Last week our family took a vacation to Disney World. We were worried ahead of time how different sensory elements might bother certain members of the family for health-related reasons, but decided to take the plunge anyway. The trip was great, but I'm still a much bigger fan of California's original theme park than Orlando's.
I've decided to review what each park has to offer in a way that might be helpful to some other Aspies out there and see if I can throw a helpful hint or two in as I do it. For length concerns I'm just going to start off with the Magic Kingdom, Disney's most iconic- and my second favorite- park.
I didn't spend much time in Adventureland- it kind of creeps me out- but it's one of the smaller places in the park anyway. Pictures alone have been enough to deter me from "Pirates" (a lot of darkness and, uh, well a lot of sneering pirates) and we simply didn't have enough interest to justify "Jungle Cruise." I've heard that the cruise is funny but can get wet and also ends in darkness mixed with tigers, but for a better idea of it you should probably ask somebody who's actually been on it. :) We did "Enchanted Tiki Room" in Disneyland. It hasn't changed much in that time; it still features a doozy of a thunderstorm and creepy tikis that sing at you. That mixed with the loud (and I feel that I must add, annoying) music was enough to send me flying out of the place years back. There are fun little singing birds that host the musical show, so I guess if you're really a bird person it would probably be fun, or at least cute. I haven't been in there in a long time, but my dad tried it and confirmed that it was still a little much. Once again, this may be something that you'll have to judge for yourself. And now it's occurring to me that I'll have to separate even this blog up into a few parts. Me and my love for detail.
My favorite parts of Adventureland are the princess-y parts. This might not make sense (princesses and fairies in the middle of the jungle? What?) but still:) Even my mother, who doesn't quite share the Disney love, fell in love with Pixie Hollow. It's a fun little place where you can meet Tinker Bell and one of the other fairies from the new series. This fairy is switched out throughout the day, so you might not get to meet your favorite one. The one I met I'd barely heard of before, but she really got into her character so I didn't mind. The room itself is full of oversized mushrooms, grass, etc. and is really pretty. The wait is in an AIRCONDITIONED room where clips of the fairies play. It was a surprisingly nice place. Ariel and Eric are right next door; their wait is outside but covered and shaded. The princes seem to come every other time a princess receives guests (Disney's smart enough to have a schedule of appearances but not kind enough to tell you specifics other than main characters).
However, the best part to me is "Magic Carpets of Aladdin." For those of you worried about getting spit on by a camel, don't fret. The stream is small and it's nearly impossible to get hit by it even if you try, which we did several times between our two rides. Like Dumbo, you can move the carpets up and down as you fly. This basically puts you in control of your ride experience, which is great. Younger riders can keep it low and steady and those of us wanting to have a little more fun -or just to give the parents a jolt- can go up and down and up and down as much as they please. Well, not really as much as they please, because sometimes the levers are a tad bit difficult. As you're waiting, make sure to look at the design of the ride's center. It's well decorated. We were fortunate enough to come early and see Aladdin and Jasmine ride; they move off to the side early on for character greetings. Take note that Aladdin is surprisingly enough one of the hit-or-miss princes. For those still wanting to get wet, there is another camel at the front that spits on you when you walk away, provided you're standing in the right spot.
My tips here: get here early for character greetings as lines pile up fast. No matter how big a fan of Tinkerbell you or your daughter is, don't miss her meet-and-greet or you'll miss the fantasy fairyland inside. If your little boy loves pirates, make sure he knows about different parts of the ride- please, ask around for HONEST opinions; many people try to make stuff sound less intense than it is just because they liked it (idk if this is the case, just saying)- before letting him on but don't rule it out, as I've heard it's an excellent experience for the movies' big fans. Don't skip over the carpets. It's always a short wait and if nothing else it's fun to try to get hit (or not!) by that camel. Try the Dole Whip, unless you're like me and don't think fruit and ice cream should cross worlds. It's a one of a kind taste experience that's supposed to be very, very good.
That's it for part one. Well this is taking longer than I thought and I didn't really even do stuff in this park...
Stay tuned for MKP2, which might be coming quite soon!:D
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