All Rileyed Up

My favorite Disneyworld park is Epcot. I went here the year it opened and fell in love with it and it “big golf ball.” I adored Figment, and to this day, will always stop and take a picture with Figment or any Figment images I come across. Now, I have many an amusing memory associated with my visits to Epcot (the junior high years are particularly silly), but my favorite visit would have to be the last visit I made.

It was 2003. Husband and I were visiting my family in Florida. The Boy was just a baby. Little No Limit was a Little Not Yet.

I had gone on and on to Husband about how he just had to go on the Imagination ride — it was the best, the greatest, my favorit-est ever ride (spoken like an 8-year-old). Well, well, well… imagine my surprise to get on that ride and find out they’d changed it. Disappointingly, the Imagination ride is not nearly as cool as the way it was when it first came out.

We got off the ride in awkward silence. Husband said, “That was a great ride, honey” in a voice that clearly didn’t mean it, and I was still trying to stutter out an answer/explanation when Big Brother said in an truly disturbed voice, “That’s not the way the ride used to be.” And right then and there, my plan to go on the ride three times came to an abrupt halt.

Epcot more than made up for Imagination, though, with their the G-force ride (Mission:SPACE) which really is as fast as they claim, and, of course, the World Village. At least The Maelstrom ride hasn’t changed. Every bit as entertaining as it was in my childhood, with the “Oh no! We’re going to go over the edge!” fear still intact. We also bought Iron Chef T-shirts in the Japan pavilion because we were huge fans of the show at the time, but best of all was the discovery of the Little Miss and Mr. books. You know the ones I’m talking about, by Roger Hargreaves. I remember my teachers in second and third grade reading them aloud to us. I just thought they were hilarious. I realize these books can be purchased anywhere, but I hadn’t seen them in years, and I had just had my own child and realized I could share these books with him. I bought six.

That was my souvenir from Epcot that day. Books that can be bought anywhere, and bear no image of Figment or Mickey Mouse or the Geosphere (AKA big golf ball). But they serve the purpose of a souvenir better than any souvenir I ever did buy at Disney. Every time I flip them open to read to The Boy and Little No Limit (who love them as much as I did), I think about that trip and how I found the books in the World Village. And I feel giddy, like a kid. “I-maaaaa-gi-naaation” flitters through my head and a smile involuntarily makes it onto my face. Which is probably just the right way to feel when I’m reading aloud about Little Miss Trouble and Mr. Nosy.

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This post inspired by a memory question from Orlando Fun Tickets. Want to go to Disney? Buy your Disney Tickets from them.

Come along and sing a song and join the jamboree! M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E.

Mickey Mouse!

Mickey Mouse!

Forever let us hold our banner high!

I’ve talked about my love for Disney before.

They say Disneyworld is the happiest place on earth.

And they say Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.

So Christmas at Disneyworld would mean you’re spending the most wonderful time of the year at the happiest place on earth, which should result in some sort of double ecstasy, right?

Yes, right.

If I lived in Florida right now, I would totally buy Disney world tickets for Mickey’s A Very Merry Christmas party.

I’ve spent many a day of Christmas fun at Disneyworld. I grew up a couple hours north of it and my family drove down all the time. Those were the days when a road trip was a road trip – no seat belt laws, no in-car DVD players, just me and my brothers and sister left to our own acrobatic devices in a big van while my parents drove. The ride to Disneyworld often involved lots of discussion on which rides we were to definitely get on (Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Tea Cups) and which attractions would not be of interest (Hall of Presidents, Dumbo – that line was always too long to make it worth it). In between discussions, I usually got carsick. Then we arrived at Disneyworld and all was better. The ride home often consisted of four passed out children and two tired adults.

Being in California now, I still have close access to a Disney park, but no matter how often I go to Disneyland, Disneyworld will always have a special place in my heart. Disneyworld, where Cinderella’s castle beats out Sleeping Beauty’s and where Space Mountain and Splash Mountain are cooler. Disneyworld, the park I associate with home, with being a child, with growing up. It’s hard to beat nostalgia. Which is why I really wish I could be in Florida right now, to go to Mickey’s A Very Merry Christmas Party.

Throughout December, Mickey and the gang will be celebrating the holidays in the lands of the Magic Kingdom, complete with fireworks, snow, and hot cocoa and cookies for one and all. Mmm… cookies. There is, in true Disney fashion, a Christmas parade, as well as a visit from Old St. Nick, and yes, Cinderella’s castle is decorated with no less than 200,000 lights. Think what you want, but Disney knows how to throw a party. You can even catch a rendition of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas in Tomorrowland. Does anyone else think that’s ironic? (“night before” vs “tomorrowland”)

So if you like Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck and Goofy and Pluto and all those other guys, buy Disney World Tickets for Mickey’s A Very Merry Christmas Party.

And if anyone wants to buy some tickets for me and family, along with plane tickets, I’d be ever so grateful. (I’m just kidding.)

(But seriously, if you want to…)

My sister bought this at a garage sale for five bucks. Not bad, eh?

For more pix on other posts, go here.

Here’s an interesting article on Disney’s planned renovations to the Small World ride, sent to me by Brassy Girl. Per her recommendations, be sure to read the last few lines.

How’s that leftover Halloween candy tasting to you now?