MouseStation 241 – Walt Disney World: A Kid’s-Eye View
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Run time 0:38:41
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Today’s show is sponsored by Advantage Vacation Homes, a great vacation home rental company that gives you a place to stay with lots more space than a regular hotel room for a lot less money.
Through the end of September, Advantage Vacation Homes has a limited number of three, four and five bedroom vacation homes, all with private pools, at a special low price of three-bedroom homes for $79 a night, four bedrooms for $89 a night and 5 bedrooms for $109 a night. Remember, this is a limited offer, and only good through the end of September. Go to AdvantageVacationHomes.com, and when you reserve online or by phone, make sure to tell them that you heard about them on MousePlanet.
For more information on what a vacation home is and what to expect when renting one, check out our interview of Fred Zorayq from Advantage Vacation Homes in Episode 219!
Featured topic: Walt Disney World – A Kid’s-Eye View
The Kid’s favorite attraction (and The Wife and Mark’s favorite attraction) was Toy Story Midway Mania. He really liked it because it was 3-D, it was like a carnival game, and “you only need one skill – pulling a string.” The Kid’s virtual prize was a bird (one level below the rabbit), The Wife won a virtual rabbit and Mark won a virtual cat (one level above the rabbit). The Kid wanted a rabbit and joked that he was going to steal The Wife’s rabbit. Mark had his all-time best score, and The Kid and The Wife did pretty well for first-timers. The Kid also complained that he didn’t get credit for everything that he hit.
The Kid’s favorite attraction that he’d done before was Mission: Space. Mark was floored that he liked it even more than Soarin’. We both recalled a morning that we spent going from Soarin’ to Mission: Space and back to Soarin’ (with Fastpasses this time). We neglected to mention that in between Soarin’ and Mission: Space we watched Da JAMMitors perform in the Innoventions West breezeway (and we spent some time chatting with Paulie after their set).
An attraction that we didn’t do but he would want to do if we had had more time is the Indiana Epic Stunt Spectacular.
If there was time to repeat one more attraction, we would have gone back to MuppetVision 3-D, but the timing was such that we only had time to hit Voyage of the Little Mermaid on our way out of the park that night. The Kid found a bunch to say about that show.
There wasn’t really anything that we did that we wouldn’t want to do again.
The Kid’s favorite nighttime spectacular is Illuminations (even without the Earth globe), with Fantasmic a strong secong and Wishes bringing up the rear.
The Kid’s favorite meal was the kids’ Mahi Mahi during lunch at the Coral Reef Restaurant (a new dish for him!), with kids’ chicken at the Flying Fish Cafe as runner-up.
He also enjoyed Boma and Donald’s Safari Breakfast at Tusker House (we had some good character interaction with Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy there). He also liked the chicken pizza at Olivia’s. There really wasn’t all that much that he didn’t like in the way of food, with the exception of the cassava cake at Boma. The chocolate fondue that was part of the dessert at Flying Fish Cafe got him sick, and we figured that it probably had carrageenan in it (which he has a reaction to).
DisneyQuest was a lot of fun (though Mark couldn’t fit into the restraints at CyberSpace Mountain because he couldn’t scrunch his shoulders down far enough without his belly sticking out too far). But we had a great time on virtual Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam, Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride, Animation Academy and the Create-a-Song booths, as well as the arcade of old-school video games. The Kid still didn’t get what TRON was all about.
The new attractions that The Kid did this trip that he hadn’t done before were Toy Story Midway Mania, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, The Great Movie Ride, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and the movies in China and Canada.
He also enjoyed everything at the Ski Patrol Traiining Camp at Blizzard Beach.
CHOC Walk/Team MousePlanet
For more information on supporting Team MousePlanet at this year’s CHOC Walk, go to the Team MousePlanet page or get information on the MousePad discussion forums.
Listener Feedback
George from Phoenix wrote in to say that he loves the Last Week on MousePlanet segment because it reminds him to go back to the site and check out articles that he met, which is exactly what it’s there for.
Matt Cox from Garden Grove, CA called in to say that he agrees with the earlier comment that we are the NPR of Disney, and that we remind him of when Bob Edwards and John Feinstein get together at the end of Morning Edition. Since he’s blind, he was wondering if Mark is balding or if he still has hair, because somehow Mark sounds personality-wise that he’s not all there but there may be some left. And since Matt used to work in the Peace Corps in Morocco, he was wondering what we thought of the pavilion. Oh, and he agrees with Mark that Nemo rules.
Mark wasn’t offended at the balding question, but was wondering what it was that made him sound like he’s balding, since he’s got a full head of hair and a full beard. He thinks that the architecture of the Morocco pavilion is wondrful, and that it really gives a great feeling that it’s really in the Casbah. Mark’s memories of the Casbah are very dim, as he was there when he was eight or nine years old, but highly recommends checking out the pavilion and eating there.
Liana wrote that she was really impressed with how hard Steven was working at the NFFC convention, and that she’s thrilled now to listen to the fruit of his labors. She feels it’s like getting bonus material from the convention.
What do you think? Let us know by sending us an email or calling our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278)!
Send us your Adventurer’s Club memories
The MouseStation is planning to give the Adventurer’s Club a proper sendoff as it heads to YesterWorld at the end of September. You can be a part of it by sending your memories of the Adventurer’s Club to podcast@mouseplanet.com or calling them in to 1-866-939-2278. Please get them in by September 21 to make sure that we get them before we record the show. Kungaloosh!
Wrapping up
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Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.
Thank you for listening!
