Disney, and a sucky thing about technology

Brooke and I were recently in Orlando to visit a few parks.  It was such a nice little getaway, just her and I, which is kind of unusual these days.

Anyway, the last time we were at the parks was a few years ago. Several things have changed since we were last there - they've added a new section to Magic Kingdom with a few new rides and attractions, they've tweaked a few things at Epcot.  I also noticed a few minor changes at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.  

But I have to say that the most noticeable and distressing difference was how many people were on their cellphones or iPads, at the park and during the time of the fun with friends or family.  I was seriously shocked, no kidding.  And I really enjoy my cellphone!  Every single line that we were on, approximately 75% of the people waiting had their eyes facing down at their screens.  They'd even clog the line because they were too distracted to notice that people ahead of them had moved forward.  There was such a complete lack of interest in anything that was happening outside of their handheld devices, their virtual worlds.

How sad is that?!  You're at Disney World! The most magical god damned place on Earth!  Why can't people look at each other and talk to each other?

I get that lines can be long and sucky, I really do. I'm sure using games or perusing Facebook helps pass the time. But nobody was even interacting!  Not that it has to be a party-like atmosphere at all times or anything, but like, nobody seemed to be bouncing around with excitement at almost being on a ride.  It didn't seem like anyone was talking about what might be ahead, about what was around the next corner, about what to expect on the ride or at the attraction, or what they were going to do next after the ride.

Parents were distracted on their phones, kids were busy on their devices...  like, "no big deal... it's only Disney World..."

I used my cellphone for a few things, for sure. I used it as a camera. It was nice not to have to lug around my DSLR, and the quality of my iPhone camera is pretty good. I used it to check on wait times for certain attractions. I didn't want to trek a mile to the Tower of Terror if the line was 75 minutes long, so that was convenient.  I also used it to remind myself what times my Fast Passes were. But jeez, going through the parks, so many people were walking with their faces down, completely missing all of the cool and awesome things surrounding them.  
Maybe I'm dumb, and maybe I should be normalized to such a thing, but I really was surprised and sad about it.  My ten-year-old kid even said, "Why are so many people not even paying attention?  We're at Disney!"

How in the world are people going to get back to actually being in the moment, instead of "kind of near" the moment?  Do people even want to?

A while back, I was walking to the beach with my kids and some family, and I was carrying my iPhone in such a way that you could see the sky and the clouds - I was trying to get a cool shot for Instagram.  So I said to Megan, "Hey Meg, look at how blue the sky looks on my phone!"  And her response was, "Or you could actually look at the real sky," and she pointed upwards.

And I was like, oh wow.  It was a huge eye-opener, a light bulb moment, and she was totally right.  The real sky and being in the moment is so much better than a picture.

I just hope people haven't already completely forgotten that...

wtf walt disney

Have you ever taken a moment and just thought what exactly the five classic Disney movie/stories are really about?  I mean, honestly, it just occurred to me that they are all pretty dark and demented and rather scary.

I guess I always knew Bambi was scary.  Like hello?  Who thought that a story about a sweet little baby deer witnessing his mom get a cap in her ass was a great idea?  Was that Walt's great idea?  Well if it was, who knew Walt had such a skewed idea of what was an appropriate bedtime tale for your average kid.

And Dumbo.  Poor Dumbo.  So someone also thought it was a good idea to write a story about an elephant that everyone else made fun of.  Those jerk bully animals teased poor Dumbo about his big ears.  It must have been during a time period before the "pinning your ears back" plastic surgery was all the rage.  And his name... Dumbo.  As in DUMB-bo.  How's that for your self-esteem, kid?  And then the mean guys go ahead and lock his mom in a cage and call her a crazy.  Were these stories supposed to put kids to sleep?  Because, um.  I'm thinking no.

Then we have Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  First of all, of course Snow White is a slave-maid to her mean old stepmother/Queen.  Then we find out that the stepmother/Queen is actually a jealous murderous betch who tells this lumberjack guy to go and cut SW's heart out and put it in a box.  Very Jack the Ripper-ish.  Somehow I'm finding it hard to believe that at this point my five year old would be dozing off peacefully while sucking her thumb. 

Anyway, then we find out that Snow White runs away and breaks into a house owned by a bunch of weird little guys who seem to do a lot of simultaneous and irritating whistling.  So apparently she's a juvenile delinquent slave-maid.  Finally, the story ends with the stepmother poisoning poor Snow White, then the stepmother subsequently falls to her death and gets herself mashed by a huge rock.  Yeahyeah, Snow White lives happily ever after, probably suffering PTSD and heavily medicated, but still, happily ever after.  Once again, that's some scary shit, Walt.  Did you not have kids of your own?

All I am going to say about Fantasia is that not only was Walt dark and scary, I am pretty sure he was a stoner too.  If you ever actually get the gumption to watch Fantasia, you're definitely going to want to get high.  The attraction at Disney World?  Super cool, a must-see.  The movie?  Weird as shit.  And rather long and tedious.

And last but not least, Pinocchio.  You know, the kid/puppet who is a damn liar.  And have you ever heard of Pleasure Island?  (wink wink)  It seems like little Pinocchio may have also been a perv.  So pretty much Pinocchio is a pervy wooden puppet, who turns into a naughty boy with a big nose who turns into a half-ass/donkey who turns back into a puppet and then gets eaten by a whale.  Seriously Walt?  Who makes this stuff up? 

I have a lot more to say about the rest of those Disney movies, but frankly, I am feeling slightly traumatized by accidentally reviewing these particular five classics.  I'm tapping out of this post.  I will continue with my review of the next five Disney movies at a later date.

You're welcome. 

a jealous heart

Ali, Ty and the kids went to Florida for the week. I really wanted to go too, but it just wasn't happening for us this year. It's so hard for Alex to take time off between the New Year and July - he's just so busy at work when the legislature is in session. Last year at this time though, we packed a bunch of stuff, piled into the car and headed to Disney. We got a cool deal that included our "resort" as well as tickets to all of the parks for the week.

Yes, I put resort in quotes for a good reason. Our "resort" was a trailer with logs on it, basically. We stayed in the Fort Wilderness campground, which also has cabins - or "trailers with logs on them." (sorry, I seem to be very "quotey" in this post) I have to tell you, it was the best week I ever had in Disney -- love love loved the place we stayed, and it absolutely worked perfectly for our family.

We had an awesome week, the ride down was so shockingly pleasant that I would have no trouble making the trek again. Who could imagine an overloaded minivan complete with three kids and two parents, on a 20 hour drive would ever be described as pleasant?

I know, right??!

I was definitely feeling cranky and envious when Ali, Ty and the kids left Saturday, looking happy and excited, overloaded car and all. I wanted to go too!!! Then Alex went and told me not to have a jealous heart.

I think a jealous heart is green, and I guess having a throbbing green heart is not all that appealing to me. So I got over it.

Sorta.