A Disney Review

            Last Tuesday was a whirlwind. I was supposed to leave work at 11:30, go to the airport, and flyout at 1:15 with American Airlines. This flight was delayed to the point where I could not make my layover on time, so I had to switch my flight to a later one, and I had to change companies entirely to Delta. I got to finish my day at work and go for a run before heading to the airport, but even after the change, my flight continually got delayed again, and when I got to the airport, I was not going to make my connection again, but by the time I went to the desk to talk to someone about my options, my second flight was delayed, so I was now going to make it again!

            Sadly, this is not the end of the story. It took my first flight a while to take off, and by the time I was in the air, I had like no time to make it across the Detroit airport, to my next flight. When we landed and finally deplaned, which took longer than usual, I sprinted through the airport, which was surprisingly packed for being 8 p.m, and I made it on the plane. I was narcissistic enough to think that they delayed it for me to make it, but it turns out, that flight’s pilot had not arrived yet, and we ended up sitting there for another 30 minutes, so I would have had time to walk to the plane and make it, and that knowledge also would have saved me a ton of stress, nonetheless, I made it to Orlando a little after midnight and was in bed around one.

            The next day, or I guess the same day, because I went to bed so late, we got up and went to Epcot. I had not been to any Disney park in over a decade, so although I have been many times before, my memory of it all was minimal. When we got into the parking lot, the giant ball was immediately visible. I will be honest, it was a little smaller than I expected, but it is still an iconic visual. I couldn’t help but think one day they will turn it into the sphere like in Las Vegas, but for now it is a ride, and it was the first ride I rode on this trip.

            The one aspect of this ride and others that surprised me is the amount of ride they were able to fit into the space. I felt like I was in the ball on the ride for a while, and I just do not understand how they were able to fit that much stuff in there. Other rides had the same feeling. I would be outside, and I could see the building and think it did not look that big, and then somehow the ride would wind on for minutes. It was impressive.

            The main reason, I was excited for Epcot was for the Around the World part. Each place has drinks and food that can be bought. It was a hot day, so the first stop we made was the pub, The Rose and Crown, in England, and I got a beer, a red ale, that I had never heard of, and it was delicious, and it went down so easily. I wanted to have more, but it was over $12 for one, so I just moved on to the next place.

            I did not get something from every country, because ,let’s be real, what does Canada have to offer to me? Poutine is okay… and the beer they had is available here. So my next stop was Japan! Mya said that the popular drink there is the Purple Sake. I am not typically a wine person, and the one time I tried Sake, I did not particularly care for it, but this was a Disney mixed drink, so it was not heavy on the alcohol. It honestly tasted like purple Gatorade, which is not my favorite flavor of Gatorade, but I still enjoyed it.

            Then we got some more rides squeezed in. Mya and I had a fast pass for the Guardians of the Galaxy ride, which was needed because it had over an hour long wait all day, and it was worth it! As far as typical rollercoasters go, it was probably the best ride in that sense. My biggest issue with it, and many of the other traditional rollercoasters, was that they ended so quickly. One second, I would be flying around, and the next it was done boom. I always was left wanting more.

            The other countries that I stopped at were Italy and Moracco. At Italy I got a piece of pizza, and it was a huge chunk of pizza, but ultimately, I was not overly impressed with it. The cheese had a seriously strong flavor, which was good, but there was a total lack of sauce, which seriously impacted the pizza. The lamb pita wrap I got in Moracco on the other hand was flavor packed and incredible. It might be the best thing I ate on the whole trip. The tzatziki sauce and veggies mixed into it were perfect accompaniments for the meat and the pita vessel.

            The next day we went to Magic Kingdom. We got a late start to the day, and it was raining when we got there, so we started even later, but eventually we got in line for Buzz Lightyear, this has been and probably always will be my favorite ride at all the parks. It is interactive, if you want to be competitive you can, and it has real creations within it.

            My biggest pet peeve of the rides that I went on were the screens. Since the last time I went to Disney, they added rides with screens as the focus, or they added screens to rides. The Nemo ride just put videos from the movie in the ride. If I wanted to watch the movie, I could do that at home. I am there to see the creations of a set to feel immersed in a world, and screens with the movie on it do not do that for me. Some did it well like the Avatar ride and the Ratatouille ride, but for the most part, I did not enjoy the screens, thus Buzz Lightyear being the best and most engaging ride. (I did lose both times I rode it, but I achieved the highest rank the second time by scoring over a million points! An accomplishment I am proud of).

            Despite the slow start to the day, we ended up hitting quite a few rides later in the day. We hit Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear again. This made for another late night, because the last two of those we hit after the fireworks show. This show is done right in front of the castle, and they use a projector to make the visuals of the castle change. There are parts of this show that look awesome, and other parts that look a little fuzzy and not so great, but ultimately it was a fun show, but the images being projected onto the castle do make it hard to pay attention to the fireworks!

             The next day was Hollywood Studios. This is the park I had the least amount of expectations for because I really did not remember much of anything from there, but I think it might have been my favorite day, and we even skipped dinner! This was also probably our ride heaviest day. This was partially due to our fast pass that was able to morph into other rides. I am not quite sure how it exactly worked, but we had a fast pass for most of the rides we did that day, and we were able to make new reservations as we went.

            I do think it is sad that Disney is like the definition of capitalism. Their prices to get into the park are wildly high, and of course all the merch is very expensive too. I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonably priced the food was, but the alcoholic drinks were at stadium and concert level prices. Also the idea of fast passes bugs me. It is great to be able to use them, and we did, but it seems wrong to be able to pay to cut the line. I know how supply and demand works, and clearly there are enough people going that the price works for Disney, but if it had not been for Mya’s mom, this trip would have really hurt financially. (I digress, back to the rides)

            We basically hit all the staples: Tower of Terror, the newly renovated Rock n’ Rollercoaster that now has the Muppets, Rise of the Resistance, Smuggler’s Run, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Out of the whole trip, I think the best ride was Rise of the Resistance. It is a Star Wars ride that is totally immersive. We got to walk through part of the ship, there were people in uniforms and storm trooper outfits, and they also used practical effects mixed with some screens. There was a cart ride part that brought you around too. It was so much fun, and it took a while to get through. I was so immersed that I honestly expected to feel the force when Kylo raised his hand. I loved Rock n’ Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror too, but with both of them, I felt like they were done so quickly. At the end of the day, my head hurt because it had been rocked so much by all the rides!

            The day was finished with the Fantasmic Show. It is Hollywood Studios’s theatrical firework show. It was a ton of fun and a huge production. It is hard to believe that they put it on twice a day every day. They have many different characters involved, but Mickey in his wizard hat is by far the best one, and the opening theme rules.

            The final day, we went to Animal Kingdom. This was our shortest day at a park, but we still accomplished everything we wanted to do, but the most important part of the day was before we went to the park. Mya and I had breakfast at the Animal Kingdom Lodge!  It was a massive buffet that had some African breakfast food, but mostly, it was staples of an American breakfast, and it was amazing. I ate three very full plates, and a chocolate chip muffin on top to finish.

            The three places that really stunned me on the trip were Everest, Pandora, and Galaxy’s Edge. These are three massive accomplishments. They make everything look so real at these places. Like I am still shocked at the architectural accomplishment Pandora is, like it does not look like that should be possible, and Galaxy’s edge makes you feel like you are out west surrounded by these massive rock formations. It is incredible, and I could not help myself but want to climb their Everest because it looks like a real mountain. I was constantly gawking at the skyline in these places.

            Animal Kingdom also had something else special for me, Pluto. I do not care about meeting any of the characters, although some of the people were very funny, and it was nice to see Zoey get so excited around the princesses, but the only one I cared about was Pluto, and I got to take a picture with him wearing my Pluto shirt! I also saw Dug from Up!, and that was a special moment.

            I also waited in a long line to get a new food offering at Animal Kingdom, their special ice cream sandwich. It had a rectangular brownie on one side and rectangular chocolate chip cookie dough on the other side with vanilla ice cream in the middle, and it was as delicious as I had hoped. It was worth the wait, and it was basically the only thing they were selling at that stand, so I hope everyone else enjoyed it too. I could have eaten so many more of them.

            This was the only day that we did not stay until close, but that was okay. It had been a long four days. We were out so late and would return shortly after waking up, so it felt like all of the days were melting together. It almost felt like one long day and not in a bad way, but I was ready for a break. So we went back to the hotel, and then we headed out to Disney Springs for dinner, and it was wild how packed that whole place was, almost like it was another park, but it was cool and had many options for food, and of course, it had a variety of stores too.

            Overall, this was an incredible trip. Going into it, I was not sure how much I would really enjoy it, but I had so much fun. It mixed good food with fun rides, and it was on a massive and sometimes immersive scale. Disney is also Mya’s favorite place, so it was great to experience it with her and get some of her knowledge. It was also cool to get to see it through Zoey’s eyes. I know I went many times as a kid, but you can’t really bottle up joy like that and remember it, but being able to see it in real time can get you the feeling second hand. It was a fun vacation, but it wore me out! Now I just have to rest up for the New York State Fair, Disney got me super excited for that.