I've been neglecting this for a few weeks, partly because the next book on the list took me a while to read; partly because shortly after I finished reading it I went on vacation with my family.
Family vacations are always a learning experience for me. You'd think after all this time, I'd know these people pretty well, and I do, but there are usually a few surprises nonetheless. This time we set our sights especially high, particularly considering the state of the world, and went to Disney World. I've been to Disneyland several times before, including twice as an adult, one of which was also a family vacation. But none of us had ever been to Disney World before and so my sister The Planner (the other one that I don't live with, mother to five of my seven niblings) organized it all.
First of all, it is SO MUCH BIGGER than Disneyland, with twice as many parks. Epcot alone occupies THREE TIMES more space than Disneyland does; a person gets exhausted just looking at it. Secondly, they're spaced far enough apart that you have to drive to them separately, so park-hopping isn't really a thing. We opted to spend a day in each, in this order:
- Hollywood Studios: The closest equivalent to California Adventure, this is basically the home of the Star Wars part, Galaxy's Edge, as well as the Tower of Terror and a few other things. The most popular ride right now is Rise of the Resistance, which I enjoyed. The only other ride I went on was a Mickey and Minnie train thing, which was fun. And I watched a Muppet movie; I like Muppets. We also had lunch at a 50s diner that we really liked.
- Animal Kingdom: The best part of this was the safari, which was really amazing, even for someone like me who is largely indifferent to animals. There's a whole area devoted to Avatar, about which I cared not at all, but it was neat-looking. (Expedition Everest I took one look at and said NOPE.) Lunch was at a place I can't remember the name of, where I had ahi and demonstrated my chopstick skills to my father, and dinner was at Sanaa, an Indian/African fusion place which was my favorite of the whole trip. Seriously, if you go down there, you must try it; the food was incredible.
- Magic Kingdom: Basically Disneyland with some differences; for one, there's a lake in front of it that you have to cross by either ferry or monorail, which is kind of nifty and helps with the magic. It felt the most familiar to me, and both Peter Pan's Flight and the Haunted Mansion are better than Disneyland. Sadly, the train was closed, which is one of my favorite things in Disneyland (not least because it cuts down on the walking.) Lunch was at an Italian place that was aggressively fine.
- Epcot: I struggle with describing Epcot, because I didn't understand it at all before I went (and still kind of don't.) Plus my experience there was less than optimal, for the following reasons: one, it was REALLY warm, like 85 degrees; two, it's Florida so it was also like 80% humidity and the one thing I handle less well than heat is humidity; three, I was feeling kind of blech when I started the day, and it did not get better (more on that in a minute); four, as mentioned earlier, it's HUGE and I just couldn't cope with all the walking. So I wandered very slowly around the World Showcase, trying various foods (all of which were both delicious and initially blamed by me for what happened later). I met up with my parents, who were wandering in the opposite direction, at the America pavilion, and saw a presentation on American history, narrated by Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, which was both surprisingly stirring and deeply surreal. I sat on a lot of benches. I watched a lot of people drinking everywhere (seriously, it seemed like every single human who was not actively a child had some form of alcohol in a cup.) I eventually made it through Canada and slowly back to the entrance, where I gradually realized that the things I was feeling were not the episodes of something in the neighborhood of my gallbladder that I have been experiencing somewhat regularly for a while and which are usually subdued by painkillers, but in fact my digestive system in open revolt.
We also went to Universal; the Harry Potter part was great and I got to ride the Hogwarts Express, so I was happy about that (turns out that in addition to being a huge Harry Potter nerd, I also love trains. Who knew?) and I also saw a stunt show that I loved, but Universal remains massively underwhelming for me. (Cowfish was good though.)
Anyway, I thought the stomach thing might be food poisoning, but several other members of my family also developed similar issues, so it was probably some kind of virus, and most of us wrapped up the vacation a little early. I would still call it a success, because:
- My father, world's biggest space geek, got to visit Cape Canaveral and see Atlantis;
- My mother got to hear my youngest nephew say Grandma (he's said Papa for a while but refused to say Grandma because my family is an obstinate bunch and we don't do things until we are darn good and ready);
- We all got to see my niece who lives in Portland and celebrate her birthday;
- We experienced Disney World and spent some good time together.
Me, I prefer Disneyland overall; it's closer, it's more compact and it's just less work all around. Disney World seemed to me like the theme park equivalent of making "The Hobbit" into three movies: too much space and not enough interesting stuff. I also don't really care for rides much and theme parks are not my vacation of choice (anything that requires that much walking is, in my book, more work than relaxation). But I am grateful for the experience anyway, because I learned a lot and ate some good food and had a pleasant time. And really, what more can you ask from a vacation?
