Dear practically everyone who has interacted with my son this week:

[beetiger]

Could you please stop responding to the news that we are taking a trip to Orlando by immediately smiling at my son and asking him about seeing Mickey Mouse? I don't even know if we're going to the Magic Kingdom while we're out there. But even if we do, we're mostly going to Florida to see people we love, not a large corporate icon. And to enjoy weather more pleasant than the godawful howling wind freezy stuff we've got here right now.

You can ask him about the plane though. He's very excited about the plane.

Comments

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

We got the same questions when I mentioned we were going to Florida to visit relatives not near Disney.

I think most people think Orlando = disney, period.

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

I live in north central Florida (nowhere near Disney/Orlando, thanks) and whenever the subject comes up, people say "I'll bet you get to go to Disney all the time, you're so lucky!"

People who live here DON'T go to the parks. We're tired of them and the palm trees and the flamingos because everyone thinks that's ALL there is.

Where I live looks more like southeast Georgia. We've even gotten snow once or twice, it gets cold here, and the leaves change color. Not a palm tree in sight, either.

If you've read "The Yearling", however, we're within a stone's throw of Marjorie Rawling's homestead.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

That's pretty sad. I mean that the parks aren't worth going to for locals. I grew up near Cedar Point, and we *did* go all the time because it was a really neat park.

[cktraveler.livejournal.com]

I've never understood why anyone would care about seeing Mickey Mouse. He's a corporate logo who's allowed barely any personality. Bugs Bunny or Donald Duck, maybe.

Even at Rhys's age, though, I knew those weren't really cartoon characters. Cartoon characters were more colorful, and besides, they're all way too big. I do remember being scared to death seeing anything that large coming at me. Once I figured out it was a person in a costume, I mostly just felt sorry for them having to wear that thing all day in the Orlando heat.

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

I've lived down here almost ten years now. Before I explained to my native husband that I much prefer educational attractions and things like antique hunting, he tried to give me The Florida Experience. We went to the Magic Kingdom and I found even the more colorful characters like Brer Fox terrifying. I finally did get the courage to have my picture taken with him but my husband wouldn't get anywhere near him. It actually reduced a grown man to tears!

[varjohaltia.livejournal.com]

I actually like going, although I tend to cheap out and do resort-hopping. Park at Downtown Disney, take a bus to a resort, ride the boats, enjoy Wilderness Lodge, Grand Floridian, ride around on the monorail a bit, and it's all free.
Oddly enough, the icon associated with Disney in Scandinavia is Donald Duck. Mickey was known as a much more minor character that usually showed up in detective shorts. Donald, the nephews and Scrooge were the stars of all the stories.
I find that a fair bit of the locals do go to the parks -- and Universal, Bush Gardens and Seaworld -- but it's still kind of steep and there are indeed plenty of other things to do which are a lot cheaper and more varying.

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

Let me know when you're going to be here and if you have the time or inclination, I could meet you somewhere. I'm about two hours away from Orlando and we go there regularly to see Simtra's folks.

FYI, the Magic Kingdom isn't really worth it. It's the oldest of the parks and the most run down as well as most crowded. Knowing you folks as I do, I think Rhys would enjoy Epcot more, possibly when he's older.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

We're there from the 8th to the 17th. We won't have our own car, but can probably either borrow our hosts' or all come together if we meet somewhere sensible. Drop me email and we can figure something out.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

I'd just say that we were going to Florida to see friends/family. Not "we're going to Orlando". Just "we're going to see friends and family in Florida."

[redbird]

I think my reactions would be (1) Hey, you'll be nice and warm, and (2) Are you going to visit Cape Canaveral? Because I didn't find Orlando isn't all that interesting, either as a teen traveling with parents and younger brother--and yes, we did the Disney thing, but I also got a visit to the Cape--or when Worldcon was there in '92.

[ladyperegrine.livejournal.com]

Do you think he'd like to go to a character breakfast? I can research those in case we don't end up going to MK - he's more likely to interact with Mickey et al at something like that, anyway. I think we'd need reservations though.

I don't think Daniel would be into it all that much, but Ellie would probably enjoy it.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

He might. I also expect he'd get a lot out of just walking around Downtown Disney and stuff.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I hate Disney, personally. I don't see the appeal. Amusement/theme parks can be fun, but not to interact with wannabe actors in big cartoon character suits. I don't remember ever being excited about that sort of thing when I was small. Well, I did meet Spiderman once, which was cool, but that's different.