MarkBarbieri
Semi-retired
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2006
Barbieri’s December 2006 Disney World Trip Report
I didn’t take good notes on the trip, so this is all from memory. My memory isn’t as good as I remember it being, so I might have gotten a few things wrong. I think I was able to piece it together pretty well from looking back at our pictures.
We were at the parks from December 2nd to December 9th. The trip included myself, my wife, my two sons (ages 7 and 4), my parents, and thousands and thousands of strangers.
I’ve gotten to where I hate airline travel. Getting through the airport seems to be more and more of a hassle on every trip. The new X-Ray machines are just excessive.
They delayed our flight for what they claimed were “mechanical problems.”
I'm glad that we relied on Disney transportation rather than driving. The tourists in Florida drive like maniacs.
We even drove past a really nasty accident on our way to the park.
My wife wanted to stay at a hotel with a Hollywood theme. We ended up at The Hollywood Tower Hotel in MGM. I’m sure it was a nice hotel in its heyday, but it seemed rather run down during our stay. In fact, the main elevators weren’t even working so we ended up on the service elevator. Even those were somewhat erratic.
We met some real Hollywood phonies there. The kids thought they were cool, but we could see right through them.
We did have a nice view from our room.
The kid's had their usual fight over who gets what part of the room. As usual, they blew the whole thing out of proportion.
My younger son wasn't too thrilled with the high speed tanning salon.
Once we got into the park, we found that it was packed with kids. The stroller traffic was unbelievable.
The weather was disappointing. I was expecting warm Florida weather, but it was so cold that people were doing anything to stay warm.
The parks were much bigger than we expected. In order to save our legs, we rented some Segways.
I had been told that Disney themed everything perfectly. I was really disappointed when the first place we went, the Land Pavilion, didn’t make any sense at all. It had two major rides – a hang glider and a boat. They should have called it the "Not on Land Pavilion."
The goofs didn’t stop there. At the Norway pavilion, the boat was stranded about 100 feet from the World Showcase Lagoon. So much for the Norwegian's legendary prowess on the water.
I was also disappointed with the GM pavilion. It's pretty clear that they still don't understand how to build a decent small car.
You could tell that a lot of things were done on the cheap. I tried to watch a movie but it was really blurry. To trick people into not noticing how bad the film was, they suckered the audience into putting on sunglasses.
They didn’t enforce the rules very well. They kept insisting that I keep my hands inside the car at all times. That was all talk. They never hassled this guy and there wasn't a bit of him inside the car.
I had hoped to get away from the things that make living in a big city so dreary. I was really sad to see that even Disney World is having problems with graffiti.
The crowds were terrible. I was always told that early December was a quiet time at the parks, but we had to wait an hour just to see the Swiss Family Robinson treetop home.
Make sure that you bring all the change you need for your trip. We had the worst problem with change machines eating our money.
Be careful eating outside in the parks. We saw a lot of really aggressive birds.
One positive thing is that the French have started labeling things more honestly.
I was surprised at how excited the kids got. When the kids got a chance to play in Dinoland, they went completely wild. I'm not sure what it is about dinosaurs that make kids lose their heads.
The commercialism at the parks is getting terrible. They interrupted the Festival of the Lion King Show for a "Tough Actin' Tinactin" commercial. Why do advertisers always over dramatize things? I'm sorry, but the burning sensation from athlete’s foot really isn't this bad.
Even the trains at the park were in a surprisingly bad state of disrepair.
It's no wonder that they were often empty.
I heard a lot before our trip about “Hidden Mickeys.” I think this was the only one that we saw.
As much fun as the trip was, I think that I need to expose my kids to more than just Disney. That was really clear when my oldest son told an old Jewish man wearing a kippah (skullcap) not to worry because “someday you’ll earn your ears.”
Overall, it was a good trip. I just wish I remembered it a little more clearly.
I didn’t take good notes on the trip, so this is all from memory. My memory isn’t as good as I remember it being, so I might have gotten a few things wrong. I think I was able to piece it together pretty well from looking back at our pictures.
We were at the parks from December 2nd to December 9th. The trip included myself, my wife, my two sons (ages 7 and 4), my parents, and thousands and thousands of strangers.
I’ve gotten to where I hate airline travel. Getting through the airport seems to be more and more of a hassle on every trip. The new X-Ray machines are just excessive.
They delayed our flight for what they claimed were “mechanical problems.”
I'm glad that we relied on Disney transportation rather than driving. The tourists in Florida drive like maniacs.
We even drove past a really nasty accident on our way to the park.
My wife wanted to stay at a hotel with a Hollywood theme. We ended up at The Hollywood Tower Hotel in MGM. I’m sure it was a nice hotel in its heyday, but it seemed rather run down during our stay. In fact, the main elevators weren’t even working so we ended up on the service elevator. Even those were somewhat erratic.
We met some real Hollywood phonies there. The kids thought they were cool, but we could see right through them.
We did have a nice view from our room.
The kid's had their usual fight over who gets what part of the room. As usual, they blew the whole thing out of proportion.
My younger son wasn't too thrilled with the high speed tanning salon.
Once we got into the park, we found that it was packed with kids. The stroller traffic was unbelievable.
The weather was disappointing. I was expecting warm Florida weather, but it was so cold that people were doing anything to stay warm.
The parks were much bigger than we expected. In order to save our legs, we rented some Segways.
I had been told that Disney themed everything perfectly. I was really disappointed when the first place we went, the Land Pavilion, didn’t make any sense at all. It had two major rides – a hang glider and a boat. They should have called it the "Not on Land Pavilion."
The goofs didn’t stop there. At the Norway pavilion, the boat was stranded about 100 feet from the World Showcase Lagoon. So much for the Norwegian's legendary prowess on the water.
I was also disappointed with the GM pavilion. It's pretty clear that they still don't understand how to build a decent small car.
You could tell that a lot of things were done on the cheap. I tried to watch a movie but it was really blurry. To trick people into not noticing how bad the film was, they suckered the audience into putting on sunglasses.
They didn’t enforce the rules very well. They kept insisting that I keep my hands inside the car at all times. That was all talk. They never hassled this guy and there wasn't a bit of him inside the car.
I had hoped to get away from the things that make living in a big city so dreary. I was really sad to see that even Disney World is having problems with graffiti.
The crowds were terrible. I was always told that early December was a quiet time at the parks, but we had to wait an hour just to see the Swiss Family Robinson treetop home.
Make sure that you bring all the change you need for your trip. We had the worst problem with change machines eating our money.
Be careful eating outside in the parks. We saw a lot of really aggressive birds.
One positive thing is that the French have started labeling things more honestly.
I was surprised at how excited the kids got. When the kids got a chance to play in Dinoland, they went completely wild. I'm not sure what it is about dinosaurs that make kids lose their heads.
The commercialism at the parks is getting terrible. They interrupted the Festival of the Lion King Show for a "Tough Actin' Tinactin" commercial. Why do advertisers always over dramatize things? I'm sorry, but the burning sensation from athlete’s foot really isn't this bad.
Even the trains at the park were in a surprisingly bad state of disrepair.
It's no wonder that they were often empty.
I heard a lot before our trip about “Hidden Mickeys.” I think this was the only one that we saw.
As much fun as the trip was, I think that I need to expose my kids to more than just Disney. That was really clear when my oldest son told an old Jewish man wearing a kippah (skullcap) not to worry because “someday you’ll earn your ears.”
Overall, it was a good trip. I just wish I remembered it a little more clearly.
Your photos, as ever, are so good. Thanks for sharing this with us!
