Prepping for Disney World By Binging Movies

I can't believe I'm almost done with my pre-trip Walt Disney Wednesday posts, I only have two more left (I may have misspoken last week and said there two more left then, and if so, I apologize).  This week's post is one I originally planned at putting towards the beginning of my Walt Disney Wednesdays, but I thought it was better suited for the end.  Let me start out by saying that I have absolutely no idea how I convinced Bryan to watch pretty much nothing by Disney movies with me for the past two months.  If I knew, I would tell you, but he has the patience of a saint and put up with it without too much complaining.  For those of you wondering just how many Disney movies we've watched to prepare for this trip, the answer is a whopping 43, and we still have one more left to watch tonight.  We also skipped over Lion King because we got to that movie right after my dad died, and I just couldn't watch it, although we saw the new one over the summer, so we're counting that.  Now, we didn't watch all of those in the past two months, we watched a few last year before we knew we were going on our trip and a few over the summer before Disney+ came out.  Once Disney+ came out, though, it was all over, and that's pretty much all we've watched since.  It'll be weird not watching that.

When we first started out, watching movies, we watched in any random order; he would pick one, then I'd pick one, and we went back and forth like that for a while until I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and commented how it was the first Disney movie.  From then on out, we pretty much went in chronological order, which I found fascinating because it showed the development and growth of Disney movies.  Not only did the animation and special effects improve, but Bryan and I both commented on how the role of the female characters changed as well.  In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, you have a fourteen year old girl who runs through the woods screaming and then spends the rest of the time cleaning and taking care of the men.  By the time you get to Aladdin, however, you have a strong female character in Jasmine who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to take no for an answer.  Up until she met Aladdin, she even refused to get married because she didn't meet anyone she liked.  I wish we had started watching that way from the beginning, but that's fine.  I was going to list all the movies we watched, but, like I said, it's quite extensive.

Believe it or not, there were several Disney movies that we watched that I had never seen before, albeit not that many.  Bryan's list is significantly longer, and we can't even really remember which ones he had seen and hadn't seen.  As for me, there were only eight movies we watched that I had never seen before: Avatar, Robin Hood, Monster's University, Brother Bear, The Good Dinosaur, Ratatouille, Wreck-It Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet.  For the most part, I greatly enjoyed all the new ones I saw, although I didn't like The Good Dinosaur at all, I thought it was weird and just a bit too out there.  It was easy to see why it is the least popular Pixar movie.

Okay, time for me to talk about my top three movies that we watched.  Two of these really shouldn't be a surprise, but the third one is a new movie for me, and I was surprised at how much I loved it.

Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favorite Disney movies.  I think it's because I could relate to Belle so much, especially given her bookish tendencies.  Let's also talk about that library the Beast gave her.  It has always been a dream of mine to have a library like that, although I also know the likelihood of me getting a library like that is pretty much nonexistent.  I also adore Belle's personality.  She knows what she wants, and she's not afraid to say it.  If anything, she's one of the earliest Disney princesses who really stands up for herself.  Ariel has a little bit of this, but she's also a flighty teenager who falls in love with someone she's never met.  Belle, on the other hand, isn't afraid to stand up to the Beast and brings out the best in him.  I know some people say she has Stockholm syndrome, but if she did, then she wouldn't have run away and wouldn't have stood up to the Beast and pointed out his faults to him.  She simply fell in love with him by bringing out his true personality.

This is another movie that shouldn't be much of a surprise at all either.  I love Stitch so much.  Yes, he's chaos and havoc all rolled into one, but just look at that little face!  He's positively adorable, and I can't get enough of his face.  Don't even get me started on Lilo.  Her tirade about Pudge the fish is one of my favorite Disney movies because on its surface it appears to make absolutely no sense, but once you learn that Lilo's parents died in a car crash during a storm, suddenly you understand why it's important for her to keep Pudge the fish happy so he'll make the weather nice.  Nani is also a wonderful character.  She might look like she's losing control of the situation with Lilo, but you have to take into consideration her age and the trauma both of them have been through.  Nani's about nineteen years old, and she's trying to take care of her five year old sister who has a wonderful spirit, so she's trying to keep her in line while simultaneously encouraging her keep up that wonderful spirit.  The underlying message of "ohana", or family is amazing too.  It truly shows that family doesn't have to be related by blood.

Like I said before, I had never seen Avatar before.  Personally, I thought it was overrated, and I hated that they kept releasing it in theatres with a few extra seconds of footage and then claiming it's the highest grossing movie ever (for the record, when inflation is taken into account, it doesn't even break the top ten).  I also hate that I love this movie because I feel like I'm jumping on the bandwagon here, but since I'm over ten years later, I feel like it's not that bad.  First of all, I thought this movie was absolutely gorgeous.  The scenery was stunning, and I can't wait to stand in Pandora in Animal Kingdom and get as close to being in the movie.  I also love Jake's fighting spirit.  It doesn't take long for him to have an appreciation for the Na'vi people and the nature.  He showed tremendous growth as a character and learned to live with nature, not fight against it.

As can be expected, I also asked Bryan for his top three favorite movies that we watched and why he liked them.  Unfortunately, he just couldn't decide, which honestly surprises me.  I thought that he just went through the motions of watching the movies to appease me, but it would seem that he actually enjoyed watching many more of them than I originally thought.  Glad to know I'm getting my boyfriend into enjoying Disney movies.  There's hope for him yet!

Of course, we didn't like all the movies we watched.  We agreed on some of most of our bottom three movies, but there were some we disagreed on as well. 

Neither of us liked The Three Caballeros.  Both of us found it incredibly weird.  For those of you wondering if it's even a Disney movie, yes, yes it is.  And if you're wondering why in the world we watched it, it's because the characters, Donald Duck, Panchito and Jose lead guests through the ride at the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot.  The movie focuses on Donald, who receives gifts from his friends, Panchito and Jose, and with the help of those gifts, he learns about the beauty of Latin America.  Disney created this movie as propaganda of sorts to teach its viewers about how wonderful Latin America is to boost its image during World War II and get people on board with allying ourselves with Latin American countries.  Bryan and I both found this movie incredibly strange.  It was a blend of animation and live action, not that that is a downside, if done properly.  Bryan was particularly not fond of the ending, which was simply Donald chasing a bunch of women in bikinis around the beach.  Yes, that's a great thing for children to see.  We both thought so highly of the movie that I fell asleep, and he almost fell asleep.

Neither of us were particularly fond of Pinocchio either.  Personally, I thought it was a movie that didn't know what it wanted to be.  You have a puppet who becomes a real boy, and the next day, the dad immediately sends him off to school without showing him around the village or spending time to teach him the ins and outs of existing in the first place.  Bryan's complaint with Pinocchio stemmed from the third act, which he said was "literally hand waved  with a note saying his dad had been eaten by a monster unseen or talked about before this very moment."  It was as if they didn't know how to wrap up the movie within the time or budget allotted, so they threw in the giant whale to bring it all to a close.  Had they at least mentioned the whale earlier, it might not have been so bad.  For me, however, it really stemmed from the fact that the movie was all over the place.  You had Pinocchio coming alive, then working in a sideshow, then turning into a donkey, then getting swallowed alive by a whale.  It's a mess.

Even though we didn't have to watch The Good Dinosaur to prepare for our trip, Bryan absolutely loves dinosaurs, so we watched it.  Like I said earlier, it's easy to see why this is the least successful Pixar movie.  It focuses on the concept of what it would have been like if dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct and instead become intelligent creatures, while humans are more similar to animals in terms of habits and intelligence.  I know, it's super weird.  It tried really hard to teach lessons of being yourself, bravery and friendship, and I can see small children quite enjoying it.  As adults, however, we thought it was just strange and a little bit too out there, even for a Disney movie.  Despite my complaints, I did think Spot was rather adorable, and I wished there was more of him.  Arlo the dinosaur, on the other hand, I found whiny and annoying.

Bryan's final least favorite movie we watched was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and I can see where he's coming from, but I just love the dwarfs so much.  While he does admit that it's a classic, he didn't really care for the overall plot (it is Disney's first movie, so they were just getting started on telling stories, and it makes a lot more sense than Pinocchio in my opinion).  He also complained about "the rampant sexism", which I also understand.  I'm not making excuses, but the movie did come out in the 1940s when you didn't have nearly as many strong female characters as you do today.  I know I talked about this already, so I'm not going to go into more detail.  Personally, I didn't find the movie awful, although it did bother me that the dwarfs spent all the time looking after Snow White and killed the Evil Queen to save her, and the Prince shows up, and she immediately runs off with him as soon as she wakes up.  It's like she didn't even care about what the dwarfs did for her.

Well, that's it for now.  There are only two more Walt Disney Wednesdays until we leave on our trip.  Next Wednesday will be our single digits day, and I'll talk about what I'm looking forward to the most in all the parks as a whole, so be sure to check that out.

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Reflections on the Liberation of Auschwitz-75 Years Later

Let me start out by saying I meant to post this yesterday, on the actual anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, but I've been agonizing for about a week about how to write this post.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to go more the historical route, focus more on my experiences or do a combination of the two.  Even as I'm writing this, I don't really have a plan.  This is especially strange for me because I always plan out my blog posts and at least bullet point what I want to talk about.  I do have a collection of photos I want to share, but I'm just going to go with the flow and let the post create itself as I write.  I also want to say that unless otherwise specified, these are all photos I took on my trip in 2015.  I hope you enjoy them.

Let's start out with the basics.  About five years ago, I was doing what every 20-something did at the time when she was bored: scrolled through Facebook.  As I did, I came across a post by someone I went to college with about a trip to Auschwitz with Eva Mozes Kor, a Holocaust survivor who, along with her twin sister, Miriam, was subjected to medical experiments at hands of Josef Mengele.  For a history buff like me, the trip seemed like a dream come true.  Not only to visit Auschwitz, but to do so with a survivor, which is a treat only a select few get to enjoy.  At the same time, it seemed so unlikely that I would be able to go that I actually selected to hide the post so it wouldn't mock me with what couldn't be.  That evening, I went out with Claire for dinner, and, being the wonderful cousin she is, she convinced me to look more into the trip.  It was a once in a lifetime experience, and I would be a fool to pass it up without looking more into it.  I knew she was right, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I know when I write about historical fiction, I spend a lot of time going into the history behind the fiction.  Like I said before, however, this time I just want to focus on my own experiences in the camps, as it is unlike anything I've ever experienced before in my life.  I will have to include a little bit of history now and then, but this is mostly going to be about me.

I want to spend a little bit of time talking about Eva's personality.  She was, without a doubt, one of the most amazing and inspirational women I have ever met, although I feel like those words do not do her justice.  She was also a pistol.  She had no filter, and you never quite knew what was going to come out of her mouth.  Given what she and endured, it never bothered anyone anyway.  Our first night in Krakow, we all ate dinner together in the restaurant in the hotel.  Now, Eva was maybe five feet tall, and she wanted to be seen, so she climbed up on the chair of a booth.  The entire time, her son, Alex, who traveled with her on many of these trips, was saying, "Mom, Mom, please don't do that" while she hushed him and muttered under her breath about getting up on the seat.  Once up there, Eva explained that there were so many of us and only one of her, so when we introduced ourselves, we had to make ourselves memorable.  The example she gave was fall flat on our face.

The next night, we ate dinner together at a large, delicious restaurant near the center square of Krakow, and I was fortunate enough to sit at the same table as Eva.  I couldn't believe it!  I was so excited!  It didn't take long for Eva to set her sights on me and demand, "You!  Why haven't you made yourself memorable to me?"  Stunned, all I could stammer was, "I'm sorry?"  Thankfully, Eva forgave me.  Now, leading up to my trip, I had tried to think of questions I wanted to ask Eva.  At the risk of monopolizing her attention, I finally narrowed it down to two questions, and now was my chance.  I said, "Eva, I have two questions for you."  Unamused and without missing a beat, she immediately asked, "Only two?"  I knew that this was a force to be reckoned with.  I proceeded.  "If you could say one thing to Dr. Mengele, what would it be?"  I knew it was a risky question, and I hoped I hadn't overstepped any sort of unspoken line.  It didn't take long for Eva to come up with an answer: "You no good son of a bitch, how dare you.  Yet, I forgive you.  Not because you deserve it, but because I deserve it."  That was Eva.  Her big push was forgiveness because you as a person don't deserve to carry that hatred around with you, and that it something I have tried to live by, albeit not nearly as successfully.  If Eva could forgive Dr. Mengele for what he did to her, I could forgive anyone who wronged me over the course of my life.  Still processing through that answer, I said to Eva, "I'm a middle school teacher.  If you could send one message to my students, what would it be?"  Eva took a few moments longer than the previous question to come up with an answer.  Finally, she replied, "Tell them that this happened because people kept saying that it wouldn't happen, that they didn't believe it would happen, that they didn't speak up when they saw something wrong."  Later, Eva told us she'd rather speak up and be wrong about something than not speak up and find out something terrible happened.  Perhaps it was her way of embodying the phrase, "Never Again".  I'm forever grateful for those conversations with Eva.

Most people don't know that Auschwitz was actually a series of camps, the largest and most prominent were Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, which is mostly referred to as Birkenau.  Auschwitz I is known for the sign that says "Arbeit Macht Frei", while Birkenau is known for the long, brown building with the train tracks cutting through the middle.  Since Eva spent time at both camps, so did we.

Just like most prisoners, when Eva and her family arrived in Auschwitz in March of 1944, they were taken right to Birkenau and the selection platform.  This was the last time the family was together.  Given their age, Eva and Miriam were destined for the gas chambers, but since they were twins, an SS guard took interest in them on behalf of Dr. Mengele.  The twins protested vehemently, but they were separated from their mother, never to see her again.

For me, the selection platform as a place of great discomfort and spirituality.  At times, I could feel the sorrow felt by the over one million people who went through the camp, many of whom did not survive.  It was an extremely overwhelming sensation as I attempted to grapple with where I was.  It's always been fairly easy for me to understand the historical significance of wherever I am visiting.  For example, when I saw the gate Anne Boleyn came through at the Tower of London, I immediately got a sense as wo what it would have been like for her to come through that gate on a barge and the anticipation leading up to her coronation.  While that's always helped me gain a deeper understanding of the historical locations I visit, it does come at a price when I visit somewhere like Birkenau.  The emotions were extremely overwhelming, and when we had some time to explore on our own, I just sat down on the side of the platform and tried to process through the emotions I felt.

One thing you always read about in memoirs about Auschwitz and Birkenau was the condition of the blocks.  A block is where the prisoners were kept.  Going into one of the blocks, I really got a sense of the despair and the fact that the Nazis really didn't care about the conditions; in fact, it was probably better that they were worse so people would die quicker.  This was especially true inside the blocks at Birkenau.  Even without the crowds of prisoners, the place just felt dirty.  There was no insolation, poor ventilation, and the beds were incredibly small.  It was so hard to believe how three or four people would share a single bunk.  When we walked into this block, this was definitely what I was expecting and had pictured after reading all the memoirs over the years.

On the other hand, the interior of the blocks at Auschwitz I (which I'll refer to just as "Auschwitz" from here on out") was completely different and took me by surprise.  The beds were of much higher quality (although they still slept multiple people to a single bunk), and the hallways looked like an old, abandoned basement that you might come across in an older building.  It was relatively clean, and, as odd as it may sound, I definitely got the feeling of a dormitory in a weird way.  I hate saying that, because it makes me feel like I'm trivializing what the prisoners who were there went through, because it was just as horrific as those at Birkenau, but the appearance was completely different, and it threw me for a loop.

Furthermore, the grounds looked relatively nice.  This photo to the right was taken behind the blocks at Auschwitz.  Now, I know it would have looked very different during the Holocaust, but it caused me to struggle immensely.  My brain knew I was in a place where some of the most horrible things imaginable happened, but, at the same time, it was processing some of the space as being quite pleasant.  The juxtaposition made me feel extremely uncomfortable.  At the same time, looking back, it might be nature's way of softening the edges of cruelty and providing a beautiful place for all the people who died there to rest in peace.  That's what I'm going to continue to tell myself, as it's the only way I can reconcile the beauty with the tragedy.

Unfortunately, Eva wasn't with us for the entire time we spent in both Auschwitz and Birkenau.  She was 81 at the time and in poor health from the experiments performed on her by Dr. Mengele as a young girl.  For that reason, we got two very different tours at both parks.  When Eva was with us, we saw buildings and locations unique to her story.  When Eva wasn't with her (she was sometimes resting but often at another speaking engagement), we got a tour with staff at the camp who showed us general locations of interest.  Since they knew we were with Eva, they made sure to point out anywhere that had to do with her as well, but those were often places we already saw.  Unfortunately, some of the locations, such as the block where Eva and Miriam lived in Birkenau, did not survive the war.  When the Nazis realized they were going to lose, they destroyed what they could (which was quite a bit, but they took such meticulous records that we still have plenty left to study), and even some buildings did not survive.  This was an attempt to hide what they did.  All that is left of where Eva and Miriam lived is the foundation and a sign indicating that that was where the twins all stayed.  The flowers in the photo came from Eva, she left some there and some at the memorial at the end of the train tracks.

Like I said before, the twins were brought from Birkenau to Auschwitz approximately twice a week for medical studies.  The rest of the time, they were brought to this building across from their block.  Now, this building is usually closed off to the public.  Since we were there with Eva, however, we were able to go inside.  It was completely empty and had a sand floor.  It was quite easy for me to imagine what it would have been like full of scared children, clinging to their sibling, unsure what happened to the rest of their family.  It was another overwhelming experience.  This time, however, I had others around me with whom to process the information.

If we're going to talk about emotionally draining experiences, I definitely want to take some time to talk about the crematorium.  In Birkenau, most of the crematoriums were destroyed either by prisoners when they revolted or by Nazis as Allied troops closed in.  In Auschwitz, however, there is a crematorium that remains, and visitors can go inside.  For our group, if you didn't want to, that was perfectly acceptable as well.  As uncomfortable as it made me, I knew I had to go inside; I could suffer a few minutes of discomfort to honor the countless innocent victims.  While you can take photos inside the crematorium, I elected not to.  Not only did it not feel right, but I also spent so little time in there.  Walking in, I got a small sense of what it would have been like for the victims, as I walked in with a group of people.  There was a small hallway that hooked to the right and lead back to the pretend showers.  As soon as I crossed the threshold into the actual gas chamber, I immediately felt sick to my stomach.  If anyone talked, it was in hushed whispers only heard by those standing immediately next to them.  The gas chamber was large, a few shades darker than the exterior and with a low ceiling.  Along the walls there were strange indentations; upon closer inspection, I realized they were from fingernails as victims desperately pleaded for mercy and tried to escape.  I needed air.  I immediately headed towards the next room, the actual crematorium.  In the few seconds I was in there, I noticed there were only two ovens.  Standing there was a rabbi praying in Hebrew with a group of teenagers.  Several young women held each other and cried hysterically.  I couldn't handle it anymore and ran outside.

Outside was absolutely silent.  Those from my tour group who came out just as quickly as I had were in a stunned silence.  For the few who were lucky enough to be with a loved one or friend immediately found comfort with them while I tried to process through what I just experienced.  I stood in the exact place where thousands upon thousands died a terrible death.  We were thankfully done for the day.

Eva survived Auschwitz, and she is part of some of the most famous footage from the liberation by the Soviet army.  I've started the video below at the moment Eva appears.  There is a nurse holding a young child with two little girls on her left.  Eva is the one closest to the nurse.

They actually had to shoot this footage several times.  Eva, always a character, got frustrated with this, and in one of the takes, she stuck out her tongue.  Nobody at the museum she started, CANDLES, believed her, but they found the footage and found it hilarious.

At Auschwitz, we recreated this walk together.  With a member of the tour group on either side of her, Eva lead us along the same pathway, walking in her old footsteps as she explained to us the jubilation she and Miriam felt at liberation and the hope that the rest of their family was somehow alive so they could all be together again.  In a way, it was a surprisingly uplifting and inspiring moment as we learned how Eva survived and what she and Miriam hoped would happen in the years to come.

In July 2019, Eva traveled, like she always did, to Krakow to take guests with her to Auschwitz.  She  spent time in the camps, went to give speeches nearby and acted like everything was alright.  On July 3rd, she went to bed in her hotel room, and she never woke up.  It was absolutely devastating.  I burst into my parents' room in tears, and my mom thought something was wrong with Bryan's parents.  As we talked and processed through the death, my mom had an excellent point: Eva died doing what she loved and as close to her family as she could possibly get.  In a way, she and I think it's how she would have wanted to go.

I'm forever grateful for my incredibly brief time with Eva.  She is an inspirational woman, and when I tell people I've met her, they're amazed, as many have heard about her through her documentary, Buzzfeed articles, etc.  In a way, I stand a little bit taller when people recognize her.  My experience at Auschwitz was forever changed my life, and I hope that everyone takes the time to go there one day, not only to honor those who died there but to also fully grasp the Holocaust.

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My Thoughts On "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" and Discussion Questions

I'm just going to come right out and say it, I wasn't a fan of this book at all.  My book club originally picked another book for this month, but then they changed their mind at the meeting at picked this one instead.  Personally, I wanted to read the other one, I thought it sounded more interesting, but hopefully it'll come back up as an option at some point in the future.  With that being said, this book didn't really speak to me like other books did.  Since I've been surprised by books I didn't think I would like in the past, however, I went into it with an open mind and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it, although I could see why other people would enjoy it.  Apparently it's going to be made into a movie, and I might go see it, but I won't be first in line; maybe if it came out on Netflix or Hulu I would eventually watch it.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine focuses on Eleanor, a woman in the 30s with autism who lives in Scotland.  In her mind, everything in her life is perfect, she has a job, an apartment and a routine that includes a weekly phone call with her mother, who lives elsewhere (although it's not entirely specified where, but it is some sort of group home).  To Eleanor, manners and perfection is of the utmost importance, a habit she tries to demonstrate to her coworkers on a daily basis in the hopes they will follow her example.

Everything in Eleanor's life is thrown into complete turmoil, however, when she sees a concert (courtesy of tickets she won at work) and falls head over heels with the lead singer.  Suddenly aware of the fact that she is a little bit odd and doesn't act like the other women in her office, Eleanor takes it upon herself to improve her life, with some humorous results through various misunderstandings.  Eleanor's life is further complicated by the introduction of Raymond, the IT guy in her building who she slowly becomes friends with as their paths continue to cross.  The entire time, Eleanor hints at struggles from her past, which continue to haunt her.

I wish I could put my finger on why I didn't like this book, but I can't.  I think I had trouble connecting with the character, and I found the plot to be a little bland.  Like I said, I wasn't overly thrilled about reading this book, but I went into it with as open a mind as I could muster, as I've been surprised by books I thought I wouldn't like in the past.  I also wanted to like the book because Nicholas is on the spectrum (just barely), and I hoped this book would bit a bit of a window into his mind.  Instead, I found a character who completely shifted her worldview and attitude on everything in a short amount of time, which seemed highly unrealistic, even if she wasn't on the spectrum in the first place.

I think another complaint I have about this book is the abruptness of everything.  The character and plots swings between extremes without so much as a second thought, and it seems completely unrealistic.  I really can't dive into more about that right now because it would give away quite a few spoilers, but I talk about more of that below.

Okay, now I want to talk about a few twists and turns that the reader encounters towards the end of the book.  I also want to post my book club discussion questions.  So, if you haven't read the book or want to avoid spoilers, this is probably where you should stop reading.

First of all, what in the world was that ending!?  I feel like the fact that Eleanor's mom died years ago and was simply a figment of her imagination came completely out of nowhere.  I feel like if you're going to pull a stunt like that in a book, it needs to have some sort of foundation, some subtle clues that if you know about it, you'll be able to figure out with relative ease (or with a little bit of thought) when going back and rereading the book.  I don't want to spoil it, but I read another book recently that had a very similar twist, and while it did blindside me, it seemed far more believable.  This time, however, it just seemed completely ridiculous.  On the other hand, I am glad that Eleanor's mom was really dead, as that meant she couldn't harass her anymore.

I was also bothered by how Eleanor and Raymond's relationship ended.  I never wanted it to be a romantic relationship, so I was glad it wasn't, but I felt like once Eleanor got her life together, she just closed the door on their friendship and everything, despite how helpful he was to her.  Now, part of that coldness could stem from her being on the Autism spectrum, but I don't want to write off all her behavior as "oh, she did that because she's on the spectrum".  To me, it just seemed abrupt, and I definitely got the feeling at the end of the book that their friendship was essentially over.  This was also upsetting because Raymond's such a wonderful guy who, honestly, deserves to be treated better.

I also didn't like the huge swing in Eleanor's emotions towards Johnnie.  I mean, one moment she's planning out their entire lives together, the next she's have an existential crisis and is ready to commit suicide simply because she realizes the man is the worst.  She didn't even talk to him, she just realized how awful he was, and, for whatever reason, it sent her spiraling.  Now, I remember having crushes on guys and either they didn't reciprocate or I realized they were the worst, and while I was upset, it didn't send me into a tailspin of self-destruction.  All of this felt extremely abrupt and completely unrealistic in so many ways.  I actually double checked the author's name to see if it was a man or woman who wrote the book, as it definitely felt more like a man who wrote it.

Despite my sentiments about the book, I did manage to come up with some discussion questions.  I hope if your book club uses Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, you'll find these questions useful.

1. Early on, Eleanor says her coworkers hate her.  What would give her that impression?
2. Do you feel the book being told from Eleanor's point of view enhanced the text?
3. Despite what Eleanor claims, do you think she craved more human interaction?
4. How much of Eleanor's behavior was a result of her being on the Autism spectrum and how much of it was a result of her childhood trauma?
5. Eleanor refers to herself as a little phoenix (page 74), is this an appropriate simile?
6. Right away, Eleanor seems extremely comfortable with Raymond's mom.  Did this stem from the fact that she was the exact opposite of Eleanor's mom?
7. Is solitudy as liberating as Eleanor claims on page 134?
8. Did Eleanor's autism protect her from internalizing the abuse from her mother?
9. Why did Eleanor change her mind about Johnnie so abruptly?
10. Why did Eleanor's mom continue to have so much control over her even after her death?
11. Why did Eleanor suddenly decide to get rid of things such as her frog and not lament the passing of her plant?
12. Eleanor admonishes herself for being quick to judge others on page 294.  How was she a victim of people being quick to judge her as well?
13. Given Eleanor's childhood, can you blame her for not wanting to have children?
14. Do you agree with Eleanor's decision to stop talking to her "mother"?
15. What causes Eleanor's coworkers to suddenly become nicer towards her?
16. Were you surprised to discover Eleanor's mother was really dead?
17. Eleanor tells Raymond what matters is that she survived (page 224).  Up until she met Raymond, however, did she truly live?
18. Why did Eleanor tell Raymond if she would go to the concert with him at the end of the book?
19. Raymond obviously had a positive impact on Eleanor, but in what ways did Eleanor have a positive impact on Raymond?
20. As the book progressed, how did Eleanor's tone and use of popular phrases/word choice change, along with using a more casual tone?
21. How did this book change your perspective on people on the Autism spectrum?

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Why We Got Memory Maker

We're coming close to the end of our pre-Disney World Walt Disney Wednesdays, but I have a few ideas for some post-Disney World posts as well, but I'll reveal those after our trip.  Today, we're going to talk about Memory Maker (some people refer to it as PhotoPass, but it's the same thing).  This was something I insisted we add to our trip, and I even offered to pay for all of it, but Bryan said it was fine (we split the trip down the middle at my insistence).

You might have been able to figure out from the other name, PhotoPass, that Memory Maker is the photo package for Disney World.  I've never gotten a photo package at a theme park before, I usually just take my own photos, and I call it a day.  Memory Maker, however, offers so much more than just random photos of you throughout the park.  Plus, I love to scrapbook (see my previous post about preparing for a Disney scrapbook if you haven't read it already), and I love having photos of Bryan and I, so this seemed like a no brainer.

It's important to note that Memory Maker definitely isn't cheap.  If you order it ahead of time, it costs $169, but if you order it when you get to the park, it costs $199.  We ordered it ahead of time and saved $30.  It's still quite a bit of money, but it's important to break down what exactly you get in the Memory Maker package.

Before I go any further, I want to give a huge shoutout to my cousin, Sam, who kindly sent me some of his Memory Maker photos to use for this post, as I don't have any yet.  He said I can use any of the ones he sent me, so you're going to see some amazing pictures of him and his friends.

First, one of the biggest ways you're going to use Memory Maker is with character experiences.  You simply tap your Magicband against the sensor or use the card they give you if you don't have a Magicband, and it will automatically sync up the photos to your account for you to download later.  Instead of just having the posed character pictures, however, they start taking photos right away, which results is some wonderful candid shots that may be better than the posed photos.  You can see that in the photo of Sam with Woody and Bo-Peep, it's just them joking around and talking.  If you have kids, this is the perfect way to capture their reaction to meeting their favorite character for the first time.  Even if you don't have kids, it's a great way to capture some magical moments.

Memory Maker also includes something called "magic shots".  In these photos, Disney adds in little animated characters or features to your photo.  It might seem strange reacting to something that's not there, but once you see the completed product, it's so worth it.  You can see that in the photo with Sam and his friends reacting to Lumiere appearing to hang out with them.  There's a wide range of characters who they can add to your photos, depending on where you are in the park.  Magic shots also include adding different features to the photos, not just characters.  In Pandora, you can have banshees fly above your head.  They can also add Mickey Mouse shaped balloons on Main Street, USA in Magic Kingdom.  Sam had snow added in his picture of him in front of Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom.  These magic shots really only work if you react to whatever is being added into the photo; if you don't, it just looks strange and out of place.

Scattered throughout the park is the opportunity to simply have wonderful, beautiful pictures taken.  This includes in front of famous locations (such as Spaceship Earth, Cinderella's Castle, the Tree of Life, etc) or just random places throughout the park.  This is a great opportunity to simply capture the magic of your trip to Disney World.  Simply look for a Disney cast member with a camera.

Now, if you're like me, you want to get the most out of your Memory Maker package.  Thankfully, Disney is one step ahead, and you can scope out where all the Memory Maker locations are in each park and even get walking directions to one you're interested in visiting simply by using the Disney World app.

When you open up the app, you'll get a screen that looks like this (at least this is what it looks like as of right now, I'm imagining once they get rid of boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance, the homescreen for the app will change.  You're going to want to click on the closeup of the map of Magic Kingdom.  This will bring you to the map of all the parks in Disney World.  The default is the wait times for the rides at Magic Kingdom, but you can easily switch it around.  If you can't figure out how, don't worry, I'm going to show you how to switch it up to different parks, including Disney Springs.

Once you see the map of Magic Kingdom, you're going to click on the top of the screen where it says "Wait Times", along with a little arrow pointing down.  This is a drop down menu with all sorts of options for you to pick.  There are plenty of types of maps for you to refer to in the app.  It's going to be your best friend on your trip, trust me.

Like I said before, the default for the maps is the wait times, but you can also see where various characters will be (along with what times), where restaurants are located (and if they utilize mobile ordering), various entertainers (not just shows, but also street performers), bathrooms, guest services, etc.  For today, we're going to select "PhotoPass", which is the same as Memory Maker.

You'll immediately see a screen like the one pictured to the right.  Each of the little geotags coordinates with a Memory Maker location in the park.  When you select a geotag, it will tell you what the Memory Maker will be, (ie: which character or what it is so you know if it's one you want to do).  If it says "Character Experience", that means it's a character who is regularly scheduled to be there.  Please note, some characters simply wander around, so you might not know they're going to be there because there's not schedule for them.  So, always keep your eyes open!  If the description says "attraction photos", then that is an in-ride photo, which I'm going to get into momentarily.

Now, just like the app defaults to wait times for rides and attractions, it also defaults to showing you all of the parks at once, with Magic Kingdom being the center point.  Instead of trying to zoom out and move the map all over the place to find another park, there's a way that the app will only show you one park at a time.

If you go back to the top of the map, next to where you can select the content of the map, there's a small button that says "Filter".  This is what you want to select.

Now, you're going to have all sorts of options.  In addition to the four parks in Disney World, you can also select Disney Springs, Galaxy's Edge (although those attractions also show up when you select Hollywood Studios), and even the Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon (although they don't appear with every type of map).  Simply select the park or location you want to focus on, and the map will appear.  It updates fairly often, so you'll have fairly accurate information, although it's not entirely full proof.

One aspect of Memory Maker I'm super excited to take advantage of are the ride photos.  I've always loved looking at photos of me on rides, but the photos are always so expensive, so we never get them.  With Memory Maker, they're already included.  The best part is that you don't need to stop anywhere to get them added to your account, there's a small RFID chip in your Magicband, so it will sense you on the ride and add the photos.  Now, if you know you took some photos, and they don't show up in your account, that's no problem.  Simply contact Memory Maker, tell them where the shot was taken, about what time and what you were wearing.  They'll find the photos and add them to your account.  You also might end up with some random peoples' photos on your account every once in a while.  It's not a perfect system...yet.

Anyway, back to the ride photos.  This is something I'm definitely looking forward to the most.  I did a little research, and to help you out, I've compiled a list of the various rides throughout Disney World that have in-ride photos, and I've even researched where the cameras are if you want to know and make sure you're looking in that general direction (if you don't want to know and want more of a candid shot, that's fine too).

Magic Kingdom
There are six rides in Magic Kingdom that include in-ride photos: Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (pictured above), Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.

Space Mountain
The camera for Space Mountain is near the beginning of the ride.  At the end of the blast-off part/end of the star tunnel before you really start the ride, there is a camera.  The side that the camera on depends, however, as there are two different lines to get on the ride in the first place.

Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
This camera is near the end of the ride.  You'll probably be so focused on scoring as many points as possible that you won't notice the camera.  In the room with the giant Zurg, you'll notice a flash come from Zurg; that's the camera.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
The Memory Maker experience on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a little different from other rides in Disney World.  First, there are two cameras.  On the left of the track right before you go down the big hill, that's where you'll find the first camera.  At the bottom of the hill, you'll see another camera.  In addition to the photos, you also get a video of you enjoying the ride, which should be amusing.  Verbolten in Busch Gardens Williamsburg has a similar video experience.

Splash Mountain
Unfortunately, Splash Mountain will be closed for its annual maintenance when we're in Disney World.  The photos from Splash Mountain, however, are some of the most famous.  People are known for bringing in all sorts of props and really having a blast with this one.  Simply Google "Splash Mountain photos" to see all sorts of them.  You won't be disappointed, I promise.  Predictably, the photos are taken on the big drop, about a third of the way down.  The drop is so quick, however, it's best to be prepared and ready for the entire duration of the drop.

Pirates of the Caribbean
This ride photo is fairly new, as it was added in 2017.  This camera is located at the beginning of the ride.  As you ride, you'll see a skeleton steering a ship.  The camera is located in the talking skull on the side of the boat, just to the left of your ride vehicle.

Haunted Mansion
This is another fairly new ride photo.  And when I say fairly new, I mean it was added in April of 2019, so it's not even a year old.  This photo is taken near the beginning of the ride.  After boarding your doombuggy, you'll enter a room plagued with lightning and with paintings on one side.  The last two photos are of a horseman and Medusa, and these are where the camera is.  The flash is hidden by the lightning, so you won't even realize it's taking your picture.

Epcot
Unfortunately, Epcot only offers two ride photos (but there are tons of other Memory Maker spots throughout Future World and the pavillions).  The first is Test Track, which will, unfortunately, be closed when we're there (I'm really upset about this).  The second is Frozen Ever After.

Test Track
After designing and testing your car, your car will go on a test drive.  Once you get outside, you'll go down a little hill.  Immediately after the hill, the camera is to the right of the track.

Frozen Ever After
When they replaced Maelstrom with Frozen Ever After in the Norway Pavilion, they didn't change a whole lot in terms of the track.  Your boat will go down a small drop, and that's where the camera is located (think of it like a super small Splash Mountain, just without the splash...or the racist undertones).

Hollywood Studios
In Hollywood Studios, there are three rides that have in ride photos: Tower of Terror, Rock'n'Roller Coaster and Slinky Dog Dash.  I'm curious to see if they'll add one to either Smuggler's Run or Rise of the Resistance; one can dream.

Tower of Terror
Bryan and I have decided not to ride Tower of Terror (why ride it when we live it every time we get into the super sketchy elevator in his apartment building?)  When you get to the top of the elevator shaft, the doors open, giving you a wonderful view of the park.  Moments later, you're dropping at a rate faster than gravity (that's right, the cables pull your car down at a rate faster than you would if you were free falling).  So, make sure you smile, or at least try to conceal your nerves to the best of your ability.

Rock'n'Roller Coaster
Honestly, I think Rock'n'Roller Coaster gives you the best chance for a candid ride photo.  Immediately after your limo is launched (that's right, it's a launch roller coaster), you get your photo taken.  You're so wrapped up in the launch and the blaring music, you don't really have time to react.  This leads to incredibly amusing photos.  Last time we went to Disney World, we almost bought the photo for this ride, since my dad's face was hilarious.  Needless to say, he didn't enjoy the ride very much, and his face gave that away.  I wish we had that photo.

Slinky Dog Dash
It's kind of hard to describe where the camera is for Slinky Dog Dash.  After the second launch, you go over four mini hills, followed by a u-turn to the left, then a turn to the right.  When Slinky gets ready to turn right, get ready, because that's where your picture will be taken!

Animal Kingdom
Just like Epcot, there are only two rides in Animal Kingdom that have in ride photos: Expedition Everest and Dinosaur.

Expedition Everest
Part of Expedition Everest includes going backwards after you discover that the yeti has ripped up part of the track (oh no!).  Right after you start going forward again, you go down a big drop.  This is where the camera is located, just to the right of the track.

Dinosaur

I still can't believe Bryan is dragging me on this awful ride.  I keep telling him that the only consolation for me is the fact that he'll get a nice picture of my death for a keepsake.  The facial expressions on this ride are hilarious.  Just like Rock'n'Roller Coaster, it's the perfect opportunity for some wonderful (and terrifying) candid shots.  When the dinosaur charges at you from the right (why am I going on this ride again?), the camera is located up and to the right to get your reaction to the terrifying dinosaur.  I mean, look at it!  I'm thoroughly convinced that this ride will in fact be the death of me.

So, that's it; an overview of Memory Maker, along with a crash course on how to use the app.  I can't believe we only have two more pre-trip Walt Disney Wednesdays left, but, like I said, I have a few ideas for post-trip Walt Disney Wednesdays, so these will be around for a little while longer.  Next week, I'm going to talk about all the Disney movies Bryan and I have watched to prepare for this trip.  I don't think we'll be 100% done with all of them yet, but we're getting pretty close (yay!).  Until next week!

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Happy 25th Birthday, Star Trek Voyager

That's right, one of my favorite television shows turns 25 today, so I would be remiss if I didn't dedicate an entire blog post to this amazing show.  First of all, I know a lot of Trekkies aren't a huge fan of Voyager, and that's fine, that's their opinion.  I, however, absolutely love it and have really gotten more into it in recent years.

I know I watched Voyager growing up, I knew the characters (especially Seven of Nine since she was my dadś favorite, along with just about every other man on the planet), but I didn't really remember the plot all too much.  I remembered a lot more of Next Generation, which is ironic because it was on before Voyager, so I was significantly younger when I watched it.  About three years ago, however, I was on vacation in New York City (it was, ironically, around this time of year), and I was spending some time relaxing in my hotel room when I came across an episode of Voyager.  I even remember what episodes I watched ¨The Thaw¨ and ¨Tuvix¨ (episodes 23 and 24 respectively of season 2).  I forgot how much I loved the show and all the characters.  When I got home from my trip, I began watching all the episodes available on BBC America.  They weren't in order, but I was able to piece together the plot.

Unlike Star Trek: the Original Series, Next Generation  and Deep Space Nine, Voyager doesn't take place in the Alpha Quadrant where Earth, Vulcan and all the other planets you encountered so far reside.  Instead, the series starts out with Kathryn Janeway and her crew leaving Deep Space Nine to rescue a Maquis ship that disappeared without a trace.  For lack of a better word, the Maquis are freedom fighters who work outside the law to fight against the Cardassians, an alien species who has waged war against the Federation and committed horrible atrocities against the Bajoran race.  Eventually, the Federation brokered a peace with the Cardassians, but the Maquis still weren't happy and continued their fight against the Cardassians.  The Federation sees them as working outside the law and thereby acting illegally, although many members of the Maquis were at one point a part of Starfleet.  I just summarized half a season of The Next Generation and seven seasons of Deep Space Nine in just a few sentences.

So, with Janeway in charge, Voyager heads off in the direction that the Maquis ship, the Val Jean was last seen.  Once there, they're sucked to the furthest reaches of the Delta Quadrant by a being called the Caretaker, who is in charge of taking care of the Ocampa species.  On the way, many members of Voyager's crew are killed, including their doctor, first officer and lead engineer.  They also find the Val Jean, which is in a dire situation as well and has lost many members of its crew on the way to the Delta Quadrant.  Unfortunately, the Kazon, a species that is technologically inferior to many other species in the galaxy, wants the technology the Caretaker uses, but they want it to enslave the Ocampa.  Janeway is forced to make a difficult decision: save her crew (along with the crew of the Val Jean) by using Caretaker's technology to go back to the Alpha Quadrant, or destroy the Caretaker's array and save the Ocampa from the Kazon.  Janeway makes the agonizing decision to save the Ocampa race, thereby sentencing both crews to a journey of over 75 years to get back home.  Both crews are forced to work together as they journey across the uncharted Delta Quadrant.  Unlike the Enterprise in Next Generation and the Deep Space Nine Space Station, Voyager has no one they can rely upon, they have to forge their own alliances and use any technology available to shorten their journey so they can make it home in their lifetime.

As you can see, Voyager is completely different from other Star Trek series.  The Delta Quadrant is the wild west of the galaxy, it's every man for himself and danger around every corner.  In addition to the Kazon, the Borg control a huge portion of the Delta Quadrant.  For those of you unfamiliar with Star Trek, the Borg is the galaxy's greatest enemy.  A cyborg-type group, they assimilate anyone they encounter into their collective where the hive mind reign supreme and individuals lose their autonomy, along with all memories of their former lives.  Millions, if not billions, have been assimilated into this cyborg collective, and the Borg's goal, along with achieving perfection, is to assimilate the entire galaxy.  The have huge cubes (pictured above), significantly larger than most ships.  Once you encounter a Borg vessel, it's pretty much assumed that you will be assimilated.

One thing I love so much about Voyager is the colorful cast of characters.  Not only do they all have diverse, unique backstories that give them far more depth than many previous Star Trek characters, but if you look at the photo of the crew at the beginning of this post, you'll also notice that they are a racially diverse group as well.  This includes a black Vulcan and a Native American first officer.  It was definitely a challenge, but I did manage to make a list of my top three characters (although, honestly, I like all of them except one or two).  These are my top three in no particular order:

So I might have lied a little bit just now.  I said I didn't have any favorite characters, but I kind of do, and Chakotay is absolutely one of them (along with another character whom he's connected to in a somewhat controversial way).  Chakotay was captain of the Val Jean when the Caretaker brought it to the Delta Quadrant.  Like many Maquis, Chakotay began his career in Starfleet.  He served on several ships and even made it to the rank of Lieutenant Commander (third highest on an average ship).  Eventually, however, he left Starfleet to join the Maquis after his home planet came under the control of the Cardassians.  After the Val Jean was destroyed, and his crew merged with Voyager's, Janeway made him first officer as a way to bring both crews together and ensure favoritism wasn't shown towards one crew over the other.  Chakotay has a deep rooted hatred for Cardassians, which sometimes comes out in unconventional ways.  One thing I love about Chakotay is his wisdom and compassion.  Voyager doesn't have a counselor on board, and he sometimes serves as the voice of wisdom, even when his advice isn't necessarily what people want to hear.  The writers of the show also worked extremely hard to incorporate aspects of his culture.  During his time in the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay encounters a tribe very similar to his own, and he discusses his own culture, which originated on Earth, but his tribe eventually moved to their current planet.  In order to not show favoritism towards any one tribe, Chakotay's tribe is never outright named.

I guess it's appropriate to talk about the other half of my absolute favorite Star Trek couple (I know I'm part of an extremely small group who would say that, but I adore Chakotay and Seven of Nine together).  Out of all of Voyager's characters (maybe out of all Star Trek characters in general), Seven of Nine has the most interesting back story.  Seven of Nine is a human from Earth.  As a small child, she and her parents set off on their own to explore the galaxy and learn about the Borg.  It is important to note that they did this without the sanction or protection of Starfleet or the Federation.  Eventually, Seven's family is captured and assimilated by the Borg, where she spends the next several years of her life.  Janeway even speculates that her family were the first humans the Borg encountered.  In order to safely cross Borg space, Voyager tries to cross through what they call "the Northwest Passage".  Unfortunately, that territory is occupied by Species-8472, the only species that can fight off the Borg.  Because of this, Janeway decides to create an uneasy alliance with the Borg, something that has been done in the past with Captain Picard in Next Generation.  The Borg assign Seven of Nine to be their spokesperson.  In true Borg fashion, however, they destroy Species-8472 with the crew of Voyager and want to assimilate the crew.  Janeway and Chakotay, however, find a way to sever Seven's connection with the Borg, thereby giving her back for autonomy and individualism for the first time since she was a small child.  Seven becomes a reluctant member of the crew.  Eventually, however, she grows fond of the crew and starts to explore her lost humanity..  She creates personal relationships with members of the crew, even having a romantic relationship with Chakotay, much to the chagrin of many fans of the show (there was considerable sexual tension between him and Janeway, although that one always felt forced to me).

I really went back and forth about who to include in my top three, whether it should be the Doctor or Tom Paris.  Tom is considerably better looking than the Doctor, so he ultimately won out (sorry Robert Picardo).  Tom Paris' allegiances are complicated.  He started out in Starfleet as a pilot.  He had quite big shoes to live up to, as his father was an admiral in Starfleet.  His career in Starfleet, however, was short-lived.  He lied to try and cover up a pilot error that lead to the deaths of three other officers.  He was promptly discharged from Starfleet, and he wandered around looking for a fight.  He found this with the Maquis, but that was also a short lived, as he was quickly captured and sentenced to eighteen months at a penal colony.  This was where Janeway found him and enlisted him to pilot Voyager to find the Val Jean and attempt to redeem himself.  Tom is often the comic relief of the crew.  He's impulsive and often acts first with little to no regard for the consequences later.  He's an amazing pilot, however, which sometimes gets Voyager both into and out of trouble.  At first, Tom often butts heads with B'Elanna, who was a member of Chakotay's Maquis crew, but eventually they start dating, which leads to them getting married and having a daughter together.

I was going to spend some time talking about my favorite Voyager episodes, but that's a lot to write about because it was hard to pick which ones to do.  I did make a list of my top ten.  I definitely want to write about my top ten episodes at some point, but I think I'm going to save that for a later blog post.  In the mean time, happy birthday to the cast and crew Star Trek: Voyager.  Despite what some fans might say, you're an amazing addition to the Star Trek universe and add far more depth than people realize.  You created a wonderful show with complex characters put in nearly impossible situations and opened up an entire quarter of the galaxy for future Star Trek series to explore.

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A Closer Look at Animal Kingdom

It's hard to believe I'm doing my last write up on a specific Disney park.  It's also hard to believe it's only 30 days until our trip (but who's counting?).  The irony of this post is that while I'm writing about Animal Kingdom last, it's actually the first park we're going to on our trip.  A lot of that came down to where we wanted to eat our first day of vacation (more about that later), along with when Disney has Extra Magic Hours.

First, a tiny bit of history about Animal Kingdom.  The idea for an animal-themed park originally came up in the late 1980s after Disney opened MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios).  Since this park involves large amounts of living, breathing animals, there was extensive research necessary.  Additionally, Imagineers traveled all over the world observing animals and collecting artifacts that could be used throughout the park to create as immersive an experience as humanly possible.  The majority of this planning, research and travel was spearheaded by Joe Rohde.  If you've ever seen a documentary about Disney World, he's the one with the huge earring (you'll know who I'm talking about as soon as you see him).  It took a little over ten years, but the park finally opened in 1998.

So much about Animal Kingdom has changed since the last time we went fourteen years ago (moreso than Epcot and Magic Kingdom but definitely not as much as Hollywood Studios).  I also feel like there's a lot that there was there when we went fourteen years ago that we didn't do because we just did the rides.  A lot of that comes from the fact that Animal Kingdom is so much more than a park, and in order to get the full experience, it's important to not only know that but also take advantage of it.  Like I said before, we just did the rides last time we went to Animal Kingdom, and it sounds bad to say this, but that caused us to miss huge parts of the park that are absolutely amazing.  On top of that, there are plenty of new rides and attractions that have opened in Animal Kingdom, including a whole new part of the park.

Animal Kingdom is broken into seven distinct areas: Discovery Island, Africa (including the fictional port city of Harambe), Asia, DinoLand USA, Oasis, Rafiki's Planet Watch and Pandora.  Just like the lands in Magic Kingdom, each of these areas is unique and provides visitors with a different experience.  Originally, Imagineers also wanted to include a part of the park that focused on fantasy animals, but this was eventually discarded, although Pandora can be considered an area that focuses on fictional creatures.

First, I want to talk about the few things I've done previously in Animal Kingdom that I can't wait to do again.  First and foremost is Kilamanjaro Safari.  This is what Walt Disney originally wanted for the Jungle Cruise in Magic Kingdom; a place for guests to real animals in their natural habitat.  When Disneyland first opened in 1955, it was deemed an impossible task, which is why the Jungle Cruise has animatronic animals.  Kilamanjaro Safari is one of the main reasons Animal Kingdom is so huge, it covers approximately 110 acres, or about 19% of the entire Animal Kingdom.  The safari is set up judiciously where animals appear to be wandering around at their leisure, but they're actually separated by natural barriers (so you don't have lions attacking and eating zebras in front of small children) and are lured out closer to the path with things such as food and air conditioning.  Guests catch a ride on safari truck where a cast member serves as your guide.  Unlike the Jungle Cruise where the cast member (aka the "Skipper") feeds you cheesy jokes, this time you're told factual information about the animals as you cross them.  The one risk with this ride is you never know what you're going to get, you might see a lot of animals, you might not.  Disney does work hard to ensure you see as much as possible.

Another attraction I'm excited to see is housed in the main focus of Animal Kingdom: the Tree of Life.  Pictured above, the Tree of Life looks like a solid structure.  Up close, however, guests realize that all sorts of animals are carved in intricate detail into the trunk and branches, 325 carvings in all.  It's absolutely gorgeous, and it's easy to spend ages just looking at all the detail.

While the tree looks like a large, solid structure, underneath the roots is actually a 428 seat theatre where guests can watch the 3D production It's Tough To Be A Bug! based on Pixar's 1998 movie A Bug's Life.  At first, Imagineers struggled with how to build a large tree with a theatre underneath that could not only support the weight of the tree on an average day but also withstand the potential winds and rain from hurricanes.  Eventually, they decided to use an oil rig, which was perfect to withstand the weight and stress.

Like I said before, It's Tough To Be A Bug! is a 3D show where the characters from A Bug's Life explain the hardships and struggles they endure being bugs.  The point is driven home with special effects such as smells for the stinkbugs, air that feels like bugs crawling up your legs and even something that comes out of your seat and pokes you in the back to feel like a stinger.  It absolutely terrifies children, and there's always children screaming who have to be taken to the back of the theatre of comforted.  I remember the first time we went to Animal Kingdom in 2000, and I had heard that the show can be a little intense.  I was a bit of a wimp at the time and didn't want to sit down.  Disney is always wonderful and accommodating, however, and a cast member kindly stood in the back of the theatre with me.  When we went in 2005, I did sit in a seat and enjoyed the show.

The last thing we did last time we went to Animal Kingdom I want to do again is Festival of the Lion King.  I've heard this show compared to seeing Lion King on Broadway, but since I've seen Lion King on Broadway, I'm having a little bit of a hard time swallowing that.  I remember it being a lot of fun and there being a lot of color and beautiful dancing.  Unlike the Broadway show, however, Festival of the Lion King uses fur characters similar to the costumes used for characters around the park, not puppet-like costumes you see on Broadway.  It's an abbreviated version of the movie that focuses mainly on the music, with four story tellers filling in the rest of the story as you listen to the music.

Like I said before, there's plenty that's either been added to Animal Kingdom since we last went or that we didn't do last time that I would like to do this time around.  Perhaps the biggest change to Animal Kingdom is Pandora, based on the movie Avatar.  Now, it's important to note that at this point, I haven't actually seen Avatar, but it's on our list of movies to watch before we go on our trip (more about that in a few weeks).  This Pandora includes the floating mountains, exotic plants and sounds.  At night, everything lights up to look like bioluminescent plants.

There are two main rides in Pandora: Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey.  Flight of Passage is similar to Soarin' in Epcot where it feels like you're flying through Pandora while in front of a giant screen.  When you ride Soarin', however, you're simply sitting in a seat.  On Flight of Passage, however, you ride one of the banshees from the movie.  The banshees even feel like they're breathing as you sit on them!  The detail is supposed to be amazing, and I've only heard great things about this ride.  FastPasses for this ride are difficult to come across, but we're fortunate enough to have gotten one for our second day at Animal Kingdom.

The other ride in Pandora is Na'vi River Journey.  I've heard this ride isn't as good as Flight of Passage, but I still want to ride it.  As the name implies, this is simply a slow, leisurely ride through Pandora where you can even meet a Na'vi shaman.  When I watched Imagineering Story on Disney+ (which I can't recommend enough), they talked about creating this shaman.  When Disney parks first opened, the motors used in the animatronics were significantly larger, which is why you don't see a lot of changes in emotions on rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean.  Now, however, the motors are incredibly small, meaning animatronics are capable of changing their emotions and having many more fine motor movements.  In Imagineering Story, they demonstrate this by showing the shaman from Na'vi River Journey.

The realism in the shaman is beyond amazing.  When I showed this clip to Bryan, he immediately got excited and started asking if we were going to be able to see the shaman up close.  It also reminds me of the conversations we have about "Uncanny Valley", which is the concept that if something looks far too realistic, the brain pretty much short circuits as it tries to comprehend the fact that what you're seeing isn't real even though it's comprehending it as something that is in fact real.

In addition to Pandora, Asia has expanded in Animal Kingdom to include a new roller coaster: Expedition Everest.  On this ride, you are traveling through the Himalayas in search of the elusive Yeti.  Things go wrong, however, when they track you're riding on has been ripped up by the very Yeti you're looking for.  As you zoom through the mountains, you even briefly encounter the Yeti.  The building of this ride is absolutely fascinating.  The Yeti, track and mountain are all so large they had to built in tandem instead of building one, then another, then the last one.  This was, understandably, a logistical nightmare.  The video below goes into more detail about this, including the research done to make the ride look as culturally accurate as possible.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Rivers of Light, which is the night show at Animal Kingdom.  Unlike the other shows in Disney World, there are no fireworks in this show so as to not to scare the animals.  Instead, gorgeous boats with colorful lights and scenes from Disney movies projected on them float along the water, along with fountains, all to music.  It looks absolutely gorgeous and like a wonderful way to end a day in the park.

There are a few things that were available when we went to Animal Kingdom last time, but we skipped them.  First and foremost is the ride Bryan's probably looking forward to the most: Dinosaur.  I, however, have some much different thoughts about this ride.  On this ride, you're sent back in time to retrieve a specific dinosaur egg.  As always, however, things go wrong when you're there, and the meteor shower that killed the dinosaurs starts.  It's a loud, intense ride that includes dinosaurs roaring at you while you scream in terror.  I'm convinced I'm going to die on this ride.  To make matters worse, this is the very first ride we're going on in Disney World, so I keep saying that anything we plan after that is useless, as I'll be dead.  Bryan thinks this is hilarious (isn't he the best?).  I did buy earplugs for this ride, so let's hope they work.  The good news is you get a photo from this ride, so that should be amusing.  I did watch a few videos of this ride ahead of time so I would know what to expect, and it's pretty much just darkness and screaming, which doesn't bode well for me at all.  We'll have to see how this goes, although Bryan seems excited.

Recently, as in the past week or two, Bryan and I have decided to add Rafiki's Planet Watch to our trip.  In order to get to this part of Animal Kingdom, you have to ride a train.  This area includes a petting zoo, conservation efforts and drawing classes (which is the main reason we want to go).  While it sounded interesting, it wasn't really a top priority for us, it seemed like something more geared towards small children.  I recently saw a TimTracker video, however, that showed his visit to Rafiki's Planet Watch and the drawing classes they have up there.  Just like Art of Animation, these are free, and they provide all the supplies.  With the help of a Disney animator, you learn to draw an animal from a Disney movie.  Now, I'm an absolutely terrible artist, but it seems like fun and a cool, free souvenir to take home with us.

Like I said before, Animal Kingdom is so much more than a theme park, it's also a way to appreciate animals in as close to their natural habitat as possible.  There was a lot of controversy when this park first opened with accusations that live animals were being used simply to amuse people.  That definitely isn't the case, however, these animals are probably treated better than if they're in a zoo, and extensive research went into creating the park.  Even Jane Goodall gave her stamp of approval, which is good enough for me.  In order to be more than just a theme park, Animal Kingdom has Gorilla Falls Exploration and Maharajah Jungle Trek.  As the name implies, Gorilla Falls Exploration is an opportunity to see gorillas up close on a trail of sorts that winds through the park.  Maharajah Jungle Trek is similar, although its main focus is tigers, along with other creatures from Asia (such as komodo dragons).  Both of these seem like a great way to spend some time and to get some fantastic photos of some animals.

Compared to the other Disney parks, there aren't as many characters that I'm looking forward to meeting in Animal Kingdom.  Even though Chip and Dale are available in other parks, I really want to make sure we see them in Animal Kingdom since they wear adorable dinosaur outfits.  I think they're so cute, and Chip and Dale are always fun to interact with (although my mom would tell a different story).  They're such flirts.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of the movie Up! (please don't hate me, I know most of the people out there absolutely love that movie), I do want to see Russell and Dug.  Russell is quite a piece of work, and Dug reminds me of my dogs, especially his love for squirrels.  Baxter's always chasing squirrels, even though he has yet to catch one.  I also want to meet Pocahontas.  We have photos of us seeing her and Meeko somewhere around our area over twenty years ago when the movie first came out, but that's the only time I've met her.  I know they've updated her costume to make it more culturally accurate, but I still like her old one, as it was simpler and just like the movie.  I'd also like to meet Tarzan.  I've never met him, so I can't really speak to what he's like as a character, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Finally, I really want to meet Mickey and Minnie.  While Mickey and Minnie are available to meet in many places throughout all four parks, this is actually the only place you can meet them together.  I love their safari outfits, and I really want a nice picture of Bryan and I with Mickey and Minnie together.  I don't want to talk a lot about what photographs I want, however, as that's going to be our topic for next week's Walt Disney Wednesday, our photo package that I insisted on getting.

Like I said at the very beginning of this post, this is the first park we're visiting.  This decision came from the fact that we're celebrating Valentine's Day a day late and wanted somewhere nice to go for dinner.  After doing some research and asking around, we decided on Yak and Yeti, which is an Asian restaurant.  It's one of the two table service restaurants we're visiting (the other being Sci-Fi Dine-In in Hollywood Studios).  From what I've seen and heard, the food is delicious, and the atmosphere is amazing.  I did want to do a few more table service restaurants, but they're expensive and take up a lot of time, and I'd rather be on rides and experiencing the parks than sitting in a restaurant.  I'll be sure to let you know how the food is and take lots of pictures inside the restaurant.

As always, I did ask Bryan what he's most excited to see and do at this park.  He did say that out of the four parks, this is the one he's most excited to visit.  Of course, he's extremely excited to ride Dinosaur, and we keep joking about how this ride is going to kill me (which he seems weirdly excited about as well).  This shouldn't surprise me at all, that man is obsessed with dinosaurs, to the point that he wore a dinosaur t-shirt on our first date (it's his favorite shirt apparently).  Bryan's also excited to do the drawing class up at Rafiki's Planet Watch.  When I told him about it, he said he used to doodle all the time when he had to take notes in school, which I didn't know.  Because of that, he's probably going to do leaps and bounds better than me doing this, not that that's very hard.  Finally, Bryan's looking forward to Kilimanjaro Safaris.  We've been to the zoo together here in DC, but that was about two years ago and for something for school, so we were on a mission (not to mention it was pouring that day, and we got stranded in the gorilla house for about half an hour, and if you know me, you know that was torture).  I keep saying we need to go up to the zoo in Baltimore, but I feel like Kilimanjaro is going to be even better.

So, that's it, I've talked about all four parks, what we want to do and what we plan on doing.  Next week, I'll talk about the memory maker photo package that I insisted on purchasing and what I hope to get from it, along with some fun ideas I have that I can't wait to share with the rest of you.  Until next week!

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