heidi | (no subject)

So we spent the weekend at Disney! And I went on new rides, tried new restaurants and, most importantly, got a candy apple! Here're my reviews of the New Things We Tried:

Philharmagic was amazing. I love Disney's 3-D movies like Honey I Shrunk the Kids & the Muppets, and this was just one degree better. It was great to just watch Harry try and touch the 3-D things as they came "out" from the screen, and given that he's addicted to the SPY KIDS 3D movie on tv, to let him see a great 3D experience and compare it to that was terrific.

Mission: SPACE changed my view of the universe. No, seriously. The graphic of the stars is so amazing - even compared to Disney's other "star" scenes - that you really do feel like you're in outer space. I'm not prone to nausea or motion sickness, so the centrifugal force and the g-forces thrilled me, and the sensations from the simulator were indescribably glorious. I want to go on this ride again and again. And again. I think I could be hooked on it. ETA: Oh! And on the way out, the air is scented with licorice, which is an antinausea scent, I guess to calm the queasies in anyone who has them.

epicyclical, I finally got to go on it! Harry's finally tall enough to go, so Aaron and I took him before dinner on Friday night. It was exciting, thrilling and I loved the whole car-setup with the unexpected roller coaster bit at the end. I was uncomfortable about the lap-belt-only in the middle seat, though, as it's where little kids are prone to sit, and it didn't feel as safe as it should've.

Fun, roller-coaster-in-the-dark-esque, and Harry enjoyed naming all the dinos, but the asteroid bit was too loud for him - and for me - and while he could've gone a second time with Aaron, he said it was too loud and gave him a headache.

Tarzan was too musclebound, the music was a little too loud, but the overall structure was fun, the rollerbladers didn't remind us *too* much of the (much despised by us) Starlight Express, and the acrobatics were amazing. And Aaron commented on how Disney, the place which caters to Middle America, still featured both Ellen and Rosie among their "properties", and how cool/sensible/good that is.

Wow, what a rollercoaster! I think you're only 50 feet in the air at most, and thru a lot of it, you're moving at only tiny angles, but the spinning of the cart and the harepin turns make it very exciting in a very tiny space. Kudos to the imagineers!

Now...

Jiko's at Animal Kingdom Lodge was amazing (great South African cabernet! amazing poached pears!), as was Citrico's at the Grand Floridian, where I loved the saboyan fruits at the end, but found the onion tart to be more like a quiche than we'd expected. The Rainforest Cafe at the Disney Marketplace took far too long to seat us, and their high chairs don't go up to the table, which was annoying. And, as usual, the sticky toffee pudding at the UK's Rose & Crown was a once-a-year treat. Luckily, we walked a lot a lot a lot, so even with ignoring much of Weight Watchers for the weekend (I just kept my fries & chocolate to a tiny minimum, and avoided all popcorn) I managed to drop almost two pounds, whee.

Now, if only we can find an excuse to go back again later this year...