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

[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.