Disney World Magic Kingdom

This was the park you can't help but compare to Disneyland, especially when you grew up living nearer to the west coast and have vacationed there semi-regularly. Some differences I liked, some not so much.

For starters, just getting there was a little different. The parking lot isn't near the park itself. We parked and then had the choice of crossing the lake to get the park by boat or monorail. We took the boat. I kind of liked the set-up. It kinda made for a nice transition between reality and fantasy. Main street is nearly the same. It was decked out for Halloween in true Disney style. And instead of Sleeping Beauty's castle, Cinderella's castle presides majestically over the park, but once inside Fantasyland, I started to notice a few of the differences.

It took me awhile to realize I was missing the Matterhorn. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, then it finally occurred to me I was missing the giant white mountain sitting in the middle of the park. (Of course they don't need the Matterhorn, they have Expedition Everest over in Animal Kingdom) And then there were other things. It almost felt like Fantasyland was in transition. Like they were "still open during remodeling" or something. - Which I think was the case. I googled around a bit, and they are nearly doubling the size of the park, but I'd also like to see current rides get a face lift as well. But that's just me. (Who knows when or if I'll ever get back there, so I guess it doesn't matter anyway.)

And then there was the "It's a small world ride." I know that people either love it, or hate it, and the song can get in your brain and drive you crazy, but you can't say that the ride's exterior facade in Disneyland isn't a sight to behold with it's clock tower, and garden sculptures, and the little dancing dolls that come out at the top of the hour or every 15 minutes or whatever it is.

And then at Disney World you have this-Seriously. It's like they didn't even try.

Oh well.

Other comparisons- in Disney World we liked Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain railroad, Tom Sawyer's Island, and the Haunted Mansion better, but liked Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean and the Tiki room best. (You'd think they'd be the same, but we'd get off some rides thinking "I swear that was longer/shorter/faster/scarier" and we'd all be thinking the same thing.) Everything else was about equal.
Oh, and we all really liked Disney's Philharmagic. It's a 3-D type of movie (or is it called 4-D when they incorporate other elements like smell, and water spraying you, etc?) That was really cute. And right outside we just happened to run into Mary Poppins and be first in line to meet her.
But in the end, I think all that mattered to John was that he got his Dole pineapple whip.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

This park was, you know, fun. And we all had a great time. But I seem to be having difficulty writing about it (it could just be that I'm trying to write about something that happened over two weeks ago, or that it's late and I'm tired, but would like to actually post this before I completely forget)

Anyway- we had fun.

Christopher got to see Lightning McQueen and Mater.

We all had fun on the Toy Story Mania ride. They should really get one at Disneyland. (also the corresponding Wii game has since landed on a few Christmas wish lists in this house already).

We met Woody and entertained ourselves with the props while standing in line.

John got chosen to be on stage and help out with an Indiana Jones stunt show thing. That was pretty cool. (He was trying to volunteer me, but ended up getting called on instead. )

The older kids really liked the Rock n Roller coater featuring Aerosmith, even though they had no idea who Aerosmith was. (which I am pretty okay with) But I have to admit it was a really fun ride. They should really get one of those rides also at Disneyland.

And of course having boys means loving all things Star Wars.

And that's about all we did there.

Oh yeah, and Madison couldn't resist posing in front of the American Idol sign.

Disney World- Epcot Center

Zach requested I write about the Epcot center next. I think that was his favorite park of all. I knew it would be. I was especially excited to show him the back part of Epcot Center- World Showcase. Ever since his dad started traveling the world, Zach has been fascinated with seeing all the places his dad has been. Actually, I think it probably goes back even further. That kid has been in love with maps for years.

So, on to Epcot!

It's basically divided into two sections- Future World and World Showcase.

Future world has the big ball everyone recognizes- which is really a ride called Spaceship Earth.

Nick really wanted to go on it, but we never quite made it. I really couldn't get jazzed about a "slow moving dark ride that teaches communications history". I know, as a mom of 4 impressionable young minds, I should be all over anything that tries to make learning fun, but, well, it just sounded so stinking boring! And there were funner rides to go on, like Test Track, and Soarin' over California, and even Mission Space. (Developed with NASA. That ride is so fun, it comes with barf bags)

The back part is called World Showcase. It surrounds a lake and as you walk around the lake you pass through several different countries. Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, USA, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada.

We bought a passport for the kids (at $10 each we made them share one) and as they would visit the different countries, they'd get it stamped and a personal little note from the girl doing the stamping. Then the kids could add some stickers that came with it to that page. ( I think it's a pretty cute concept.- the kids had fun with it.)

In Mexico we went on a boat ride and ate churros. (It also goes without saying that in each of these countries we perused the shops checking out the imported wares.)

In Norway we also went on a boat ride- The Maelstrom.In China we watched these amazing Chinese Acrobat street performers. And ate egg rolls. In Germany we checked out the model trains (alot) and ate bratwurst and sauerkraut and pretzels. (Ok so just John ate the sauerkraut) In Italy we watched some street performers, and Nick and Maddie were pulled out of the audience to participate, and we ate at a very authentic Italian restaurant. (On our anniversary we ate in Germany, and then a couple days later we ate in Italy, and we definitely decided that the Italian place should have been our anniversary dinner spot) And we ate gelato. A couple of times. One can never have too much gelato. In Colonial USA we looked for the famed key-lime cheesecake for John's sister, but to no avail. And sadly I can't seem to find any pictures from that area. Weird. But I do have a pic of my kids in front of the replica Liberty Bell. So what if it was technically in the Magic Kingdom, not Epcot Center? In Japan we didn't do much there. Mostly peruse the shopping area. They had a lot of neat imports. We didn't stay too long in Morocco. Kids got their passport stamped, we took a picture at a fountain, and that's about it.

France was a different story. I wanted to see the 18 minute long movie on Impressionist Artists in France, but I was out voted. We did however make our selves sick on the yummy desserts at the Patisserie.

The UK was fun, we caught a bit of a Beatles cover band, and some comedy troupe. The boys liked the phone booths. Nick even answered the phone once, and the person on the other end (In a British accent) asked to speak to the Queen. When Nick said "Sorry, she's not here." The person on the other end of the phone told Nick they liked his striped shirt. (kinda creepy!) We never figured out who was on the other end of the phone. And when we finally reached Canada we were a little on the tired side. We looked around for a couple minutes, got the stamp in the passport, and dragged ourselves to the car. Maybe next time (if we ever get back) we'll start with Canada, and head the opposite direction, eh?

I asked John if there was anything he wanted to add- he just said "Take off, you hosers".