I don’t like parades. I’ve never really liked them. My wife outright hates them. As many of you know the parade is different for each park with Epcot having by far the best parade in my opinion. The next most tolerable parade is the nighttime parade in the Magic Kingdom followed by the day time parade in the Magic Kingdom. Next to last is the parade at Animal Kingdom. Dead last by miles is the abomination known as the “Block Party” at DHS.
Why do I hate parades? Here are a few reasons:
· It’s wall to wall people.
· Even on a cold day in FL is seems about 50 degrees warmer on the parade route.
· If you do not want to watch the parade it’s always going to be between what you want to do and where you are.
· People start staking out their spot about two hours early and defend it with their life.
· They are louder than a 747 taking off.
· There might be one or two interesting things in the parade but you have to suffer through the rest of the parade to see it.
· An alarming number of people do not know what deodorant is.
· The kid next to me will have eaten an entire box of popcorn, suffer heat stroke, and barf it up on my shoes.
As I said before some are worse that others. I find the one at DHS beyond annoying. I got stuck watching that on my last vacation because it was between me and Indiana Jones. I tried to find a way around but there were just too many people in every direction. I already have some hearing loss in my right ear. I never thought I’d be thankful for that until I was stuck watching that parade. I think I’ve managed to block most of it from my permanent memory but I remember people jumping on trampolines, a lot of toy story stuff, and enough noise to liquefy your internal organs. The thought actually entered my head that water boarding might have been more enjoyable.
I know there are a lot of people who enjoy the parade. I know as a kid I liked them. That leads me to believe people who enjoy parades enjoy them because it’s nostalgic for them. I can understand that. I believe that’s one of the reasons why many people go back to Disney year after year. I bet if I had kids I’d understand it more. If you enjoyed them as a child you’d want your child to experience the same thing.
I don’t know why I don’t get nostalgic over parades. I do with almost everything else in Disney. Maybe I just haven’t seen a good parade in a long time. I remember the “15 Years” parade and could still sing parts of the song the song. Could it be that the new parades are just not up to snuff?
Showing posts with label parades. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parades. Show all posts
Monday, January 5, 2009
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
I’ll look that gift horse in the mouth!
The “Year of a Million Dreams” is now over. Disney did a myriad of things to try and surprise people, from giving them a free fast pass to spending a night in Cinderella’s Castle.
On our last visit to Disney World my wife and I grabbed pins from guest relations showing everyone that it was our anniversary (we weren’t faking it really was our anniversary). We subjected ourselves to this embarrassment because we hoped it would increase our odds of attracting the attention of the dream squad. I didn’t work. It didn’t really do anything except make about thirty thousand cast members say “Happy Anniversary!” Some did that happily. Some seemed like they were dying inside and were doing it in case we were the happy police ready to slam the hammer down on any cast member who made eye contact and doesn’t say those magical words. Sometimes it was just uncalled for. We were exiting Epcot after Illuminations. Someone had falled down in the mad rush to exit the parks and was hurt to the point of being put on a back board. One of the cast members helping put the lady on the back board wished us a happy anniversary. I wish I was kidding.
We did have one experience with the dream squad. We boarded Star Tours, took our seats, and then some over caffeinated cast member stared squawking about getting ready for our flight. I thought it was part of the “show” but then he said he was from the dream squad. At first I was excited. I though maybe we’ll get a fast pass, a fast pass pack, or even a pin (I like free stuff)! I tried to keep the frown off of my face when he told us we were getting a VIP pass to watch the parade. OH JOY REN! I don’t like parades. Some people will send hate mail for saying this but I think most parades are stupid. I don’t know why I dislike parades but I do. My wife outright hates them. She says they bore her to death.
So that was my experience with the dream squad. Out of everything Disney gave away during the promotion I can’t think of one thing I could place lower on my list. I couldn’t help but think why not offer a choice. Some people would kill for the VIP pass, some people would die for the pin, and some would love some other cheap thing.
Just for the record, we didn’t see the parade but we do have two passes that might fetch something on Ebay in ten years.
On our last visit to Disney World my wife and I grabbed pins from guest relations showing everyone that it was our anniversary (we weren’t faking it really was our anniversary). We subjected ourselves to this embarrassment because we hoped it would increase our odds of attracting the attention of the dream squad. I didn’t work. It didn’t really do anything except make about thirty thousand cast members say “Happy Anniversary!” Some did that happily. Some seemed like they were dying inside and were doing it in case we were the happy police ready to slam the hammer down on any cast member who made eye contact and doesn’t say those magical words. Sometimes it was just uncalled for. We were exiting Epcot after Illuminations. Someone had falled down in the mad rush to exit the parks and was hurt to the point of being put on a back board. One of the cast members helping put the lady on the back board wished us a happy anniversary. I wish I was kidding.
We did have one experience with the dream squad. We boarded Star Tours, took our seats, and then some over caffeinated cast member stared squawking about getting ready for our flight. I thought it was part of the “show” but then he said he was from the dream squad. At first I was excited. I though maybe we’ll get a fast pass, a fast pass pack, or even a pin (I like free stuff)! I tried to keep the frown off of my face when he told us we were getting a VIP pass to watch the parade. OH JOY REN! I don’t like parades. Some people will send hate mail for saying this but I think most parades are stupid. I don’t know why I dislike parades but I do. My wife outright hates them. She says they bore her to death.
So that was my experience with the dream squad. Out of everything Disney gave away during the promotion I can’t think of one thing I could place lower on my list. I couldn’t help but think why not offer a choice. Some people would kill for the VIP pass, some people would die for the pin, and some would love some other cheap thing.
Just for the record, we didn’t see the parade but we do have two passes that might fetch something on Ebay in ten years.
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