House of Mouse

NYM recently came back from a bitchin' trip to Disney World with NYM's sister. So for those of you considering visiting the House of Mouse, I give you my review:

Things supercalifragilisticexpealidious
Port Orleans Riverside: We stayed here and it was a really relaxing, spread out resort. Because it is on the Disney property there is free transit to all the parks, Disney downtown and the water parks. Lots of pools and very fun housekeepers who left us towel animals and TP'd our room on Saturday.

Soarin': This is a new ride at EPCOT in The Land and it is AWESOME. NYM is definitely afraid of heights so I was leery, but after an initial twitch this ride was tremendous. You feel like your are gliding over all these beautiful places in California. And the best part: I got to take off my shoes!

Extra magic hours: If you stay in the park, a world of things is at your disposal. Among the most useful are extra magic hours, in which the parks open early or stay open late for park dwellers. You just have to get a bracelet near closing time and you can stay late to frolic! Not all the ride are open, but there are special schedules out and about so you can plan your day and do some of the more in-demand rides after many folks have left the park.

Fast pass: If you stay in the park (notice a theme?) you can use your card to get fast passes for certain popular rides. The ticket gives you an hour window to return to the ride, allowing you to get into the fast line.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: Awesome.

La Nouba: It didn't make much sense to me, but Cirque du Soleil is pretty freaky neat.

Things amusing
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater: The food wasn't any great shakes, but the trailers were hilarious. Cat-Women of the Moon may be my favorite. Apparently this is a real film. This is even funnier.

The Magic of Disney Animation: Learn to draw a Disney character while sitting in air conditioning! Pretty much awesome.

Affection Section at Animal Kingdom: Not only can you pet goats, you can *brush* them. This fulfills my OCD on many levels.

Kilimanjaro Safaris: Premise is a bit lame, but the animals are real and really close.

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin: Laser tag while sitting. Requires coordination I apparently lack, but still fun.

Peter Pan's Flight: Surprisingly not disappointing.

Things disappointing to the point of making my mouse ears droop
The Seas with Nemo & Friends: First, this used to be a highlight for my Disney trips. Now it is just a sad pathetic attempt to repurpose something to incorporate a new movie. Cheaply.

The riverboat: We waited an hour and a half to get a ride to Downtown Disney for our 9 p.m. show of La Nouba and were almost late. What should have been a relaxing night out became a pretty stressful one. The boats were supposed to be coming every 10 minutes but the line was ridiculously long and no one seemed prepared to deal with that.

Hot hot heat: I don't recommend Florida in early September. It's hot. As a mildly irritating side note, this is also training time for all the new "cast" members, so even though there are 20 people behind the counter, don't expect them to be able to help you.

Despite the ear-drooping bits, we had a super awesome trip and I highly recommend the House of Mouse to all looking to escape the every-day hubbub.

Until next time, see you real soon!