DisneyTogether

I have this habit of writing very long-winded reviews of certain things. I apologize ahead of time for the length! And I, Amanda, have a habit of butting in using italics. Kevin Amanda

I had been to DisneyWorld twice before the trip this year: once when I was way too young to remember anything about it, then later in 1995 when I visited with my family. But the '95 trip was only for one day, and only the Magic Kingdom, and there wasn't really any research (as far as which attractions are the must-dos) put into it, so I wasn't left with much in the Magical Memories Department. So this year was my chance to make up for that and do DisneyWorld "the proper way," with five-and-a-half days to cover all four of the parks, as thoroughly as possible! Starting with...

The Magic Kingdom

One of the first things we saw was a parade made especially for rainy weather, which I liked. Because how can you be upset about rain when the song is telling you to "Splish splash! Tinkle tinkle!"

I loved the improvisation-based technology of Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, and appreciated that the improv actors in both of the showings we saw (well, Amanda and I just had to see it again later on a different day!) were actually quite good at it. I submitted a joke that I made up just to see if it would make it into the show, and sure enough it did! I'm not telling you what it was, though. Well now you HAVE to tell me which joke it was! Update! I didn't get it lol!

Stitch's Great Escape! was one of the weaker attractions, but well-done for what it is. There are a lot of attractions that can be equally enjoyed by adults and kids, but this is one that really is mostly made for the younger set. And that's very ironic because it was originally Alien which was too scary for most kids to begin with. Even I was pretty startled back before the rehash.

I don't mind telling you that we went on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin three times. I suppose at this point I should mention that, since we chose the fourth week in January to visit DisneyWorld, the parks were not nearly as crowded as they would be if we had chosen, say, July. Frankly, we were spoiled with the line non-waits. The wait for BLSRS, for example, each time was only as long as it took to walk through the queue area. Do I even need to stress how great it felt?
Anyway, I do enjoy slow-moving shooting gallery game/rides. It's essentially the same as King's Island's Scooby Doo ride*, except that one didn't seem to make perfect sense. When has the Mystery, Inc. Gang ever shot at any ghoulies? And since the ghosts always turn out to be humans, then...well, I'm digressing. You would think that trying to aim a tiny periodically appearing red laser dot (amidst a handful of other identical red dots) at moving targets while in a track-trailing and spinning car would be frustrating and annoying, yet somehow it manages to be really fun. I don't get it!


[*Now that I'm looking it up, it turns out that this has been genericized, as all traces of Hanna Barbera and Nickelodeon characters are now gone from King's Island. A lot of the rides that used to be Hanna Barbera themed are now Peanuts themed, which makes me imagine how funny it would be if they had tried to incorporate the Peanuts characters into this spooky dark ghost-shooting ride. First of all, duh it would be about the Great Pumpkin! And second of all, what?? Peanuts? But I thought Peanuts were a Cedar Point thing! When did Cedar Faire Inc buy out King's Island? Have they always owned it?]


I hope Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress is never removed from the park. It's corny and amusingly approaching out-of-dateness, but that's what's so great about it! It predicted that, in "the family of the future," a grandmother could enjoy playing video games, even though I think it was meant to be a joke at the time! Also I think it's one of the best chances to get a good, up-close look at the classic Disney animatronics. It was so much so that I kind of had to resist the urge to just walk up onto the stage and poke around at the set.

The actual Space Mountain ride is waaay better than the video game. Holy crap! There's a video game???

Mickey's Philharmagic might just be my favorite 4-D film; I'll tell you which is my second-favorite when I get to it. But I don't think there's anything I can say about this one that might potentially spoil it for those who haven't experienced it. Let's just say I highly recommend it!

Speaking of spoilers, SPOILER ALERT: It turns out that it's a small world after all. A small, small world.

Tony's Town Square was a great first-day restaurant. We were definitely spoiled. The recent emptying of the park due to rain left this restaurant over staffed and therefore we had the fastest service of the entire trip. And our server Parvil sang Happy Birthday and lit a candle in Kevin's gelato.

I want to mention the Disney Dining Plan. We had originally planned to take the trip the week before such that my birthday would fall on it, but our trip adviser had found a special promotion that would allow us to have free dining for the entire stay if we pushed it to the next week. Let me just say that the next time we go (whenever that may be), I hope we can get the credit-based dining plan again.

I wouldn't be too surprised if at some point in the future the Swiss Family Treehouse is removed or renovated to fit the theme of another movie. And in 3-D!! And more interactive. It was nice to look at, but I really wanted to play with things, but it was all behind ropes that were not to be crossed.

I just want to say that our Jungle Cruise skipper reminded me of Paul of Paul & Storm. Also, I wonder what it would be like to listen to Weird Al's Skipper Dan on a personal music player while riding the Jungle Cruise.

Here's a question for the comments section. How do you pronounce "Pirates of the Caribbean? Do you say "ca-ribyan" or "cara-bee-in?" I think the latter sounds more pirate-y somehow, but I caught Amanda using the former. Anway, since this ride is rather dark, I recommend preparing a "pirate eye." Cover or close one eye and keep it closed for several minutes before you go inside, then when you enter, open it and close the other. Your cones will now be prepared for the darkness! Or just buy a scurvy eye patch from the shop before entering. It's the perfect pirate eye preparer!

The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management!) was closed. Aww.

I could ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad all day. It is just my perfect level of roller-coaster tolerance, and a blast to boot!

Country Bear Jamboree was, um...well, let's just keep an eye out for the IDGet comic about this one.

Three hundred years from now, The Hall of Presidents will still exist, and the Imagineers of the Future will have to find a way to fit all 100+ Audio-Animatronic presidents on the stage at once. And the Audience of the Future will have to listen to each one's name being stated in the roll call. One at a time. Slowly. I predict by then the caretaker presidents will be phased out... bless their hearts.
And then the presidents will of course gain sentience and kill everyone.

Speaking of dead people, The Haunted Mansion is one of my favorite rides, though I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's because the song is so darn catchy. It totally needs to be played on the radio around Halloween. Also, if I was allowed to pick one "cast member" job, it would probably be this attraction's host. Staring creepily at all of the guests sounds like fun!

Peter Pan's Flight, Snow's White's Scary Adventures, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh are all sort of variations on the same experience, but if I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably go for Pooh's. I wonder if the part about Heffalumps and Woozles confuses the younger fans, now that there is an actual Heffalump character in the series. Also, why does the store into which the ride leads not sell honey? In adorable little Pooh-shaped squeeze bottles? Or honey straws! Which is what I really wanted.

Besides the furniture being hard and uncomfortable, it would be pretty great to live in a Toontown-style house. What? Minnie's House totally had soft usable chairs!
The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm is fun and too short, but is it worth going through the line for the ridiculous visual gags along the way.

And if you ever get to see Wishes Nighttime Spectacular, all future Fourth of July hometown fireworks will seem like piddly little sparklers by comparison. Just so you know. I swear to you, the imagineers who orchestrate the end of day displays are beyond ARTISTS. They're more like psychologists who know exactly what music and what images to show to make a person all choked up. I didn't even have a good view and I was still ready to cry cry cry.

Attractions in which we chose not to partake: Astro Orbiter, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (these three are all pretty much the same ride, right?), Cinderella's Royal Carousel, Frontierland Shooting Arcade, Liberty Square Riverboat, Tom Sawyer Island, Mad Tea Party (I would've but Amanda dislikes spinniness), Splash Mountain (it was not hot enough for a wet ride), Tomorrowland Speedway, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Walt Disney World Railroad. I suppose a recurring theme here might be "riding around in a circle outdoors."

EPCOT

I highly recommend any Kim Possible fan or even person-who-has-occasionally-seen-Kim-Possible-but-enjoyed-it-when-he-has to try out the Kim Possible Save the World Missions. You basically follow instructions to different countries of the showcase from a programmed cell phone, and you can use it to activate various "events" at different locations. And part of the fun is seeing the reactions to the events of the other people around who aren't privy to the game! I would recommend though, that if anyone wants to try it, they should set aside time to do the missions all in one go (perhaps after perusing the showcases at leisure), because the Kimmunicator does not have a sleep mode and gets impatient if left unused for a certain amount of time by abandoning your current mission.

At Innoventions, I got to take part in a funny game show about velcro! And we also briefly tried out Segways for the first time! And posed for a silly green screen video game together! Please please please check out the photos. This was so very worth participating in despite the fact that it was the "shill our products" section of Epcot.

At Club Cool we tasted sodas from around the world, a couple of which were good, others were decent, but the Italian soda "Beverly" is downright nasty and I suspect only included as a cruel joke.

I suppose I don't have much to say about each individual showcase pavilion, but I will say that Japan's was my favourite shopping (well, just browsing in my case) stop. If they had the weird-flavor (like wasabi) Doritos, I would've bought those, though. It also turns out that you can't get poutine from the Canada pavilion (Amanda asked) and though I found no Twiglets at the United Kingdom, I did try Jammie Dodgers as a consolation. We enjoyed lunch at U.K.'s The Rose and Crown, where Amanda has fish and chips and I bangers and mash. And as I was still wearing my birthday button from the day before I got another song! By the way, all of the restaurants at which we sat down and dined had what I would call perfect portions. They were large portions, but not so large that you felt stuffed and roll-y afterwards, but just good and satisfied.

I watched the rear screens for most of the O Canada! 360 Circle-Vision film because I felt bad that no one else seemed to be watching them. I felt a bit dizzy because I was turning round and round and back and forth trying to look at everything all at once!

Captain EO. Oh, man oh man. So the thing is, I had never seen and Amanda was eagerly looking forward to re-seeing Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. It wasn't until we were actually at the building where it used to be that we find out it had recently been replaced. It turns out that this happened just this past July, which is confounding because I even remember having mailed to us custom park maps, which did show HIStA. Even if I made those maps before July, you would think they would know that it was going to be replaced soon and make some sort of footnote for it (as in, "Oh by the way this won't be here for long just so you know").
This leads me to looking up its history: It debuted back in 1986 and ran until it was replaced by Honey I Shrunk the Audience in 1994. So Captain EO was given about eight years, with HISTA getting twice as much time afterward. And I am surprised that "Honey..." even lasted that long, considering the film it's based on frankly hasn't been terribly relevant for a long time.
But is Captain EO relevant enough for its revival? Aside from Michael Jackson's enduring popularity...nnno. It's pretty bad. Like, not "Bad" bad, but like Nostalgia Critic review bad. But I actually enjoyed it for its badness, especially since it happened to be the type of bad movie that I can easily laugh at (not with).
If you want an idea what it's like consider:
-It was written and produced by George Lucas
-It features Lucas-esque creatures
-Michael Jackson plays the sort of fantasy version of himself seen in his music videos and uses the power of his music to transform
-There is a bumbling elephant-thing named Hooter whose sole purpose, it seems, is to sneeze on you.
We were surprised to later stumble upon plush toys of Hooter and one of the other Captain EO characters (a butterfly-cat-mouse named Fuzzball) in a couple of the park shops! But what would surprise me even more is if we actually saw anybody buying or carrying either of them around. Did you look that name up or did you actually remember it from the show? Because really? Fuzzball? Really?

So because I haven't seen Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, I didn't get at the time that the character Nigel Channing, who hosts Journey Into Imagination With Figment, is a carried over character from the other show. This could be one case against doing away with HISTA.
The ride sure does try to be as whimsical as possible! But what exactly is Figment? Channing says he "created" Figment, but does that mean he created him using his imagination, or is Figment a work of science designed to demonstrate the effects of imagination, or...I don't know. It doesn't really make sense but there's a part of the ride with an upside-down bathroom on the ceiling and that makes up for everything.

The Land Pavilion has an odd distinct smell whenever I enter it. It reminds me of hospital food, specifically the type you get as a meal in the tray with the foil edges you peel back to uncover the paper lid, you know the type? I don't know if the smell was from the restaurant(s) or the plant-growing area, but it hit me even stronger than the scents piped into some of the WDW rides and shows. Like, for example...

Soarin' was praised and praised in all of the WDW vacation books I'd read, and did not fail to disappoint. And it also goes to show that you don't need 3D to make a film-based ride engaging and immersive!

Living With the Land made me hungry for strange types of foodplants that I had never heard of before.

The Circle of Life was a nice enough film about the impact of humans on the Earth, but it's another for the "I won't be surprised if it gets updated/replaced soon" bin.

Mission: Space was a blast, and I thought the tamer "orange" version that we did was too tame, and would've liked to try the diehard "green" version, but Amanda wasn't up for that. Maybe next time :) But we had a lot of fun "getting into character" throughout. Would you like to see our video postcard?

To me the most fascinating part of Ellen's Energy Adventure was the mechanics of the ride seats, the way that the people sitting to the left or right of you become the people in front of or behind you after the short film ends and the ride gets going. Apart from that and the energy "lesson" (I know it sounds weird, but it wasn't as educational as I was hoping it would be), it doesn't really offer anything that you can't get from another ride. Well, at least you do get to see an out-of-date Jeopardy! set and Alex Trebek with a mustache.

Speaking of things that I expected to be more educational than they were, I'm not sure if anything was really taught in the interactive Turtle Talk With Crush. But I guess the educational content is determined by the questions the kids ask, and the questions at our showing were, um. Well, one of the questions was "Are you in Nemo?" and I'll leave that without comment. But the bulk of the presentation is pretty much an extended audience warm-up routine. Which is not to say it isn't fun and worth attending, though.

The Seas with Nemo and Friends ends with a "How did they do that effect" that, to me, is at least as impressive as the effect that ends Haunted Mansion. And come to think of it, the rides are kind of similar in structure. Hm, I call copycat!

Not liking seafood didn't prevent me from enjoying Coral Reef Restaurant. I had the excellent dish called wild mushroom lasagna, which I can only dream to find in the menu of any other restaurant I ever go to. Seriously. Are there any restaurants in the Parma, Ohio area that serve wild mushroom lasagna? Wrapped in phyllo dough too. Oooo fancy!

Let me talk a bit about the Photopass service. It is a terrific idea: numerous professional photographers around the parks can take pictures of you in front of landmarks or with characters. All of the photos taken during your stay are sent to the same account via the free Photopass card that you hand to each photographer. You can later view the pictures online, but unfortunately to get prints or even download them costs quite a pretty penny. To give you an idea: to download one of the pictures costs fifteen bucks. Yep.

At the Epcot Character Spot, we had our pictures taken with Pluto, Donald, Mickey, Minnie and Goofy (no Daisy, though. She must be to Disney character gatherings what Betty Rubble is to Flintstones chewable vitamins)! I wish I could have taken a video of Donald reacting to a girl who was wearing a Donald Duck butt hat. And we did end up getting a backwards Goofy picture! But it's on Photopass...

Spaceship Earth is probably my favorite audio animatronics-based ride and is an awesome way to get an idea of just how huge that giant "golf ball" is. A newly updated version lets you select your own personalized future. Here's ours!

Illuminations: Reflections of Earth was worth the colder-than-I-expected temperature I had to endure during it. I suppose at this point in this post Amanda will comment about how I am a "cold baby." You are a cold baby. I was wearing a thinner jacket and was totally fine. Come on, it was FLORIDA. hee hee

Things we did not do: Reflections of China (never got around to it) and Test Track (I think Amanda was scaredy-pants)

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Toy Story Midway Mania has got to be without a doubt and by far the most popular attraction at the moment (not counting the night time celebrations...though, maybe still...). Before noon it had run out of Fastpasses. And this was during a light January week - remember what I said earlier about the other rides having pretty much no lines? So this is the only ride for which we waited a long time in line. But the queue is charming enough that it's hard to mind. Where else can you see a life-size ViewMaster reel? And yes, the ride itself is totally worth the wait. Whereas Space Ranger Spin uses a button for its shooting, TSMM has you pulling a ball on a string. Though this helps the game feel more interactive, man does it wear out your arm! The only first person shooting game I've ever beat Kevin on! He never made it past beaver, but I got to wildcat!

Muppet Vision 3-D is a blast, and I loved it mostly for the "real" outside-of-the-screen characters. Sweetums's appearance makes me wonder why there aren't any Muppet character greeting opportunities. Is it because they wouldn't talk? Also, Waldo C. Graphic is a parody of Figment, right?

Sounds Dangerous Starring Drew Carey was the second show-featuring-a-stand-up-comedian-turned-self-titled-sitcom-star-now-known-for-being-the-host-of-a-daytime-television-series that we saw. It was, well, pretty much what I expected. Do you think people are going to get used to seeing Trim Drew Carey on The Price is Right and then be a bit jarred whenever they see him as Bigger Drew Carey in anything older he's been in? In case you have to ask... and I did... the other person was Ellen. I am clearly not all there when it comes to sitcom stars.

The Great Movie Ride was, well, great! We saw the "gangster" version. I like to think of what live-action movies of today will be considered "classic" enough decades later to be possibly added to the Great Movie Ride. Any suggestions, commentators? I was thinking maybe Titanic? ET?

I haven't played Epic Mickey, but I figure seeing Walt Disney: One Man's Dream is the next big thing. Maybe better?

Voyage of the Little Mermaid is a stage show, not to be confused with the upcoming Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid, which will be a ride in the Magic Kingdom. The show is a fun treat, but I'm glad we saw it before another certain aquatic stage show that I'll mention later, as that one blew VotLM out of the water. But still see it if you're a Little Mermaid fan.

I want The Magic of Disney Animation to stay around forever, but what of the new-fangled computers and things?
After the "show" part, we met and gret Lotso! And yes, he does smell like strawberries! While we were waiting in line he was excused to leave the room for a few moments. I'm sure he needs to use the restroom every once in a while, but I bet he has to periodically freshen up his strawberriness too.
There was also a meet-and-greet area for Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. It says a lot for the popularity of Pixar movies that their characters from 2004 are still making the rounds in WDW. I'm just sayin', it's not like I saw any G-Force or Meet the Robinsons characters hangin' around.

I'm glad I was able to dine at 50's Prime Time Café even if only to see the set-up itself. I had seen the 1950s-style-home look in photos before, but what surprised me was how well the layout of the restaurant itself was made to be like one really big family house. As for the theming
from the actors, we didn't get much from our server but I did get a kick out out of watching the table across from us. It makes sense in hindsight that the concept works better for large families and kids than for, say, a grown-up couple. And I guess it didn't help that I kept my elbows off the table and ate my veggies on my own anyway. And I've always been a dish stacker.

I had already seen a video of a lot of the Lights, Motor, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, and I'm afraid that spoiled the experience of the live show, since there weren't really any surprises for me. But it is still all very impressive. It turns out that the show has its own music soundtrack, even though I could've sworn the soundtrack was just VRRROOOOOOOM-ROOOOM, ERRRRRRGGG! BANG-BANG-FWOOOMP, SQUEEEEEEAL, etc.

The Studio Backlot Tour is Disney World's way of saying, "What, you want to go to Universal Studios? F that! Here, we'll give you a thing that's just like half of Universal. You'll like it." I think the only movie prop I recognized was the souped-up lawnmower from Home Improvement, and I don't know whether that says more about my knowledge of movies or about Disney's influence with live-action movies and television shows. I agree with this a lot. Also I was a little sad that it was too cold for audience participation in the pre-show, because really, that's what I remember as one of the best parts.

The Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure is still up! What are the odds that it'll soon be rebranded the "Gnomeo and Juliet Movie Set Adventure"? That's actually really clever and I'm proud of you for thinking of it.

One of the minor things we wanted to experience was the Disney World turkey leg. A lot of the vacation books mentioned that certain food vendors sell turkey legs, and you know it must be "a thing" because you can also buy a t-shirt with an image of a cartoon turkey leg and the simple straightforward caption "turkey leg." So we used one of our counter service credits (note: an entire turkey leg, it turns out, is meant for one person and we later learned that one turkey leg is on average 1.5 lbs or 680 grams for you metric folks) and shared one as we waited in line for Fantasmic. This would turn out to be a great idea.
Fantastic was easily my favourite of the nighttime spectaculars. And I'm not just saying that because it's the only one of the three in which the audience gets seats! Anyone who sees this has no choice but to be amazed and entranced and in awe. It's like a law of physics or something. What with the explosions and the water and the videos and the stunts and the dragon that -you know what? Just make sure you see it for yourself.

Also as we exited Fantasmic, we choose to leisurely stroll through the shops instead of allowing ourselves to be herded by the many many other people straight to the park exit. We decided a good snack would one of the giant chocolate covered rice crispie treats. Yes, we only needed one and the counter worker graciously split it for us. Each HALF was bigger than a rubik's cube and it only counted for ONE snack credit. Sheesh!

The no-gos: American Idol Experience (You know, I would have been interested in this if I knew for sure I was going to be one of the three on stage but that's about it.) , Journey Into Narnia: Prince Caspian (for both: NOT interested), Star Wars (was undergoing renovation. B'OH!), Rock & Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (I was skittish about both), Beauty & the Beast - Live on Stage, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (never got around to either) We did try to see Indy by hopping parks on one of the last days, but darn it, we didn't check the times guide and ended up a mere 10 minutes late to get in.

Animal Kingdom

The Kilimanjaro Safari is basically the land version of Jungle Cruise, but taken more seriously. And with real animals. I was amused by the storyline built into it. I was impressed with how natural the surroundings were! I was also impressed by the way they create opportunities for you to see the animals by making the out in the open spots the most desirable for the animals to stay in.

Is it weird that of all the different types of birds featured in the Flights of Wonder, the one that most entertained me was the chicken? Perhaps because I'm partial to chickens, but also because it was hilariously the least exotic of them all. Also, the idea of a chicken chasing a person around is hilarious. Also, one of the hawks flew so close to us I quite literally felt the wind from its wings as it flew by.

Festival of the Lion King is not to be missed, especially for the monkeys. And the talking walking Timon, which intrigues me, anyway!

What seemed like I had read most about It's Tough to Be a Bug! was that, for every show, there is at least one crying child. And sure enough! But wow, it does seem as if the show does as much as it can to go out of its way to try to terrify small children. There are bugs in front of you! Bugs above you! Bugs in your back! Bugs on the floor! BUGS EVERYWHERE THERE'S NO ESCAPE!!
Though I'm thinking that if it weren't for the horrified screams, the show itself would only be that much less remarkable.. Am I a bad person for thinking the screaming terrified children were hilarious? Maybe. I'm okkay with that.

The Conservation Station was one of the least crowded character meeting spots, and I sort of felt kind of bad that not many other people (besides us) wanted to meet Jiminy Cricket. He's a classic character, people!

Finding Nemo: The Musical was better than I expected it to be! It seems a missed opportunity that it doesn't lead into a store at which you can buy the CD. But we did eventually find it! I think if not for it being only 30 minutes long, it'd be worthy of being shown in venues outside of "the World." If it were to be extended into a full 1 or 2 hour show, I would absolutely go to see it again or try out for it if it came to a theatre near me.

If you love bumpiness, you'll love the Dinosaur ride! But really, it is terrifically fun. Just...not as fun for those with stiff necks! Loved it. All I have to say about that. Loved it. Also around this time I was thinking it would be very convenient to be able to put the automatically taken ride photos on your photo pass card.

Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade was my favorite parade if only for a bit where I caught Timon flirting at a distance with a park guest. I didn't realize he was such a ladies' man!

The "Maybe Another Time"s: We avoided Kali River Rapids for wetness reasons. TriCeratop Spin is, yes, another going-around-in-circles-at-a-height-outside ride. Primeval Whirl was closed, and Amanda seemed uninterested anyway. Nah, I woulda tried it :) As for Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain? I was considering trying it out - I figured, hey I can tackle the other mountain-based rides - until lunchtime when, from across the water at the Flame Tree Barbecue, we could hear the screams of the people riding Everest. And also to see just how huge the thing is. I was, um, kinda scared.

The Resorts

We stopped at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at the highly-praised Boma: Flavors of Africa. Which was easily worth its praise! I had heard a lot about the superb zebra domes, but the other similar truffles were equally delicious.

I can't not mention the on-site hotel at which we stayed, right? Disney's Pop Century Resort had a lot of great Stuff-on-the-Walls and Giant Decorate things to look at. The room itself was ... budget. Nothing bad about it, just very basic. Table chairs beds TV bathroom. I couldn't help but notice that the TV showed only local television channels and Disney channels (ABC, Disney Channel, ESPN, Disney XD). Are the television channel lists edited to only cycle through those or do they get a special cable package made especially for Disney? And how can we get in on that package???
As you may or may not know, the Pop Century buildings are divided into different "decade" sections. We chose 80s just because we like 80s things, but in hindsight it would've been more practical to choose the 60s so that our walks to and from the shuttle curb and dining area would be shorter. Pop Century's dining, incidentally is... well, not great in contrast to our other Disney dining experiences. Though they do offer waffles in the design of the Pop Century logo, which is darn pretty special. Do all of the Disney resorts each serve their own style of waffle?

We visited the Contemporary Resort for a dinner at Chef Mickey's. I couldn't help but have a character meal, for novelty's sake! The most memorable part of the buffet meal was definitely the Mickey Truffle.

Downtown Disney

I got to go to the Lego store! Oh and there were some other stores we went to I guess. But, Lego store! I was a big fan of Little MissMatched which sells nothing but socks, tights, gloves and armwarmers and other things that don't match. Plus everything came in sets of three so not only is it okkay if you lose one, but you could buy any number of trios and they would all go with all the others! I already want more and will be on the website for a while now.

Overall

I had never theme parked for more than a couple of days in a row. This may be why, at around the fourth day or so I felt a bit...overwhelmed. It was unusual to have that much constant stimulation for that long; I admit I actually felt like I needed a break from it. But aside from that - which I got mostly got over anyway - it was an incredibly memorable trip and I find myself reminiscing an awful lot about it. I learned that I need to schedule nap breaks in for Kevin because seriously, he slept on the bus to and from each park. He slept in some of the educational theater shows, and he fell asleep INSTANTLY every night. Usually he does a little fidgeting and a little scratching, but MAN did he fall asleep fast.



So. When can we go again? (!)

Teasing Uncle Scrooge

I can't believe there are only ten days left until our trip to DisneyWorld! So I'd better stop putting off an idea for a related blog post that I've been meaning to write for a long time.

One of the key elements of any visit to any of the Disney parks is the character encounter. Whether it's a person in a full-on animal costume or a woman simply dressed up as a princess, they always add a lot of fun to the atmosphere and experience. And it seems that most people who take the time to track them down, or wait in line to see them, or just happen to bump into one, enjoy the opportunity to have a photo taken with them. And usually it's a visitor-standing-next-to-character-while-grinning photograph. I don't want to say there's anything wrong with that, or that it's too boring, but it seems to me that if you take the time and money to visit the Disney universe, you might as well go an extra step to create extra-special photographed memories.

My idea is to create an amusing shot for any character encounter we happen to make during our DisneyWorld visit. And the purpose of my posting about it now instead of just showing you afterward is that I would like to hear any of your suggestions for poses or set-ups that you think we should try. I'll list a few examples that I had in mind, in case I'm still not clear on what I'm going for:

-Holding a dollar bill just out of Uncle Scrooge's reach
-Sharing a baguette with Aladdin and/or Abu
-Going face-to-face against Donald Duck by doing that swinging-one-fist-and-hopping-on-one-foot thing
-Standing normally but facing away from the camera, with Goofy
-Pin-the-tail-on-Eeyore

I could probably go on and on, but let's any suggestions you may have!

The Particularly Late Christmas Specials Recaps

This year, Amanda and I decided to watch at least one Christmas special each day, starting from the first of December up until Christmas day. We chose which ones largely based on what we already had or could easily find at the library or on television. I had intended to write a blog post with brief thoughts on each one, but procrast - er, didn't find the time until now. So, even though it's weeks late, I still want to write this post!

December 1st - Blackadder's Christmas Carol
I love this one. Basically, Edmund Blackadder - who in most of the rest of the series is an arrogant, sarcastic jerk - is in this special known to be loving and generous. Though I don't want to give away the ending, perhaps you can guess how it ends anyway. This noteably features appearances by the younger Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, and Robbie Coltrane (who, pre-Hagrid, plays a scruffy giant).

December 1st - Christmas in Pac-Land I think this is the only Christmas special (listed here) that we watched online. I thought it might be interesting just because I like Pac-Man in general, but it's really basically a mediocre Hanna-Barbera cartoon in Pac-Man clothes. The big thing though, that I think this special has going for it is that the voice of Santa Claus is Peter Cullen....Optimus Prime himself.

December 2nd - Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas
It's pretty awful. I had seen it once before, and wanted to sit through it because watching bad movies can be fun, but I ended up regretting it. I think it's worth mentioning, though, that it features something that I would find rare in a Christmas special: a Jewish character! Well, a character who talks like a stereotypical Jewish person, anyway. Does that count?

December 3rd - Good Eats with Alton Brown (School of Hard Nogs, It's a Wonderful Cake, and The Cookie Clause)
Ha! Betcha didn't expect any non-fiction Christmas specials, didja? These are three episodes that will teach you not only how to make egg nog, fruitcake, and Christmas-style sugar cookies, but will also teach you the history and science behind those recipes!
Tidbit: In the DVD "Ask Alton" feature, one of the questions asks about "the actor who played Santa Claus." Alton, slightly puzzled, answers, "That...that was the real Santa Claus."

December 3rd - Mickey's Christmas Carol Why is it Mickey's Christmas Carol? I understand that it needed to be titled so as to separate it from other versions of the story, and Mickey is a favorite character but...as Bob Crachit, he doesn't really, well, do much. The plot affects him, but he does nothing to affect the plot. How about A Disney Christmas Carol or Scrooge McDuck's Christmas Carol?
Anyway, the secondary thing I have to say about this is...it's short. It's a cute interpretation of the book, but squeezing the whole thing into thirty minutes makes it seem very rushed.
Also: Is it just me, or would Peter Pan have made a much more fitting Ghost of Christmas Past than Jiminy Cricket?

December 4th - Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas Special


December 5th - The Christmas Toy There's not much I have to say about this that Brian hasn't already said. One of the things I really like about this is that it features almost every type of puppetry imaginable: string puppets, hand puppets, hand-and-rod puppets, robotic puppets, and even a strange Barbie-type doll which was ... I'm not even sure how it worked.
Also, this is the only family Christmas special I can think of in which the characters are threatened with the fear of dying. They may be toys, but they know that if they're even seen out-of-place by a human, they're as good as dead. It's surprisingly scary, actually.

December 6th - Futurama (XMas Story, a Tale of Two Santas)

December 7th - Santa Claus is Coming to Town

December 7th - South Park: The Spirit of Christmas

December 8th - Prep & Landing This was the most "fresh" Christmas special I had seen this year, by which I mean I saw it the very first time it aired. It was certainly entertaining and well-made. I like that it featured all-original characters (well, unless you count The Big Guy himself), the jokes and gags were funny, and the story was decent. In fact, I liked it so much that I think the only thing wrong with it was that it was too short. The story picks up quite quickly without taking much time to establish the characters. Because of this, it seemed liked I was watching an episode of a longer series, or the latter half-hour of a much-longer movie. So to summarize, the only thing I didn't like about it is that there wasn't more to like.

December 9th - Christmas Eve on Sesame Street

Tidbit: This one has a definitely Jewish character in Mr. Hooper.

December 10th - Wonderpets Save the Nutcracker!

December 11th - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas [Rankin-Bass]

December 12th - Invader Zim: The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever

December 12th - It's a Wonderful Life

December 13th - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer [Rankin-Bass], Rudolph's Shiny New Year

December 13th - Robot Chicken (Nightmare Generator)
The only part of this episode that has to do with Christmas is the final sketch (which I believe is called a "runner"), which is a Cold Case-style take on the murder of Santa Claus. Since Robot Chicken is a primarily stop-motion show, it's awfully appropriate that favorite Rankin-Bass specials are parodied.

December 14th - Animaniacs (A Christmas Plotz, Little Drummer Warners, 'Twas The Day Before Christmas, Jingle Boo, The Great Wakkorotti: The Holiday Concert) In "A Christmas Plotz," the plot of A Christmas Carol is retold in even less time than Mickey's Christmas Carol took!

December 14th - John Denver and the Muppets Rocky Mountain Holiday Wait a minute. The title means "holiday" in the British sense, as in a vacation! It turns out that I checked this one out thinking that it was the other John Denver and the Muppets Holiday special.

December 15th - The Little Drummer Boy [Rankin-Bass]
December 16th - Pluto's Christmas Tree

December 16th - Rifftrax Live Christmas Shortstravaganza
December 17th - Muppet Christmas Carol
December 18th - Whose Line is it Anyway? UK Christmas special
December 18th - The Small One
The ending to this one would be more heart-warming and special if it wasn't so darn predictable. So let's see, a boy needs to find a new home for his donkey. I notice it takes place in an Arab setting, around a couple thousand years ago - gee I wonder where they're going with this?

December 19th - Muppets Letters to Santa This year, assuming you got any paper cards or letters, you may have noticed the Kermit the Frog postmark in the corner. Apparently the U.S. Postal Service did that to promote this special, and in exchange, the special has a musical number about how great the U.S. Postal Service is. Yyyyeah. Embarrassing plugging aside, the special tries to be heartwarming and sentimental like previous Henson specials, but didn't really do anything for me. What I did like was the scene in which Beaker shows off a new Muppet Labs invention that grants instaneous wishes, and does so by making a busty lady appear out of nowhere. You go, Beaker! You horndog you.

December 20th - The Year Without a Santa Claus

December 20th - The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

December 21st - Sonic Christmas Blast

December 23rd - Mr. Monk and the Secret Santa, Mr. Monk and the Miracle

December 25th - Mythbusters Holiday specials More non-fiction goodness! Can a falling frozen turkey kill a small dog? Can the turkey be cooked on a radar dish? Which melts more quickly: a clothed snowman or a naked one? I would tell you the answers to these, but as with any episode I think it's more fun to watch how the question is answered than to just get the answer.

December 25th - A Charlie Brown Christmas

The Bob and Larry Effect

First I should admit that this has nothing to do with craftiness; it's just something that's been on my mind for a while and Blogger seemed to be the best place to vent it.

I'm sure I'm not the only person to notice that in movies, televisions, and pretty much everywhere else (including real life), what I will call The Bob and Larry Effect turns up. It describes a pairing of people or fictional characters who are drastically different in physical appearance - one being tall and skinny and the other much shorter and a bit...well, let's say "not skinny." I personally call this The Bob and Larry Effect because I think the two main characters from the Veggie Tales series offer the most striking example:



Obviously they're not the original skinny-guy-and-shorter-stouter-guy combo, but I think it's perfect to use a cucumber next to a tomato when comparing any other pairing with a similar physical ratio. And while I bet the Veggie Tales intentionally chose those vegetables so as to give the buddies dynamically different appearances, they certainly weren't the first to have this idea.




Jim Henson and the other Muppet-makers seemed to be quite fond of the tall-skinny/short-round concept.




But of course even long before then, there were well-known human Bob-and-Larry-type pairs. An interesting case is with the characters of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. The original books don't suggest that Watson is any shorter or rounder than Holmes, and older drawings and live-action portrayals seem to reflect this. But the more recent and more cartoony depictions tend to shorten and fatten Watson. Could Disney be to blame for this?


Feel free to uncover any clues that would prove this wrong. Incidentally, there has been a Veggie Tales video with Larry playing the part of "Sheerluck Holmes" and Bob as...well, "Watson."

Now, how about the non-fictional partners?

(*)

For either pairing, I wonder: Were they drawn to each other because of their outward differences? Did an outside force guide them together to create the aesthetically quirky combination? Were they just more entertaining and/or memorable than other golden-age comedy couples because of their size-based unevenness? Would the Bob-and-Larry-essque real-life double acts of the future be successful for any of these same reasons, or even because they would be unconsciously inspired by Laurel and Hardy and/or Abbott/Costello? Or am I just overthinking this, and that it's just a coincidence that this phenemon happens to show up once in a while? I'd like to hear what you think.










Do you have a favorite Tomato-and-Cucumber couple?





*Okay, so even if Oliver Hardy isn't shorter than Stan Laurel, their faces alone seem to follow the Bob and Larry Effect.