Disney Confessions

This blog post is inspired by a thread on the DIS called “What is your Disney shameful secret”. Even an uber Disney fan like me ends up with some things that she must confess from time to time, and I thought it might make for an interesting entry here. :) Not all of these are shameful really.

1. I have never ridden Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom. It was always too cold to get wet, or I didn’t want to walk around in wet jeans on all my previous trips. I have an elaborate plan involving numerous ponchos for riding it in November without getting wet.

2. A Dole Whip has never passed my lips. In fact, I’d never even heard of them until I started reading the disboards where people were raving about them. Sounded like something I’d like to try until I read what they are. I’m not even mildly interested in trying one.

3. A few of you know this, but this one is huge: Haunted Mansion scares the ever loving heck out of me. I ride it every trip hoping *this* will be the time that I’m not holding back screams of fear, but each time I’m still scared stiff. I know it’s meant to be funny and campy, but the graveyard at the end really gets me. I think it’s the stuff that pops up there. I rode this ride alone on my last trip and wanted to die. To prep for November, I’ve read the entire Doom Buggies site and am fairly sure I can ride HM this time without fear.

4. I love the It’s a Small World ride but only recently. You would think that riding it over and over with Katelyn and Joshua would make me go insane, but it did quite the opposite. Getting to see it through a child’s eyes as they adore each part of the ride and point out things like “Look! It’s those silly geese that Aunt Joanna loves!” makes it into pure joy. Besides, that ride is so busy that even on the 10th ride of the day, you still see things you didn’t see before. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized the white room at the end was a mega mix of all the countries. Maybe that’s more because I didn’t pay attention. IaSW isn’t cool to enjoy when you’re a teen. I’d love to learn the song in all the languages on the ride.

5. Snow White’s Scary Adventure made me cry so hard when I was a 5 year old child that I never wanted to ride it again. In fact, I’m not sure it had the “this ride is super scary” warning on it when I was a child. I think that’s a good addition. I rode this one alone as an adult and once again, I had to look for the “happy” stuff, so I wasn’t curled up in a ball in the back of the car! That was more mental than actual fear though, and I ended up really liking the ride.

6. As a child I cried through Epcot. I cried so much that my father had to carry me through that part. Everything scared me. (Maybe that’s because we went the day after I’d been through the horrors of HM and SWSA!) As an adult, Epcot is typically my favorite park. (Depends on the day, sometimes my fave is MK.) I could spend days there exploring the countries.

7. I could spend all my snack credits in the Boulangerie Patisserie in France. This time I’m going to try School Bread in Norway though.

8. I went on Dumbo with Katelyn and Joshua and was secretly relieved that our Dumbo wouldn’t go up and down. When we went up high automatically I realized that Dumbo not having a door that shuts makes me have irrational fears of falling out. Despite this, I want to ride the Astro Orbiter in November. You have to take an elevator to get up to it, and it’s Dumbo in space ships basically. I kinda think I might come off of it white knuckled, but if I can make myself concentrate on how awesome the view is, I might be ok.

9. I fell off a horse on Cinderella’s Royal Carousel (now Prince Charming Regal Carousel). Maybe fell is the wrong word. Did you know the horses on the outside ring go higher than that ones in each concentric circle moving toward the center of the carousel? I didn’t know that either until I placed Katelyn on a horse in the middle and took the horse on the outside for myself.

Just my luck, my horse stopped at the end of the ride at the highest point it could be. Katelyn ended up watching Aunt Joanna make a fool of herself while waiting to be helped off of her own horse. I held on to the pole and “dismounted” from the horse only to realize I was dangling at least 2 feet from the ground. Ended up letting go and more or less falling not so gracefully to the floor. Could not stop randomly giggling over it once I got off the ride. Pic below is me before the fall. :D

10. I’ve never been to Animal Kingdom. I know it’s not a zoo, but when I love the other 3 parks so much, I can’t see myself going to AK. LaRae and Randy didn’t like it that much on their honeymoon, so with that glowing recommendation, I’ve been less than eager to head over there. I’ll go in November, and I’ll give it a fair shot, but if I’m not in awe by the end of the day, I’m not likely to return.

11. When I read news stories about people dying from brain hemorrhages and such after riding a roller coaster, it makes me panic, so each time I get on Rockin’ Roller Coaster I say a prayer and hope it isn’t my last day on Earth. That doesn’t stop me from riding though. At Hollywood Studios I make a small circuit riding RnRC and Tower of Terror over and over again!

12. Some family out there has a picture of themselves on Tower of Terror with me in the side of the car fixing my bangs after a drop. I love sudden drops, but I apparently was more worried about my hair when the picture was taken! :D I kinda wish I’d bought that one.

13. Looking at my list, I realize I scare easily (but really it’s just unsecured heights and things jumping out at me). Last one that mildly scares me at WDW? Characters. Face characters I can handle, but I never really know quite what to say to them. Characters (kids over your ears) in costumes give me a bit of a panicky feeling right in the pit of my stomach. Have I told you about my Baloo the Bear experience from high school?! We found him in a dark corner in Adventureland without a handler. When I went to have my friends take a picture of me with him, I walked up and held his hands. He turned me around in his arms to where my arms were crossed in front of me, so I was wrapped in a big bear hug. After the picture was taken, he absolutely would not let go. My friends, not reading the freaked out smile on my face, thought I wanted more pictures taken, so they took more (which I still have)! When I muttered “ok seriously not funny! Let me go!” he finally released me. You never know who’s in there. Now I just let the magic take me into the right frame of mind, run up to characters with my niece and nephew, and get photos with the real deal characters. I mean *that* was Stitch, right there!!!

14. I love the “boring” rides like Carousel of Progress, the Magic Kingdom Express, and especially the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and Living with the Land.

15. I didn’t know there was a ride in Mexico in Epcot until January of 2009. However, now that I know it’s there and think it’s hilarious, I could ride it over and over!

16. As a math lover and Disney fanatic, I’d love someday to make a model of Spaceship Earth.

17. Final confession: Walt Disney World is my happy place. When I’m stressed at work or tired of my life, I day dream about being at WDW. It’s the one place where I forget my life outside, and I let the pixie dust take me into a world of magic and joy. There is no work. There are no angry parents. I don’t have too much to do and not enough time to do it. I just have this moment, this place, and this childlike wonder that puts a goofy smile on my face and a song constantly in my heart.
I have more, but I’ll stop here. Maybe I’ll do a second installment after I get back from my next trip. Hope you enjoyed some of those. More than that, I hope that you have a happy place like I have at WDW. When I say I’m going to WDW, and you say “again??!!” my answer will always be a dumbfounded “well yeah”. If I’m not at WDW, I’m planning my next trip there, and that, my friends, is a wonderful thing.

**Editor’s Note: Pardon my look in these pics. They are old, and I look quite a bit different now. :D