Gypsy on the Gridiron: March 2011

We spent last week at Walt Disney World, and it was just as Magical as they tell you it will be. I don’t know what it is about that place, but we spent the entire vacation as if we had coat hangers stuck in our mouths…smiling the entire time. It may be a tad pricey, but it’s worth every penny. If there’s one thing Disney prides themselves on, it’s their authenticity.

While it was important to me that we hit everything we’d always dreamed of seeing, there were a couple of things that were either mildly overrated or you might want to simply skip if you aren’t toting along small children, so I have some words of advice for those of you planning on visiting any time soon regarding all of the parks:

If anything advertises longer than 20 minute wait, go with the “Fast Pass” option if available.
Wear sensible, comfortable shoes.
Pack your own food and water. That’s where they get you.
At each park you visit, get the schedule of shows and character appearances so you can plan your day around it.
If you have children and/or want to have pics taken with any of the characters, check your schedule and get to the line about 10 minutes early - you’ll be one of the first people. Some of the characters are silly and like to play with the children as they’re doing pics. While this makes for a wonderful experience for the kids, it turns even the shortest line into an incredibly long wait.
If you can avoid it, don’t go to any of the parks on a Saturday. If you must go on the weekend, avoid Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom until the weekdays. We went to Magic Kingdom on Saturday…never again.
If you plan on hitting Hollywood Studios, make sure to go on a day that they’re showing Fantasmic! This show is an absolute must for people of all ages. The highlight of my Disney experience.
Pack extra clothes - leave them in the car or whatever you need to do - if you’re planning on hitting up any of the “splash” rides.

That’s all I have for that - let’s recap the individual parks.

Magic Kingdom

Again I stress…try to avoid going to this park on the weekend. Magic Kingdom is overwhelming as it is, and while I’m sure there are a lot of people there all of the time, I’m thinking the weekend is even worse. I was run over by so many strollers, I lost count.

Now with the “Must See” stuff that I was able to catch (we only had one day at Magic Kingdom, so I’m sure I missed some).

Steam Engine Train Ride - We did this first, and I’m glad we did. The train circles the entire park and we got a history lesson on the different rides, areas, and the park itself. We also get a good view of all of the parts of the park and were able to scope out different places in the park that we wanted to hit first, and those which were less crowded.
Mickey’s Philharmagic - This was an incredible 3D short, and a party for the senses. Not only do you experience the regular 3D fun stuff but Disney makes sure you smell the smells (pie!) and felt the wind of the instruments blasting past us - and even splashes of water when Donald got soaked.
Hall of Presidents Show - this was a fun, short, educational show at the Hall Of Presidents located in Liberty Square that I’m grateful to a friend for recommending. We’re lucky Kiernan’s into our country and its history, but I think even small kids would love it, with the animatronic presidents. The history and patriotism displayed was so powerful it made me cry.
Parades (no, they don’t throw candy or anything else):
- Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It - This parade happens continuously throughout the day (check schedules if you go), and was SO MUCH FUN! Most of the Disney Characters were there, along with stilt walkers and some other Disney dancers. The parade moves down Main Street and stops in front of Cinderella’s Castle. The characters come down off the floats and dance in the street with everyone. Kiernan and I shook our tail feathers with Donald, and danced a bit with Goofy. If you’re only able to catch one parade the entire time you’re there, hit this one.
- Electrical Parade - This was a beautifully done parade with all electrical floats. Even characters were lit up.
- 3:00 Main Street Parade - I think this one was a little overrated with as much hype as it gets, but Kiernan loved it.
  This is a chance to see all of the “human” characters - the princes and princesses of Disney. If you plan on seeing this, get a seat early…maybe have lunch while you’re waiting. We walked a good half hour before finding a “seat” (we stood behind a handicapped seating area in Liberty Square).
Wishes Fireworks Show and Castle Projection - Right before the fireworks, and after the electrical parade, there was a Castle Projection show that was pretty awesome. They use Cinderella’s Castle to show pictures that were taken by the Photo Pass Photographers throughout the day of families and children throughout the park, and they do some really cool stuff with the lighting to turn the castle into all sorts of things; from crayon colored to a launching space shuttle. Then Tink “flies” down from the top (zip line) and the fireworks begin. Again, so powerful it made me cry…just a beautiful display that can’t be missed if you can help it.

Character Tip: Get to the Hall of Presidents immediately after the 3:00 Main Street Parade (try to get a seat for the parade right outside of the Hall) and stand near the far left entrance to the theater. General Mickey shows up in the building and if you’re there directly before the show, you catch him quickly.

Popular rides and other things we missed out on or simply didn’t do:

Space Mountain (ran out of time)
Big Thunder Mountain (huge wait time and Kiernan wasn’t up for the ride)
It’s a Small World (not much desire - didn’t think it would be worth the wait)
Dumbo Ride (too long a line for a kiddie ride)
Teacups (again…too long a line for a kiddie ride)

I was somewhat disappointed in:

Splash Mountain - ok it was cute, but it wasn’t as thrilling as the Jurassic Park ride at Universal and it wasn’t as awesome as Journey to Atlantis at Sea World.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

When I first said we were going to all of the 4 main Disney parks I was told by a few people that Hollywood Studios was just kind of “eh”. Now, I’m not sure if they just hadn’t gone and done the right things at the park or if I just enjoy different types of things than they do, because this was probably my second favorite park (behind Epcot). There were a ton of different fun little street shows while we were just walking around and I absolutely loved the stunt shows. The animation area was educational and extremely interesting.

Must Do or Must See:

Fantasmic! - This is my number one must see at Hollywood Studios and Disney World in general. It’s a fireworks, laser show, projection show all in one. Sorcerer Mickey takes on the villains from all of the different Disney movies and there’s a projection medley using sheets of water while they change sets. There are natives from Pocahontas in their canoes rowing in the water in front of the stage while John Smith and his gang work on the set. At one point there are giant neon animals on the set, and more floats with Disney’s most beloved princes and princesses. At the end, after Mickey defeats Malificent’s dragon, Steamboat Willie makes an appearance in a giant steamboat, complete with all of the characters, princes, and princesses. Just unbelievable. We sat pretty close, and I was wishing we had warmer clothes because we did get some of the mist off the water sheets used for projection.
Indiana Jones Stunt Show - this was a lot of fun, and Trever and Kiernan enjoyed it thoroughly. I’d seen something similar at Universal Studios in Hollywood a few years back, so it wasn’t exciting but it was still pretty cool and fun to see them pull some of the stunts off and learn how they do it.
Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show - Kiernan didn’t really think this was as cool as Trever and I did, but I absolutely loved it. Fast cars, fast motorcycles, fast jet skis, people falling off buildings, cars jumping over stuff, people on fire…what’s not to love? They also explained how they go about filming certain stunts in movies, including crazy car stuff. This was very interesting and fun to watch.
Magic of Animation - there’s a little area to the back of the park dedicated to the magic of Disney animation. This includes some of the earliest drawings, an animation history lesson, the room where Disney Oscars are displayed, Mr. Incredible with FroZone, and even Sorcerer Mickey! This area was very dead - which was insane because it was such an interesting part of the park. We didn’t have to wait in line for anything though, so that made me happy. There’s also an animation station area that shows how they add color, sound, and movement to art and lets people do it themselves.
Art Lesson - we found an art lesson for all ages in the Magic of Animation part of the park so we decided to do it. Here, we all learned how to draw Tinkerbell (I guess it’s someone different for each class). I definitely recommend this family activity to anyone going to Disney - so much fun, and you get to take your drawing with you!
Tower of Terror - While I wouldn’t recommend taking small children who are afraid of the dark on this ride, I found it to be a blast. Kiernan was scared but later admitted that once she got over the initial spook, she liked it. However, she would never go on it again. I would. You’re strapped into seats in a “service elevator” and you go up to what I presume is the top floor of a 13 story hotel. While on your way up, you see some Twilight Zone cool visuals before you start your descent. The elevator drops quickly, goes back up a little ways, drops quickly again, goes back up a ways, and drops quickly for the last time. In the meantime, you go from completely pitch black dark to being able to see outside over the park. Really cool.

Things we did that were “eh” and I probably wouldn’t do again unless there was no line, whatsoever:

Prince Caspian museum - We waited in line for about 20 minutes and finally got into the building. Here, they show an extended trailer for Prince Caspian, which I’d already seen. The only cool part was the stone table and other props (the White Witch’s wand and some costumes). I was kind of pissed that I stood there, on sore feet, for so long for nothing.
Chinese Theater - This was cool and a neat thing to do to show Kiernan some more historical movies but the line was extremely long and I got rather claustrophobic before we got on the actual ride, which took us through some areas that looked like movie sets. It was cool, but I wouldn’t want to stand in that line that long again for it.

Things we didn’t do that I would have liked to:

Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster Feat. Aerosmith - totally missed out on this, we ran out of time.
Back Lot Tour - there was a ridiculously long line and I didn’t see whether or not it had a Fast Pass option. There were too many things to see and I didn’t want to wait.
Voyage of the Little Mermaid - I really wanted to do this but I couldn’t stand any longer and Fast Pass distribution was no longer available by the time we got back there. I’ll remember next time and hit that early.
Star Wars - both the ride and the “Jedi Training”. Jedi Training was only available for those 12 and under, and Kiernan is sometimes a fuddy duddy. I would have done it if I could. The ride was closed. Boo.

Epcot

I don’t even know where to start. Epcot was absolutely amazing, and I think I could spend three full days there. In fact, next time I think we’ll get two 4-day passes and spend 3-4 of those days at Epcot alone. If I was only given a weekend to spend at Disney, I would spend the whole thing there. There were fewer people there - I’m not exactly sure if that had more to do with the day of the week we went (Monday) or if there are just fewer people there in general than the other parks on a regular basis. We missed out on a lot, mainly exploring the different countries, but we did squeeze in quite a bit.

Here is the “Must Do / Must See” stuff:

IllumiNations - We actually had to come back to this (we had a park hopper option, so we were able to revisit Epcot after Animal Kingdom closed the final day we were there). This is another cool lights and fireworks show; a bringing together of the nations to make up this great Earth. Pyrotechnics and a giant floating globe make up this unbelievable show that again…made me cry. The globe displays clips of history throughout the world and what has brought us to where we are today; humans, animals, nature. Beautiful.
Soarin’ - AWESOME. So awesome we did it twice. Again, you’ll want to Fast Pass this one - the line is ridiculous….because it’s so awesome. You go in and strap yourself into a seat that acts as a glider once the ride has begun. You’re suspended about 30 ft or so above the ground in front of a giant screen. When your hang glider turns, the “glider” tilts. When you start to glide downward and faster, your “glider” tilts forward and the wind blows harder into your face (not obnoxiously). When you glide upward, your “glider” tilts back. All of this adds to the true feeling of gliding over California. When you glide over the citrus fields, you smell oranges. Did I say it was awesome? Totally.
Test Track - Kiernan and Trever enjoyed this a little more than I did. They went on it twice - I only went once. The 2nd time they went, I found us a spot to sit and watch IllumiNations so we didn’t miss out on a good viewing area. It was fun, you sit in a little car and it takes you through different little terrain, weather, and speed tests. It wasn’t as intense as I prefer but it was a great ride for Kiernan to get her used to a roller-coaster type ride.
Mission Space - another ride that Trever and Kiernan enjoyed a little more than I did. We did the “Green” option, which is less intense than the Orange. I needed a Dramamine. You go in this little pod simulator that bumps you around for a while as you go on a mission to Mars. You get caught up in a meteor storm and a rough landing. If I had a Dramamine, I would have gone and tried the Orange Team for a more exciting experience.
Spaceship Earth - Kiernan LOVED this, and she thought it was even cooler because it’s inside the Epcot globe. It was really cute, and I definitely recommend it. You go through a “history of the earth” thing - from the Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians to the history of the alphabet all the way through the technology of today and a peek into tomorrow with an interactive “your future” animated little show.
The Seas with Nemo and Friends - at first this doesn’t look like anything special but it’s cute. You ride in a clam shell through the coral reef, seeing all sorts of animated fish, turtles, jellyfish, and anemones. Then it gets really cool. You end up passing through actual aquariums that they’ve somehow found a way to project your favorite Nemo characters; Marlin, Dory, Nemo, Crush and Squirt. So there are these animated characters INSIDE an actual aquarium with real fish. It’s pretty amazing and well worth it. Fast Pass, of course. Directly after the ride, you can go into this little “landing area” and take a quiz about sea life, check out a couple of fish tanks, and then go to….
Turtle Talk with Crush!! - This was SO cool and a definite must whether you have kids or not. Crush (the kickass surfer dude turtle) from Nemo comes and talks to the kids. Disney has come up with an innovative way to turn animation into an interactive experience. Crush asks and answers questions. The children are given the option to sit up front on the floor where they can be picked. Now, it’s important to remember that this is not a canned thing…someone on the other side can actually see the children, picks which kid to answer or ask, and has a very real conversation with them (I watched how this was made on some documentary or travel channel). I think they try to get as many conversations in as they can…everyone who wanted to speak with Crush was able to but that may be because we were the last group of people to go through this. He’s very funny, and whoever does the voice is either the real guy or someone who sounds just like him. This was fun for the entire family.
Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure - We chose the short one, because we were running low on time but we plan to do the whole thing next time. This is a GREAT way to get the kids excited to explore the different countries in Epcot (and it’s pretty damn cool for a mom who LOVES Kim Possible, if I do say so myself). All around the different countries, they’ve placed little interactive clues and things that your KP cell phone connects with as you complete your missions. If you want to see the countries and are dragging young kids along, I highly recommend this. I would even recommend it if you don’t have kids with you but I’m a big Kim Possible fan so take that into consideration.
Tutto Italia - If you have a chance and the money to hit a nice sit-down restaurant while at Epcot, I highly recommend it. Remember when I said Disney is very much into authenticity? So much that they even hire people from the different countries to work in the respective restaurants themed in those countries at Epcot. The food was fantastic, and while we paid $63+tip for a three person meal, it was well worth it. Trever had spaghetti and meatballs made with veal, I had a penne with tomato and I think it was a raw mozzarella. Kiernan had a little delicious pizza. I also had an Italian sangria that was nothing short of amazing, and there was some sort of amazing butter spread for our appetizer breads that I can’t quite describe. The service was outstanding as well. If you’re not a big fan of Italian food, I can’t imagine any other country would be any less perfect.

The only thing that we didn’t hit at Epcot that I would like to have done more of was the exploration of the different countries. I feel like we missed out on that with our quick run-through. There’s nothing for me to add here that I would say was just “eh”.

Animal Kingdom

This is where we got a little more adventurous with the rides, as we finally decided that Kiernan was big enough to sit back and watch the ride we were on if she didn’t want to go. It was here that Trever and I went on one of those most awesome Roller Coasters I’ve ever ridden. This is also cool for people who love zoos. Kiernan had never been to a zoo before, so this was really exciting for her, and kind of a two-fer. Fair warning, this is another place that there are more children and it’s a little more packed than Hollywood Studios and Epcot but one thing about Disney is, they are equipped to handle the huge crowds, so you don’t feel claustrophobic (most times, anyway).

Must Do:

The Kilimanjaro Safari is definitely a must. You see all of the animals in their (basically) natural habitat. The bus goes through fairly quickly and you can’t stop much. While you may miss a glimpse of a few - we barely saw the giraffes; just caught a slight view behind the trees - for the most part you get a good show. DEFINITELY get a Fast Pass for this. We waited in line for a good hour for this, and that got a little annoying. Unfortunately they don’t have a lot other than plant life to look at while you’re standing and moving along in the line.
Nature Walk - OK so that’s not what it’s called, but there are a lot of different viewing areas to check out different animals; monkeys, alligators, bats, tigers, gorillas, all sorts of antelopes and deer, birds, etc. that you can view just walking around. Trever had never seen a gorilla before, and Kiernan had never seen many of the other animals - so watching them see these animals for the first time, eyes wide with awe, was totally worth the entire trip.
Finding Nemo: The Musical - I’m not sure why exactly that this is at Animal Kingdom, but it’s pretty cool. I wasn’t sure what to expect; if it would be a new story involving the Nemo gang, or if it would be just another interpretation of the Nemo story. It was the latter, and while I thoroughly enjoyed it I think Kiernan was a little irritated because it was the same old story she knew so well but the voices were “all wrong”. It is what it says it is - the Finding Nemo Musical. The actors/singers have microphones attached, they’re singing the story, and the costumes are absolutely gorgeous.
Kali River Rapids - This was probably our favorite ride, as a family, in the park. It’s very similar to rides you’ll find in any other theme park; an 8 man “raft” that they strap you in while you go through rapids and waterfalls. You can see Expedition Everest in the background, so that’s pretty cool. I know we were prepared to get wet, but I’m not sure we were prepared to get as soaked as we got. I’m sure it didn’t help matters that we went on it four times. (Yes four…it was priceless seeing our daughter squeal and giggle and light up at various times throughout the ride).
Expedition Everest - After begging and begging and begging Kiernan to go with us, we finally came to the decision that she would sit and watch. She wasn’t quite ready for THAT one yet and I’m quite happy we didn’t push it with her. She would have peed herself. This roller coaster takes you through some twists, turns, hills, banks, all in the dark - and then backward through the dark, and then forward again. When we hit the “dead end” with the broken tracks, Trever looked at me and said “I hate you”…and we started hauling ass backward. I screamed like a girl, he giggled hysterically. It was great. It was definitely not “too short” (which is my complaint with a lot of roller coasters), and after I actually got Trever on it, even he wanted to go again. And again. I needed a Dramamine after the 2nd time but I did it again anyway.

Things I missed out on that would like to have done (Animal Kingdom could probably also be a 2-day trip):

Everything in Dinoland USA - we just ran out of time.
It’s Tough to Be A Bug - This looked like a fun little show that we also just ran out of time for.
Camp Minnie Mickey - We went in here, but we didn’t spend a whole lot of time. We were going to get pictures of Kiernan with the characters but the lines to see them all were pretty ridiculous. Maybe if we got there right when the gates open and went straight to the characters, we’d do it that way.
I’m sure there’s more that we didn’t see there that I would have liked to see. We wasted a lot of time going on the rides more than once and spent probably more time than needed just checking out the animals.

There was nothing here that was kind of “eh”. Animal Kingdom was very cool. The only thing that was a little annoying was how much more crowded it was than a couple of the other parks.

Sea World

I know it’s not part of Disney, but we did go to Sea World during our Orlando vacation, and I think there are a few things worth mentioning. Sea World was a little less crowded and a lot more laid back than pretty much anywhere in Disney. We had an amazing day there, and I really enjoyed all of the animals, as usual.

Must See/Do:

A’Lure - I went in to this show not really knowing what to expect. It ended up being very much like a little mini-Cirque du’ Soleil type show with acrobats, dancers, and beautiful costumes.
Stingray Lagoon - I could have spent all day here. The stingrays love to be pet, and they come up to you, flapping their “wings” for attention. Kiernan was a little freaked out and wouldn’t touch them, which was kind of a bummer, but whatever I guess.
Journey to Atlantis - This was a ride much like Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom, but a lot more fun.
Arctic Adventure - who doesn’t want to see belugas, walrus, and a polar bear?
Penguin Encounter - enough said.
Dolphin Lagoon - I just wish we would have gone when it wasn’t feeding time. I would have loved to have been able to pet them at will, but since there were people feeding them on the other side of the tank, they didn’t make much of an appearance. The best part about the dolphin lagoon was when Trever got pooped on by a seagull. Hilarious.

Cool but a little disappointing. Still must sees…it IS Sea World, afterall:

Believe - the Shamu show. I seem to remember this show being a lot cooler. I don’t know if they’ve decided to work the whales less but this show was about 20 minutes, with a lot of fluff. It was cool, and I’m glad they’re educating people about the animals to form a connection and give us incentive to do what we can to help them, but it just wasn’t what I remember.
Blue Horizons - the dolphin show. This was pretty cool, but again - more fluff and less animal. It was pretty cool that they integrated macaws into the show though, and some trapeze artists and acrobats while the dolphins weren’t performing.

Things I’d like to have seen and done:

The sea lion and otter show - we just didn’t schedule very well
Manta - the roller coaster that they have you strapped in, facing downward. I *really* wanted to do this, but Kiernan wasn’t tall enough and we hadn’t given into the “let her watch from a safe place” idea yet.
Krakken - another roller coaster that does loops and swirls and banks etc. that Kiernan was too short to ride.
Dolphin Lagoon - when it’s not feeding time.

Hope you enjoyed. We plan to go again as soon as possible to hit everything we feel we missed out on. If you go or have gone and have anything to share or suggest, please let me know!

Gypsy on the Gridiron

Thursday, March 31, 2011

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin....

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Dule

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

I See the Light

Thursday, March 10, 2011

No False Advertising