It's Always sunny, period.

[amanuensis1]

Had my own mini-fandom reunion Sunday! I cannot make this stuff up; vacationing in Walt Disney World, I ran into emmagrant01 and Baby Grant. There were hugs and squees! Not only that, I swear to god I saw the two of them this time the previous year in Disney World (she says they were indeed here at that time). CANNOT MAKE IT UP.

In other Disney World cannot-make-it-up anecdotes, I owe a great evening meal to a package of... well, wait for it. Mom and I decided to hit the Magic Kingdom last night to grab dinner and watch parade and fireworks, despite a run of rain. Not to worry; rainy days are a great time to go to the parks: shorter lines. I always travel with those little packet dollar store rain ponchos; before we leave the room, I reach in the drawer where I'd stowed the travel umbrellas and the puffy ponchos in their little plastic baggies and grab them and stuff them into a bigger plastic bag for toting. All set, right?

Bus pulls up to the Magic Kingdom. It's drizzling. I reach into the big bag, grab a puffy little poncho packet...

...which turns out to be the plastic travel baggie in which I stow a maxipad, four minipads and two tampons. I have left the hotel carrying one poncho and one baggie of feminine hygiene products. THEY FELT EXACTLY THE SAME. CANNOT MAKE THIS STUFF UP, GUYS.

Hilarity ensues; it's way too funny to be upset over it. What also ensues, though, is the "You wear the poncho," "Don't be silly, YOU wear the poncho," looking-out-for-each-other argument which does not resolve; I try to amend it with, "Oh, I'll just buy an extra poncho in the park, " but of course Mom is in full Mom-mode, turning on the, "Don't be ridiculous; I don't even want a poncho, you wear this one, I absolutely refuse to wear one, IF YOU TRY TO BUY ME ONE I WILL NOT WEAR IT I WILL STOMP ON IT AND THROW IT AWAY AND CALL YOU NAMES YAH BOO."

One way or t'other, we have to get off the bus, and it's a genuinely chilly drizzle. Realizing I have lost the poncho fight and unhappy about it, I say, "Look, instead of going into the park and seeking dinner in this drizzle and waiting two hours for the parade, would you like to go the Polynesian Hotel from here and see if we can get a table at Kona Café or something? We'll certainly have a wait but we'll be warm and dry and we can go down to the counter service place if the wait's unbearable and then we can come back here and still hit the parade and fireworks if we feel like it." This is pronounced sensible; we board the resort monorail and go to the Poly.

Kona Café has a 45 minute wait; this does not surprise us in this rain; we rarely try to eat at a table service restaurant in WDW without reservations because the waits are mad. But the helpful cast member gestures and says, "If you want to eat at the sushi bar, they not only serve sushi but our full menu." I did not know this and this is ideal! I love sushi but it's not my mom's favorite, and I wouldn't have pushed it on her but we sit and order a small host of dishes and within minutes are served:

1. the yummiest volcano roll I've ever had
2. an awesome salad
3. butternut-lemongrass bisque
3. a mountain of teriyaki-hot mustard-glazed chicken wings so vast we have leftovers for days.

Replete, warm, and carrying a doggy bag whose garlicky aroma fortifies us all through the rest of the night, we return to the Magic Kingdom just in time to catch the parade and fireworks and then go back to the hotel and not get too wet or too cold in the duration. Great night.

(The package of feminine hygiene products survived the trip handily, you'll be happy to know.)

Comments

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

This sort of thing happens to me as well! Two years ago, it was someone from a former gaming group in the Pirates of the Carribbean line at Disney; this weekend, it was a Boston-area community theater pal at breakfast at the Royal Pacific Hotel at Universal! (Oh, was Universal ever good. I know you've been, so you know. My 16-year-old, who learned to read on the books, was in tears.)

Excellent managing of the rain. And wow. Abandoning all my outdoor rock festival training, I forgot to bring cheapie ponchos this weekend. Luckily, we did not get any significant rain from Thursday midafternoon through when we left Sunday morning.

Glad the restaurant strategy worked!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

One year at Disney I managed to run into a friend I hadn't seen since grade school. Early grade school. Like, sixth grade. But we recognized each other!

Universal is something else. The way they put together HarryPotterLand (as I call it) with all the snow-covered buildings is beautiful. I could just stare in the shop windows for ages.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I'll have a big post about HarryPotterLand coming soon. My 16-year-old (who learned to read on Sorcerer's Stone) burst into tears over it, it was that well done. I just wish I'd known exactly when Aragog was coming so I could have shut my eyes for the BIG SCARY SPIDER OMG. And we got wands, and my parents authorized getting the kid a Slytherin sweater and tie, and we went on the Dragon Challenge four times. And that one shop front where it's Quidditch supplies next to rare books? That's obviously Evan Rosier's favorite spot in the world, so we got a picture of it.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

The Forbidden Journey ride is fabulous. But all the roller coasters in those parks intimidate the hell out of me; I can't get on any of them!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I'm a dedicated coaster freak. As in, know the names of design engineers freak. Flight of the Hippogriff is a milder, "family" coaster, easier for timid people; it's a couple of drops and some sweet banked turns. If you ever want to try a big coaster, you could not ask better than the blue Hungarian Horntail on the Dragon Challenge: it's gloriously smooth, BEAUTIFULLY designed, the lift hill is brief enough not to be terrifying, there's a twist before the first drop that takes some of the stomach-in-throat effect away (although it's there to ease strain on the chain drive, it's also nice for riders), and the loops are just exhilarating. They use the "heartline roll" effect where the pivot point is right in a rider 's central body mass, so while your extremities are whirling around, your middle is traveling in a straight line. It sounds weird but it's science and it gives you the maximum spin for the least dizziness - it really is like flying.

Some of the swoops on the Forbidden Journey feel steeper than Dragon Challenge. If you go again, DO give it a try!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love your detailed analysis of the coasters! I hate big drops and that's what scares me away from a lot of coasters, so your description of the H.H. actually makes me think I will try that if I'm back there. You've got a lot of knowledge about coasters! *goes to google "heartline roll"*

I actually tried Flight of the Hippogriff and said, "What the hell was THAT?", it was so wussy. I'd never go on that again, it was pathetic!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

See, this is where being a coaster nerd comes in handy. If the height limit starts at 36"? It's a "family coaster," and it's like a smaller, tamer version of the old wooden coasters. I ride them anyway, but I appreciate them for what they are, and don't expect them to give big thrills; if they lift my butt out of the seat a couple of times on the drops and if the angles on the banked turns are "whee!" I'm satisfied, and the lines for them are usually next to nothing, so why not.

If you ever come visit here I'll take you to Six Flags, and give you the All-Coaster tour of the park. If you hate big drops we might need to skip Superman/Bizarro, but I have a secret for the first big drop on that: it lasts 4.5 seconds. Count to five while it's happening, and you're through it, and the rest of the ride is splendid, as it should be, considering the number of awards that thing's won. There are some banked turns that lay you out nearly horizontal, which is sheer glory in my book! And Pandemonium has mild drops but the cars spin like a Tilt-A-Whirl, which is brilliant, and there are TWO vintage wooden coasters, and Batman has been known to convert the coaster-wary into fans. I know because I dragged a very apprehensive eternaleponine on it years ago, before we ever lived together - 2004, I think it was - and by the end of the ride, her reaction was "Again again again!"

I caught the coaster bug when I was 13, at a really old-school amusement park, Paragon Park in Hull. The "Giant Coaster" there was a wooden coaster built in 1917, and lovingly maintained. The adrenaline rush was addictive. The park has since burned down, but the coaster survived: it now lives at the Six Flags park in Maryland, and I made a pilgrimage a few years ago to ride it again. It still is that good.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Wait, are you still at WDW now? GO ON THE ROCK AND ROLLER COASTER. That induction-launch technology is amazing; it means NO LIFT HILL. It just shoots you into the first loop from FLAT and by the time you realize you're upside down, you're not any more. And it's so smooth it feels like the cars are levitating. My reaction to it was "an upside-down coaster for people who are afraid of upside-down coasters."

I went on it six times. ;-)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Y'see, I love almost every part of that coaster, the times I was able to get myself on it, but I CANNOT DEAL WITH THE LAUNCH. It's not the lift hill, it's the drop, y'see. That launch is every bit the same effect to me as the drop, and I hate hate hate those and I have regularly had to skip the Rock and Roller Coaster because I cannot psych myself into getting on it, knowing that launch is waiting for me!

(Upside down does not bother me--I've found it to be fun!)

My favorite roller coaster anywhere is Space Mountain because there are no big drops (three little drops and one slightly bigger-than-little one) and its format is easy to memorize once you've gone on it the first time that trip. Just a ton of really fast, non-nausea-inducing spiraling. I adore it.

So tell me which ones I should try that have no big drops or launches! I love that you are so knowledgeable!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

The launch feels like the drop to you? Interesting, I wouldn't have perceived it that way. I think that that means you hate straight-line acceleration the most? Let me guess: you hate Tower-of-Terror type rides, too? (I loathe them. Won't go near 'em. Why would I pay for the experience of my stomach hitting my soft palate?)

Hm. Take a look at this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_coaster_elements It should help you sort out what stuff you like best, and which roller coasters to try and which to avoid.

If you like Space Mountain, you will love Pandemonium, with the tilt-a-whirl spinny cars. The Revenge of the Mummy coaster at Universal should also suit you, as it's not huge on the drops and it has some very pleasing spiraling.

Most of the Bollinger & Mabillard inverted coasters will probably fit your tastes, because they tend to have that pre-drop before the main one that takes the tension off the lift chain and provides a little breathing moment for a rider. I wish I could take you on Batman: The Dark Knight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_%E2%80%93_The_Dark_Knight_(Six_Flags_New_England)) at Six Flags New England, because that pre-drop? Angles you out with such a beautiful view over the Connecticut River, it's like a little moment of peace, and then WHEE you're diving into the first loop. And the zero-g roll and the corkscrews are sheer joy.

Knowing the physics of coasters makes them MORE fun for me, not less. I only wish I'd looked up the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit before I went on it - all those references to "design problems" might have warned me it'd suck. Ow ow ow.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I'm not sure what my ride preferences say anymore! I love going fast; I love Test Track, for example, because of the open-car ride that gets up to 70 mph; I've got my arms up howling for more the whole way. But that one isn't a launch.

I cannot bear spinning, though. The tilt-a-whirl is OUT, the tea cups are out, I went on Primeval Whirl once and was screaming the whole way, dying to get off. I love the drama and experience of Mission: Space (in fact it's one of my favorite rides in the world) but I can only do the non-spinning version. There are two rides in Universal that have very short spins, Spider-Man and Men In Black, and I can handle those because they're over really fast, but it's a close thing. So anything that promises "tilt-a-whirl spinny cars" is going to have me running far away.

You're exactly right about Tower of Terror and other drop rides. I detest them. I'm, like, nearly offended by people who like them, I think they're so dreadful. :D

Another ride I adore, if this tells you anything, is Dinosaur. Its bumpy, fast, this-way-and-that track (without big drops!) is so much fun.

I found that Wikipedia webpage when I was looking up heartline roll! I had no idea there was so much terminology in the architecture; I was on that page for half an hour yesterday!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

You liked Dinosaur? Dinosaur hurt my neck! All that shaking and bumping back and forth with no spinning, ouch.

Primeval Whirl was the one that wasn't Everest in the Animal Kingdom, right? That one was no good either, but one of the reasons I didn't like it is that we could barely get the car to spin us at all, and we just got yanked around curves in an ouchy way.

I'd say, just try one of the B&M inverted coasters, because the pre-drop will probably suit you nicely.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

B & M? Which are those again? ETA: Oh! Bollinger and Mabillard, yeah! I will look further into those!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Batman: The Dark Knight, Dragon Challenge, Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure - the Incredible Hulk coaster is built by them but doesn't have the pre-drop... look up Bollinger & Mabillard and that'll get you to one near you.

[ook.livejournal.com]

Haha! Great story! I wish that I lived near enough to one of the Disney Parks to go every year. If I lived in a city where a Disney Park was located, I'd probably have worked there!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I seriously want to work at WDW. When I'm ready for that second career!

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Hee, sounds like a great trip. :D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

We're having a splendid time. The temperature dropped a bit but it's beautiful and sunny and fortunately we brought lots of layers.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. Think of the FHPs!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

They are masters of disguise, the little buggers.

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

Glad you're having a nice vacation, and I love your mom already. :)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

She's the queen of selfless gestures, I can never win. :D

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I'm still shaking my head over the randomness of running into you in one a 40 bathrooms in that park -- not to mention that we were even in the same park at the same time! And I think the last time I saw you was also in Orlando at Infinitus, right?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Was that the one at Universal in 2010? I can't keep track of convention names any more; they're blurring!