Flashback
Picture it: Florida, 1992. It was October, and I was 5 years old. I got out of Kindergarten for a week, so we could go down to Disney World.
We took an Amtrak train down from Grand Central Station (we live about 2 hours up from the City), and now that I look back, it's frightening how much little details I remember. It seemed like hours waiting for the train to come, but I had managed to fascinate myself with a poster for Cats, wondering what the heck it was all about. Finally, we headed down. Me and my mom sat on one side, and I slept on the floor in front of the two seats with a little blanket and my stuffed Elmo (my best friend and most prized possession through childhood).
We stayed at Caribbean Beach, and would start out for Magic Kingdom first thing next day. I remember it was a long walk all the way to the busses. My first trip to Magic Kingdom was done in a special way. I don't know if my parents planned it that way, or if it just happened. We took a bus to the Polynesian, and boarded the monorail there, which we took through the Contemporary to our destination. I thought the invisible dog leashes I could see people with in the Contemporary were the coolest things I had ever seen in my life.
We went to the left, which I've always done since. It's always seemed like second nature to me, and I've often done so in other instances of life. I barely remember the Jungle Cruise, but I know that I loved it. Ahh, the memory of our guide taking out his pistol and shooting the Hippo. I, who was afraid of loud noises, covered my ears. I remember the boat coming really close to land on the left, and a few birds in the trees, but I don't recall seeing that my last trip. For some reason, possibly due to a fear of deep water (I can't swim) I actually was kind of afraid, in retrospect, to go on the Jungle Cruise, and didn't ride it my next trip.
I loved the shooting gallery, although I only seemed to be able to shoot the target that made a ghost rider come up in the background. I also sat and watched the Diamond Horeshoe Revue, where one woman kissed the baldest man in the audience. This was a highlight of the show, but I didn't remember seeing it the next time. The Haunted Mansion would be left alone until my next trip.
We rode 20,000 Leagues, and I was in complete awe at the entire show. I did, however, get a bit scared when we dove. I know that what I heard must have been incorrect, but I thought the man said that we would actually be diving 2 leagues, and, although much less than 20,000, it still scared me a bit. My dad said, "Don't worry, we're only going down a little bit." I wouldn't know until I watched a Saturday Night Live segment with Kelsey Grammer a few years ago that a league doesn't measure depth. Soon, things would take a turn for the worse. The red alert went on, and the sirens began blaring. My parents told me to close my eyes, and I did, wrapping up into a ball with my eyes closed and my hands over my ears. In this state, I couldn't tell what was happening, and, since I had been down there for a while, I got up, asking if it was over with. I caught a glimpse of the other ship. Fortunately, that's all I saw, because the squid would have given me nightmares for months. I had seen the end of the movie before, and I could have sworn that I saw the dying Nemo lying on his bed through the window. I closed my eyes again, until it all passed. 20,000 Leagues was a completely traumatizing experience for me.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride also scared the crap out of me. I was all fun and games until the train tunnel. We headed for the track, and I was sitting behind the wheel, trying to steer. My dad jokingly yelled out, "Watch out for the train! Get out of the way!" I tried to keep going straight, but the car went right into the tunel, and my dad yelled, still jokingly, "No, not in there!" The train was coming, and it was one of the scariest experiences in my life. I was still a bit shaken as we left.
I stayed in Polynesian at a little daycare center themed after Peter Pan that night, while my parents went out. The entrance was Wendy's room, and steps led through the window to the rest of the place. They'd pass a basket with silver streamers on it (Pixie Dust) over your head and you'd walk out. I can remember the entire layout of the place, too. The next night my parents went out to the Luau, but I loved it so much I wanted to go there instead of going with them.
Also, one morning we ate character breakfast, although I don't remember where. Chip and Dale tickled me.
EPCOT I don't remember much, but I did visit the Living Seas, and it became, and will always be, my favorite EPCOT pavillion. We also watched Kitchen Kabaret, another favorite of mine. I still have a postcard of it somewhere. I also remember watching whatever show they had at the time from the bridge over the "English Channel". My ears were covered for that too. I wouldn't watch fireworks sans covered ears for a few years. We saw the green lasers from it another night when we were going from our hotel room to the food court, and I was rushing my mom, who wanted to sit and watch, because I was afraid of when the fireworks were going to start.
I remember a few things from MGM. I loved the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, although the fly, ant, and dog's nose scared me. I walked up to the nose, since my parents told me to, and it sniffed, which sent me running like a blaze in the other direction. Also, I remember this warehouse type area. It was like a gag warehouse, and there were many Roger Rabbit elements in it. One was an old car with a cardboard cutout of a weasel with a tommygun, pointed at where you were supposed to take a picture. I thought the friggin' thing would shoot me, and refused to take the picture. My dad did, though.
You know what? I look through this, and realize just how much of a pansy this makes me sound like. LOL I was afraid of friggin' everything. It's okay now. Yes, I realize that two of the attractions in my sig were traumatic childhood moments, but there's good reason behind them. 20,000 Leagues was closed next time I came. I look back on it, and look at all kinds of stuff about it, and I realize that it would have been the kind of attraction I would have loved and ridden repeatedly, like the Mansion, but I was just too young. I never got to ride it again. Also, I rode Mr. Toad's next trip, and loved it, although eveything seemed to be black with neon paint, and 2-D, instead of the colorful 3-D characters I remembered. Of course, memories from so long ago can be a treacherous thing.
