Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Random Bullets From Disney World

Hello, all! We're home, narrowly missing the onslaught of rain brought on by Tropical Storm Alberto. We had fairly nice weather, up until yesterday. And, then it stormed like hell so I could have the chance to drive home through it.

Just some random hightlights (or lowlights, as they may be) from our vacation:

* Are there any English people left in England right now? They all seem to be at Disney World! Everywhere we went, the Brits were there in full force, even going so far as to hang England flags from the balcony outside of their hotel rooms as to show their spirit for the World Cup. JF had to stop in the UK pavilion at EPCOT for a half-yard of beer, and he noted that the Rose and Crown pub was wall-to-wall World Cup mania.

* One word, people -- deodorant. Know it. Love it. USE IT! And often. For the love of God, please....use the deodorant!

* When you've gone to a water park to swim and soak all day, why do you shriek like little girls and run for cover when it begins to rain? You're at a freaking water park! You've been wet all day -- what's rain going to hurt?

* Why can't you go ten seconds without a cigarette? Why do you insist on lighting up and fouling the air around you merely paces from the designated smoking area? I'm so sorry we had to ruin your smoking habit with our vacation. This is really a hot button thing for me, since I managed to have to choke down lungsful of smoke where ever we went. People ignore the no smoking signs, even going so far as to light up in the queues! At least I didn't get burned this year, unlike a few years ago, when a gentleman (and I use the term very loosely) was ignoring the stares from all around, and smoked anyway. He brushed me with the lit cigarette, leaving a long burn on my arm. And, then pretended that it hadn't happened.

* If you are even slightly overweight, don't (for the love of God and those with sight) DON'T buy the Speedo. It's just icky. On SO many levels.

* Also, parents -- watch what your child wears. This is part of being a good parent. There was a girl at MGM the other day, approximately 10 years old, wearing a shirt that read: "If you think I'm a bitch, you should meet my mother!" First of all, inappropriate to begin with. Second of all, on a ten year old? In public? Didn't you READ the shirt? Who let her out of the house that morning?

* Vacation time seems to be the time that people everywhere just seem to let everything go. I saw numerous instances of people wearing things they had no business wearing. I mean, I know I'm fat, and I plan my outfits accordingly. I don't wear really tight stuff. I don't wear teeny-tiny tops or shorts. I look ridiculous, and everyone around me notices me. Not my style. I have never seen a larger collection of people who went with the bikini when they shouldn't have. Also in this same vein, parents who let their kids run absolutely freaking hog-wild, and pay no attention to them at all. (Of course, this may be their usual game-plan, but Disney World is the last place on earth that you should let Junior run around unattended.) I saw a kid who was by himself, no parent in sight, trying to scale a fence over a bridge. Luckily, he was way too small, and couldn't get over it, and finally gave up. He wandered off back into the crowd. I still don't know if he was ever found or not. Saw WAY too many instances of people letting the kids do whatever they wanted, and the parents just not caring. Either that, or they no longer had the energy to stop them.

Now, I should really go. I have three suitcases of funky laundry to do, and I have to go sort out all of the items we brought back with us. And my feet still hurt.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, Miz KLee! Sounds like you and the fam had a great time - with, perhaps, a few provisos here and there. :)

Oh, and when did you go all Brit on us? "Queue?" Puh-lease. You know it's a LINE. :P

La Binsk

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine doing WDW in the HEAT!! Glad you escaped the storm, though.

KLee said...

Anne, the heat wasn't all that bad this trip, since the last few days were overcast and cloudy. We always have to plan for a trip during the summer heat -- you can't avoid it, it seems like.

Binskie -- DW cast members call the lines "queues." It's gotten to be a habit. We were on Expedition Everest the other day (completely awesome roller coaster, btw) and a cast member came on to say that they were closing due to inclement weather, and we were welcome to wait out the rain in the queue, and they'd reopen soon. Waiting in a DW queue is an experience. There's always cool stuff to look at while you wait.

Anonymous said...

Oh, okay. My bad. I've only been to Disney World once't so I was clueless on the matter.

Over the weekend, though, I watched some sort of special where they talked about all the fancy weddings that take place there. Man, that was something to see! (I was particularly fond of the Mickey and Minnie bride and groom hats - with ears, no less!) :)

La Binsk

Liz Miller said...

I'll bet the mom bought the t-shirt for her daughter.

Seriously.

We're going to be in WDW in August. I'm looking forward to taking MM there!

Anonymous said...

For those of you that may not have the same listening habits that I do, may I suggest http://www.budlight.com and click the "Real Men of Genius" radio spots.

In particular, check "Mr. 80spf sunblock wearer" and "Mr. Tiny thong bikini wearer"

We kept repeating these to each other during the entire trip..

JF

KLee said...

Binsk -- JF bought this HUGE sombrero with Mickey ears! If you thought the bride and groom hats were neat, you'll be VERY impressed by the sombrero.

I've seen that special on the Disney weddings, and it was really cool. I'd love to renew our vows there one day, but it would probably bankrupt us.

Liz -- a few hints if you've not been there before: Take your own stroller. You will be able to pick it out of the crowd more readily, and you don't have to pay the exhorbitant prices to rent a stroller. Take plenty of juice boxes and snacks -- it's much better for keeping little ones happy and hydrated. Use LOTS of sunblock. Pack (and use) rain ponchos. You can get them at Wal-Mart or Target beforehand for about a dollar. In park, they'll cost you about eight each. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. We have nine trips to WDW under our belts now, so I can help you avoid some of the mistakes that we made.

ccw said...

Welcome back! Love, love, love your vacation bullets. Thanks for the laugh!

A mom was wearing white pants with a white thong at the swim meet tonight. Wouldn't have been noticeable accept there was a big pink bow at the top of the thong directing your eyes to her crack. Wrong, even if she was thin.

halloweenlover said...

Love it love it love it! I'm glad you all had a great time!

Hope your transition back to regular life is going okay.

Susan Anne MacKenna said...

Mr. Mac and I have both giggled at this post. Having lived in Florida for 5 years (well, 2 weeks shy of 5 years), I can say that a lot of what you saw is, well, just Florida, especially the shirt... Holy cow - you should see some of the stuff around here! Truthfully, I think it comes from the fact that a non-English-speaking Mom buys YoungGirl a cute shirt with nice colors and whatnot, but she can't read English, so she has no clue what it says. Or it just could be 'Cracker Chic'.
Glad you survived DISNEY in the SUMMER!

Susan Anne MacKenna said...

One more thing on the shirt. If she weren't so dear, I may buy Miss M one like that. It's so fitting, at least for her mother (oh, that felt good!!).

KLee said...

DMD -- I don't live all that far from Florida, so I'm used to some of these aspects.

And, no -- the family with The Shirt were native speakers. In fact, they were more than slightly redneck. (No, really? who woulda thunk it?)

But Miss M isn't a bitch, so that shirt doesn't fit for her. Now, if you could find one that said "My mother is an evil, gold-digging bitch," that one might work! At least Miss M is out from under her thumb for the next 7 weeks!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!