I Love Dumbo!
Walt Disney World Diversional Extravaganza — Post-Trip Installment 2
Wow…it’s been almost a month and a half (a month and twelve days, but who’s counting) since we were in Walt Disney World. Not only does that make me look around and wonder when June got here, but it also demonstrates that I have taken way longer than I planned to to continue our Walt Disney World reporting. Right now I’m looking at one of the professional pictures we had taken in front of Spaceship Earth at EPCOT. Once again in pondering Walt Disney World, I find myself wanting to go right back. :)
So, feel free to make fun of me, but the Dumbo ride at Magic Kingdom is actually one of my favorites. I loved it even before I got there this latest time, simply because I find Dumbo adorable and thus the aesthetics of the ride delightful. But I found upon riding it this time that it’s actually a fun ride too. There’s a little switch in each elephant to let the riders control the up and down movement (of the ride! You guys have such dirty minds…) of their respective carriers, and this can be used to elicit a fun, even slightly stomach-dropping sensation similar to that of the roller coasters and more intense rides. Plus, I get to pick which color Dumbo we ride in, since this ride has Dumbo wearing numerous different-colored hats and blankets. (I noticed that picking which color we get to ride in for rides where that is an option, such as Dumbo and the teacups, is still one of my favorite things just as it was when I was a kid, lol.)
Rick was quite willing to ride Dumbo with me, which I appreciate, and that brings me to one of the prominent things I noticed about Walt Disney World during this trip. Not one single time did I find myself thinking, “This is for kids,” or “I’m too old for this,” or any such thing. We went on rides ranging from Dumbo to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to Snow White, and whether they were designed for small children or “adults, teenagers, and big kids,” I invariably enjoyed them and never at all felt like I was on a “boring” ride that was “too young” for me. What that says about me, I don’t know (lol), but I simply give Disney an enormous amount of credit for pulling that off. I find things that manage to be appealing to an age range like that seriously impressive, and since I remember enjoying Walt Disney World as a child too, it certainly seems to fulfill that classification for me.
Plus, I got the added benefit of also enjoying things that the last time I was there I was not old enough for. ;)
At an author chat I did at the Jeanie and Jayha yahoo group a few weeks ago in conjunction with the release of Swing!, the subject of vacations came up, and I offered that Walt Disney World really did seem to me to be a magical vacation location for adults. It may seem geared toward kids, but as Donna George Storey pointed out, this lends it a playfulness that can be a beautiful theme in life — and in sex.
Two of the things I got to come home from WDW with were a stuffed elephant from Animal Kingdom and a baby stuffed Eyore (both obtained by Rick as surprises for me). I got to sit in the front row (i.e., on the curb) and watch the SpectroMagic Parade (known as the “electrical parade” when I was a kid) and exclaim in delight over the plethora of colored lights. I got to pick what color teacup we rode in each time, and I got to have a kiss blown to me from Donald Duck at Chef Mickey’s.
Then I got to go back to a pirate-themed hotel room and get fucked silly.
Letting that sparkling, glittering, lighthearted, carefree, inner child part of me out to play at will really felt profoundly therapeutic. Eating a Mickey Mouse ears-shaped chocolate-dipped ice cream bar on my birthday wasn’t just a casual indulgence — it was a symbol that I was letting go (in a slightly different way from on the Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster), attending to a part of me that a sterner part of me has in the past frequently suppressed, scolded, held back, and wagged a finger at to keep in check.
That’s not what Walt Disney World is about.
So indeed, I love Dumbo, and Mickey Mouse ice cream bars, and the SpectroMagic Parade, and squealing in delight at baby animals at Animal Kingdom, and giggling as I’m felt up on a midnight ride of Pirates of the Caribbean (report on that later), and stuffed animals, and lapdances on the monorail, and playful sex with a Galactic Hero on a pirate boat bed. Yes, Walt Disney World is without hesitation from me a highly recommended adult vacation spot. Right at this moment I’m still wishing to go back.
Maybe I’d better go find some pirate-themed bedding of my own. ;)
Love,
Emerald
-from Dumbo
13 Responses “I Love Dumbo!”
Maybe I’d better go find some pirate-themed bedding of my own. ;)
Maybe it’s time for you to create your own “theme park.”
Think of the possibilities!
I laughed out loud when I read that, Craig — then realized it’s actually a pretty cool idea and a lovely suggestion. :) Thank you!
Oh Emerald, it sounds wonderful! Magical! Thanks for sharing!
Though I’ve never been to WDW – Disneyland was always such fun for me – even as an adult (without kids) and later as a mom. And now that I think of it – there was never anything that I found completely boring – a waste of time – can’t we do something else? – nope, it was all fun.
And hey, it’s okay if it took this long to write this up – sometimes distance gives perspective. Thanks!
Oh how lovely! You had so much fun – I wanna go too now!
Thank you Marina, Robin, Janine so much for stopping by and for commenting. It was indeed a joyous time!
I wanna go back!
Tomorrow!
I wanna go back, too! Tomorrow! But I think I have to wait until 2011–that’s the family plan anyway.
A magical post, indeed, Emerald, and yes, I think the Disney parks speak directly to our inner child! It struck me that this special age 8-9 marks both a period of new self-awareness of our individual desires and the time when society starts tightening the screws in terms of self-control. A double whammy! Maybe that’s why it’s so liberating to choose the purple Dumbo? (I have a funny picture of myself riding Dumbo in college with my arms outstretched looking very childish indeed).
Getting felt up on Pirates of the Caribbean? That’s one of my very favorite rides (Peter Pan and Space Mountain are the other top ones) and I might have to request a little of the same from my escort in a few years. I’m passing on that pirate sheet link to a pirate-loving friend. It’s quite beautiful.
Oh, and btw because your posts are so much more than just a factual report, I think the time delay is actually a good thing :-). Looking forward to the next one.
Special thanks to Robin and Donna btw for the words of encouragement about how long it has taken me to write these posts, lol. As goofy as it may seem, I have felt “behind” about it and appreciate the perspective that it’s really not as big a deal as some fretting part of me has maintained. ;)
Space Mountain actually was closed for renovation while we were there; interestingly, I never rode it when I was a kid either, feeling a little too young/scared to. So I still haven’t experienced it! Perhaps someday. :)
How cute that you noticed I had chosen a purple Dumbo that time, Donna. :) Next time it was pink. I have been feeling a pull toward yellow next time I go back and ride it. ;)
Thank you again to everyone for coming by and commenting! (And to all who have come by and read and not commented!)
I love Disney! I’ve been there at least 7 times and every time I go, it’s like new. My favorite vacation spot ever! So glad you loved it!
Hi Elise — welcome! I had been there as a kid but had probably not been there for around two decades before this trip. It is one of my favorite places ever too!
Em, I’m just as delayed in posting a comment on your post! Summer, for some reason, has slowed my reaction time ;)
I’ve never been to WDW, but you make me want to go! I love roller coasters, but there’s no way I could do the teacups. Spinning turns me green, and not in a good way!
Oh, and Mr. Greyson asked me to convey this “The fact that you did a lapdance on the monorail is fucking awesome! You rock!”
:)
LOL!! Thanks Mr. Greyson! ;)
Heh, I had a bit of an issue sometimes with the teacups — I had to hamper Rick’s fun a bit by requesting that the spinning be decreased (there’s a wheel in each teacup so the riders may actually influence the level of spinning…we have pictures of me he took while that was going on that may get posted at some point). I hear you, though — it’s good that you know that in advance so that could be a ride you just watch! ;)
Thanks for coming by!