Theme Parks!

Index

Theme Parks in California (Year I was there)
Disneyland (1969)	Disneyland Resort (2005)	Marineland of the Pacific (1969)

Other Theme Parks in Central Florida (Year I was there)
Kennedy Space Center (2001, 2007)	Sea World Orlando (2006)

Universal Orlando Resort, Florida (various years)
Overview	Universal Studios Florida	Islands of Adventure	City Walk	Loews On-Site Hotels

Walt Disney World, Florida (various years)
Overview	Magic Kingdom	Epcot	Disney's Hollywood Studios	Animal Kingdom
Downtown Disney	Water Parks (Typhoon Lagoon)		ESPN Wide World Of Sports

Walt Disney World Resorts (Year I stayed there)
Overview	All Star Resorts: Sports(2006), Music(2008), Movies(v)	Animal Kingdom Lodge: Jambo House(2003,2004,2006), Kidani Village(2009,2012)	Art of Animation(2012)
Caribbean Beach(2002)	Contemporary Resort(2011)	Crescent Lake(v)	Coronado Springs(2005,2011)
Grand Floridian(v)	Old Key West(2010)	Polynesian Resort(v)	Port Orleans: Riverside(2003,2011), French Quarter(2008)
Saratoga Springs(2007,2011)	Wilderness Lodge(2011)	"v" means it was only a visit

Wishes nighttime spectacular in the Magic Kingdom. This was taken in December, when the castle is lit by the castle lights...

My really, really old copy (it has a re-issue date of 1983) of Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, has the following definition:

es•cap’ism (-iz'm) n. a tendency to escape from reality, responsibilities, etc, through the imagination.

Welcome to my definition of a Theme Park.

We're not talking about amusement parks, or thrill ride parks, or any type of Six Flags type park. If you had to press me for the difference, I'd have to say that Theme Park attractions (for the most part) tell a story, or are a part of a story, or put you into a story.

Theme Parks also hide the dirty, underbelly of the amusement park industry (unless that's what they intend to show you,) and cover it up with enough stage dressing to let your imagination dictate how much you want to believe. For instance, take Cindy's Castle. Is it real? Well, yes, it's there, it might be made of fiberglass and not masonry, but it looks real enough. But is it really Cinderella's Castle? That depends on whether or not you believe it's Cinderella's Castle...

I will admit, the Theme Park experience is a bit more expensive than say, a weekend camping in your back yard, but if you know how to control the costs, it's not that terrible, either. Unless you want it to be. But you do generally get what you pay for.

I would also admit that Theme Parks are also shopping malls with some rides thrown in. I once joked that "The shopping opportunities to the square footage ratio must be one of the highest in the country." But I'm aware of that going in, so it doesn't bother me. (A legal disclaimer should be put here that I don't have kids, either. Other than me...)

The Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando

Disney Parks (and Universal Orlando, for the most part) have not only perfected the Theme Park experience, but have transformed themselves into an attraction unto themselves. They're now complete resorts, with food, hotels and other venues; so complete that you'll be hard pressed to figure out why you'd want to leave the grounds at all. (As a matter of fact, I usually don't. Unless I have to. For instance, fetching someone from an airport...)

I had been to Disneyland for a day in 1969. I was at Disneyworld in 1977 for a week, but after being in the Magic Kingdom for a couple of days, the adventure turned into travelling from the Contemporary (where I was staying) to the Polynesian to sample the different exotic adult beverages. After all, there were no other parks at the time, and Disneyworld was still on a ticket system, so if you really liked the E-ticket rides, things got expensive in a hurry. (At least I'm *pretty* sure they were on a ticket system. I could be wrong, but that was 30 years ago. :-)

Along comes 2000, and I'm in Orlando on business. The natural thing to do was Disneyworld. I came as a cynic, and I left impressed. After doing a lot of research, and figuring out the cost/benefits of how to do Disneyworld, I found it wasn't that much more expensive than any of my *other* vacations.

Since that time, I've been to Central Florida more times than I care to admit. To this day, the parks are still my favorite places to go to just relax, and escape from reality for a few days.

There are five main parks I have pictures of. (Okay, 4.5, since I don't have many pictures of Seaworld, but I do have a lot of HD video. Then there's Disneyland and Kennedy Space Center... But I digress.)

We'll visit them in the order I did.
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Disneyland Resort, California

'Course, good ol' Uncle Walt is given the credit for inventing the Theme Park, and the Disney Company has made sure that the Disney brand stays the elite of the genre. And for the past 50 years, they have. In that time, Disneyland has been joined by a second Theme Park, three hotels and a nightclub/shopping area, now known as Disneyland Resort. I was at Disneyland Resort in September 2005, as part of my Desert Southwest Vacation but is broken out here, because, well, it's a Theme Park. There is also a page of 59 pictures from my 1969 trip.

Walt Disney World is a destination unto itself. Four Theme Parks, two nightclub areas, five golf courses, two miniature golf courses, two water parks and more resort hotel rooms than you can shake a stick at. It's the undisputed king of vacation resorts, and with good reason. They can provide an experience unmatched anywhere else in the world.

Walt Disney World

Universal Orlando

Universal Orlando is Disneyworld's biggest competition in Orlando. Islands of Adventure, one of the two Theme Parks here, is an equal to any Disney park in America in terms of themeing, attractions, food and ambiance. Anyway, with two Theme Parks, three on-site hotels (run by Loews Hotels) and a nightclub venue, it's more like Disneyworld than anything else East of the San Andreas Fault.

Seaworld is a venue I only went to because a friend wanted to go there. It's a day trip, and if you've never been to a Seaworld, it's an interesting experience. They too, like Universal, has to compete with Disney, so there's a lot of Disneyesque type venues, but underneath it all, it's a bunch of creatures that have a lot of learned behaviors. Just like us. There's also a page on Marineland of the Pacific from 1969, which is vaguely, sorta connected to Seaworld...

Sea World Orlando

Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center is the real deal. It's history, it's facts, and it's deals more with reality than any other theme park in Florida. But in the end, reality never could compete with Fantasy and Thrill Rides.

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Trip Reports

This is a quick index into the trip reports. Go here for the full page...

Quick Index

Dates of the Trip	Event Location / Where I stayed	Who was with me	# images	Highlights of the Trip
Sep 29 to Oct 5, 2002	Walt Disney World/Caribbean Beach Resort Universal Orlando/Royal Pacific Resort	Bruce	None	First time at a Disney Resort
Oct 17 to Oct 27, 2007	Great Smoky Mountain NP-Blue Ridge Pkwy-Kennedy Space Center Walt Disney World/Saratoga Springs Resort Universal Orlando/Portofino Bay Resort	PiC	960	Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
Dec 12 to Dec 22, 2008	Walt Disney World/All-Star Music and Port Orleans-French Quarter Universal Orlando/Royal Pacific Resort	Bruce	709	RADP 13, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, Christmas in Disney World
Dec 2 to Dec 13, 2009	Walt Disney World/Kidani Village, Animal Kingdom Lodge Venice Island/Inn at the Beach	PiC	622	The Varsity RADP Meet, RADP 14, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, Gulf Beaches
June 16, 2010	The Disney Store, Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL	PiC	32	D23 Event - Toys Story 3/Jessie Doll, Joan Cusack meet&greet
Dec 5 to Dec 14, 2010	Walt Disney World/Old Key West Resort	PiC	484	Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, RADP 15, Christmas in Disney World
Feb 21, 2011	MCA Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago	PiC	20	D23/Walt Disney Studios Platinum Edition Bambi Screening, Donnie Dunagan and Andreas Deja Meet&Greet
May 8 to May 17, 2011	Walt Disney World/Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary Resorts	PiC, Jenny	1042	D23/Destination D: WDW 40th
June 25, 2011	AMC Loews, 600 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL	PiC	None	D23/Cars 2 Cross Country Screening Event
Aug 15 to Aug 22, 2011	Walt Disney World/Coronado Springs Resort	Jenny, Cathy	494	A Meat Meet, Rain, Typhoon Lagoon
Sep 26 to Oct 4, 2011	Walt Disney World/2BR Villa, Saratoga Springs Resort	Miss Marie, Jenny	561	Taking my mobility impaired Mom to Disney World, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
Dec 4 to Dec 14, 2011	Walt Disney World/Port Orleans - Riverside	Jenny, Cathy	1084	D23/2012 Magic and Merriment, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, Cinderella Castle Dream Suite Visit
Mar 3 to Mar 12, 2012	Walt Disney World/2BR Villa, Kidani Village, Animal Kingdom Lodge	Miss Marie, Jenny	826	Taking Mom to Disney World again, D23/John Carter preview
June 24, 2012	MCA Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago	PiC	None	D23's Disney FaNNIVERSARY 2012
Sep 27 to Oct 6, 2012	Walt Disney World/Art of Animation Resort	Miss Marie, Jenny	1251	D23's Epcot 30th Anniversary Celebration, D23's Super Scream (Dinner in Great Movie Ride), D23's 2012 Sip & Scream
March 10, 2013	MCA Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago	PiC	3	D23's Disney FaNNIVERSARY 2013
December 4, 2013	The Music Box Theater, Chicago, IL	PiC	None	D23's Mary Poppins and Saving Mr. Banks Preview Event
September 6, 2014, 10:30am show	MCA Theater at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago	PiC	None	D23's Disney FaNNIVERSARY 2014

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