When you have children of various ages, you are presented with a wide array of reactions to different facets of Disney World attractions. You expect the youngest ones to love the characters and miss the subtleties.  You expect the teenagers to be "too cool for school" and not play along with everything.  And you don't really know when something is going to change.  It just does.

That said, you don't expect your 6 year old, "let's ride Splash Mountain in the rain four times" daughter to suddenly become your 7 year old, "I'm going to cry bloody murder because Splash Mountain scares the poo out of me" daughter in the matter of a few months.

This happened to us in May 2012, which suddenly made navigating the thrill rides a bit more difficult for our crew.  I was determined to not let this happen again in 2013.  And it didn't.  Because I broke out a guaranteed winner.  As you learned from my last entry here, I am not above making an absolute fool of myself to make my kids laugh.  So, when we boarded Space Mountain on our first day at the Magic Kingdom in Jaunary, I gave Munchkin the following advice...

"Scream your head off like a crazy person.  The entire ride.  You will be so focused on keeping your wild scream going that you won't notice all the dip and turns.  You scream like a little girl and I'll scream like a little girl and we'll see who can scream the loudest."

We knew that if she could handle Space Mountain, she could handle anything else we had planned on riding.  Off we went, into the tunnel with the red flashing lights, and before we even began to go fast, we started screaming.  The rest of our crew started to giggle, which broke the tension.  Once you get going in the dark on Space Mountain at WDW, you're basically by yourself (unlike the double seat cars at DisneyLand), so the six of us were all isolated to ourselves once we made the first big corner out of the tunnel.  From there, you hold on (and scream, of course) for two minutes, or however long it is, until you see everyone again getting off.  Would Munchkin have fun?  Would she be shaken?  Would she be crying uncontrollably again?

We slow down for landing, and the screaming stops.  And we hear a voice from way up front, "That was awesome!  Can we do it again?"  Success!

The gimmick lasted the entire trip.  If the ride was the least bit scary, it was getting the screaming treatment from all of us, not just Munchkin and myself.  Expedition Everest?  Screamed the whole way.  Splash Mountain was closed, but Big Thunder wasn't, and we yelled our heads off probably a half dozen times, swapping up riding partners each time, holding screaming contests each time.  Dinosaur?  When the big one comes out at the end?  Just looked at it and screamed ridiculously.  The Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror?  Oh, you KNOW we had scratchy throats after that torture.  But, most importantly, we had a ball!  Like I told Munchkin, if you concentrate on just making a fool of yourself, the scariest parts of the rides suddenly aren't so scary, and it's fun for everyone.

A bonus of all this silliness?  The souvenir picture you can purchase at the end of the rides?  They all turn out exactly how the park would want them to turn out!  Everyone looks ridiculous.  Everyone looks silly.  Everyone looks like they're having the times of their lives.

I can't wait to scream with the kids again.

Mike

My kids LOVE to see me make a fool of myself, and at Disney, I’m always more than happy to oblige.  I’ve been selected as an extra in the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular at Hollywood Studios.  I was chosen to participate in the Flights of Wonder bird show at the Animal Kingdom.  I'm about to tell you the story of a third instance.  If you want to get selected for such audience-interactive activities, here's my advice:

EXPERT TIP: To increase your chances of being picked for these sorts of acts, look like you’re having fun, be energetic, and wear a (what I once thought was ridiculous, but now think is pretty awesome) custom made Disney vacation shirt that matches your party’s attire.  If you’re there celebrating a birthday, anniversary, honeymoon, or even if it’s just your first time visiting, stop by City Hall in the Magic Kingdom (or the equivalents in the other parks) on your way in and ask for some complimentary buttons to celebrate the occasion.  Then, show off those buttons – there’s a REASON they give them to you.  The cast members at the park LOVE that stuff and are trained to look for them!  Of course, there’s no guarantee that these tactics will help you get selected for audience interaction, but it definitely increases your chances, and, if nothing else, makes for pleasant chit chat with cast members when you are out and about and waiting in lines.  Here is an awesome example of what can happen when you “play along.”

The most enjoyable day I’ve had at WDW came at the Magic Kingdom shortly after New Year’s 2013.  It was our last day at Disney, we were flying out early the next morning, but after being prepared for one final chilly day, with torrential downpours expected in the afternoon, the storm never materialized.  We had sunny skies and warm temperatures all day – easily the best weather we’d EVER had at Disney, so we stretched our day as long as we could.

Right after lunch, we swung through Tomorrowland and stopped into the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.  If you haven’t been to the Magic Kingdom and done this, it’s an animated comedy routine that incorporates members of the audience into the bits that they do.  One of the running gags of the show is “That Guy,” where they pick (usually) one of the dads out of the audience to be the party pooper of the crowd and continual punchline.  You can see where this is headed…

At the Laugh Floor, there’s no volunteer process.  They eyeball the audience members for the show as the crowd waits and enters the theater, so again: fun, energetic, crazy shirt, buttons, etc.  And, for the Laugh Floor, they’re looking for a good patsy to be “That Guy.”  And sure enough, two minutes into the show, they slam the spotlight on me and there I am, up on the big screen, being laughed at by the rest of the crowd, most notably my family sitting right next to me.  It’s a blast, you get laughed at a half dozen times, the show runs 15-20 minutes, and it’s over.

UNLESS YOU’RE “THAT GUY!”  Because if you’re “That Guy,” the show can continue on ALL day long...

At many of the audience-interactive shows, you’ll receive a trinket, a certificate, or something as a little bonus for being part of the show.  As we left the Laugh Floor, a Cast Member found me and gave me a sticker for being a “good sport.”  And the sticker, about three inches in diameter, announces “I was THAT GUY” at the Laugh Floor.  It’s a sticker, and adults don’t wear stickers, but again, to get a laugh out of the kids, I proudly slapped that sticker on my shirt, as visible as possible, and we went about our way.

Remember, there’s a REASON they give you these things.  Little did I know what I had done.

Minutes later, as we go to ride the AstroOrbiter, the Cast Member directing traffic at the elevator spots my identifying sticker and clears some space for us as we walk in: “Everybody, make room for That Guy!”  I got a good chuckle out of it, figuring that the crew at the AstroOrbiter is familiar with the Laugh Floor hijinks since the two attractions are within a 45 second walk from one another.  But it didn’t stop there.  We weren’t anywhere close to being done.

Our party split up, and I took the older kids over to Space Mountain.  As we boarded our vehicle, one of the Cast Members checking the restraints pointed out my sticker to the guy handling the loudspeaker, who proceeded to make a huge announcement to the hundreds of people waiting in line behind us: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a celebrity riding with us today.  It’s... That Guy!”  And then the other Cast members proceeded to boo me.  The kids thought this was hilarious!  Even after we got off and wandered around the Space Mountain store, the lady at the counter gave me grief, too: “Really?  You were That Guy?”

We met back up with the rest of the family at Main Street, as they had staked out a spot for the parade.  I was sitting innocently along the side of the street as the parade marched by, and I caught the eye of Cinderella’s stepsisters.  They danced their way over to me, with one of them disappointingly sighing to me, “You just had to be THAT GUY, didn’t you?,” as her sister shook her head in disgust behind her.  This was high comedy for the family, as I’ve realized that putting that sticker on my shirt may as well have been a neon flashing light over my head saying “Make fun of this idiot for the rest of the day!”

The hits kept coming.  We met some of the princesses shortly thereafter at the Town Square Theater.  I managed to slip by Snow White and Aurora unscathed, but after getting hugs from our girls, Rapunzel pounced like a cat on a wounded mouse: “Girls, how’s it feel to know your dad’s That Guy?”  And that got everyone laughing again.  (Side note: Rapunzel was absolutely awesome, the most fun we’ve had at any character meet & greet, by far.  She gave our 12 year old son all kinds of trouble, too.)

Apparently, "That Guy" has trouble getting a table on Main Street, too, as the staff at Casey's Corner groaned at the thought of having to serve "That Guy" a hot dog.  Even the custodial crew is in on the gag, as a fellow swapping out trash cans outside Casey's Corner stopped us as we left, grabbed a co-worker and dragged him over to me like I was a rock star or something, "Look!  It's That Guy!"  Even during the nighttime parade, when the streets are dark, one of the dancers managed to spot that darn sticker from about 12 feet away and make a "That Guy" remark as she pranced by.  I was under fire for the rest of the night, with even the PhotoPass photographer at the turnstiles catching me for one final dig as we made our way out.

I wish I could be "That Guy" every single time I go back.

Mike

My first visit to DisneyWorld came in May 2009.  This was also the first vacation Wendy and I ever took together.  She was driving out from Texas.  I was coming down from Montgomery, Alabama and meeting her in Panama City Beach, Florida.  From there, we would ride together (I left my truck at a friend's house) and make a big week out of it.  There was much fun to be had, especially considering 1) I’d never been before and 2) I was going with someone who professed to be a WDW expert.  This was going to be awesome.

Then she sent me the checklist.

It came via email, the packing list did.  But this was no ordinary packing list.  It was a multi-column, color-coded matrix.  To this day, it’s still the most ridiculous one page document I’ve ever seen.  Wendy had taken account of everything that was going to be needed on the trip, split it in half, and sent the list of what she wasn’t bringing to me.  But it wasn’t just a “get this, and bring this, and don’t forget this” sort of deal.  It was color coded by who the item was for.  Was it for me?  Was it for my daughter?  Was it for everybody?  That told me which suitcase to pack said item in.  Each color-coded item was also in a certain column.  For the road, for the beach, for Disney.  This told me in what order to pack everything.  It was – and still is – completely insane.

It also worked to perfection.

Everything got unloaded, in order, everybody’s stuff was altogether, and the community items were in one place, as well.  It simplified the organization of our suite upon arrival, leaving us more time to jet to the Magic Kingdom for a half day of exploration.  Needless to say, her attention to detail is impeccable.  We wandered around Fantasyland for a couple of hours, went to dinner, enjoyed dinner with Cinderella and her stepsisters, then called it a night.

It was the first of five very enjoyable days at WDW, even if the weather was uncooperative to the point of a monsoon basically washing away our day at the Animal Kingdom.  We used the downtime to explore our resort, something you should make time for anyway every time you visit.  While they are all fun and relaxing, they each have their own charms and personalities, so if you go enough times you’ll find the one that best suits you.  Or, you can let the expert tell you, “Mike, you’re gonna LOVE Port Orleans – Riverside,” and then bask in every minute you walk, bike, or sail on the grounds.  (Yes, that one’s my favorite.)

Mike