Wow! Brian.

You must sit on the couch a lot.

Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia. It's all downhill from there. . . .

I'm a huge disney fan. But not the channel/teen stuff, the parks, the OLD movies (snow white, etc).
I love the disney parks. If I lived in FL, I'd be there all the time. *sigh*, but it's incredibly expensive (even with the current discounts, ouch).
So I think about it and hope to take the kids back before they're too cool for it.
We own stock in it, but that's not been the best investment.
But I love the parks, the excitement of it all, etc. Yes, it would be one of my faves to visit, if we could do it more often.

As I'm forced to stare at the giant 1/3 screen "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL ON TOUR AT WOLF TRAP" ad banner juxtaposed with Brian's words...this post REEKS.

We saved for two years to take our family on a trip to WDW this spring. I was surprised how much my five year old loved it.

Her favorite rides were The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, and Snow White's Scary Roller Coaster. She also really liked Minnie's House.

We went on the off season and it was not too crowded. For very young children, the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom were the best. I think Epcot does not have a lot to offer very small children.

We will probably go again in two years. If you do go and stay on site, get the meal plan. It certainly saved money and it made it very easy. For one thing, character meals were included in the meal plan. So we went every morning. It beat standing in line to view the characters.

My daughter is not that interested in the Princesses; except for Snow White. We read the snow white book nightly. She has never requested to actually view a Princess film.

Both kids love Winnie the Pooh. Not the new one Tigger and Friends on the Disney channel. But they like the dvds: Piglet's Big Movie, The Tigger Movie, The Heffalump Movie, The Heffalump Halloween, SpringTime with Roo, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Pooh's Grand Adventure.

My daughter did recognize that the ride the Many Adventures of winnie the pooh was based on the blustery day film.

What I like about Disney, besides being the cleanest park in the world, is that captures the magic of childhood. Some of our best memories of the park were the simple things; like waking up Tinkerbell or when the cast members would say good morning Princess.

Nothing beats the awe in their faces when they see the castle for the first time or meet the fairies up close.

Personally, WDW is wicked expensive. But well worth the cost to see their little faces light up. I have heard Disney is primarily for ages 5-7. I wonder if it is really worth going after that. Because by age 10 or earlier, they know the characters aren't real.

We don't watch the Disney TV channel. They mostly look stupid and there is better preschool tv channels.

I like some of the original Disney films but not all of them.

Funny enough, my kid really likes Disney on Ice.

foamgnome must really like to type.

foamgnome must really like to type.

Posted by: jezebel3 | August 26, 2009 8:18 AM | Report abuse

Yeah, a little too much on this subject to be kosher if you ask me (brings me memories of Stacie's post about paid blogging.....

That, and the ad banner are really making me sick this morning.

Brian and the WashPost should be ashamed.

"Yeah, a little too much on this subject to be kosher if you ask me (brings me memories of Stacie's post about paid blogging....."

I don't think so. It seems like Disney World is one of those places where, once you've gone, there's a lot to talk about.

There's a lot about Disney to dislike (aggressive marketing to very small children, insistent gender typing). But there's also a lot to like. My favorite is the sheer attention to detail found at the theme parks. It makes the whole experience really feel like you're in a different world.

As for the banner ad, I don't think the WaPo has any control over it. Don't those ads pop up in response to words on the web page or to pages that the user has visited in the past?

"That, and the ad banner are really making me sick this morning. "

Might I suggest Firefox and the AdBlock plug-in? Makes those banner ads go bye-bye. I haven't got a clue what you folks mean with the HSM on Tour talk. :-) (Okay, I actually have a clue; I can guess what I WOULD be seeing if I didn't have it blocked. But you get the point.)

We watch Phineas and Ferb occassionally. I too like Dr. Doofenshmitz and occasionally get his jingle stuck in my head, "Doofenshmirz evil in-cor-porated!"
And I think the Imagination Movers are on Disney, too. We love them! They have a song about cleaning your room - yay!

We have bunch of the older Disney movies on VHS and we watch one of those maybe once or twice a year - think rainy day type activity.

My Aunt, who is my son's defacto Grandma, is already planning to take him to the park in FL in couple of years. She goes about every year (odd, I know) and various other members of my extended family go with her sometimes. They think I hate Disney because I don't get the fascination and I think it's silly for a bunch of adults to go without even the cover story of a small child. :)

I don't hate Disney, there are lots of worse things out there. If you don't like it, don't watch it. Heck, put a parental lock on it if it bothers you that much.

foam: I'm way past 10 and still love the parks. I haven't been to the movie one yet, but hopefully one of these days. Of course, we can drive (6 hours if no stopping, but, of course that doesn't happen with kids in the car) - so it makes it a little easier to swallow.

OK - I admit it. I watch some of the Disney channel tv shows, and my daughter is only 4 months old, so it's all on me.

One of the good things - the cheesy segments with one of their actresses about multiculturalism and trying different foods. If your kid is a picky eater, and then sees all the different ways Disney Channel people prepare (XYZ fruit/vegetable) maybe he/she will be more willing to try it?

And I do like the Pixar films, although I can't give Disney any credit for those.

atlmom: Actually we did not like the movie studio all that much. I really think it must be aimed at older children.

Since this was our big Disney vacation, we did go to all four parks but did not go to the water parks. If I had to do it all over again, I would have skipped the movie park and Epcot. They seemed geared to older kids.

The only ride in the movie park that the kids liked was the new toy story arcade game. And honestly it wasn't that good but it was about the only ride they liked. They seriously really liked the It's a Bug Life play ground. I think they could have done with out the rest.

I think the thing is the parks are geared for different ages. But they don't seem to tell you that in their advertising.

Your kids are slightly older and might like Epcot and the movie studio. I think when we go back in two years, my daughter might like the movie one but still won't find Epcot all that exciting.

06902: No I don't get paid to blog about Disney and yes we were truly there in May. But since it was a recent trip, the stuff is fresh in my memory. Like NEWSAHM says, once you been there you have a lot to say on the subject. It is just a really big resort. It is much more than just a theme park.

once you been there you have a lot to say on the subject.

Posted by: foamgnome | August 26, 2009 9:06 AM | Report abuse

Who gives a rat's a$s?

Hello, Wall-E. And Cars. These captured DH, DD, and me. I love Pixar.

I do really hate the Princess twits, waiting for men to come save them. Somehow DD just isn't interested, despite having been given Princess gifts.

We were planning on doing a WDW birthday trip when the girls turn 3 and 5, but it sounds like we should wait until 4 and 6.

As far as the Disney Channel, it beats Nick, with screeching Dora and Diego. DD seems to like Little Einsteins.

I have been to a Disney wedding, and it was first class. They are the epitome of customer service.

Disney has done a great job dubbing Miyazaki's animated films into English and the reason they got the rights was they agreed not to change the content. Kudos for that.

Who gives a rat's a$s?

Posted by: jezebel3 | August 26, 2009 9:08 AM | Report abuse
Evidently Brian does and so do some of his readers.

Why are you so rude?

It seems like the topis is Disney in general, not just WDW or DL.

Some more to add to the list:

1) Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins. While far fetched in plot, these shows are fantastic for little kids and have ZERO violence or real name calling in them. They are all about problem solving and teamwork. I don't think there are very many other cartoons on like them.

2) The Lion King- this movie surpasses all other in my opinion. It totally goes against the concept of a 16 yr old gorgeous princess having to overcome some tragedy to marry a perfect hunk of a prince! Kind of like Nemo, the story line is original and the graphics are fantastic. Not to mention the LK soundtrack!

3)Disney's "staying power". Disney has been around a long time and they keep getting better with age. I went to WDW in 1988 and really did not enjoy myself. I was 13 and the only fun rides were Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad. At the time I could have cared less about Snow White or Cinderella. Or the whole imagination crap at Epcot- which had just opened! But I took my 4 yr olds there in Sept and it was a whole new ball game. So many more rides for kids of all ages, plus the addition of Animal Kingdom- totally amazing. And now that Snow White and all of those movies are populuar again, it was neat to see those princesses. So yes, we get hosed every time a movie gets remade and we are forced to buy it, but without all of those "classic" movies, WDW would still be a let down! My kids even love Mary Poppins and all the songs in that movie and were excited to see her in the parade. Without Disney's staying power and re-releases of all those movies, no one under the age of 30 would know who MP was!

trolls are cranky this morning...

I find the old disney films to be beautifully painted and a real pleasure to watch. the old plotlines, however, are a little strange.

not sure where the line is drawn between pixar and disney, but as a group, the animated movies from the past 10 years are borderline brilliant.

i would never set foot anywhere near the magic kingdom until we had our daughter, now i'm genuinely looking forward to going with her.

i really don't have a gripe with the disney corp. if they weren't pushing HSM III or the Jonas bros, another entertainment division from another company would be.

"Who gives a rat's a$s?"

I do. I liked Foamy's post. I think it's fun to see how different people react to similar experiences. Today it's Disney, tomorrow it'll be something else. Are you just now starting to get that there's a point to interactive blogs other than being snarky?

Although, Foamy, for what it's worth, I disagree about Epcot. There was plenty of interest to DD (then 2.5) when we went last year. She really liked it there, enough that we're planning at least 1.5 days when we go back.

Who gives a rat's a$s?

Posted by: jezebel3 | August 26, 2009 9:08 AM | Report abuse
Evidently Brian does and so do some of his readers.

Why are you so rude?

I admit it. I love Disneyworld, and our goal is to go every 3 years with the boys, until they beg us to go someplace "cooler."

But, Brian, I cannot agree with Winnie the Pooh being on your list, for one (admittedly stupid) reason: the Winnie the Pooh ride at Disney replaced one of my all-time favorites: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Come on, how many kiddie rides have a depiction of HELL? None, I tell ya!

Five best things about Disney:

1. Pixar. We each seem to have our favorite Pixar movie; mine is The Incredibles but I really haven't found one I disliked. Just an amazing run of films. What's that got to do with Disney? They were smart enough (so far) to LEAVE THEM ALONE. John Lasseter and Ed Catmull are the guiding geniuses behind Pixar. Steve Jobs was smart enough to get out of their way; so far Disney has been similarly smart. (Maybe because Jobs is the largest shareholder and a board member.)

2. They understand customer service. You get treated like nowhere else I've ever been in the world, every time. I've never, at any park, been treated rudely by an employee (or "cast member" as they like to call them). Makes me wish their standards were more widely adopted when some twit of a clerk acts like I ought to be glad she's even taking my money at a store or restaurant.

3. The parks. Pretty much something for everyone, and as an adult I do like Epcot and the studios.

4. Wide World of Sports. They host numerous sports tournaments over the course of the year. Yeah, it's a way to make money, but if your team is lucky enough to qualify for a national championship tournament they host (USSSA softball for example), it's a class operation and nobody in the family objects to tagging along.

5. The quality of their TV networks beats the heck out of Nick. Fortunately we're almost beyond that with the kids, but we still get just enough to know that given the choice between the two, the House of Mouse is superior.

ArmyBrat also likes to type.

For Cripe's sake, Jezebel. . . go take a benedryl and have a glass of wine and call it a day. It will give you an apparently much-needed rest from the blog and us a much-needed rest from you.

I second what several folks have posted about Pixar. "Up" was a wonderful and heartwarming surprise that my kids and I equally enjoyed. I went back and took my parents to see it, as it showed the bond between the oldest and youngest generations.

My favorite Disney commodity to list: "The Lion King" It illustrates the meaning of life- and death in an eloquent and touching way that even young children can relate to.

Finally, count me in the group that really enjoys reading foamgnome and ArmyBrat's posts and contributions to this blog. I can think of a couple of others who always express themselves well. I appreciate your perspectives.

I have been to WDW as an adult. As a matter of fact, it was my honeymoon. We stayed at one of the hotels and got the meal plan. We made reservations at several of the themed restaurants and really enjoyed the heck out of ourselves.

Just for a jaunt? A little expensive but for something like a honeymoon - rather inexpensive compared to many other options.

I don't watch the Disney channel too much. Cartoon Network attracts our kids for the most part.

I really like Disney Movies. I have enjoyed the Pooh feature movies and Lion King. Pixar also has great movies. Wasn't Monsters one of them? That was one of my favourites.

Now, now, liledjen, you leave that poor widder' woman jezebel alone. With all them religious fanatic and religious hypocrite relations ever'where, and only her taxpayer-provided birth control to keep her warm, she needs to snark on this here blog to make it through another day.

foamgnome, it's interesting to see how people have different experiences. We went last year when our kids were 6 and 4 and they loved Epcot and Hollywood studios. We actually did two days at Epcot because they liked it so much. We could have skipped the Animal Kingdom. Everything was too spread out when you were walking around with little kids, and too many of the rides are thrill rides that the kids wouldn't go on. We ended up spending most of our time at the dinoland playground.

And we also disagree on the Toy Story arcade ride - IMO it was one of the greatest rides I've ever been on. But again, to each their own.

Also, I hate that you need reservations for the sit-down restaurants at WDW now. It's totally killed them, IMO. When you are going through the parks with little kids, it's hard to plan to be somewhere at a specific time. And for the two character meals we did that we had reservations for, we had to wait 15-20 minutes anyway. So what's the point of having to make reservations if you still have to wait.

Dennis: We found that character meals in the morning was great. We found 9am the best time for our kids. Because they got in 3-4 rides from 8-9 (extra magic hours) and then we headed for breakfast.

I don't like making reservations for lunch because we wanted to be free to roam the park on our schedule.

For our family, we found booking only a few dinners was best. We filled in the rest of the dinners with food court back at the hotel or room service. Plus we found we enjoyed hitting the pools in the early evenings.

My daughter loves the animals and the thrill rides.

Hoo-boy. I'll never make it to Disney World and I haven't been to the movies in over 20 years. Not that the sky is going to fall any time soon if I don't go. (How's that for an Eeoreism?)

I'm fond of Poo and friends. In fact, I've got the "Complete Works" book as a gift last Christmas. Having one of my kids read me a chapter or two for a bedtime story is one of those things I live for. I like the Poo movies too, good stuff for the kids to watch as I drift off to sleep for a nap.

What I like best about Disney is their soundtracks. They put out a lot of classy, high quality music.

foamgnome, one of our character meals was for breakfast, and we still had to wait 15 mintues to get seated. The other one was an early dinner. Aside from that, we didn't eat at any of the sit-down places becaue we didn't want to be tied into reservations. We stayed in a condo off-site and we ate a lot of meals there - breakfast everyday and lunch most days when we took breaks from the parks to go swimming.

It just really annoys me that they have a lot of fun sit-down places in the parks, but you can't eat in any of them unless you make reservations weeks (or months) in advance.

jezebel, why is it that you seem to want to suck all the oxygen out of the conversation? if you don't like what the blog is about you don't have to post anything. i go for weeks where i don't feel all that interested in the conversation to post.

as to disney, never been to either of the parks. don't feel all that interested in going. couldn't say exactly why. maybe if i actually went & tried it i might like it.

love their old movies altho they're pretty dated. pixar is great.

armybrat, you're probably closer to the truth about jezebel then she would want to admit. maybe a year ago jezebel tried posting a couple of oxygen sucking comments on the carolyn hax column. everybody pretty much ignored what she had to say & went on discussing the issue at hand. she tried that 2 or 3 times over the course of a week & then she stopped posting. since i recognized her user id it amused me to watch her try to stop the discussion. it was kinda funny in a sad sort of way.
snark is what she's looking for. being this blog's snark is something she's proud of. when her snark was ignored on another blog she took her snark & went home.

quark2 - Thank you hall monitor. We truly are in cyber high school.

Now, now, liledjen, you leave that poor widder' woman jezebel alone. With all them religious fanatic and religious hypocrite relations ever'where, and only her taxpayer-provided birth control to keep her warm, she needs to snark on this here blog to make it through another day.

Posted by: ArmyBrat1 | August 26, 2009 10:17 AM | Report abuse

What's your excuse for your stunningly dull posts? No nookie from your airhead wife?

Ok, I'll admit it...I love Phineas and Ferb. Perry the Platypus is awesome.

fr ArmyBrat1:

>...4. Wide World of Sports. They host numerous sports tournaments over the course of the year. Yeah, it's a way to make money, but if your team is lucky enough to qualify for a national championship tournament they host (USSSA softball for example), it's a class operation and nobody in the family objects to tagging along....

Is the poor guy still falling on his skis and tumbling down the ski slope, to "and the agony of de feet (ok, defeat)"? That's all I can think of when Wide World of Sports comes on TV

I'll suggest to readers here to follow the same approach we took over at The Fix. One poster was taking up a 1/4 of the comments. Once you added in responses, over half the blog was back and forth with this particular poster. Other regulars decided to start ignoring the troll, particularly when it came to the whole birther issue.

Jez posts nasty comments in order to get generate responses like "why are you so rude". Same goes for pwaa and baltimore11. If Jez didnt' care, Jez wouldn't post. The point is to fill the comments section with nasty back and forth. The only way to deal with trollish behavior is to ignore it. The troll gets tired and the rest of us can get on with the conversation. Note that gnome didn't deign to respond.

I'd agree with Brian re: Nemo as well as most other Pixar films. Cars and Wall-E are our kids' favorites.

BB

Alex: "Is the poor guy still falling on his skis and tumbling down the ski slope, to "and the agony of de feet (ok, defeat)"? That's all I can think of when Wide World of Sports comes on TV"

BWAAH! Vinko Bogataj - poor guy never knew he was that (in)famous until about 30 years later.

But no, I don't recall seeing that anywhere around the Disney complex. I didn't go looking for it, but they don't hit you in the head with it.

hall monitor & cyber high school? why?

i recognized your user id. i didn't try to stop you from posting. i didn't attempt to stop others from responding to your thoughts, if they had wanted to. that makes me a hall monitor?

actually, jezebel, instead of cyber high school, i would say that you reminded me of a toddler desperately having a tantrum that nobody was paying attention to. you were posting these oxygen sucking posts that didn't suck the oxygen out of the discussion. it was funny in a sad sort of way to see how desperately you wanted to be noticed. i guess that is why you don't post on that blog any more. you tried for a week but when you were just one more poster in a group you came back here where you are recognized.

I love Disney World. I recommend staying at the Animal Kingdom. You can see live animals right outside of your room. I just stayed at the Grand Floridian and I was very disappointed by how thin the walls were-you could hear everything in the next room-and also the pool was very crowded. I love the piano playing in the lobby though.

And the biggest news of all is that Toy Story 3 is coming out next year. When we saw that during previews (when we went to see Up) we were SOOO excited. Can't wait.

Can y'all tell? I'm a big disney fan.
Disney only bought Pixar less than a year ago, I think. And so far, so good. :)

I've never been on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. My DH and I went to Disney before we were married (like, right after we started dating) and he was SO bummed cause the ride was closed (renovating to make it the pooh ride).
I think in CA they still have the Toad ride, at least I heard that. But, yes, it's definitely bummed a lot of people out.
People are still talking, and that was well over 10 years ago. :)
But I did like the new pooh ride. When we read the pooh stories, my oldest will mention that that's that story we rode on!

We went to WDW last October with our 5 girls and they all loved it so much they have asked to go back next year. Even my 10 year old loved it! We did make a sit-down dinner reservation everyday and had no trouble keeping them. We did skip the park hopper passes and spent one day in each park. It helped us resisit the urge to drag everyone around too much.

DH and I actually did Epcot alone one night while we were there. There wasn't a lot there the kids were interested in and it was nice to have a little time to ourselves. We used Disney's nanny service. I must admit I was nervous, but both of the women they sent were wonderful and the girls loved them.

We don't have the Disney Channel, so I can't speak for the shows. My favorite movies are The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. My younger kids love ALL the princess movies, but as evidenced by my oldests' scorn for them, it is just a phase that will end all too quickly.

LBH219, my family went to Disney when I was 9, and I loved the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride too! Epcot was also a blast (do they still have that leapfrog water fountain outside?), and I especially remember that purple dragon named Figment.

Foamgnome, I agree with you about the Disney Channel though...it used to have good shows and uninterrupted movies, but now it's really gone downhill. I'm collecting all the classic Disney cartoon DVDs I can find, and we've got a large collection of their movies on VHS (I LOVE yard sales!) and even some on DVD or bootlegged off of Turner Classic Movies (they did a Herbie marathon several months ago, and I was able to tape "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" off that channel as well).

I wouldn't mind taking the kids there now, but at $79 a head, I don't see that happening anytime soon...GACK.

my SIL has celiac, so in order to accommodate her, she had to make reservations for all meals ( you need to order at least 24 hours in advance). It's great that it exists, cause not so many other places would accommodate that in any event.

Disney bought Pixar in early 2006, so things have gone well for several years.

Donald Duck comics are some of our favorite things about Disney.

LBH219 --

So glad you brought up the Lion King, which has my favorite unintentional Disney moment of all time: the celebration of Simba's birth ("Circle of Life," etc.). Nothing like seeing all of the kindly herbivores serenading the new top predator.

-- Brian

Oh -- and, for the record, I don't touch/control/think about the advertising on the site. So the banner is as much a surprise to me as it is to you all.
-- Brian

Disabilities - Disney is wonderful and accomodating for people with disabilities.

I was never much of a fan until our son was diagonsed with Celiac disease (no gluten). Disney restaurants send out the chef to review the menu at your table and to explain what the options are. Disney sends out BREAD that is gluten-free AND at almost every spot in the parks - there are gluten-free brownies.

They are just as good with other disabilities - I am always really happy to see that individuals in wheelchairs have a seperate entrance and are accomodated on all safe rides.

Much of Disney annoys me - but their treatment of the disabled and accomodations for individuals with food restrictions are both amazing.

I think my wife is realizing that I'm not a fan of Disney and am not thinking about how we're going to spend a week in Orlando one of these years. I went there years before I was a parent and it just didn't do much for me. I am comforted by the fact that we don't have cable and my kids do not seem to be attaching to any of the Disney franchises.

I know some people do it on the cheap but I don't see getting out of Orlando for less than $2000 for a week.

Certainly, Disney has millions of fans (and haters).