Disney

T-Shirts and Theme Parks

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

While I was out in Florida I was complimented on my t-shirts a few times, and each time it threw me for a few moments. I don’t know if it’s a Floridian thing or a Disney thing, or a wider Stateside habit. It certainly isn’t very common over here in the UK, outside of online geeky hastags, to compliment people’s geek references.

To put it another way, a friend might comment when meeting down the bar or unexpectedly while out and about. It might even be used as a chat-up line. What would be very odd, and a little threatening, would be a random person in the street doing so.

Not so in the Disney Parks while I was there. I’m inclined to think it came from the same sense of social inclusion that comes from #geektshirtfriday or members of the same social club or group of sports fans.

In Disney Parks there is an assumption of a certain holiday spirit or club inclusion just by being onsite. You see it once people are past the turnstiles – a certain relaxation of shoulders, a slowing of pace, the widening of smiles. It does seem to put people in a more familiar frame of mind for the most part – where little kindnesses to strangers come more easily for example.

While my t-shirts were not Disney themed, they did point to a certain fantasy/sci-fi flavour (a Lego spaceman logo, a UKCC MCM Comiccon logo, and a technical diagram of an X-Wing Starfighter) that prompts the tribal familiarity that seems to lead to unprompted comments about clothing as a point of similarity.

A slightly odd variant on that was something I noticed a couple of times in the parks where what seemed to be geeky t-shirts like superman logos were then subverted with religious references – for example small ‘je’ and ‘us’ either side of the superman logo to form the word jeSus. I saw enough of them to think that there had either been a summer Bible camp or local church flirting with copyright violations recently.

I’m still not sure what to make of it – there feels a deceitful element and breach of the geeky social contract, but maybe I’m overthinking it. I do know I didn’t hear anyone complimenting them.

So Many Photos

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We may have gone a bit mad on photos while we were away at Disney – and even trying to curate a small number for a slideshow here has been a challenge – so I may do some themed ones along the way.

We invested in a Photopass too, so that the various photographers around the parks, as well as the character meets and rides could all be easily collated and downloaded at our leisure.

So on top of the hundreds of photos taken between us there was another treasure trove of memories to recover – which include some truly amazing facial expressions as we were caught off guard. Disney magic covers a range of emotions, and these photos illustrate it well.

The two biggest extremes both come from Lady M. The first was in a character encounter with Kylo Ren – and she was rendered literally speechless. She looked terrified as we were ushered by Imperial operatives into his presence, and she was abruptly interrogated by the tall dark hooded character.

She said later that it had been unnerving, even knowing it was an actor, to come face to face with the mask, abrupt body language and tone of voice. As an evocation of the character it worked amazingly, and has left a lasting impression she gladly talks about – a true emotional thrill ride if you like.

The second came when we dined at Be Our Guest in the Magic Kingdom one evening. During the day, it is Belle who holds court there, but the evenings belong to the Master (Beast) – and so once we had eaten our main course, Lady M went to his study to meet him.

Now, Lady M’s maiden name was Potts, so the film and characters have a special resonance for her as they recall her mother. As she told the Master this, there was a jolt of surprise. He looked to the ex-Lady M for confirmation, and then spread his arms wide to gather her in an expansive hug.

With so much floating around – the ambience, music, location, thoughts of her mum – Lady M cried, and the Beast held her, and wouldn’t let her go until she was recovered. It was totally off-script, and apparently confused the helpers who hadn’t heard the exchange – but this too has been a lasting memory that she will always cherish.

Disney magic, caught on camera.

Christmas Disney Travels

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We finally made it to the Animal Kingdom. I say finally because it took two hours to clear passport control and sort out the rental car – which isn’t too bad, but after a nine hour flight just dragged.

Still, despite the best efforts of the little poppets in the row in front of us, who kept reclining and then straightening and then reclining their seats, it was a comfortable enough flight.

The roads here, once I’d reminded myself how to drive an automatic, were clear and the staff at the Lodge have been amazing as ever.

We have animals grazing outside, peace and quiet, and our bellies are comfortably full from eating at Sanaa.

I’ve even had some sleep. Full day planned, adventures to follow

Disney heatwave

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The last time we were in this sort of sunshine and heat was in Florida last year, so it seems entirely appropriate to be walking around a Magic Kingdom in it this year. Any thought that the end of the weekend would see less people in the parks have been overrun by the huge numbers of people flocking to the parks; this hasn’t made things stressful though.

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We’ve been fitting our time between the Disney Studios park and the Magic Kingdom as we bought joint tickets. As a result, we’ve been ambling from place to place and just enjoying the flow of things. The stunt show at the Studios was followed by various rides and shops across each park. The holiday has become about the whole experience, and that has included character dining at Cafe Mickey, seeing the Wild West Show, and staying up late for the fireworks.

By far the greatest joy has been the sight of the Charleesi and Cousin A becoming even more thick as thieves, even as Cousin A’s horizons have begun to accelerate away at an ever-increasing rate. Even getting separated from us by accident for half an hour didn’t bother them, and we’ve started arranging to go our separate ways in a more managed way – “be at this restaurant for that time” now becoming a familiar conversation.

This was always going to be an experience to remember for the girls, in celebration of their 16th birthdays and completion of their exams. I’m just blown away by just how incredible, and yet comfortably relaxed, this week is already shaping up to be.

Two Days In…

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Unlike last year, we haven’t been doing a closely regimented plan of Disney parks and activities. Instead its been sort of based around where we’ve reserved or planned meals and we’ve meandered around the parks. It’s the first time Cousin A has been anywhere like it, and between that and our introducing her to rollercoaster it has been a grand adventure.

We’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much she’s embraced it all. We started with Peter Pan’s Flight, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean, and suddenly she was up for Thunder Mountain. We’ve not looked back since, and so today we went on the Indiana Jones ride, which includes a loop the loop halfway through. The minute we heard laughter behind us, we knew all was well.

We’ve dined well so far too. Lunches have generally been simple burgers and the like, but we ate at the Silver Spur last night, and had character dining at Auberge de Cendrillon this evening. We’ve always loved good food and a bit of theatre with it, so flirting with Suzy and Perla – the mouse seamstresses – and introducing our princesses to the Disney Princesses, made for a gloriously magical evening. Everyone also assumed the cousins were sisters, so the in-joke is now to introduce them as twins. What’s the worst that could happen?

We’re off to Disneyland Paris

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It might seem odd, coming so soon after this week’s bad news, but I’ve had this holiday booked for ages and frankly, we need it. So we’ve grabbed the Charleesi and her Cousin A and sped on the Eurostar to Disneyland Paris for the week. Lady P is looking after house and home, which keeps the plants watered and the mailbox emptied, but we’ll find a way to bring her on a holiday soon, never fear. Next time, for sure.

Now this Disney is in Lille, which makes it a part of Paris in the same way that Luton is a London airport, which is why we took a direct train rather than trusting to any old passage to Paris. Even in the immediate aftermath of London Tube strikes, getting to St  Pancras was simple, and our journey couldn’t have been simpler.

Getting checked in at our hotel (the Newport), was slightly complicated by having booked through the DVC (Disney Vacation Club) which meant a few perks like not having to book a breakfast time but none of the paperwork being in the right place. I also had problems with the padlock on my case breaking (try explaining in rusty French you need that sorting out, three times in succession), and then explaining I needed a fridge for my bydureon kit.

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These minor hiccups aside, we then went in search of food and to refamiliarise ourselves with the general Magic Kingdom layout. Cousin A has never been out of the country, let alone to anywhere Disney, so her expression wavered between amazed and bemused most of the afternoon and early evening.

There’s a certain anarchic quality to the French Disney experience, and I’m not certain if that comes from the cultural melting pot making up its visitors or a degree of European bloody-mindedness that sticks a varying number of fingers up at the corporate US management and adds a mild frisson of danger to the day.

Either way, we’ve eaten and returned to our room to collapse, suddenly very aware we’ve been up since 5am. The sounds of gentle snoring currently surround me, and I shall soon be joining the chorus, ready for our first full day. Not a bad start…

Summer Holiday Planning

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We’ve just got ourselves sorted for our summer holiday – and surprise, surprise it’s a Disney location. This year we’re taking the Charleesi and her cousin to Disneyland Paris, somewhere I’ve not been in nearly ten years and that as far as I know neither Lady M or Charleesi’s cousin have ever been.

It’s the first time we’ve booked anything since we joined the Disney Vacation Club, so we needed a bit of a helping hand from the person down the phone, but with only a few hiccups due to transatlantic differences in idiom we’ve got the resort and tickets for the park all sorted. Tickets for the Eurostar journey to and from St Pancreas International have been sorted too, so we appear to have the basic components of a holiday all sorted.

This is both very cool and slightly terrifying – but the idea is to give both Charleesi and A a treat for finishing their exams and celebrate their sixteenth birthdays so it looks like this will be another summer of awesome. Excellent!

Being British in Florida 4

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It’s no secret that I love theme parks, and most of our Disney and Florida holiday was spent in them. It almost goes without saying that I was expecting to notice a couple of differences between UK and US parks.

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Pumpkins at Disney

The most obvious of course was the cleanliness. There was far more time, manpower and inventiveness that seemed to be employed in US parks to keep litter, wear and tear to a visible minimum.

I’m not sure that this is a cultural difference in the littering habits of park guests either, given the number of UK holiday goers we met in our travels. If anything highlights the huge amount of planning and operational inventiveness at Disney it’s observing the cleaning and repair crews in quiet and effective action. There’s a huge difference in comparison with what sometimes appears to be a half-hearted approach at my local parks.

By far the more jarring difference however was the number of older children being pushed around in strollers in the US. I lost track of the number of six to eight year olds perched in strollers while parents or grandparents pushed them round. This is just totally alien.

You just see this so rarely in the UK. I guess you could make an argument for this being a reaction to the heat of the day, but even in our hotter summer days I’ve not noticed a similar practice over here despite some comparable temperatures. British kids just seem to want to run and explore more than many of the kids we saw in the US parks. Is this a valid comparison or was I blindsided by the strollers?

To be fair, there were plenty of kids running around and playing around and I didn’t make any in depth enquiries, but those damn strollers and the kids perched in them in parks and shopping areas has just stuck in my memory

Disney Last Day

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So now I’m sitting in my local coffee shop, having just flown in to Gatwick and survived the M25, very aware that I’ve been awake for over twenty four hours, and the Disney holiday is over.

Checkout was smooth, with an added bonus that the laundry we’d had done wasn’t entered onto the billing system, so we got it for free. With a few entries left on our dining plan and our flight not due to leave until 8pm we decided to just find a quiet corner to read and take advantage of the air conditioning.

The staff were perfectly accomodating and left us to our own devices, and I got the impression that this wasn’t too uncommon a practice for people to use up their spare credits like this.

Packing had mostly been done the previous evening so we cheekily asked the American Airlines check-in desk at the resort if we could check our baggage weight. They had no problems with that, and so reassured about our luggage and with only one or two sat-nav related oddities, we set off back to Orlando International Airport.

Check in and TSA clearance went smoothly despite it being very busy and the only real moment of hilarity came when my daughter managed to spill a whole can of Sprite into her own lap. “Refreshing!” she commented at the time…

So what am I missing about this holiday already? The excellent  customer service, the different driving styles, the more evening-night-based lifestyle, the ferociously flushing toilets, the sightings of turtles and otters in the lake on the way to breakfast in the mornings.

I’m missing the automated announcements in the Disney buses to take your children by the hand (presumably instead of by the throat), not to mention the ability of US caterers to add cheese to every meal.

I’m especially missing the heat and sunshine now I’m back in the UK, but at least I know where I stand with persistent drizzle and watery cloud cover. I also seem to have quickly remembered how to drive stick and stay on the correct side of the road (mostly), which is helpful.

Now, time for more caffeine…