I just got back from spending a week in Orlando; quite the
contrast in experiences. First I was
there for the EAPA (Employee Assistance Professionals Association) World
Conference. Amazing Conference, in part
because they have speakers from around the world and I love the Employee
Assistance World. It rained every day
during the conference, probably a good thing because there was no reason to be
tempted to hang out by the pool. For
personal health reasons I wasn’t able to attend the last evening experience, to
volunteer at the “Give the Children the World” Village. I’m guessing that would have been
life-changing.
After the conference was over, I polled friends and family
and my husband and I decided to go to Epcot Center. We opted to take the hotel bus, to avoid
walking so far before we got in and to save the $17 in parking. I thought $220 for admission was enough to
give Disney before we ever got in. It
was still a very long walk from where the bus let us off and where we had to
return to get back on the bus. At the
end of the day, I had a good time and bought some interesting items in the
Italian, French, German and Canadian stores.
I was disappointed that many of those stores and a HUGE amount of Disney
items were made in China. I avoided
those as much as possible. We took a
couple of boat tours and saw a couple of interesting short films (still don’t
know why they make you stand up to watch these, though).
What I did not like:
the decadence: the high price to get in, the lack of anyone inside or
outside the gate to greet you, to hand you a brochure, to tell you where
everything is. I felt let down. Sorta like “we have your money now we don’t
really care." Once further inside there
were some very nice and very helpful people, but it is a bit overwhelming when
you first enter.
I did not like the crowds.
I did not like the insanely high price you paid for anything to eat or
drink. I did not like seeing so many
children who didn’t seem to be having a good time because they were being
dragged around, seemingly beyond their tolerance level, probably because their
parents wanted to get their money’s worth before leaving the park.
I did not like the lack of signage. I’m sure there were some very cool exhibits
that we missed simply because we couldn’t figure out what was there and just
decided to move on because we were getting weary of the walking and the crowds.
Next day we decided to go to the Kennedy Space
Center Visitor Complex. What a
difference. From the people who
re-directed us to go to another line, where there wasn’t as long a wait, to the
people whom we bought tickets from and gave us maps and explained everything to
us, to the lady at the food window who offered that I could buy the child’s
meal if I wanted to; everybody was nicer, calmer, proud of what they were doing
and where they were. The music playing caused me to have a sense of pride and awe. I loved the I MAX movie about the space station and all the cooperation between countries to get it done. (Wouldn’t it be nice if we could cooperate like that on everything?) I loved the fact that it seemed as though I could reach out and touch the controls on the space station when I was watching in 3D. I loved seeing space through the Hubble Telescope's Eyes (another I MAX 3D movie we saw while there).
I love the fact that the visitor’s center is self-sustaining. It was exciting and refreshing to see the “rocket garden” and see how far we’ve come in the space program.
We loved getting our picture taken with the ‘astronaut’. I have no idea who was in that space suit and I really don’t care. It was a fun and exciting day and it made me wish I had not spent any money at Disney and had spent another day exploring the rest of what there was to offer at the Kennedy Space Visitor's Center. I think it a shame how many families come to the Orlando area and how few take their children to something so historic and magnificent. But to steal from Dennis Miller, “That’s just my opinion and I could be wrong.”
