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Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Mickey Mouse is a vampire!


Welcome to the 6th floor.

Today's contributors are: Frank, Scott

Subject: Tourist Traps of the South


How was the trip?”


I feel like I got raped by Mickey Mouse.”


They don't call him Steamboat Willie for nothing.”



I recently was invited on a trip to Walt Disney World with my cousins. Obviously I expected higher prices and all of that stuff, but I was put-off by just how much of a tourist trap it seemed to be. I've been to Disneyland in recent years too, and was much happier with that experience. I don't know that I have much of a right to complain seeing as the city I live in is routinely more expensive than just about everywhere else. You can get movie passes that say '$1 surcharge will apply in Manhattan', and even fast food chains that boast dollar menus routinely look like $1.29 menus. The steady stream of millions of people rarely motivates any place to lower prices because they have a steady supply of customers no matter what they charge. Despite this, I'm going to complain anyway.


We stayed just outside of Disney, and the feel I got from it was similar to the seediness of old Las Vegas, the area by the old casinos like Lady Luck and the Golden Nugget. It wasn't as shiny, but there were plenty of lights and signs and gift shops. I don't shop or pay attention to prices often, but at the three different Publix's we stopped at I noticed a couple of things. Name-brand soda always seemed to be at 1.79 with no sales in sight. There was a bottle of champagne that was 300% more expensive then I've found it in liquor stores around here. I don't care for the name Publix. There was only one bank that I saw within 15 miles of where we stayed, and not even a Starbucks to be found. We ate at a Shoneys, which was disappointing, as well as two Disney restaurants that were both unaccommodating, featured a very limited menu and were expensive. The one restaurant in Mexico that we made a reservation for months ago told us that they couldn't get all 9+2 of us together, and offered us a table of six and a table of five which they couldn't guarantee would be near each other. When we arrived, we still waited 15 minutes; Ended up being put in three four-person tables, all next to each other but not connected. Then they gave us two different waiters and the food wasn't anything special. Not to mention the very limited selection of beverages or snacks to be had inside the parks, or the cost of the tickets to get in.


Maybe my expectations were just too high for the “Happiest Place on Earth”, but I was still disappointed. On top of that, none of the hotels or the resort we stayed at had wireless(or wired) Internet access. I came home to 100 emails, and 65 entries in the regular blogs that I read.


2 comments:

Artful Dodger said...

Yeah I didn't think much of Disney World either, far too expensive. But I do have to admit they have the best Hawaiian shaved ice I've ever had. I'd take Universal over Disney any day. Besides the Spiderman Adventure ride is so much cooler than anything at Disney. I found a good tip though if you ever go back. Rent a private time share house a couple of miles away from Disney. The area's not as glitzy but you can pretty much have as many people you want in the house and your own private pool, and really much cheaper than staying in seperate hotel rooms.
And if you cook or order take out there like we did you don't have to worry about seating.

Frank said...

Not a bad thought. I did enjoy Universal more too, the Mummy ride, Spiderman and the dueling dragons were all a blast.