Monday, October 08, 2012

DISNEY WORLD!!!! - Week 1

After writing about the dreary world of office politics and how it led to a change of gainful employment, I figured what better way to pull it back than to write about something a little bit more fun. Don't fret though peeps - I'll be getting back to gaming ASAP.

Yes - I recently went on holiday to Disneyworld in Florida. My wife and I have no children but that probably made the whole experience more enjoyable, as I cannot imagine having to hustle a couple of little 'uns through the saccharine sweet wilderness of a theme park.

We also paid a visit to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Busch Gardens and Seaworld, because.......well, why wouldn't you?

I have to say that despite the over the top reliance on merchandise and inflated food prices, we had a pretty good time practically everywhere. It probably helped that we went out of season as it kept all of our queueing to a minimum, in fact the longest we waited for any ride was probably about 15 minutes and that was usually in the afternoon. Our policy was to get to the parks early, get on all of the big rides early and then take in the shows and stores as the day wore on. Plus, we avoided going to any of the parks on weekends as we figured it would be fairly busy.

Here is how our two weeks panned out:

Sunday: Bog all. Had a lie in after the long flight the night before, then we got up and wandered all the way down International Drive (where our hotel was) to check out the local amenities.

Monday: Magic Kingdom. The stereotypical Disney park, with all the characters wandering around (and gargantuan queues to have photos with them) plus a range of rides, shows and attractions. We went on Space Mountain first, then followed that up with Thunder Mountain, then Splash Mountain and then Thunder Mountain again. Whole lotta mountains in this vicinity. In between times we also went on the Dumbo ride, Buzz Lightyears Space Adventure, It's a Small World (ha ha, you just have to), the Steamboat and saw the Hall of Presidents. I'm probably forgetting some other bits and bobs, but on the whole it was a fun old day. We've actually been to Tokyo Disney and this was much the same, but good times nonetheless. We also hung around for the parade and got stood next to a family who happened to have a Woody toy - along comes Woody himself and he makes a big deal over the kid and his toy, which was really nice and quite funny to see.

Tuesday: Epcot Centre. We went on the Mission to Mars ride ASAP (just as well as it was out of commission later in the week) plus we had a go on Soarin (God bless Patrick Warburton) and the Living with the Land ride. We then started to head around the World Showcase but were interrupted by a torrential downpour. We tried to wait it out but after half an hour there was no joy, so we caved and bought ponchos (as we had stupidly left ours at the hotel). We legged it back to the buses and then to the hotel, and the rain continued for the next few hours. Thankfully this was pretty much the only day that bad weather would come into play so I guess we were lucky for that.

Wednesday: Islands of Adventure. This was the day I had most trepidation about, as I've never been that fond of big rides, while the wife loves them. I promised her I would do my best though and after some initial trepidation it has to be said that I had a blast. The Dragon Challenge ride and Forbidden Journey in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter were good fun. I shouted "Arch your back like a Dragon" on the Challenge ride in my best Will Ferrell voice - then proceeded to annoy the wife by using it as my catchphrase on every big ride thereafter. We also went on the Spiderman ride, Jurassic Park Adventure, Rip Saw Rapids and the Bilge Rat Barges - we did the latter three back to back and I was soaked to the skin. We had to stop for ten minutes to dry out in the sun which was a welcome relief. We also went on the Hulk, which had been closed earlier on but luckily reopened, and I have to say that was probably the best of the day - just getting blasted into a series of loops and twists. Good times.

Thursday: Disney Hollywood Studios. A bit of a disappointment really. The Tower of Terror ride was fun, and the the Aerosmith roller coaster not too bad as well. Plus, we really loved the Beauty and the Beast show. However, the old Star Wars ride was average at best as was the Muppet 3D affair and other than a fairly fun Indiana Jones themed stunt show there wasn't that much else to see or do. This was easily the smallest park and the one we spent the least amount of time wandering around/

Friday:Disney Animal Kingdom. We went on the Everest ride first, but it was fairly tame and dull if you ask me (listening to the kids shrieking you would think it they were being tortured) and other than a ropey old Dinosaur ride that was pretty much it. We did go on the rapids but they were nowhere near as good, or wet, as Islands of Adventure so that was a shame. The highlight of the day was the mini safari ride where you piled onto a bus/jeep thing and went to have a look at the local wildlife in the par. Seeing rhinos, hippos, lions and the like up close was pretty fun and the tour guide, who was called Valeria, was super knowledgeable and interesting which really sold it. We also saw the Bugs Life show and went on a couple of the nature walks so it was a fairly relaxing and chilled out day all in all.

Saturday/Sunday: We spent the weekend going to the local Mall (rubbish - mainly clothing stores, bah) and then onto Walmart (awesome - we spent a fortune on food and Peanut Butter M&Ms). Then Sunday we wandered down to Wonderworks and tinkered with the hands on exhibits before I got a touch terrified at the rope walking course (clearly heights are my issue, though it never felt as bad on the rides so go figure). We had been getting up at just after 6am most of the week so these days gave us a chance to have a lie in and conserve some energy ready for another assualt the coming Monday.

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