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X-E’s Disney World Adventure – Part 2!

Well, that took a century. Here's Part 2 of my Walt Disney World Adventure, spanning three pages and covering fifteen more Hot Disney Things. Again, I remind you to fish around for expertly hidden video links in addition to the ones in text. Lots of big stuff this time, with everything from Splash Mountain to drinks-in-pineapples making the grade. There's still enough worthwhile stuff to warrant a Part 3, but if you're getting bored of reading about rides in Disney World, I'll mention that much of Part 3 deals with the best part of any vacation: souvenirs.

Me and this article had a big sword fight over the past week or so, and the fact that it's been published means that I won. It doesn't mean that I had enough blood left to proofread it as hardcore as I'd like, so if you notice a bunch of typos, please tell me so I can fix them and pretend they were never there.

In other news, caught a screening for Monster House tonight, and Sony decided to rock by turning it into a veritable Halloween party for the many children who attended. It doesn't take a lot to make me happy, and a party footnoted with orange balloons and skull-headed swizzle sticks turned what would've ordinarily just been a free movie into a free movie with orange balloons and skull-headed swizzle sticks. Dig it.

That's all for now. Thanks for your patience re: Disney, and please arrange the universe so that it makes it okay for me to sleep for the next 70 hours. Thanks.

Posted by Matt on 06/19/2006. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 189 comments

On a completely unrelated note, a little McSweeney’s humor for your Transformers-loving selves:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/20HenryS.Kivett.html

Chestnuts roasted by LemurCat @ 06/20/2006 1:59 PM

YES

Chestnuts roasted by Fox @ 06/20/2006 2:42 PM

Roddy –

I too was a Disney Adventures subscriber, and it did try to get too hip, it seemed like they wre aiming for a demographic that was older than what they had.

I preferred the random facts pages to the comics.

Chestnuts roasted by selvig @ 06/20/2006 3:01 PM

I think the Tiki Room looks interesting :)

Chestnuts roasted by yelinna @ 06/20/2006 3:01 PM

yelinna, I like the old one, but mostly for nostalgia. The new one is much funnier. Most Disney Dweebs say it’s sacrilegious, though.

Chestnuts roasted by Roddy @ 06/20/2006 3:08 PM

So I finally finished the article.

First, Splash Mountain. My Mom and I must have waited upwards of 90 minutes to ride this one and it was totally worth it. The only super-long-wait ride I can say that about. I loved everything about it.

Second, collectible cups. I got a beverage in a Pocahontas cup that featured faces of the characters that would appear when you put a cold drink inside. I brought it home, and one day when my Mom was doing dishes, she noticed that there was something red on the cup (the faces), so she scrubbed until she scrubbed them away. Then it was just a stupid cup. And yes, everyone who carries a collectible cup around looks like an idiot. If you get one, please, conceal it in a bag or something.

I also liked the Japan section the most.

The Genie looks really scary in that picture.

Sometimes you really make me laugh, Matt. Your pineapple beverage saga was hilarious. It’s times like these and when you venture out on your own somewhere (that one blog entry from ages ago, others) that I feel I can really relate. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Rainbowfeet @ 06/20/2006 3:17 PM

Roddy –

I too was a Disney Adventures subscriber, and it did try to get too hip, it seemed like they wre aiming for a demographic that was older than what they had.

This depends on what year you’re talking about. Eventually the mag degraded to the point where the comics were about Britney Spears battling space monsters (I gotta scan that thing in…)

Chestnuts roasted by Mars again @ 06/20/2006 3:34 PM

My Mom, My uncle and his GF at the time, went to Disney on the opening month in the 70′s, the GF was eating this chocolate banana covered in nuts ice pop thing, and she was eating it on space mountain…she screamed and chocked and the peanut got INSIDE her lung and totally trashed it. So much so, that when she got back to Jersey, she had to have the peanut removed, and 6 years later the ENTIRE lung b/c of the dam disney people not kicking her out of the ride for eating….she died right after I was born, and I got my middle name JOY from her.

Chestnuts roasted by mandy_reeves @ 06/20/2006 3:35 PM

Speaking of souvenier cups before…I had a PAC MAN one fron Great adventure circa 1986 or 85..it had ice tea in it, and was this big yellow pac man shaped canteen. I still have a Hershey park refillable for free at any stand, souvenier cup from ’91 only 5 bucks but more like 10 in todays money, it has a plastic whistle straw that I love to annoy people at work with.

Chestnuts roasted by mandy_reeves @ 06/20/2006 3:44 PM

Mars again, the ones I have have stuff like Talespin, Darkwing Duck, Rescue Rangers, DuckTales, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Marsupilami and the occasional Mickey and/or movie of the year comic. Some sections of it, like the TV and movie stuff, make more sense to me today than they did at the time, both because of my English but also because it used to take a while for stuff to get here on TV.

Chestnuts roasted by Roddy @ 06/20/2006 3:44 PM

I remember my sister telling me a story about being yelled at by a large Norweigian woman during the Malestrom because one of her friends she was riding it with touched the ‘shoreline’ while the boat was moving.

Moral of the story? Don’t fuck with Norway’s water rides.

Chestnuts roasted by Timmy @ 06/20/2006 4:07 PM

Apparently someone else thought Rio del Tiempo was disturbing as well.

Chestnuts roasted by Barbie @ 06/20/2006 4:27 PM

I stopped getting the magazine a long time ago, probably just after Pocahontas came out.

But maybe I skipped straight from cartoon loving scamp to cranky old man…

Chestnuts roasted by selvig @ 06/20/2006 4:32 PM

Oh…My…God….

Stacy needs to be stuffed into a garbaga bag, sealed in a concrete box and then tossed into Niagra Falls…

Chestnuts roasted by Darth Galvatron @ 06/20/2006 4:36 PM

Talk about bringing back memories! Wow! I went there once, when I was maybe 5 or 6, and I’m starting to remember all those repressed memories! King Mickey touched me…. ~shudder~
Anyway, nice to see the Maelstrom again. I remember getting a sugar sculpture in the Japan (I think?) part, not knowing it was sugar, and it ended up melting before I ate it…
Hey, in that Rio del Tiempo video right above me, is that Cheech? ‘Cause it really looks like him…
Well, I’m off to see the shrink now. Thanks! :D

Chestnuts roasted by Dr Sketch @ 06/20/2006 4:46 PM

You mention that ToT isn’t the tallest thing in the park… but you never mention what IS the tallest thing in the park.

That honor goes to the new Mount Everest in Animal Kingdom at 199 feet tall. The reason for the 199 is that if it were 200 feet tall, it would require a blinking red light on top, thanks to some state law… and you know Disney is all about "realism"

Anyway… just thought I’d mention that. Great articles, btw. I’ve been a longtime reader and have always loved your stories, and was excited to see a story about one of my favorite places on Earth, Disney World… I’m 24, and my fiance and I LOVE going there… we’ll be taking a mini-honeymoon there in October and can’t wait. It’s definitely not just for kids.

Chestnuts roasted by kiwi @ 06/20/2006 5:36 PM

Hear hear! where’s the belligerent drunken pearl video!?

Chestnuts roasted by FangsFirst @ 06/20/2006 5:55 PM

Fun fact: the cartoon that made Mickey Mouse famous (although not the first cartoon featuring the character, despite what many folks will tell you) was called "Steamboat Willie," and featured the beloved rodent kicking it old-school as a riverboat captain. If that’s what the free stickers aboard the happy boats are alluding to, I heartily approve. Of course, if they really wanted to recapture the atmosphere of those old cartoons, they would give out tattoos instead. Laced with LSD.

Chestnuts roasted by Jedoc @ 06/20/2006 6:47 PM

Stacy is a satanic animatronic!!!

Chestnuts roasted by Kevin @ 06/20/2006 6:49 PM

Teeeeeek!

Chestnuts roasted by Darth Poop @ 06/20/2006 6:52 PM

Wow 50 bucks for three drinks!!! I am not sure, but maybe this is the reason I have been fighting my wife about taking our daughter to Disney World. We would be homeless when we got back.

Chestnuts roasted by Old E @ 06/20/2006 8:00 PM

I was having a horrible day until I came home and discovered you had posted Disney II. I am now happy. (I suppose, though, that the few rum and cokes that I had helped, even though they weren’t contained in a pineapple).

Chestnuts roasted by DeeJay @ 06/20/2006 8:34 PM

Old E… I imagine what he had was this: "Lapu Lapu – Tropical fruit juices and Myers dark rum served in a fresh pineapple topped with Bacardi 151 $10.99"

The menu for the place can be seen here: http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/men_tbl.htm

Overall, prices are somewhat expensive at WDW, but not horrible. Counter meals you can eat for ~8 bucks a person with drink, sit down meals for ~20 depending on where you go (it can be more or less, of course). But the food there is an experience in itself if you’d like it to be.

I’d go for it… you can do it affordably. Stay in a value resort in the value season for 79 bucks a night… Pop Century is a fun place for a kid. (adults, too) You’ll love it and so will your daughter.

Chestnuts roasted by kiwi @ 06/20/2006 9:01 PM

I’m not surprised by the turkey leg stands. They’re one of the most popular foods around here (it’s mobility probably) when the state fair comes here every year. Although I’ve never had one personally.

I wonder if the guests waiting in line at Splash Mountain ever question the employees about the various SOTS characters there since they’re never releasing the movie. I would to annoy them.

I’m surprised at how old fashioned the Disney Arcade was. You’d think they would get more-up-to-date games. But why mess with classics?

Chestnuts roasted by JLAJRC @ 06/20/2006 9:04 PM

You also brought back quite a few memories for me.

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO LIKED THE TIKI BIRDS! I considered it a small triumph when I got my sister to sit through this in 1990, considering her complaints about how cutesy it was. I can still sing the whole damn original song. The new show sounds like a blast; even though "Aladdin" is far from my favorite Disney film, I’ve always liked Iago.

On the other hand, riding "It’s a Small World" in 1990 nearly sent me into sugar shock, but my sister loved it. Go figure.

Some of my happiest memories from my Disney World trips in 1986 and 1990 occured in the World Showcase.
I was about 7 and my sister was 6 in ’86, and we had a high old time running around the bazzar under the Mexico pavillion, playing with every toy, serape, and musical instrument in the place. It’s amazing the two of us and our biological dad and stepmom didn’t get kicked out. I don’t think we got to El Rio Del Tiempo, though. I’m glad to see that one’s still there; there’s been rumblings about that being updated or replaced for years.

I visited the Japanese mini-mall when I went to Epcot with my dad in 1990 (my stepmom and sister opted to stay in Fort Wilderness and ride horses). Unfortuantly, everything in the entire store was beyond the price range of an 11-year-old, even the stuffed animals I really wanted, but it was cool to look around anyway. I did finally buy my mom a lovely set of English Rose-shaped earrings from the United Kingdom pavillion; wonder if she still has those…

But my fondest memory of the World Showcase (and Epcot in general) would be of Illuminations. Dad and I found a fairly quiet spot near the Mexico pavillion to watch the show, and we weren’t disappointed. Even Atlantic City in July never had as much fun with the pyrotechnics as Epcot did, with bombs going off, noise and color and water boat riders everywhere. We almost got crushed in the stampede going home afterwards, but it was worth seeing Illuminations.

Dad and I managed to drag sis and stepmom back a few days later, and my sister and I rode the Maelstrom together. We had a great time. The ride broke down and didn’t go over a dip, and we STILL had a great time.

Though we stayed on-site in 1990 (I forget where we were in 1986, but it was off-site), we weren’t at the beach. I wish we were. I’m glad the Electric Water Pageant’s still there, too.

It’s true, Matt, that so many magic moments happen when you least expect them. My fondest memory of the 1990 trip is of my sister and I pretending to "drive" the golf cart Dad rented to get around the sprawling Fort Wilderness. We had as much fun doing those pictures as we did on any ride; my mom still has the photographic evidence of how goofy we looked, me in my bathing suit with my big old pink and gray Poloroid between us.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 06/20/2006 9:15 PM

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 19th, 2006 at 11:57 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.