Monthly Archive for April, 2010

When asked what the best thing about the parks is, the obvious answer is probably “attractions!” The attractions make up a large part of what makes Disney great, because when Disney does something they give it 150% percent. This isn’t your hometown amusement park, Disney is pretty much “theme” park to a T.

Attractions, however, is a catchall term for the things that really attract people to the park – rides, shows, fireworks, concerts. In Disney’s case, one could even say the restaurants, shops, and generally everything there should be considered and attraction (but that’s a discussion for another time).

While KP and I both love Disney attractions, what part of attractions that we like tends to differ. Don’t get me wrong, we love everything there. But the two of us have our preferences… things that top our list of stuff we just gotta do when we’re there!

For KP that would be the shows and fireworks. Many an hour was spent sitting and scoping out a good spot to watch various shows, or showing up early to get a good seat in the theater. I do vividly recall sitting about two hours on frigid concrete to get the prime seating to see the second show of Fantasmic. I even recall as we were buying some Mickey Ice Cream bars from one of the carts just in New Orleans Square that KP and our friend C refused to watch the first show of Fantasmic because they didn’t want to spoil it, and the view where we were wasn’t that great. I on the other hand had no problem watching as the chimney sweeps danced away at the top of the riverboat – and unfortunately for the girls, the chimney sweeps didn’t make an appearance at the second show.

Mickey kicks off Fantasmic!

Now I like seeing a show or the fireworks as much as the next person, but at the end of that night I was chilled through to the bone. Sitting around all that extra time to see a show when I could be doing or seeing something else in the parks isn’t my cup of tea.

Myself on the other hand, I prefer the rides. Disney does ride theming to the max, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a classic dark ride, a kiddy ride, or an E-ticket ride – I love ‘em. I will try to ride my favourite ones as many times as possible. I probably drive KP nuts with wanting to go on the same things over and over again – can you say riding Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye a bajillion times in a 5-day trip? Oh yeah, I love it! But after the third… fourth… fifth time, there are other things we could be doing and seeing.

So what do we do when we go to the parks together?

Ah the beauty of compromise.

I sit on cold concrete for several hours, and KP rides the same thing a bajillion times. Sometimes we split up and go our own ways (particularly when KP wants to stand in a three hour plus lineup for the Princesses… sorry KP, but the call of Space Mountain was strong!). Most of the time though, we take turns deciding what to do.

“Okay, we’ll go and grab Fast Passes for Indiana Jones…”

“And then go grab great spots for the Parade of Dreams, and by the time it’s over…”

“Our return time for Indy will have come up!”

Andy and C waiting for the Parade of Dreams.

And yeah, I could have ridden Indiana Jones one extra time, and maybe KP could have gotten an even better spot along the parade route…

But if we hadn’t ridden Indy so many times, would we have made a game out of figuring out what the symbols on the walls meant (without using the key)? Or if we didn’t go so early to see the fireworks so early, would we have had such a riot freezing our butts off, taking turns to dash through the park to have hot food, and taken in the beautiful lights on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle?

Script on the queue walls at Indiana Jones.

Probably not. We would have missed some of that magic if we hadn’t compromised.

So remember, even if you go to the parks with a set plan in mind… make sure you’re flexible and try to compromise. Because you never know what you might miss.