Disney is like a football game, there is a lot of waiting for a little bit of action. You wait for the monorail or the crappy bus, wait to get into the parks, wait to go on the rides, wait for your food and for what?, two minutes of entertainment. So why do we like it so much? Because Disney knows how to do it right. Everything is top notch and you could not piss them off even if you punched them in the face, (I swear they are all hypnotized). Personally, I enjoy it because Matthew loves it so much. There is nothing worse than spending a boat load of money and the kids hating it. Okay, maybe I like it too. Test Track, Rocking Roller Coaster and Mission Space are very high on the puke scale and just a few of my favorites. Susan was not able to attend this trip so it was just the boys this time but she was there in spirit. Matthew planned out all the park rides and Susan did all the meal planning and reservations. It was more like a military assignment then a vacation but it really made us much more efficient. Anyway, on to the vacation.Day 1/2 - Check in and Dinner
We arrived in the evening so after checking in we only had time for dinner at Chef Mickey's, (let's just say that I hate this place and leave it at that).
Day 1 - Animal Kingdom
The first day was Animal Kingdom. This park is the runt in the Disney litter. Few people go to the park because it is very far away, which means you have to take the bloody bus, and there is not much to see once you get there. Disney has been trying to change this by opening some new rides, in particular, Expedition Everest.
This ride was a blast. The premise is that you are on a train in Tibet and you encounter a giant Yeti that destroys the track and sends you on a wild roller coaster ride down the mountain. You can see the mountain in the background of this picture. This is not a forced perspective here it really is that big!There is also an amazing structure called the "Tree of Life" a huge man made tree covered with carvings of different animals.
We ate at BOMA at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This is a buffet style restaurant that is extremely difficult to get a reservation at. Food and atmosphere is very good but it took us two hours to get back to the hotel. Boy I hate those buses.
Day 2 - Disney's Hollywood Studios
The second day was Disney's Hollywood Studios, formerly known as MGM Studios. Now we are talking. This is one of my favorite places. There are a lot of exciting rides and attractions in this park. So much so that I didn't even mind taking the bus. This location houses some of my aforementioned favorites and some new attractions. The one that Matt was itching to go on was "Toy Story Mania". It is a virtual reality arcade style game and its a blast. The thing that I wanted to see was the Lights Motors Action stunt show. An automobile stunt spectacular that was incredible to watch. There was lots of burn outs and flame, tailor made for the gear head in me. We had a great day, it was really hot but we had fun. We had dinner with Marty, Irene and Zahra at a local restaurant. These are the same friends that lived in the same compound as us in Shanghai and are now living 20 minutes away from Disney World. It was great seeing them again and a bit surreal to be eating together on the other side of the planet. It truly is a small world.
Day 3 - EPCOT Center
EPCOT is another great park. There are lots of high speed roller coasters, bone rattling drops and enough loop de loops to make you toss your cookies. (It's not common knowledge but E.P.C.O.T was Walt Disney's vision of a futuristic community. In fact, EPCOT stands for Experimental, Prototype, Community, Of Tomorrow. His vision was a utopian community where people lived at Disney, a Mickey condo if you will. This idea was later changed to the world theme park because the Disney brass thought Walt's idea was too cultish for Disney).
Matt met up with one of his friends from school,
Anthony. He is a really good kid and Matt gets along with him very well. Before meeting up with him, Matt and I did the Rocking Roller Coaster, Test Track, Soaring and the Tower of Terror (I think the names explain the rides for themselves). These are the must do rides and we had a great time. The other reason I like this park is because you can get to it with the monorail, no bus required, (I guess by now you figured out that I hate the 30 minute wait for the bus in 90 degree weather). The monorail goes right into the Disney hotels located in the park. This definitely enhances the whole Disney experience.
We had dinner at Le Cellier in the Canadian pavilion. This is a Zagat's rated steak house. Susan had to book these reservations months ago but it was definitely one of my favorites.
Day 4 - Magic Kingdom
By day four we were pooping out a bit. Matthew's feet were hurting and I wasn't fairing any better. We've been to the Magic Kingdom many times so we focused on hitting our favorite rides such as the Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle River Cruise, Buzz Light Year, Haunted Mansion and of course, Splash Mountain.
Matt told the Disney people that it was his birthday and they made him a birthday pin. It was not his birthday but he thought it would be fun to have people think so. All day long people were wishing him a Happy Birthday and by the end of the day we almost believed it ourselves.
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We decided to go back to the hotel for a few hours before dinner and hit the pool. Of course, I could not get Matt out of the pool and we had early dinner reservations at the California Grill. This is really the best restaurant in Disney. The food was phenomenal with a view of the Magic Kingdom to match. Word of caution, this place ain't cheap. Dinner for the both of us was $120.00. After dinner we went back to the hotel and started packing for our return. Our flight was at 7:30 pm the next day so we would have another full day at Hollywood Studios. Around 10:15 pm I get a phone call from an irate women who was in room below me. She wanted me to explain all the noise I was making at this late hour. Matt was asleep and I was packing luggage and I assure you I had no idea what she was talking about. Finally it hit me, I said "Lady the noise you are hearing is the fireworks that Disney closes the Magic Kingdom park with every night". Now you have to understand, the fireworks are so loud that it rattles the windows in the hotel room. How could she think that I was making that much noise? Anyway, she was throughly embarrassed and apparently not too bright either. I had to laugh.
Day 5 - Back to Hollywood Studios
We met with Anthony and his mom again and headed back to Hollywood Studios. We hit the same rides as before. The crowning jewel of the trip was Matthew being selected for the Jedi Academy where he got the opportunity have a light saber fight with Darth Vader. Let me give you some background information here. Matt is a Star Wars fanatic to say the least. He has every toy, video game and book related to Star Wars. His email address is Darthvadermatt so you can understand how excited he was to get picked to fight Vader, (watch the video and see for yourself).
We had to leave the park by 3:20 to make it back to the hotel in time to catch the Magical Bus back to the airport. Disney actually checked my luggage and issued my boarding passes for the plane right at the hotel, I told you they know how to do things right. The only problem was that we had to take the @#$*ing bus back to the hotel. Well to make a painful event as short as possible, the bus was late, it was really hot and if we did not make it back in time we would miss the only transportation back to the airport. We made it with 10 minutes to spare, way outside my comfort zone but we made it and that is all that counts. Dinner was airport food and snacks on the plane. By the time we got home it was 11:00 pm so Matt and I were really tired.
To summarize, we had a great time. We wished that Susan could have come but we understood. Our next stop is Aruba in July and yes, Disney again for Christmas. This time we will meet up with May, Sandi, Jeff and the kids and I am sure it will be a blast.
