What is the appeal of Mickey Mouse?

Why would it? It's just a venue. You're not in the ticket-selling part of the park. The bride and groom rent the venue; the guests just show up like they would at any other wedding. No charge even for parking (which is behind the main park).

 

OK, I'll chime in here. I too never understood the Mickey Mouse fascination (and why the fuck do his ears move around his head? When Mickey turns to the side, he has a fucking ear ON TOP OF HIS HEAD!!!!)

Two years ago, my dad took the whole clan to Disney World. Epcot is as boring as anything, and so damn spread out. Did have some decent food in the Morocco area though.

The Animal Kingdom ... meh. Lot of people for these narrow walkways. It was OK.

Magic Kingdom has some good rides. If you get the passes to ride at a specific time, you can significantly cut down on your wait time. My daughters got to meet the princesses and eat dinner in Cinderella's castle (can't imagine what the hell it cost my dad). But they enjoyed it., and goodness knows the trip wasn't for me or my wife.

I really liked Hollywood Studios. My son went crazy for the Indiana Jones stunt show, the Aerosmith roller coaster was the best I'd ever been on, and there were just a lot of neat things to do there.

Of course, my personal highlight was seeing Jack Nicholson's axe from The Shining.

 

Probably the worst big (i.e., non-kiddie) coaster I've ever been on, next to the old Batman one at Six Flags Magc Mountain. Just goes to show how tastes are different.

Rock N Roller Coaster: 32 seconds of glory, with an Aerosmith soundtrack. And don't forget that horrific studio opening, complete with Steven Tyler's oh-so-cool "How do, people?"

Has a great launch, though.

Is Warner still producing new shorts?

 

Everyone knows all the cool kids watch Nickleodeon.

I went on a Disney cruise this summer with the family and it was fun. My mom wanted to give my nephew (who has Asperger's) a Disneyland experience without submitting him to the crowds and noises of Disneyland which he wouldn't handle well.
I kicked ass in the trivia contests (won four, sports, music, TV and movies) but was WAAAY out of my league on the Disney trivia. It was kind of scary that people knew which ride WASN'T at EuroDisney and what special "land" was at TokyoDisney. And I'd never heard about Club 33 (look it up). Not to mention the people that had suitcases full of Disney pins and collectibles to trade and made a point of hitting each new Disney attraction, park, cruise destination etc. in the first year. It was like ComicCon for Disney fans. Hell - I'm not going to knock them - I like sports.
But it was interesting - they even had princess nights when little girls would dress up in the princess outfits and pose with Cinderella, Snow White and The Little Mermaid, I'm sure many a doctoral dissertation has been written on the princess myth and what it means to feminism.

 

As Orlando amusement parks go, Disney is a better experience (and has world-class guest relations) but Universal has better rides.

 

I'd never do it, but don't you ever want to tell these kids what happened in the original versions of these stories? Cinderella's stepsisters chopped off parts of their feet trying to make them fit into her slipper and then pigeons pecked their eyes out.

And the Little Mermaid watched the prince she loved marry somebody else and then threw herself into the sea. (Ok, there is some happy crap about her earning an immortal soul by refusing to murder the prince to save herself, but that's no fun).

 

This is true. Islands of Adventure is great.

It's also why Disneyland is superior to all. Better rides. WDW has nothing that touches Indiana Jones, Roger Rabbit or the Matterhorn.

 

One of the most recent is this book:

 

So that's where Chef got the idea for his toe.

 

We did the meal plan, which was a pretty good deal. It also allowed us to have meals with the characters, which my kids went nuts for...