Time with the Mouse

Kissimee (Orlando), Florida
Feb. 9, 2008

We've ended up in Florida for a week or so killing time before we qualify for an amazingly cheap flight to Nicaragua. We flew from San Juan to Orlando beccause we could get great hotel deals here -- IF we went to a time share presentation, which was okay with us. (We've sat in on time share presentations all around the globe...!) I actually found the information at the presentation worthy of an article, so we ended up going to a different one for further research... and as a bonus we landed some Disneyworld coupons. (Notice the theme here is budget, budget, budget... we're six months in and realising that $$ are limited!)

Florida has been a real assault to our senses. Returning from abroad to North America and its huge roads and enormous vehicles I have always found a shock, but even the size of food portions and the bewildering variety at supermarkets here was strange at first and somewhat off-putting. And then there is TV. Even Lochlan said he'd rather stay in a place without TV because if we get sucked into it we just don't do anything. Our first couple of days here we just sort of wandered around in a daze. We had never had the US on our radar of places to visit -- it's too easily accessible from Canada and we thought, perhaps inaccurately, that it is too similar for the adventures we are after -- but it is probably a good thing that we ended up here as it has shown us what to be on guard against upon our return home! We really have way too much stuff as North Americans; we're so weighed down by it all.

We decided we'd better pull ourselves together and look at Florida the way we'd look at any new country we were travelling in; and of course visiting in Orlando means Disney. The horrifying thing is that the cost of one-day entry to one park for a family of five is over $500! That was double what we paid to travel from London to Milan! But our time-share shopping made the tickets reasonably affordable... we decided that as a family we were still most interested in the Magic Kingdom (there are so many parks to choose from it gets overwhelming), so we packed some sandwiches and off we went.

We had really mixed feelings about supporting the machine that is Disney down here, especially because we'd had such a magical day at the compact and cosy Euro-Disney and were reluctant to possibly dim that memory in any way. For the whole drive there I was cynically telling the kids to resist getting sucked into the consumerism, and that we had to be aware that the ridiculous prices made entrance so elitist, etc. etc... but as soon as we walked through the gates of the Magic Kingdom, I was lost.


It's embarrassing, but I just love Disneyland... or Disney world, or Euro Disney, or Tokyo Disneyland!! It may be elitist, but it really is a magical place. Mitch pointed out that this trip meant I had been to every Magic Kingdom in the world! From that point onward we sailed through on a wave of happiness; we had so much fun. We were there at the crack of dawn (well, as soon as the gates opened), and we were able to see pretty much everything and get to all the rides we wanted. We had our picture taken with Donald and Goofy and saw the parades and talked things over excitedly whenever we were slowed down by line-ups... and we were able to adroitly manage our time and minimise queuing, so it was pretty fantastic. We had some Gramma and Papa Christmas money to spend, so we all agonised delightfully over picking out a T-shirt, and I indulged a fantasy and walked around in Mouse ears for most of the day. We swash-buckled with the Pirates, fired our lasers at Buzz Lightyear targets, shivered through the Haunted House (it was dark by then!) and sang along enthusiastically with 'It's A Small World' and 'The Country Bear Jamboree'. The only ride we missed was Space Mountain... but I 'escape-podded' out of it when Mitch took me to Tokyo Disneyland for my 24th birthday, and age hasn't made me braver, so I didn't mind (poor Caelan was disappointed)!


By 6:00 it dawned on us that we had not sat down all day (except when on a ride); we'd even eaten our sandwiches standing up. We were exhausted, but in such a happy way, when we finally took the train away from the park to our rented car. (And just a note: no where in the world have we seen greater efficiency in moving crowds of people along than at Disney!) It really was a delightful day, and a memory of time spent with the kids to cherish -- but one day was enough for all of us. We had a great time with the Mouse, but now we're interested in finding Florida's other famous animal: Mr. Gator!!