Disney 2008
Sponsored by Advil
Disney World
When I was originally approached about going on vacation with my sister’s family, I first thought about our 2002 trip to Disney World, where I had a good time almost in spite of myself. Still I don’t like traveling, as the experience never seems to out weight the expense.
With Sean and Tim being six years older, the family aspect of the vacation would be more fun. Having done it all before, I would be running into diminished returns. Suzanne suggested if I wanted to go, Santa Claus might take care the expenses. It’s been six years since I’ve had a vacation- I could use one. I always have fun when I go on vacation with Suzanne.
Read About Our Adventures
- 01/15 Flying from Fargo to Orlando, checking in and Downtown Disney
- 01/16 Epcot, Paul Diving
- 01/17 Magic Kingdom, Downtown Disney
- 01/18 Disney Hollywood Studios
- 01/19 Animal Kingdom, Boardwalk, Rainstorm
- 01/20 Disney Hollywood Studios with Sean, Yacht Club, Epcot, NFL
- 01/21 Epcot With Sean, Fireworks
- 01/22 Flying from Orlando to Fargo, Washington DC, Chicago
205 photos at www.flickr.com/photos/craigmaas if you don’t see all the photos you need to ask me for an invite as well over half the photos are private (any photo with Sean, Tim, Clare or Char in it)
I created a Google Map to show where some areas of interest are. I should probably put more items in, but this is what I got right now.
Disney World Parks
- Disney Hollywood Studios- my favorite park and not just because of Star Wars and Indiana Jones. It also has lots of movie activities and interesting shops.
- Epcot- this park has the most activities with Future World and World Showcase.
- Animal Kingdom- I like the real animals and some of the rides.
- Magic Kingdom- The original park and a large park, but it has the most plastic synthetic feel of the three parks. It also has a number of attractions that haven’t aged well.
cbc vs Disney
The cbc (Cheap Bastards Club) would never recommend Disney as it is expensive to visit, expensive to stay and expensive to eat there. I do have a couple minor notes.
The tickets get cheaper the longer you stay there. I only used the Park Hopper feature once and that was a mistake. I could see using the Park Hopper if you want to hit all the parks in two days. (I wouldn’t recommend this.)
Food portions aren’t bad. I shared a lot of meals with Sean and never went hungry. Find all the water fountains on the free park maps.
Most of the souvenirs are overpriced crap. I was just as happy with free maps, tickets, Fastpass stubs, chopsticks, and other odd things. Just as good, even better if they have dates and times on them. Go in the store try stuff on take a picture. You can always buy Disney stuff online, on sale later.
Speaking of Fastpass tickets, get a good book on Disney Vacations. “Walt Disney World: Birnbaum 2008 Guide” had lots of good inside information about getting around lines, saving money, and even things like which side of the tram gets wet.
Dad had an early flight out and didn’t want to wake us so he stayed in the lobby of the resort for three hours. This suggested something, which is extreme but it could be interesting. Book an early flight out. Check out of the resort a day early. Have Disney check your luggage. Enjoy the park all day and all evening. Maybe hit Downtown Disney for a night cap- it’s open until 2 AM. Get back to the resort, wait around for the bus to the airport. It makes for a very long day but you can sleep on the plane (or once you get home) and avoid a day in the expensive resort.
Writing On Vacation
In 2002, I brought our new Canon G1 digital camera, and Suzanne’s Apple iBook. I did some writing and posted photos while on vacation. For this vacation I thought about doing even more. I had my eye on a Sony Alpha A100 DSLR digital camera and could bring my Dell laptop. It would be easy to blog with the laptop and post daily photos to Flickr.com. I didn’t get the Alpha. I would bring my pocket Fuji F10 digital camera. I checked with Disney Resorts. There is no free broadband in the rooms. It’s a $20/day add. There is wi-fi in the lobby but that’s $5/hour. I could still post using dial-up. I decided to travel light. I did examine the possibilities of bring a device to write with. I found some small light devices, but in the end they weren’t much better than the laptop I already have. In the 1980s I learned I didn’t have to write my journal while on vacation. If I took notes, it’s easy to write up a journal when I get back. So I brought a little pocket Moleskine along for my notes. This was perfect. At no point during the vacation did I feel up to writing about our adventures. There were one or two evenings when I couldn’t bring myself to jot down notes. (The next morning I would get up early and take care of it.)
When I got home I did not intend to write a finished piece about our 2008 Disney World vacation but I started to transcribe my notes and flesh them out a bit. As I finished each day’s notes, I posted them to my blog (see above). I also went through our photos (almost 800) and post 205 of them on Flickr.com.
