Disney Post #3

Erin and Belle
Originally uploaded by Rosalind Tedford.

OK - now the park itself. Let's face it. Disney World is great. As much as I hate to succumb to marketing ploys, I'm a sucker for it. They craft a complete experience and craft it well. No litter, no peeling paint, no algae in the water, no weeds in the flower beds and EVERY SINGLE employee is polite, helpful and cheerful. How that happens is beyond me but it is cult-like in its pervasiveness. They must fire people who are rude; in fact, I'm sure they do. But what it all adds up to is a magical place where you can really forget the real world and just be.

Now, I do have my gripes. The main one being that they are now pushing these autograph books on all the kids who come so they can get the autographs of the characters. Great idea. In theory. The problem is that there is only one place some of the characters ever appear and Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella are in the same place. The line was 90 minutes as soon as it opened and still 45 minutes late in the evening when we returned. I just got a survey from Disney and they asked about it and I slammed them. If they are going to push kids to get autographs of EVERY character, then they need 10 Cinderellas and 10 Sleeping Beauties stationed all around the park. Even the characters who were just out in the park had long lines. The remedy, of course, is to go in November, January or March and not June. This is what we'll do next time, even if it means taking the kids out of school. God help the people coming over the summer.

Otherwise, however, we had a grand time. It's a Small World, the teacup ride, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella's Carousel, Peter Pan, Country Bear Jamboree, all were great.

And did I mention that Disney should manage all airports? They should. Especially having flown back from Atlanta yesterday - the TSA knows NOTHING about crowd management and Disney knows everything about it. Except for the lines for the characters and a couple rides, it was wonderful.

I can't wait to go back when the kids are older. Better start working out now to keep up with them.

Did I mention Sean is getting his bottom teeth AND he slept for 11 1/2 hours last night??? Life is good......