so, i have returned from the expedition to go visit mickey. it wasn't exactly warm in florida, but that said, it was a good 60 degrees warmer than it is here. haha. that's why manly men live in the northeast. so, i hadn't been there since 1985, and at the time i was exceptionally excited about it; epcot center was brand-new then, and it was like the embodiment of the future in quasi-amusement-park form. or like a half-breed theme park and museum. but the gleaming, rounded-edged 1980s vision of the future is dated now, and it looks like they've largely tried to make it more kid-friendly instead. goodness knows walt disney's vision of a 'community of the future' wasn't really going to survive the trip from paper to florida swamp intact, but now it very much seems like a place without a purpose. which is sad. the same can be said of tomorrowland, which no longer seems to embrace tomorrow so much as it winks at how goofy our vision of tomorrow once was. and that too, i think is sad. 'cause for all the evil that his namesake company perpetrates, walt disney seemed like one hell of an optimist about the future. but on the other hand, what do we expect the theme-park view of the future to look like these days? no more rockets to the moon in the future for us, and new cell phone or internet technology does not a roller coaster make. so maybe we need a better future first. at least the monorail is still cool.
all that rumination aside, they run a mean hotel. 'course, it was kinda ironic that we flew 1500 miles to stay in a hotel that attempted to replicate a new england beach resort, and be greeted by a guy with a proper boston accent. when i was a kid, i didn't remember there being so many seagulls. a parked stroller had some cheetos in the seat in place of a baby, which was a good thing, since it was besieged by like 8 birds of varying types, who looked like they were picking at roadkill. there were some decent rides there, and i got to ride four more roller coasters than i did all of last year (what a slacker!), but oddly enough, there were no lines. anyway, apart from that, i did take the new toy for a spin: pictures
oh and congratulations to tracey and michelle for kicking ass in their respective races.