Walt Disney World- Ariana

The way I see it is that there are three types of Disney World enthusiasts: the associate, the regular, and the member. The associate knows basic facts about Disney World, probably has heard about it, but constantly confuses it with Disneyland. The regular has gone a few times, is familiar with the major rides and s attractions, but acts like they know everything. In my lifetime, I have only found 2 other people who are members of the Disney World enthusiast’s community. They are the fans who have a virtual maps of all the parks in their head, knows every little detail about the parks, knows how to work the system there and does it with a smile on.

In my life, I have gone to Disney seventeen times for a total of approximately 238 days. Often times the associates ask me how I don’t get bored; how I still think it’s fun. They laugh and say that it’s childish. They say that it is too expensive, but they don’t know all the fun inexpensive things to do. I can’t explain to them the feeling you get when you drop 52 ½ feet into a briar patch, or the feeling of your face when you go from 0 to 58 mph in 2.8 seconds jamming out to Aerosmith, or the fear you feel when a yeti attacks your train track and you start to descend backwards into a dark cave. Unless you have experienced these moments, you can never understand the adventure and thrill of Disney World.

Now for those of you who are just associates, let me give you a quick summary of Disney World. It is compromised of 4 major theme parks: Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (previously named MGM Studios) and EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.) There are 2 water parks: Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach (there was a third water park: River Country, which was closed.) The most popular parks are Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom, but a lot of older people enjoy EPCOT more. Each park has a specific theme that everything is based around. For example, EPCOT has two main areas: World Showcase: Restaurants and shops of different cultures; and Future World: which focuses on science and innovations of tomorrow. Along with the parks, there are tons of different restaurants, and hotels along with shopping areas and Pleasure Island. I think you get the gist of Disney World.

If you ask people why is Disney World so special, most likely, you will get something like: it’s fun and you can be a child again. I hate when people ask this question because it is so hard to describe to outsiders what it is that makes Disney so special in just 9 words. It’s not just the attractions; everything from the layout of the park to the music, to the tourists makes Disney World special. Where else can you eat a dish of pasta in Italy, and then head over to Mexico for a churro on your way to outer space? Where else can you see Mickey’s wildest nightmare first hand as he wards of evil and puts on a fireworks show? Where else can you travel to the top of Mount Everest or through the Wild Wild West? Where else can you have an authentic Hawaiian dinner? Where else can you drop 12 stories down a ski ramp with nothing but your bathing suit on? So when someone asks you why people go to Disney, how can you sum all of these emotions and adventures into “it’s fun and you can be a child again”?

My relationship with Disney World is not the same as all the other members. It’s more than being able to identify everything there, more than just knowing the order that you should visit the attractions in, more than just riding childish attractions. It’s this serious tension (in a good way) that surrounds us while entering through the tunnel that leads to Main Street in the Magic Kingdom at 8:00 AM. No one needs to speak; everyone knows the game plan. It’s simple: give our tickets to my father who will fastpass Splash Mountain for us, as we make our way to the standing line at Splash Mountain. It’s the skill of veteran members weaving in and out of tourists, dodging strollers and small children, to make it on the very first boat that goes down Splash Mountain that day. We don’t do it just for the free picture we get as a reward for being on the first boat, but because we get this kind of satisfaction that remains with us all day. Put simply, it’s an art form. Now this type of exercise takes weeks to prepare for. So, in a sense the trip to Disney starts at the beginning of summer, even though we don’t go until July. There are three key steps that prepare me for Disney: 1. Practicing a new sleep cycle: staying up until 2:00 am and waking up at 7:00 am, 2. Training my stomach for managing the amount of delicious meals we eat, and 3. Exercising and running so that I don’t get left behind in the park. Most Disney World fans don’t plan the way I do; they go to Disney unprepared. They spend precious hours sleeping or at the pool during perfect park times. For them, Disney is a place to relax. But for me, it is a place of constant activity, where every second counts, where every second is fun and exciting. Most people would say this is a bad thing for Disney World not to be “relaxing,” but for me, it still is. Who cares that I spend the week after the trip catching up on sleep and resting my body, the moments that I experienced in Disney live with me all the time. That’s not to say we never take a break in Disney World. During peak heat time in the summer from around 12:00-4:00 we spend time napping or sitting by the pool, and go in the park in the morning and night. Disney World, if you haven’t been able to tell, is all about strategy.

For me, Disney is a lot like CITYterm: every second of your stay is planned out (in a good way.) It’s this mix between constant fun, exhaustion, and seriousness. City pace is the equivalent of Disney Pace, and the race to the train station is the same weaving in and out of large crowds to get to Splash Mountain. Maybe it’s not special to me because I can secretly relate everything to Disney World and get satisfaction from that. But maybe, Disney World is special to me because I can look back and see my family together. Maybe it is the secret that I am the only one who can look back and see all these images and moments with my brothers and sister in the whole world. Maybe it is because we have grown so much apart in the last few years that Disney World is the one common love my siblings and I all share together. Although over 17 million people visit Disney each year, it feels like it is a hidden secret that only my brothers, sister and I know about. It is part of my past, present, and future. I will always find comfort in my yearly visits to Disney World.