Are you even kidding me?! I guess I just pushed "Delete Draft" instead of saving it, Andy... Because I'm nice (and only slightly OCD) I'll start over and try to remember everything I just spent typing for 20 minutes.
Totally agree. But there's not much that I like more than a stupid movie.
Stupid movies I have liked:
Princess Bride
My Cousin Vinnie (watch the vile language, but funny story line)
Anything Monty Python
Well, I haven't used that one either. But yes, it certainly does.
Apparently, some of these just simply need an explanation. I just don't get it....
Oh no. Not bad at all. I just wanted to make it perfectly clear the quantity of bacon that you caused to be consumed with that statement.
I approve. Pig meat<Any other food on the planet
Well, I have a hard time saying low ranker. Because I do love it. But over the years, I've grown up with the other parks. Even though MGM (DHS) didn't come along until my third trip when I was like 8 or so, it still feels like I grew up with that park and I remember a lot of things from that first visit and they were things I really enjoyed. Except for that stupid Alien scene in GMR. I had nightmares. Literally. I remember freaking out in the hotel room.
I grew up obviously loving MK and calling that my favorite park. Then I got a little bit older and MGM got something called Sunset Blvd complete with a few new rides, and it became my new favorite park. MK was for kids, EPCOT was boring, and DHS was where the fun was. We went in 1998 just about 3 months after AK opened. There just wasn't much there. At all. We did the safari and rode Dinosaur (I think) and there was a boat ride, or something like that. But that's really about all they had. And clearly my first memories of MGM are much more vivid than my first memories of this park. My first impression of the park as a whole was a letdown. I was 16 years old, it didn't have hardly any rides and it was still a bunch of construction walls. It just didn't appeal to me much at the time and I didn't get that great first impression or fantastic memories from that first visit like I have from the others. If that makes sense?
Kind of like the "it's not you, it's me" break up. It's not AK, it's me.
But anyway, my taste in parks has continued to morph. When we returned from our 10 year Disney drought in 2008 and I was there as an adult, EPCOT became my favorite park. When we went back in 2011 with DS on his first trip, I reverted back to MK as my favorite. AK has proven itself to be much better than my initial experience with it. It certainly is beautiful and probably the most well themed park of the group. I love visiting it. But it has just never really gained enough footing to hang with the 3 parks that were the Disney World that I grew up with.
And now they're adding Avatarland...
I can respect that. It's kinda an illustration of what I was trying to say earlier; a park's personal rating can only go as high as a first (or later) impression and the memories made in it.
AK was the lowest ranked for me too after my very first trip there in 2000. It was dismally lacking in anything to do and HOT. The landscaping was immature and we wandered around for a couple of hours wondering, "What the HECK?" I don't remember if we had PHs, but I remember going back to MK and feeling better that we'd redeemed our day. I vaguely remember something like every ticket back then was a PH??
Anyway, since then, the park has really grown on me. After our trip in 2010, and I was just getting excited about photography, it was "grown up". The plants had provided more shade, there was more to do.... BUT most of all, and this is what was the game changer for me: I had done my homework. I knew the backstory (those are really important to me), I knew what there was to do, what I wanted to see, where things were, etc... made all the difference in the world! I tend to think that of all the parks, it shows better than any other the detail and thought that went into the story and feel they wanted.
As for Avatar coming. Here's what I like about it- even having not seen the movie... yet. I like that every single time I go to WDW there is something new to see or do. I will go without a preconceived opinion and if I don't like it, I don't have to go back and there will STILL be plenty left to do at WDW for me to try out. Having said that, I doubt very highly that the new Land will be devoid of animals. Their overarching mission is animal preservation and it's the common theme that ties the entire park together. Well, that and sucking every last dollar from your wallet. Which is what ties every park, resort, snack, and souvenir together.
I think the animals will be on the quirky weird side and that's kind of fun, no? And I hope they add a thrill, but all that remains to be seen. Let's face it, we'll all check it out and form an opinion, right? :dontbeapartypooper:
It seems like I keep running into more and more people from that corner of the country around these boards all the time! Actually, I kind of wish I'd have been on the DIS about 2 years sooner than I was. I worked about 4 1/2 years for the USDA doing a lot of travel. I'd end up in the wheat country of Oregon/Washington/Idaho for about 3 weeks at a time at least once a year in addition to similar trips to other areas of the country. I could have gotten a lot of Dismeets in!
By the way, I loved my trips to the PNW. Beautiful country out there.
Although I love a lot about the PNW, I would still move to Florida at the first chance I get. That said, we have alpine, desert, rugged coast/beach, temperate, AND rain forest, riverfront, urban, and steppe-ish landscapes all within a 6 hour drive of anything else listed. "Hey, Hon, what kind of camping trip would you like to go on this holiday weekend?" You can choose ANY of them. That's pretty cool. AND to top it off, we have excellent craft beer (from what I'm told- I detest beer) to take along with you. If you don't like beer, we have the finest Pinot Noir in the country. If you still don't like that, we have the Trailblazers, who happened to kinda suck right now, compared to years past. Although that's still fair to middling relatively speaking.
So, your stay at Pop was like my stay at CSR.
It was brutal. Overcrowded and dirty pools - we never did swim because it was just nuts. Loud noise at all hours and someone literally trying to kick in my parents' hotel room door at 2 am.
Some ya win and some ya lose. POP was a loser for me, in general. Loud, obnoxious, rude guests, and just not very relaxing. I suppose if you're ok with a crowd who is there to party, cuss, smoke wherever they want and cut in lines at the Food Court, then I guess that's the resort for. I'm sure it's not always like that, but it left a bad taste in my mouth for sure. Sorry,
@englishrose47!! I know this is your home away from home!! It just wasn't my cup of tea.
Noted!
And the summer break will feel wonderful, I'm sure!
I'm outta here
I also LOVE Epcot for all the same reasons you do. I can't afford to go to Italy or Morocco right now. But I can go to World Showcase and that's pretty great. For me MK is almost a tie just because I like how the park is laid out. Everything is close together which makes it easier to cram in more stuff.
I get a lot of flak for saying I can take or leave AK. Not because it's not beautiful but because I live about 2 hours from a world class zoo (ranked 3rd best in the world, 2nd best in the states) so it feels like I could be putting my limited time at Disney to better use than strolling the trails. And since everything is so far apart stroll the trails you must. And honestly, if it wasn't for TSM I'd probably never go to DHS again. But I love TSM so I go.
