A Disney/Universal Summary

We spent a bit over a week at Disneyworld and Universal Studios (all of the Kingdoms, Disney Springs, all of the Universal parks and CityWalk) during intersession from year-round school. We are friends with some Disney Adults (and their kids) who will want my processed thoughts. They were skeptical I would enjoy myself at all. But even given time, my thoughts refuse to be turned into one unifying idea, which is perhaps only makes clear that I will not, myself, become a Disney Adult. Scattered thoughts follow:

• Did I like the experience? A question I rarely ask myself about anything; there are a lot of reasons to, say, read a book and find the experience fulfilling apart from liking it. Everyone had fun, and I'm glad we did it, though it was nine days away and everyone sharing the same hotel rooms. Plusses and minuses, but like all trips, the minuses fade over time.

• I am not a rides person, though I did several. Whatever thrill people get from them is not an active set of brain chemicals in my head; the best I went on were tolerable. So there is a real upwards cap in terms of my personal enjoyment of any of the theme parks.

• The shows were good, and better at Universal than Disney. But none of them can be more than 20 minutes, which means all of the plot arcs are very compressed. 

• The food at Disney was occasionally exceptional, and in general it was possible to eat pretty well there. Universal was... much more like a giant state fair in terms of food.

• I can understand some parts of the Disney Adult thing: we probably would've gone on for longer, and with a slightly different mix of things, if not for the kids. (I would do the on-foot safari hike in Animal Kingdom without hesitation, but I'd be the only one in my family who would.) Epcot in particular seems like it'd be a rewarding experience.

• In the weeks since we returned, I've been playing a game, which is "what outrageous vacation could we have had for approximately as much as this trip cost?" The current champion is: fly to Madrid, stay at the literal Ritz that is right next to the Prado, take a daytrip to Bilbao or San Sebastian for tapas, take an overnight trip to Barcelona. Slightly more expensive, but not by much.

And that's sort of what it comes down to for me: it was a good trip, I'm glad we did it, I can see how you could squeeze some more adult enjoyment out of it, but I'd rather go somewhere I'd want to go in the future.