys or getting captured on the Iran border or whatever. And usually the most/only "authentic" thing to do in ANY town--from bustling New York City down to the tiniest village in Siberia--is to sit around and drink alcohol with your friends.

So, with Disney World, I can safely remove all that anxiety from my life, knowing that everything square inch exists for the sole purpose of making sure I have fun.

best whiney post imo

It's also weirdly hilarious when you're in Disney World and Real Life intrudes. We were standing outside one evening, watching a rabbit eat the flowers in the Canada pavilion at EPCOT - this rabbit was just vacuuming up the flowers, really fast.

I'm sure it was a nightmare the next day for some poor Disney landscape artist, but it was great to watch... they can try, but they can't control *everything.*

The one time I was at Disney World I was going through an extremely unhappy time so it's hard for me to look at it objectively. It really could be the happiest place on earth but I didn't feel it and it makes me sad even remembering.

whiney otm. When you stay in a Disney resort the immersion is so complete that I actually get vertigo leaving the park. Real life isn't this attentive to detail and so concerned with cleanliness.

Walt Disney World, it must be pointed out again and again, isn't like Disneyland. Disney learned from his mistakes in Anaheim.

The history of Disney is in many ways the history of Florida. Walt Disney World is in every sense a sovereign state within a state: its own police force, electrical grids (all underground), city commmission (!). In Florida, it's common knowledge that Disney is the best place to spend a hurricane cuz the power never goes out, the booze flows, and Mickey's always smiling.

WDW played a big part in my childhood and adolescence despite my hating every Disney character except the Pooh gang.

Also, like, a lot of people's anti-Disney arguments basically amount to COMMERCE ON PARADE! WAKE UP SHEEPLE!

I'd argue against this - I think there's a distinction between the anti-commerce urge and the anti-Disney urge, which for me is part of the "you gotta love it!" syndrome I hate which I think is a hate we share: you know how people really sell you hard on this idea that you haven't really lived unless you've puked up your twelver of Milwaukee's Best on the stoop at 5:30 a.m. because getting fucked up is an essential part of youth? you know how you instinctively know that's bullshit? to me, Disney's "we've got how you feel about your childhood covered" deal is really sad. Not shake-my-fist angry, I got a sister-in-law who loves Disney and spends big vacation money going down there, God bless her I'm glad she has fun. But the whole "your sense of wonder's got our name on it!" deal, the broad-brush how-it-feels-to-be-a-child thing, that's just tragic to me: tonally it elides with obligatory patriotic responses for me, or how-you're-supposed-to-feel-about-your-family urges - these all bundle in with the-vibe-of-Disney for me, you can kinda guess how I have a li'l bee in my damn bonnet about anything that raises "family! you love it!" vibes

which is not to say it isn't fun, I'm more just surprised that that's not more your angle because you tend to bristle against obligatory responses when they're targeted at your general demographic and I consider anything Disney basically targeted-response central: with the target not just "fun" but specific moods/emotions

Walt Disney World, it must be pointed out again and again, isn't like Disneyland.

true, Disneyland is far superior

the whole story about walt's original plan for epcot as a kind of personal fiefdom/insane utopian city of the future is easily my favorite disney-related thing.

The community was to have been built in the shape of a circle, with businesses and commercial areas at its center, community buildings and schools and recreational complexes around it, and residential neighborhoods along the perimeter. Transportation would have been provided by monorails and PeopleMovers (like the one in the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland). Automobile traffic would be kept underground, leaving pedestrians safe above-ground. Walt Disney said, "It will be a planned, controlled community, a showcase for American industry and research, schools, cultural and educational opportunities. In EPCOT, there will be no slum areas because we won't let them develop. There will be no landowners and therefore no voting control. People will rent houses instead of buying them, and at modest rentals. There will be no retirees; everyone must be employed."

But the whole "your sense of wonder's got our name on it!" deal, the broad-brush how-it-feels-to-be-a-child thing, that's just tragic to me: tonally it elides with obligatory patriotic responses for me, or how-you're-supposed-to-feel-about-your-family urges - these all bundle in with the-vibe-of-Disney for me, you can kinda guess how I have a li'l bee in my damn bonnet about anything that raises "family! you love it!" vibes

Ehh -- perhaps. Have you ever been to WDW? I don't get that sense of coerced fun, and I recoil as easily as you from this sort of thing. Imagine the cleanest amusement parks in the world.

It's also weirdly hilarious when you're in Disney World and Real Life intrudes. We were standing outside one evening, watching a rabbit eat the flowers in the Canada pavilion at EPCOT - this rabbit was just vacuuming up the flowers, really fast.

The rabbit was whisked away by security and never seen again.

http://wdw2.wdpromedia.com/media/wdw_nextgen/Site/WDWContent/Media/InternetMediaType/HomePage/slideShow/memories.jpg?t=2011-07-22T09:37:47

http://wdw1.wdpromedia.com/media/wdw_nextgen/Site/WDWContent/Media/InternetMediaType/HomePage/slideShow/fy11q4rckfall_mediawindow.jpg?t=2011-07-28T10:19:04

I didn't have to search for these they were just the first two fade-up images on the wdw site

still though - wdw - wgw - think about it

So easy to ignore the Mickey stuff, especially if you never liked it. It's really not that hard!

Never been but if I go, it will be to Epcot because nothing beats the ol' Spaceship Earth golfball.

it wasn't "the Mickey stuff" I was pointing out (although I suspect that it's easy to ignore kinda like it gets easy to ignore the french fry smell if you work at McDonald's) but the lines: "Give your family more magical moments this fall" and "Let the memories begin" - like I say I have a pretty particular allergy to this sort of thing

I am up to the challenge of dissecting the rhetoric of leisure promotion. Let's do it.

aero, I think you're maybe looking at the Disney concept of "family" in a narrow way. I know on the surface, the advertising definitely lends itself to the gross feel of "bring your perfect American 2.5 kid nuclear family to Main Street USA for a mickey shaped ice cream." (The patriotism metaphor was a good one)

But I think Disney kind of presents itself as a multi-demographic open space for a malleable ideas of "family." Like I'm pretty sure a fair number of people who attend the unofficial "goth day" and "gay day" at Disney have had some pretty crappy family situations growing up, but it still provides a place where community can happen. I mean, again, here's a safe place that you go with your loved ones--whether that's family, friends, or a community--and 99 times out of a 100--you're gonna walk away feeling closer to them. Does it really matter if that's an artificial construct?

xpost! Whiney addresses some of this stuff, and fairly enough - it's not like Disney hasn't (under pressure in some cases) tried to allow for other iterations of family.

I think my problem is pretty easy to pin down - it's normativity of several stripes, all of which really bug me. Leisure promotion is very much of the "aww, anybody who doesn't love this is kidding themselves" persuasion: I hate that shit with a passion & think of "you gotta love it!" as one of the most toxic formulae around. guess what, world's big, millions of ppl don't give a shit about the shit that I think is the most fun shit ever & guess what else, that's totally cool and fuck anybody who tells anybody how to have fun. or that they're lying about what they actually find fun, or just not letting themselves enjoy this objectively enjoyable experience, etc. of course, there's the other side of leisure promotion - smaller, more niched - the one whiney bristles against - "seek out this unspoiled experience that will belong only to you" variety. I get that, too, how that's a drag. it is a drag! But I'm more sympathetic to the urge behind it, because who doesn't like feeling like they have something that's theirs alone, or at least like they were briefly ahead of the curve? Everybody who thinks about music likes to feel like they were the first to notice something was good. So the leisure promotion that caters to the sort of "something personalized & exclusive" mindset, I think that's at least near something that I can at least relate to.

Whereas basically the second I see anybody say "family" in any leisure setting I start looking for the exits, Gathering of the Juggalos excepted. American family normativity 1) brings up a lot of very unpleasant memories for me and 2) is poison imo tbrr. I have a very hard time ignoring HAVE A GOOD TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY AREN'T YOU TREASURING THE MEMORIES YOU'RE MAKING WITH YOUR FAMILY WHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD COULD YOUR FAMILY ENJOY SUCH A GREAT FAMILY TIME FAMILY FAMILY FAMILY cues. Which in the entire Disney enterprise aren't "cues," they're...the paint on the walls.

This is a personal issue obv I don't deny that or hate on anybody else's good time, mind you.

a bunch of my friends w/ kids go on Disney cruises each year & rave about how it's great for "their family" & my instinct (bear with me, it's bleak) was "gimme a break, we go to the Italian lake district on holiday & they go gorge themselves on prefab emotion & plastic buffets off the coast of Florida. we are ~superior~"

& then I read about the boats, & how they're built to Disney precision standards, & how the prices really aren't that bad, & holy shit they have waterslides built above the ship's decks in translucent plastic tubes, I mean you are in a translucent tube ABOVE THE OCEAN shooting on a raft at 10 mph I mean is that not the best & now I think maybe I'd like to do that too!

so I get how the "making magical memories" talk is pretty icky, but mostly because I think there's something icky about trying to manufacture "good" childhoods without really understanding them; but while Disney's rhetoric betrays misunderstanding, I don't think the parks themselves are particularly aimed at children, for the reasons Whiney laid out earlier: there's nothing childish about that level of detail, like if you think Disney=kids then you're missing the point.

also I think I can separate some bullshit like Showbiz from say the Rainforest Cafe from say Dave & Busters from WDW.

aero, I think you're maybe looking at the Disney concept of "family" in a narrow way.

but yeah this was basically why I said "it weirds me out that whiney g is pro-wdw" - it's like, your reading here is positive & cool & encouraging: if you look at wdw in this light instead of another one, it's a blast, right? whereas generally speaking I do not view you as a guy who looks at things from multiple angles and then chooses the most favorable one but as a guy who says of things "yeah, maybe you dig this, but here's why it actually sucks": and disney is low-hanging fruit for that kind of generalized critical stance as there are just so many things to hate about it

i love disneyworld. i also love http://images.betterworldbooks.com/047/Simulacra-and-Simulation-Baudrillard-Jean-9780472065219.jpg

it's not that disney is trying to be something it isn't. it's trying to be this very carefully cultivated inauthentic fantasy land in the middle of America. if it was trying to somehow be really real, that would be one thing, but it's like more real than real. going to disneyworld is like visiting another planet. also, it is the holiest place in America and the only place that everyone feels a compulsion to make pilgrimage to. i'm not sure that last thing is good or not.

voted Epcot btw - drinking around the world ftw or at least until you get to Germany and just keep drinking and eating cheese until they close the park

more egregious than any of this is how kids are all fuckin inculcated in this shit. I took my 6 or 7 yr old cousin to disneyland and I was expecting to hate the place so much, but I had a pretty great time there, the set design aspect of the peter pan and even the its a small world rides (just redesigned) were impeccable. I really couldn't hate on how happy my lil cousin was because he was basically living what disney shows and shit promised him about life at the park. But fuck how this park gets in kids' heads tho, the park itself was alright.

that said I don't understand adults who would willingly go to a disney park, but whatever that's just me

it's pretty interesting that what people are responding to is "attention to detail" - feel like maybe wdw is, weirdly, meeting a need absent in the modern world for a kind of Victorian experience of the total environment or something

It's not unmet, but imo aesthetically America sides with the Romantic fetish for the "wild" & uncultivated, exemplified by Victorian "English gardens", over the cultivated.

or in other words: Baron Haussmann as the original Walt Disney, & Baudelaire as the original, er, us.

On the other hand, I blame Disney for propagating the sinister belief in the princess ethos, i.e. women who still believe in Prince Charmings and who look for them. A third of the essays I received from female students a couple weeks ago contained some reference to this twaddle.

like critiquing this twaddle or engaging in it? cause if it's the latter: examples plz.

The students neither criticize nor engage it -- they grew up wanting to be princesses and goddamn it they're gonna get Prince Charmings and Erics.

the female equivalent of the madonna-whore complex in which so many male Hispanic students invest so much belief.

that's what i mean -- they actually see themselves as princesses?

(engaging in it, not w/ it)

peggy orenstein's "cinderella ate my daughter" was really good on this topic - i started a thread about it when i was reading the book:
Pink Everything! A Thread of Toys to Buy Daughters (and sons?) That Aren't Pink (or blue?)

It's not unmet, but imo aesthetically America sides with the Romantic fetish for the "wild" & uncultivated, exemplified by Victorian "English gardens", over the cultivated.

isn't the romantic ideal the French garden (a garden, but one with a less manicured design)? the English garden seems a more Victorian than Romantic thing. I agree that America sees itself as in line with Romantic ideals but would argue that that's kind of...how American would like to see itself, when in truth it's more Victorian: wants grand order & design, believes in a sort of Great Chain of Being, etc

From what I've heard, I've been under the impression that Disney World is more of an immersive experience than Disneyland (which I haven't been to since I was 3 years old). At Disney World you can stay at some resorts and take a boat to Magic Kingdom. Or you could be like most people and ride the monorail over a sublime landscape and through The Contemporary resort. The whole park seems to be surrounded by nature. And the park, with all of its features, seems to be 10 times the size of Disneyland.

Only at Disney World can you kick back at Country Bear Jamboree after visiting Frontierland.

However, my last visit to Disney World wasn't so great. I was feeling all wrong because I wasn't there with the right people and I was having anxiety attacks from starting the day on the wrong foot

Attention to detail is an important factor towards total immersion - disappearing from real life and entering a laid back fantasy ideal (not so much a Victorian experience)

My sis and I, who lived with our mother, went with my dad, and our two half sisters (my dad's two daughters from a prvious marriage) to WDW in the 80s and had the greatest fucking time, with no pretense whatsoever that this experience was gonna heal or undo all this dysfuntion... The place is just a totally unique miracle of excellence on every level (nevermind the sense that there's got to be something dark lurking under the surface).

You guys maybe are paying too much attention to the marketing? Who cares?

The place is just a totally unique miracle of excellence on every level

:D

it really is amazing how they got me hooked in 1985, at age 5, and now they're going to get my adult money. You really do just start associating love and family with Disney experiences.

I don't think I've ever seen my mother happier than when we went to Animal Kingdom and a little baby hippo poked his head above the water and yawned.

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqhw7t5GGf1qfjjglo1_500.jpg

However, my last visit to Disney World wasn't so great. I was feeling all wrong because I wasn't there with the right people and I was having anxiety attacks from starting the day on the wrong foot

― that's cute, but it's WRONG (CaptainLorax), Sunday, 11 September 2011 17:53 (40 minutes ago)

Were you on acid?

yeah (xp), in my WDW experiences there seemed to be a dissonance between how it made me feel and The Shit I Was Peddled. maybe it was different from my parents' perspective, but i never saw it as a "family" thing. i think i was in too much awe to really pay attention to them. the last time we went at least, my family hated itself, and i think we all tried to use it as an individual vacation from that tension, if that makes sense, even though they spent the whole time bickering and angry. you could always turn your head from that and come to terms with the fact that you're in FUCKING DISNEY WORLD. i remember in fifth grade, having a weird ~deep for a fifth grader~ conversation with my friends about how specific a feeling of nostalgia you get thinking about disney and how the whole place just fills you up with a certain joy that you won't find anywhere else (i say "you" because the idea was met with the fifth grade variant of yeah, dude) -- not a joy that's better than everything else, but just distinct. a type of feeling you never get at a six flags. the point is, even then it was an individual experience -- you'll ALWAYS be with your family (at least it seems that way at that age), but you only have a week in this magic oasis that caters to every personal pleasure center, so where would your attention really be? i just saw it as a place that exists solely for my happiness, even if it's one of america's great bastions of capitalism, and you'll find no wrong there.

As much as I dislike Disney on the whole, I think Disney World is one of the wonders of the world -- it transcends consumerism, capitalism, or any other label you can put on it. Capitalism and consumerism are normally associated with cheap, quick thrills and crude cost-benefit analysis. Disney World feels more like the work of brilliant madmen who threw the financial projections out the window because they had a frantic desire to be creative and to create something people would feel in awe of.

I was 16 or so the last time I was there, and I spent much of the time watching all of the people of different nationalities that was there, listening to the different languages, looking at the different styles of clothing.

conversation with my friends about how specific a feeling of nostalgia you get thinking about disney and how the whole place just fills you up with a certain joy that you won't find anywhere else

I've refrained from posting a couple of very personal observations but this gets to the heart of it. Around seventh grade I became obsessed with WDW: its hermetic capacity to generate -- to enforce -- pleasure, the (at the time) seven themed resort hotels, internal transportation. It's the only place I've traveled to where the anticipation exceeds the experience.

From what I've heard, I've been under the impression that Disney World is more of an immersive experience than Disneyland (which I haven't been to since I was 3 years old). At Disney World you can stay at some resorts and take a boat to Magic Kingdom. Or you could be like most people and ride the monorail over a sublime landscape and through The Contemporary resort.

by the way The Contemporary Resort is awesome.

it turns out my friend's relative's house is too far from orlando to work but we might still get a discounted price at the all-star sports hotel, and i should be angry that i'd have to spend more money but i think i'm happier staying at a disney hotel.

i've stayed at the Polynesian (1995) and the Grand Floridian (2003). Thinkin baout the lil log cabins at Fort Wilderness for 2012?

roughing it

Fort Wilderness resort is great. It has a lot of hidden Mickies and a pretty great breakfast spot. I didn't do the log cabin thing though.

Thinkin baout the lil log cabins at Fort Wilderness for 2012?

whiney, you're blowing my mind here. I thought I was the only one who ever stayed here. My most recent one was this February during Super Bowl weekend. While my cousins and kids watched the game, I split and drank on the monorail line (i.e. drinks at Mizner's at the GF, the Wave at the Contemporary, and Tambu at the Poly).

I love the cabins because you're paying for a deluxe resort but getting a kitchen, so you can come home from a day at the parks, cook a decent meal, have a bottle of scotch, and smoke a spliff in the starlight.

participation in this thread seems to have alerted Google Chrome that I'm interested in the topic and now every page with ads wants to let me know about the great bargains they can give me & my family on a nice Memories Package week down in Orlando at Walt Disney World

do it! aero, we can plan our attack on Fantasyland from our Ft Wilderness trailer.

aerosmith otm itt imho

There's a new "budget" hotel themed around Pixar. When I go (for a wedding) next June, I'm gonna try beg to stay in a Monsters Inc. room.

Art of Animation!

Soto, how would you compare a stay in the Contemporary Resort vs. the cabins? Pluses and minuses to both? Really gonna be a tough call 4 me...

goddamn I can't wait to have kids and bring them to wdw

The Contemporary will always radiate that specialness I sensed as a kid, y'know? Before the GF it was the flagship resort, and it still feels like it despite the absence of glamor; it's like the county seat of WDW.

If you stay in the tower, you have the advantage of taking the elevator straight down to the monorail. When going to Epcot, the Transportation-Ticket Center is the first stop. If you're spending a lot of time at the MK, you can walk without relying on Disney transportation -- a pretty great advantage IMO. When leaving the MK, you're the first stop on the monorail. One of Disney's best restaurants, the California Grill, is on the top floor.

However, the cabins give you almost the same access (boats to the Contemporary and MK) but a real away-from-it-all atmosphere. It really does feel like camping, with genuine woods, except the comfort stations are cleaner than any you'll find in any national park. There's a lot to do: canoeing, swimming, movies by the campfire at night. You can make a "resort day" and never step foot in the park.

That's another thing: I've been so often that when my buds and I go (or even in the rare times I go with my parents) we're not park commandos. We usually stay deluxe, so we hang out and drink by the pool for a few hours before thinking of going to a theme park.

it's trying to be this very carefully cultivated inauthentic fantasy land in the middle of America.

Being in the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland Paris a few days after going to the Musée du Moyen Age was a little weird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Cdv6v3nQs

I'm so glad some other ppl besides me have serious, marrow-deep, emotional WDW love. Ppl in Brooklyn look at me like in crazy!

well doesn't going to wdw first involve going to florida?

Florida is made of multiple worlds, WDW is one of them

As much as I dislike Disney on the whole, I think Disney World is one of the wonders of the world -- it transcends consumerism, capitalism, or any other label you can put on it. Capitalism and consumerism are normally associated with cheap, quick thrills and crude cost-benefit analysis. Disney World feels more like the work of brilliant madmen who threw the financial projections out the window because they had a frantic desire to be creative and to create something people would feel in awe of.

I think it's important to distinguish between the Disney corporation and the work that Walt Disney actually accomplished in his lifetime (I guess this is some theme park rockism). I was going to bring this point up earlier in relation to all the stuff people are saying about marketing blah blah blah, but the above kind of sums it up. Yeah, the modern Disney corporation, particularly under Eisner really shit on the whole history of the parks and ruined a lot of stuff. And yeah all of the heavy marketing and merchandising sucks but underneath all of that you still have the undeniable genius of what are some of the greatest artworks of the 20th century, and Walt's original vision was so strong that much of it still shines through all of the bullshit that was added later.

What's kind of awe inspiring and yet depressing to me is the thought that the theme park could theoretically be the highest, most complex and fully realized form of art and yet the economically massive scale of the form might mean that Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom will be the last great works of their kind. And they will be forever tampered with by people who have no business messing with the genius.

I voted for the Animal Kingdom because while the Magic Kingdom surpasses Disneyland in some of its details and in the sheer scale of the place, it doesn't quite have the cohesiveness and the sense of history that Disneyland has, and the original will always be the best to me. And Epcot was an amazing experience for me as a child in the '80s but it's gone downhill and overall is kind of a confused concept that was a bastardization of Walt's vision in the first place. The movie one is hardly worth mentioning. As a Californian, the Animal Kingdom is the only park that seemed truly unique, cohesive, and as richly detailed as classic Disneyland.

The true gem in WDW though was the Adventurer's Club which of course they had to shut down.

My grandparents and great grandparents lived in Tampa and Clearwater and St. Pete, so we also took time out to go to WDW a few times. Epcot was my favorite. Also we went to Universal Studios and MGM (for the Star Wars/Indiana Jones rides) and Bush Gardens and Sea World.

I voted Epcot but I think if i had a chance to go to any of them with some friends for free tomorrow I would pick WDW and be kickin' it Alfred style. The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean rides alone put it over the top.

Epcot was the one I was looking forward to the most, but it looked like the "city of the future of the past".

Well, according to the existing Epcot, the future looks like a lot of concrete.

I like how Disney quietly changed Epcot's name from EPCOT in the nineties.

The only 'feature' we skipped from our visits was the "Ellen Degeneras" one, which was about 2 hours or something. It sounded too much like a Simpsons joke.

The one "uh?" one was one where you could go in and have a free beer, but you had to be older than 31 before you were allowed in. (We both were, but our kids were not).

Also, I had the best cup of tea of my life in Animal Kingdom! Totally bizarre. It was a baking hot day, and the stall/tea bar did raw leaves in a reuseable tea bag that rested on the rim of a large cup. It was blumin marvellous. So, don't be told they can't do tea in the states.

man I'd love to kick it with Whiney at Ft Wilderness.

The one "uh?" one was one where you could go in and have a free beer, but you had to be older than 31 before you were allowed in. (We both were, but our kids were not).

This might have been at Universal, so ..

I don't get why it's uh that you can't bring your kids into a place serving alcohol, or am I reading yr story wring.

I know you can't by beer in magic kingdom... Don't know abt the other parks

MK is the only one.

it's pretty uh that the legal drinking age is apparently 10 years older in Universal Studies than the rest of the country

You are reading the story wrong.

The "uh?" was that there was an age where getting free beer was as high as 31. Or, getting free beer at all.

What's kind of awe inspiring and yet depressing to me is the thought that the theme park could theoretically be the highest, most complex and fully realized form of art and yet the economically massive scale of the form might mean that Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom will be the last great works of their kind.

<3

up at 3 am browsing the WDW site thinkin of happy times.

look at these fucking happy hipsters

http://wdw2.wdpromedia.com/media/wdw_nextgen/CoreCatalog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_US/Media/InternetMediaType/Dining/FoodAndWineFestival/BeverageSeminars_2290_240x144.jpg

wkiw^

That's a Beer, isn't it?

yeah WDW epitomized late 20th century capitalism -- no way could it create something so self-contained again.

it's thanks to Disney, by the way, that I love hotels: their lobbies, bars, amenities. I like enjoying hotels, which is why I've never stayed in a hostel.

I like disneyland but you guys are kinda weird about it

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

re: the contemporary resort - the idea of a monorail going INTO a hotel blew my 7-year-old mind. it still kinda does!

i have stayed in WDW as a youngster (7) and a teenager (17) on a HS band trip. very curious to see how i'd enjoy it as a legal adult. (probable ans: i wd have a blast)

Entering the Contemporary via monorail is still an impressive experience.

btw I'm such a nerd I'd totally poll Disney resorts lol

as a kid i stayed at the polynesian, can't recall which one our band was put up in, it actually might not even have been a disney resort? i can't remember, are there "regular" hotels just outside of WDW?

I think I have never stayed at a Disney hotel. We lived so close (near Clearwater) that we just drove in. ahhh but those drives were magical, coiled anticipation through the wastes of central Florida, coming un-Stuckey along I-4 as we neared the lots & saw whether the parks had closed to new visitors already because of overcrowding that day.

Do any of you remember when the Magic Kingdom still took tickets to ride rides? My first trip there was like that, but after that they changed over to the (lol) new system.

btw I'm such a nerd I'd totally poll Disney resorts lol

― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, September 20, 2011 7:22 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

What is yer fave?

iirc, I've stayed at the Contemporary, the Polynesian and the non-official Dolphin.

Would probably vote Contemporary only cause walking downstairs and catching the monorail to the park is dope

I was too young but my parents still bitch about "E" tickets and such.

I'd still stay in the MK resort area having the means; if you went to WDW in the seventies and eighties it will forever have that magic. I had some Disney-agnostic friends who went with me in 2002 and 2003 when we took turns staying at the Poly and Grand Floridian on some ridiculously cheap post-9/11 Florida resident rates ($200 at the GF!) and they left finally getting it, especially the coolness of leaving the MK for drinks at one of the three monorail resorts in the middle of the day.

I last went in February during Super Bowl weekend with my cousin and his family and stayed at a Ft. Wilderness trailer. When the game started I took the ferry and drank along the monorail route for three hours.

I only know E-tickets from like Mad Magazine and Julie Brown's "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun" haha

I can say with absolute assurance that I would not stay in a budget hotel (i.e. All-Stars or Pop Century). Not only is the decor awful and tacky, but when I go I like to enjoy the hotel: its bars, pools, etc. Those budget hotels don't offer enough amenities to justify hotel days.

re. tickets, it did a good job of making Mission to Mars actually seem worth riding, b/c it was cheap iirc (& I probably don't since I was five or six years old)

(do they still have If You Had Wings? man I can tear up thinking about that song, the rush through the tunnel)

The ticket system was eliminated a year before Epcot opened, I think.

(do they still have If You Had Wings? man I can tear up thinking about that song, the rush through the tunnel)

Dreamflight replaced it in the late eighties; now it's Alien Encounter or something.

Is it cool to nerd out about MK food? I loved the place just outside Pirates of the Carribean where you could get orange soft serve, or orange/vanilla mixed soft serve. It was in that little area right after you got off the ride, kind of a market area. Always a highlight.

El Pirata y el Perico? Or is Aventureland Verandah (which closed years ago)?

I'm not sure: the orange ice cream is what I remember: just really intensely orange-y, in a not-embarrassing-to-Floridians way.

Oh! Dole Whips! Those are great!

The Epcot resort area is pretty cool. I treated to my parents to a Father's Day vacation at the Beach Club in 2003; it and the Yacht Club boast their own private water park. The perk is you walk right into World Showcase in Epcot. A terrific resort but I still prefer the MK area.

the new african resort looks p boss. giraffes outside yr room

in sort of pre-planning my next disney trip (first time in almost 10 years!), we're def lookin at the african resort and fort wilderness, but i'm kind of getting the feeling that there's really no substitute for the Contemporary or the Grand Floridian...

I'm half inclined to say, "Meet me at Mizner's at the GF for a gin and tonic."

My parents live about an hour from Orlando now. I really want to go sometime soon since I haven't been since I was around 7.

my favorite little food thing apparently isn't a thing anymore according to people who have been more recently. they had ice cream carts that exclusively sold cups of vanilla ice cream mixed with whoppers. they blew my mind.

Dole Whips! yes, that's it. outstanding & always a highlight.

I had a radissimo time at River Country. It was the first time I'd ever swum in a "lake" (lol @ living in coastal Florida I guess, but I still think lake swimming is weird)

I've never swam in a lake. I'm so used to oceans that the idea of swimming in still water freaks me out a bit.

River Country's lake water was filtered though.

Since 1999 you can't swim in WDW's beaches anymore; that's when that brain-eating fungus was diagnosed or something.

real heads know that shit like the Hall of Presidents & the Carousel of Progress & hell Mission to Mars were traps for the unsuspecting EXCEPT during your usual summer afternoon storm, at which point they were essential.

so I am younger than you dudes but I still have been to Disney world three times at this point. I think three times. Maybe I'm forgetting a fourth time but I don't think so. One time was in 1997, which happened to be the 25th Anniversary, so there was some amount of goofy celebration about this fact. The second time I was a teenager, and we went to the family style revolving restaurant on top of…The Land? at Epcot. We rode Test Track multiple times. Best part of Test Track is getting heated up by all those heat lamps. One of the times was for the Panasonic Academic Challenge, which was a terrible national quiz bowl tournament, with the one perk of being at Disney World and staying in the Contemporary; only time I stayed at a Disney resort. (Other times the family stayed at some timeshare resort in Orlando.)

I did shed a tear for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride when I heard it was being replaced. Have ridden the Carousel of Progress. Ate at the Moroccan restaurant at Epcot once, that was pretty tasty stuff. Have not yet been old enough to drink at Disney World.

ILX Disney FAP!

We've done that at Disneyland so yes, join us...

btw the Tiki Room is classic for all time, RIP

I did shed a tear for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride when I heard it was being replaced.

i was def one of the very last people to ride Mr. Toad.

like the very last day?

We were def the last riders of the day... and I think it may have been the last day!

http://i.imgur.com/XljmNl.jpg

oH THIS IS EXCITING

So I went to WALT DISNEY WORLD in ORLANDO, FLORIDA a few months ago for the first time in like, er, 25 years.

It was kind of surreal, definitely a different vibe than Disneyland which feels a bit more chill.

Tomorrowland is really weird, but BE SURE TO GO TO THE CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS IT'S AMAZINGLY BAD AND GOOD

The Haunted Mansion is my dream home

Food is bad pretty much everywhere. Epcot is wonderfully outdated and cheesy. A good place to take a nap is that ride that Ellen DeGeneres narrates that has to do with energy or dinosaurs or something.

While I was there I didn't love it that much but ever since then I catch myself thinking about it a lot. Oddly enough. Also Orlando is awful.

The more formal restaurants are terrific though, but they're not in the parks.

I can't handle Disney World. Lil Beeps is heading out to Disneyland with her mom and grandmother in a few weeks. I'm happy that my daughter will get to bond with her seldom-seen Australian grandmother, but even better is that she won't have to witness her dad having a nervous breakdown on the Peter Pan ride.

Do you guys know any DISNEY people? Like, people who are straight up obsessed with Disney and make trips to Disneyland/World as OFTEN as possible, and have disney ARTWORK all over their homes?

They freak me out but also intrigue the hell out of me

My sister was a "cast member" for years and is still pretty hardcore about it all. She went from working at Disneyworld in Orlando to a casino in Las Vegas. Definitely into make believe and magic.

Pretty sure she points with two fingers too.

The more formal restaurants are terrific though, but they're not in the parks.

― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, September 21, 2011 1:54 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ding

Proper answer BOMA!

the guy in the goofy costume broke my sunglasses :/

Still haven't tried the AKL's restaurants.

My favorites:

Citricos
Artist Point
California Grill

Thread needs more Pappa input

I really fuck with the Wolfgang Puck in Downtown Disney. Also really enjoyed the Coral Reef restaurant in Epcot, but that was like 10 years ago before i had a more refined owen pallette

EPCOT.

Magic Kingdom if you have kids (or are a kid yourself), although everyone should drop by MK briefly to ride anything with "Mountain" in its name.

^doesn't get it

CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS

guys i would actually be down for disneyworld fap (i went w/ ned, tabren, jbr a few years ago when i had CRAZY STOMACH FLU and hallucinated my way through it's a small world

))

The music from Carousel of Progress is every bit as earwormingly annoying as It's A Small World.

Loved all of it, can't choose, and I want to go back again right now in order to make a decision. Probably MK though, if I was forced to choose, for Country Bear Jamboree and Tiki Room and Philharmagic and general overall Disneyness.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

confirmation: Ilx is nerds

Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios) 0

Is it just that this seemed so beside the point with Universal Studios theme park down the road?

It's so beside the point with Hollywood not creating movies anymore!

Thanks, Whine.

The secret -- park at the Atlantic City Boardwalk hotel (for free), walk out back to the boardwalk, take to boat the the back entrance of Epcot (for free), slip over to the Moroccan pavilion, get a weird coffee liqueur or 2, enjoy World Showcase during the hours that most are in Futureworld, eat lunch at the booth out front of the Mexico pavilion (DIRT CHEAP!), get coffee at Fountaview Cafe in Future World as the crowd moves to World Showcase, skip World Showcase lines, drive to Animal Kingdom lodge at 10pm, and eat the best gottdamn dinner of your life at Boma.

I had season passes for about 6 or 7 years. This formula proved infallible.

New tequila bar in Mexico serves 20 different tequilas.

Ha, seems I moved to NYC only to live above 2 tequila bars in NY, and despite being Mexican, I LOATHED Mexican Independence Day living here...

And the Chex-Mex restaurant that delivers here is A+ (surprisingly)

People celebrate Mexican independence day in NYC? We're stuck with heavily commercialized Cinco de Mayo crap here.

What is an E-ticket? I know that from Monkey Island 2 but I never found out what it is.

I think my problem is pretty easy to pin down - it's normativity of several stripes, all of which really bug me. Leisure promotion is very much of the "aww, anybody who doesn't love this is kidding themselves" persuasion: I hate that shit with a passion & think of "you gotta love it!" as one of the most toxic formulae around. guess what, world's big, millions of ppl don't give a shit about the shit that I think is the most fun shit ever & guess what else, that's totally cool and fuck anybody who tells anybody how to have fun. or that they're lying about what they actually find fun, or just not letting themselves enjoy this objectively enjoyable experience, etc. of course, there's the other side of leisure promotion - smaller, more niched - the one whiney bristles against - "seek out this unspoiled experience that will belong only to you" variety. I get that, too, how that's a drag. it is a drag! But I'm more sympathetic to the urge behind it, because who doesn't like feeling like they have something that's theirs alone, or at least like they were briefly ahead of the curve? Everybody who thinks about music likes to feel like they were the first to notice something was good. So the leisure promotion that caters to the sort of "something personalized & exclusive" mindset, I think that's at least near something that I can at least relate to.

Whereas basically the second I see anybody say "family" in any leisure setting I start looking for the exits, Gathering of the Juggalos excepted. American family normativity 1) brings up a lot of very unpleasant memories for me and 2) is poison imo tbrr. I have a very hard time ignoring HAVE A GOOD TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY AREN'T YOU TREASURING THE MEMORIES YOU'RE MAKING WITH YOUR FAMILY WHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD COULD YOUR FAMILY ENJOY SUCH A GREAT FAMILY TIME FAMILY FAMILY FAMILY cues. Which in the entire Disney enterprise aren't "cues," they're...the paint on the walls.

This is a personal issue obv I don't deny that or hate on anybody else's good time, mind you.

― pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, September 11, 2011 11:48 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

missed all this but man i love this post and i don't even really have that many problems with my family.

It rings true, but I'd also be able to set aside the 'we all enjoy' dictum and step back and say "is this alright?"

I did come to the conclusion "yeah, it is".

Now? We disneyed out when we were in Florida. The animal kingdom was close to our hotel so we could always stroll up when we had a spare few hours and see the junior dolphins again.. Apart from that, it's done.

Universal? I liked it better, there's more to it, it's a bit more 'adult' in perspective, and I'd happily go again.

my sis took her little daughter (4 in nov) to DW earlier this year: daughter got to dance w/goofy who was lovely and a gentleman, but she wanted to dance with mickey, who behaved like a total entitled c0ck and turned his back on her and broke her heart

my niece has forgiven mickey -- she has much to learn -- but my sister vowed blood vengeance

had a dream last night that it turned out that all Walt Disney's ideas had come from the a big crimer overlord in the 50's. Disney had paid the man a fortune for his work. And then I recall seeing footage of him being arrested in gta's san andreas.

crimer?

he meant Crimbo.

of course aero is mostly correct but so was Adorno in Minima Moralia about sports and the other things about Modern Life which upset him. But Adorno was a crank who probably waved a cane at scampering childrne.

I remember being stuck on a bus in the middle of the night, motoring back from the Magic Kingdom to the hotel, and the bus driver kept leading singalongs of Disney songs.

If I wake up from my deathbed and I'm back on that bus, I'll know I didn't do enough repenting before I left.

confirmation: Ilx is nerds

― remy bean

It *is* wrong, yes.

Some Disney faves...

Best Rides
Haunted Mansion is by far my favorite, it is extra cool when they re-do it with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme at Disneyland toward the end of the year. Experiencing Disney parks around Halloween or Christmas is awesome in general.
I also love Test Track, the Indiana Jones ride at DL, It's A Small World (also great at Christmas), Snow White, and Splash Mountain (although the big drop freaks me out)

Eating
Crystal Palace and Columbia Harbour House at MK are both pretty good.
Blue Bayou at DL is dope.
The German restaurant is probably my favorite at Epcot. The Norway restaurant has great food and was an amazing deal until it was turned into a princess hot spot and the prices doubled.
Boma is all-time great.

Shopping
The store at Japan is my favorite out of all Disney locations.
However, merchandising at Disney is so comprehensive and all-encompassing that there ends up being a souvenir out there somewhere to suit all tastes. Some of my cherished finds include:
The DJ Mickey Shirt
Epcot: The 21st century began October 1982 shirt
Gnomickey Coffee Cup

Hotels
I've only stayed at one Disney hotel for one night: the Disneyland Hotel on my honeymoon.
Next time we go to DL (maybe next year?) I think we may stay at the Grand Californian which looks really nice.
If I ever get a chance to stay at a Disney hotel at WDW, my first choice would be the Animal Kingdom lodge which is probably the coolest hotel I've ever been in.

A couple other great things
Make the most of those fast passes!
The Fantasia Mini Golf course kind of blew my mind.

What is an E-ticket? I know that from Monkey Island 2 but I never found out what it is.

― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, September 21, 2011 9:43 PM (Yesterday)

Way, way back at the dawn of time, entry into the park (my experience is only with Disneyland) came with a booklet of tickets, labeled A through E. A booklet had like five A's, four B's, a couple each of C's and D's, and I think one E ticket. This is almost 40 years back, sorry if I'm misremembering numbers. A's were for shitty little kid rides like teacups, E's were for the good stuff like the Matterhorn. You could buy more of the good kind of tickets -- it was a pretty blatant way to pry more $$$ out of pockets.

My parents complained that you were left with six dozen tickets to ride the Main Street trolley or swan boats.

DONT DIS THE TEACUPS

I still have never been on the Matterhorn. What am I missing?

There was a day in my adult life when I had to stop with the teacups because all that spinning made me violently ill.

Fuck waterboarding. The Mad Tea Party, the most violent attraction on earth, is guaranteed to pull out ticking time bomb scenarios from the recalcitrant terrorists.

My parents complained that you were left with six dozen tickets to ride the Main Street trolley or swan boats.

― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn),

Exactly -- I always came away from Disneyland with half-empty ticket books feeling vaguely ripped off, except for one time when a friend of mine invited me to go with him during some special promotion that did away with tickets ('73 or so).

For some reason I was under the impression that WDW in Fla. never was under the ride-ticket system...did I have it wrong?

It was until 1981 or so.

Glad I missed out on this ticket nonsense.

The students neither criticize nor engage it -- they grew up wanting to be princesses and goddamn it they're gonna get Prince Charmings and Erics.

I was just reading a book about this!

Cinderella's coach, the rental of which costs twenty-five hundred dollars per ceremony, is one of the most coveted items available through Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons program. ...

Disney's interpretation of tradition is flexible enough to permit an employee playing the role of Major Domo, prince Charming's footman in the Disney Cinderella, to perform as a ring bearer. ...

Inside (the wedding pavilion) there were comfortable pews, their ends carved in the shape of hearts, and French windows draped with diaphanous fabric, giving onto views of the water. Perfectly framed in the window at the head of the aisle was a view of the Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom--a view which, McFann was quick to point out, is not obscured when the chuppah is erected for Jewish weddings. The pavilion was lofty and light and had the atmosphere of a church dedicated to a particularly approachable and unvengeful deity, one whose commandments might include "Thou shalt remember to floss."

One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding, Rebecca Mead

Do you guys know any DISNEY people? Like, people who are straight up obsessed with Disney and make trips to Disneyland/World as OFTEN as possible, and have disney ARTWORK all over their homes?

i was gonna be like "yeah those people are CRAZY," and then i angled my eyes slightly upward and saw the three miniature disneyland ride posters I have hanging on my bedroom wall (haunted mansion, old-school submarine voyage, alice in wonderland). tbf, my family is pretty well entangled with disneyland by dint of having lived nearby: my parents met at the park, my dad worked there on-and-off as a musician for 25 years, my sisters and i had annual passes and went all the time, etc. my parents were never particularly enamored of disney as DISNEY, but my sisters and i ended up being pretty big disneyland nerds.

my favorite memory is the time my mom drove me and my sisters to the park for the day and said "have your dad drive you home when he's done playing." we watched him & his band play their last set in new orleans square and i told him he was supposed to drive us home. "oh good," he said, "i forgot my glasses and i was going to have a hard time driving in the dark. you can drive us home." so he led us to the new orleans train station and walked us right across the train tracks into the foliage beyond. we came to a staircase leading down to a parking lot, and sixteen-year-old learner's-permit me got to drive the family minivan past all the enormous show buildings and parade warehouses, geeking out at everything. "omg look over there, they're refurbishing boats for pirates of the carribean!" etc.

aw

I have to say that my fave Disney trip was going as an adult with my mom and, for the first time, she was more excited than i was. It was so aw. We had a blast.

Yep. As much as my childhood trips fed into my love for the parks and concept, my adult ones -- during which I drank and was able to afford to stay in hotels with friends -- were when it All Came Together.

btw whiney I, uh, hang out here often:

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12

You also might like this:

http://allears.net/index.html

My mom's fave thing to eat at Disney is the giant turkey leg. And we got some wrapped in foil to eat on the train that goes around Magic Kingdom.

So we smuggle them on and the conductor immediately reminds the train there will be no eating or drinking or smoking on this train.

After the train leaves we quietly, casually sneak some bites. The conductor--more amused than angry--says over the intercom, "I SMELL TOIKEY LEGS!"

We bust out laughing and life is awesome.

In all my years wandering the earth I can think of nothing more putrid than the smell of that turkey leg marrow at 1:30 pm in July.

the only time i ever went to any of them (magic kingdom) was for a family new year's eve trip like a week before i turned 21, which is perhaps the exact worst time one could possibly go

it's a madhouse. I was at the MK on its highest attendance ever: NYE 1980, when like 100,000 people were there at once. Cold as hell too.

Do you guys know any DISNEY people? Like, people who are straight up obsessed with Disney and make trips to Disneyland/World as OFTEN as possible, and have disney ARTWORK all over their homes?

I would say my wife and her family are definitely Disney people.

We have all sorts of Disney knick knacks around the house and my son's room is decorated with a whole bunch of Disneyland posters, a home made painting of Cinderella's castle on the wall, and a mini tapestry from It's A Small World. Yep, it's pretty nuts.

My mother-in-law has Mickey Mouse stuff all over her house.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2730/4396807607_0861e6ab83_b.jpg

I love this thread.

I went to WDW once long ago and (due to the structure/members of my "family" at the time - so aero, I guess you can rest assured that one can remain immune to Disney's FAMILY MEMORIES schtick should one be shielded by enough dysfunction) it was truly horrible. The bright spot of the entire trip was the Haunted Mansion, which was amazing and I still think about it fondly.

I'd actually like to go back. I'm intrigued by the idea of a vacation in a place that is like another planet (and a clean, well-planned, leisure- and pleasure-focused planet at that - it's like Risa, one reasonable domestic plane flight away) and right now, that appeals to me in a way that a more "authentic" experience just does not. The idea of lounging by a pool with a drink and then checking out the Haunted Mansion and then having a good dinner without ever having to drive anywhere is like super A+ relaxing to me. But, to be fair, I've always preferred Victorian English gardens over actual nature.

Like this? This sounds perfect:

However, the cabins give you almost the same access (boats to the Contemporary and MK) but a real away-from-it-all atmosphere. It really does feel like camping, with genuine woods, except the comfort stations are cleaner than any you'll find in any national park. There's a lot to do: canoeing, swimming, movies by the campfire at night. You can make a "resort day" and never step foot in the park.

Although you know, another stated* reason I want to go to Disney is because I had such a shit time as a kid and I want a chance to "fix it" now that I'm a grown up with agency and control over who gets to be in my family. Like, I feel like I got robbed of those Precious Family Memories promised by Disney propaganda. So that lends some credence to aero's criticism. Hmmm.

Tho tbf I mostly want to stay in a nice hotel, eat food, and go to the Haunted Mansion.

*I occasionally launch "Hey we should go to Disney on vacation" salvos at Jeff. He so far remains unmoved.

Sundance film rips lid off Tragic Kingdom!

A labyrinthine descent into the grotesque extremes of a Disneyfied society, "Escape From Tomorrow" is surreal for many reasons and wholly original because of them. It's also a daring attempt to literally assail Disney World from the inside out. This loosely constructed, starkly black-and-white directorial debut of Randy Moore, which follows a family on their twisted final day of vacation in Disney World, takes place throughout the theme park behemoth and appears to have come together without an iota of permission. Moore portrays Disney World as the ultimate horror show -- and gets the point across in nearly every scene.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/sundance-review-escape-from-tomorrow-is-a-surreal-indictment-of-disneyfied-society-that-disney-will-never-let-you-see

NO

how daring and bold to assail Walt Disney World.

wait until the sheeple see this

hey, maybe it's good.

lol Sotosyn, captain save-a-Walt

It's like pointing out there's too many bands in Williamsburg.

What's the deal with airline food?

Look at Alfred and Whiney. Like otherwise perfectly normal San Franciscans who'll argue that Barry Bonds deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

A movie about a man's mental breakdown filmed surreptitiously at DisneyWorld. Sounds novel enough to me.

wish it was epcot center

Requiem for a Magic Kingdom

WDW = the whole complex. Magic Kingdom = what most people call "Disney World," perhaps because Disneyland is one park while WDW has four.

oh I've had several nervous breakdowns watching parents indulge their little bitches in princess costumes. I can't fucking stand Mickey Mouse.

I'd like to run the WDW marathon one day. But not the Goofy Challenge.

Yeah, I like Epcot. The Magic Kingdom is what would send me in a mental tailspin now.

WDW = the whole complex. Magic Kingdom = what most people call "Disney World," perhaps because Disneyland is one park while WDW has four.

Disneyland is two parks fwiw.

My niece wore her fairy costume to WDW this week. Aparrently Tinkerbell has a sister.

Hitchcock floated the idea of setting a film at Disneyland in an interview in the '50s; the Empire immediately smacked it down.

The nearest I ever got to WDW in Orlando was attending a tech writer's convention in May, 2000. I stayed in a Disney hotel and ate in Disney retaurants and sat in Disney meeting rooms. I don't think I ever made it into the official amusement park area, but I may have walked through some Disney-owned sub-suburb of the park, pathologically clean, overpriced and plasticized. It was like walking in a village of Barbie doll(tm) houses.

Florida was experiencing a serious drought and water restrictions were big news on the local tv station. Yet, everywhere I turned there were massive water-features, fountains, waterfalls, etc. going full blast. Every minute I spent there I wished I were somewhere else.

WDW is a sovereign state ftr. What Disney milked out of Tallahassee is stunning in its scope.

Orlando?

well, the legislature

Ah, yes.

Niece is on her third costume of the trip in WDW (Little Mermaid). Gott im himmel.

do you have a costume, Unca Morbius

Thanks to my parents and her paternal grandparents, my niece owns every goddamn princess. When I play with her, I whip out a toy dragon and pretend to incinerate them.

ok tuomas

cept Tuomas thinks "toy dragon" means "penis"

Walt Disney Corporation is traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol DIS, which was once another name for hell.

I thought it was Bis...?

From Wikipedia:

In Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, the City of Dis (in Italian, la città ch'ha nome Dite, "the city whose name is Dis")[1] encompasses the sixth through the ninth circles of Hell.[2] The most serious sins are punished here, in lower Hell. Dis is extremely hot, and contains areas more closely resembling the common modern conception of Hell than the upper levels.

diss

Fascinating thread. I'm intrigued by what the aficionados like Alfred & Whiney write here, because WDW has never exerted any pull on me at all, so to read all this is eye-opening.

I was in Orlando for a conference a couple of years ago. I had no desire to see WDW, and I didn't. If I'd been there with friends or family, or frankly if I'd read this thread beforehand, I might have gone. The odd thing is that, when I travel, even for work, I tend to go out of my way to explore and turn over stones. I'm the one who returns to the second day of a training with tales of what lies beyond the square mile surrounding the hotel. It may be that I'm so attracted to so many places and things in life that on the rare occasion that I find myself indifferent to something, I nurture that indifference with almost twisted sort of pride. It may also be that I like to stumble upon wonderful places, rather than be fully immersed in an environment entirely designed to elicit wonder. That said, this thread makes me question to what extent that preference -which feels like a genuine sentiment of the heart- might not also be symptomatic of a mind become somewhat stuck in some of its ways.

sounds like you need to hang out with some princesses and kill dragons and shit

haha probably.

If only WDW really were a place, it could be explored. Sadly, it is a product, not a place.

here's my fuckin costume

http://www.inetres.com/gp/anime/fantasia/f12_01.jpg

Thought your fuckin' days were over.

Just got back from 7 days in FL: 5 on a Disney cruise, 2 in Orlando. The cruise was insanely crowded but a logistical marvel. Unbelievably organized and clean for such a huge vehicle carrying so many ppl. One can only wonder how they treat/pay the crew. A nice surprise was the lack of in-your-face merchandising as compared to WDW.

WDW seemed kind of shabby after the cruise but I was impressed by how little it had changed in the 30 yrs since I'd been there. P cool to see the haunted mansion, space mountain, swiss fam robinson treehouse, etc but I was really happy to get out of Orlando. The Dolphin hotel was bizarre - like FL's pink answer to that huge pyramid hotel in N Korea.

Weather was great - I now see why anyone goes to FL ever.

by no means, E, I don't play racquetball or anything.

The closest I came to going to Orlando was when a comedy industry friend encouraged me to submit writing to the New Mickey Mouse Club -- the Justin-Britney-Gosling show.

More reasons to go to FL: lots of beaches and the best thrift stores ever.

But that is it.

Swiss Fam Treehouse is still there? I thought they turned it into Tarzan?

Swiss Fam Treehouse is still there? I thought they turned it into Tarzan?

I walked by pretty quickly and it looked the same. My son (big fan of the movie) went in later and said it was still true to the movie. Maybe they changed it back from Tarzan to the Swiss?

I had also forgotten about Tom Sawyer's island. Damn, I loved that when I was 6.

It was Swiss Family Treehouse at the end of 2010.

they changed it to tarzan at OG disneyland, but at least we still have the original tiki room.

Do you work there?

my parents met there, so i consider it my big corporate godparent.

My parents spent their honeymoon in WDW. With only a few days before Mom and my Air Force dad moved to Mississippi, they drove around Florida, pulled into the two-month-old Contemporary Resort, and asked if there was room. It hurt to spend the $35 a night.

I bibbity bobbity'd my boo there.

worst verb ever!

imagine Alicia Keys singing it

you wouldn't believe how many weddings took place on the 5-day Disney cruise.

I don't know what Alicia Keys sounds like, duh. "Bobbity" just makes me think of that woman who cut her husband down to size.

Tbh, don't see why any consenting adult(s) sans kids would waste time/money at WDW. With kids, it's pretty well-run.

My kids would disown me if we drove 16 hours to Florida and they woke up to this:

http://i.imgur.com/R92Q2SW.jpg