10 Films in 10 Days: #8 - Electric Dreams

Perhaps the most idiosyncratic choice in my list of 10 films in 10 days is my eighth entry, Electric Dreams (1984). I actually wrote about this film on my blog back in 2015, so much of this is taken from there—I also recently rewatched it and can say my feelings for it remain the same!

This little known/seen romantic comedy/”date movie” featured the major film debuts of actors Lenny von Dohlen (later seen in the Twin Peaks television show and Home Alone 3) and the lovely Virginia Madsen. Its tagline—"a love story about a boy, a girl, and a computer"—says it all. (Bud Cort voiced the computer.) Adding to the obscurity of this film is the fact that it’s never been available on DVD in the U.S., let alone BluRay. I saw Electric Dreams in the theater several times on its release and it was one of my earliest VHS purchases, bought used from a video store at a time before films on VHS were relatively affordable. I viewed that tape multiple times for many years and had the foresight a few years ago to transfer the fading copy onto a recordable DVD before the VHS copy finally gave out (the picture was already quite faded – but I’ve since discovered the film is available in its entirety on YouTube!)

Though in many ways a true product of the ‘80s—with a score by synth disco and electronic dance music impresario Giorgio Moroder and songs featuring the likes of Boy George and Jeff Lynne—the concept was actually very much ahead of its time. Set in San Francisco (though the outdoor shots are filmed on location, it was otherwise shot on a London soundstage!), von Dohlen plays Miles, a milquetoast architect, while Madsen plays Madeline, a classical cellist who has joined the local symphony and the object of Miles’ attention when she moves into the apartment upstairs. After Miles purchases a computer to organize his life and computer-model an earthquake-resistant brick he’s designing, the PC becomes sentient (and learns to speak) through a convergence of mishaps after being connected to the nascent internet—which soon becomes increasingly jealous of Miles. As a result, the computer—who we later discovered is named Edgar—sets out to ruin Miles’ life by attacking him through the electronic networks, by playing havoc with his financial credit and reporting him as a wanted felon in the system.

At the time of its release, the film certainly stretched credibility since there was no World Wide Web or Internet yet as we know it, and modem communication networks were very much in their infancy. Nevertheless, the film in retrospect is quite prescient in predicting the threat of hacks. But the film is not a cautionary tale about technology—at its heart, it’s a simple romantic comedy involving a love triangle in which one of the parties happens to be a computer.

The main reason I enjoyed this film was because I simply found it very romantic—in fact, I used to watch this film when I needed a little cheering up. The filmmakers use San Francisco effectively as the backdrop, giving the movie character and a strong sense of place. And in today’s era of irony, self-awareness and snarkiness, the characters and their story project a sweetness and innocence rarely found in films anymore. Anyway, it’s a film that came into my life at the right moment and remained a touchstone for me for many years as a young single person.

10 Films in 10 Days: #7 - Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia (1962), released the year I was born, is the seventh entry in my 10 films in 10 days. Anyone familiar with me or my work will know this film is right in my wheelhouse—a sweeping historical epic adventure set in an exotic locale. Arguably the greatest film epic of all time—they truly don’t make ‘em like this anymore folks—and directed by the great David Lean, it is based on the real-life story of T.E. Lawrence, a British officer during World War I who served as a liaison during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

Adding to the cachet of the film is the fact that Lawrence—both in real life and in this film—is a bit an enigmatic figure. Is he an idealistic romantic doomed to disillusionment? An adrenalin and power junkie? Ambitious? Or just a clueless political pawn? In the film, of course, he is all of these.

The film opens with Lawrence being assigned as an observer to Prince Faisal, who is leading the Arab revolt against the Turks. Lawrence, however, soon becomes a more active player, planning and leading some military actions and campaigns, perhaps both for glory as well as out of genuine support for Arab autonomy and anti-colonialist sentiment. While the British initially see Lawrence’s actions as brash (and even vaguely treasonous), they shrewdly decide to use him to their advantage as a diversionary tactic against the Turks. Soon, however, what Lawrence sets in motion overtakes him and he also begins to learn that war and killing perhaps aren’t so romantic after all—with the end of the war also comes the end of idealism as political reality (and gamesmanship) sets in, with the partition of the conquered colonies among the victors.

The film won best picture at the Academy Awards and made lead actor Peter O’Toole and supporting player Omar Sharif international stars. It is both sweeping epic and intimate character study, yet at the end of the film, the figure of Lawrence and what drove him remains as opaque and inscrutable as when we first meet him.

For many reasons, this film could not likely be made today. Aside from its cost, the script has no female speaking parts (I think women appear in two scenes and you never see their faces since they are in burkas) and with the exception of Sharif (who was already an Egyptian matinee idol and hired to replace a French actor originally cast in the role), the two most prominent Arab characters in the film are played by Western actors—Alec Guinness as Prince Feisal and Anthony Quinn as Auda Abu Tayi (both were made up to bear remarkable resemblance to both real life figures). While both actors played the roles well and with great sensitivity—with Quinn particularly larger than life and chewing up the scenery to great effect—such casting would certainly not fly today! But it nevertheless is a lush, romantic, beautifully told and shot film—knowing it was shot on location suggests the production was as much of an adventure and daunting behind the scenes as what’s captured on film.

10 Films in 10 Days: #6 - Three Days of the Condor

The sixth film in my 10 films in 10 days is Three Days of the Condor (1975), the second Redford film following yesterday's All the President’s Men and still one of my all time favorite spy thrillers, a film that tied together 1970s paranoia (anyone remember the Parallax View?), distrust of government, and the economic malaise and oil shortages of the era, all in one tidy package.

Redford plays CIA agent Joe Turner, codenamed “Condor”—not a field agent, but one who works at a desk job. He is a “reader,” someone who just reads books (“everything that's published in the world”), feeding it into a computer for anything that might benefit the agency—at one point, Redford incredulously asks, “Who'd invent a job like that?”

The film opens with the massacre of everyone in his field office in the heart of New York City while Turner is out picking up lunch, by a crew of assassins led by the mysterious “Joubert” played to Euro perfection by Max Von Sydow. When the killers realize they missed Condor, the hunt for him begins. Turner soon kidnaps a random civilian woman (Faye Dunaway) and at gunpoint forcers her to hide him in her apartment. At first, of course, she thinks he’s a lunatic, but when one of the assassins tracks him down and attempts to kill him in her home, she realizes there may be some truth to his paranoia and agrees to help him. Condor’s smarts and lack of field training makes him unpredictable, which turns out to be an advantage—he also soon discovers that he can trust no one and that sides and allliances can quickly change, often having nothing to do with ideology. By the end of the film, Condor exposes the plot and can seemingly finally come out of the cold, but the movie nevertheless ends on an uncertain note, causing Turner and moviegoers to question whether our government and its institutions can still be trusted.

Directed by the great Sidney Pollack, Three Days of the Condor, of course, reflects the deep distrust of the government and the establishment that emerged in the 1970s, particularly in the wake of the Vietnam War, the youth movement and Watergate, when much of the general public lost faith in the integrity of both our institutions and of the people in power. While in the years since the public's trust in government has ebbed and flowed over the years, in many ways, of course, we still haven’t fully recovered—indeed, in the current toxic and divisive political environment, we have witnessed a real nadir in public trust in our leaders and the government, with even those in office actively working to undermine people’s respect and trust for agencies like Congress, the FBI and others, often for their own personal and political agendas. (A new adaptation/update of the story, simply called Condor, is apparently forthcoming.)

10 Films in 10 Days: #5 - All the President's Men

My fifth entry for my 10 films in 10 days is All the President’s Men (1976). I can’t remember when I first saw this—it may have been not until college—but even though I was not particularly political as a kid nor particularly well versed on the details of Watergate, I was always fascinated by this film, even in my youth—I recall one day being with friends, trying to decide whether to see a movie, but no one was interested in seeing it when I suggested it, no doubt believing it was boring (I was 14 at the time). It’s a thriller without any violence or traditional “action scenes” and of course everyone knows how the story ends. But it’s how we get there that forms the spine and suspense of the film.

The film has inspired generations of new reporters and made journalism look like a noble profession.  In truth, journalism always has had a long rough-and-tumble history encompassing both serious news gathering and investigative work and partisanship and sensationalism. And today, most of broadcast and print journalism are part of large media conglomerates, part of the same establishment its supposed to cover and hold accountable, which does create a degree of conflict of interest. Nevertheless, the film demonstrates the importance the importance of holding investigative journalism and a free press in a democratic society—a democracy that actively seeks to undermine or delegitimize the press does so at its own peril.

The film is an amazing piece of work, especially when one considers it was done so close after the heels of the actual events (Nixon had resigned only two years prior to the film’s release). It continues to be an inspiration of similar films that have followed, such as Shattered Glass, Spotlight and the recent The Post.

10 Films in 10 Days: #4 - A Hard Day's Night

A Hard Day’s Night (1964) is the fourth film of my 10 films in 10 days and was pretty much a holy grail for me growing up. I was too young to see it in a theater but I was certainly aware of it, and as a Beatles fanatic from a very young age, any chance to see it (and Help!) was a rare treat. (I recall my brother and I once staying up until 1 a.m. to see Help! on local tv, back in the days before VHS, cable or streaming.) Shortly after we moved to Northern California from the east coast, however, we discovered that a local revival movie theater—the first we’d ever hard of—was playing A Hard Day’s Night on a double feature with Help! You better believe we saw it! (When they re-released a restored print theatrically of A Hard Day's Night in the 1980s when I was in college, I sat through two matinee showings of it in the middle of the day in a nearly empty theater.)

A Hard Day’s Night, of course, perfectly captured on film the energy and excitement of Beatlemania, capitalizing on (and, frankly, partly creating) the individual personas of each Beatle, using a frenzied, hand-held look on black-and-white film that used innovative film techniques (like lens flares during the concerts). Following a loose narrative, it follows the Fab Four over a single day as they arrive and prepare for a concert, while they also try to find moments of normalcy, peace and freedom away from the pressures of fans, the press, their managers, and even Paul’s (fictionalized) grandfather who all want a piece of them. Directed by American expat Richard Lester, who had worked in commercials and, impressively for the Beatles, the British comedy group the Goons, the movie also gives each Beatle their own scenes and a chance to shine. The film clearly shows why the Beatles had such an endearing impact—they’re all amazingly photogenic, charming, disarming, and natural performers and clowns. The film is both manic and artful.

Of course, the film also climaxes with a concert performance in front of a live audience, cleverly tying up the loose ends of the film in the final scenes. It’s generally considered the greatest rock’n roll film of all time, for good reason—up to then, most such films were intended to be disposable and forgettable. Though I’m sure the Beatles, Lester and the studio weren’t aiming for something that would stand the test of time, they certainly succeeded.

10 Films in 10 Days: #3 - The Longest Day

For Day 3 of my 10 films in 10 days, I chose a film that’s not particularly an overwhelming personal favorite of mine nor one I consider “great,” but it is a movie that I have watched numerous times over the years (and can still do) as the movie equivalent of comfort food. But the Longest Day (1962) is among the first and representative of a movie genre I loved as a kid—war films and, particularly, World War II films.

I had a lot of interests as a kid, and military and World War II history was among them. I read history books and biographies/memoirs, played “guns” in our local woods (in my mind, the snow in a nearby wooded forest during the wintertime made it evocative of the Battle of the Bulge), and played with toy soldiers and built model kits of tanks and other vintage military vehicles that became part of this play. And, of course, war comics like Our Army at War (with Sgt. Rock), the Haunted Tank, the Losers, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos were favorites—indeed, my first self-made comic-book was called Sgt. Hanes and Hell Platoon. My brother and I went through a period where we would circle all the war movies scheduled to be aired in the week ahead in the newspaper’s tv guide: Films like To Hell and Back, the Devil’s Brigade, Stalag 17, Sands of Iwo Jima, Dirty Dozen, and Go for Broke were all perennial favorites. The camaraderie, sacrifice and sense of purpose all appealed to me.

The Longest Day was a particular treat and special event for me when it aired. It, of course, featured an international all-star ensemble cast, including John Wayne, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Robert Ryan, Eddie Albert, Peter Lawrie and, in small roles, Henry Fonda, a pre-James Bond/working class Sean Connery and Gert Frobe (a German actor, who would later appear as the titular character of Goldfinger).

Of course, since then, much better films in this genre have emerged to celebrate “The Greatest Generation,” such as Saving Private Ryan (and HBO’s Band of Brothers), which of course are much more visceral and realistic. But this was one of my first war film favorites and holds a special place in my memories.

10 Films in 10 Days: #2 - The Graduate

Day 2 of my 10 films in 10 days is The Graduate (1967). My first day’s pick was The Apartment which I mentioned was age inappropriate for me when I first saw it as a kid. The Graduate is probably even moreso, given the brief titillating sex scenes (relatively modest by today's standards) and its storyline of a lost and disaffected fresh college grad named Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) who realizes he wants something more than the stultified suburban lives of his parents and their generation. Bored and with some self-loathing, Benjamin enters into an affair with “Mrs. Robinson” (Anne Bancroft, actually only six years older than Hoffman in real life), the wife of his father’s business partner, herself the unhappy victim of unfulfilled dreams and a loveless marriage. Forced into a date with the Robinsons’ daughter, Elaine (Katherine Ross), he soon rediscovers a measure of innocence and goodness, leading of course to an inevitable showdown with their families.

Like The Apartment, this is another sophisticated comedy drama—frankly, I’m not sure I understood a lot of the subtle, nuanced comedy when I first saw it, but at the time I still probably appreciated and recognized that this was a new kind of film. The Graduate marked the directing debut of Mike Nichols, a comedian who had made the transition to acting, directing on stage and, with this movie, film directing. The movie innovatively used shooting techniques not widely adapted yet to film like helicopter shots, fisheye lens, and telephoto lenses in deep focus (some have said Nichols used some techniques in vogue in television commercials). The use of existing Simon and Garfunkel songs for his score to set a mood, rather than a traditional film score, was also an inspiring decision. The movie, of course, also captured the zeitgeist, as a precursor to the youth discontent of the 1960s that was just about to roil the country and the rest of the world, fueled by Vietnam and the sexual revolution.

In addition to television, as a college student I had the good fortune to see this film on the big screen at revival houses and at my university. It was fun watching it with a college crowd—at one point in the film, Benjamin’s father (played by the great Anthony Daniels), asks his son, who is floating lazily on an air mattress in their backyard pool, “Would you mind telling me then what those four years of college were for? What was the point of all that hard work?” When Benjamin replies, “You got me!” the theater erupted in cheers and applause. Ah, the cynicism of youth.

I also loved the uncertainty of the last shot—when Benjamin and Elaine finally break free, they end up on a city bus and run to the back seat. A “What now?” look of uncertainty seems to undermine their joy of freedom as the film ends—somewhat undermining the “happy ending” of the film.

The original book of The Graduate, by Charles Webb, was in my home growing up. I eventually read it in college and found that, in adapting it, screenwriter Buck Henry pretty much tore out the pages of the book and used much of the dialogue intact.

10 Movies in 10 Days: #1 - The Apartment

So I’ve been tagged on Facebook to do my list of 10 movies over 10 days that had the most influence/resonance with me over the years. I guess these lists are fun in what they tell you about a person, but also because they may make you think of movies you hadn’t thought of in years or, better yet, encourage you to seek out those you may have never seen or heard of. A few people who know me well will likely not be surprised by most of the movies on this list (and I’ve written about a few of them on my blog), but hopefully you will still find an occasionally quirky one. I often make the distinction of favorite films, which have personal resonance, versus those that I think objectively are the best films and of course it was hard to narrow down this list and it could very well be different if you ask me again at another time. But with a few exceptions, these are mostly films that I imprinted on when I was young (up through college) and I have often re-watched over the years.

First on my list is Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960). I watched this black and white film quite a few times as a kid where it seemed to air fairly regularly on local television when I was growing up in New York. (Following that, I’ve seen it several times in a movie theater, thanks to UCLA’s film archive screenings when I was in college and at local revival houses that used to be a ubiquitous part of the L.A. landscape). Looking back, of course I didn’t know how “age inappropriate” the movie was for kids—about a shlemiel named C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) who lets his insurance company managers use his apartment for trysts. The movie also features a suicide attempt in his apartment by an elevator operator at his company (Shirley MacLaine) and a bunch of unfaithful husbands who in this age of #MeToo prey on the secretaries and telephone operators at the office. But for those who haven’t seen it, The Apartment isn’t a drama—this is a nimble, romantic comedy by the great Billy Wilder. I’ve often thought what made this movie work was Wilder’s European sensibility (he was an Austrian-Jew who fled Nazi Germany in 1933), which does not quite see sex through the same Puritan/dirty lens as Americans. With that said, it’s also a hilarious early skewering of the American corporate workplace, a precursor to the Mad Men television show. (One corporate wag dictates the memo: “Premium-wise and billing-wise, we are eighteen percent ahead of last year, October-wise.”)

At its heart, of course, this is a great romantic comedy with the great Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine as her most vulnerable, and Fred MacMurray playing against type as the manipulative CEO, Mr. Sheldrake, and a cast full of scene-stealing character actors, all helped by a crackling script, which really resonated to me for some reason. And, of course, when I watched it as I got older, I came to admire the film’s story and sophistication even more. Wilder is certainly one of our greatest filmmakers, with movies like Double Indemnity (screenwriter), Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, and of course Some Like It Hot among his credits—any of which could easily been included on this list.

Disney World 2018 (part I)

This is part I of a two-part blog about my recent visit to Disney World. Below is a general overview of our trip—part II will review the attractions and rides we saw! Click here to go straight to the photogallery.

During the period of about 2009-15, it was our family’s tradition to go to Disneyland in Anaheim, California for a single day visit over the Christmas holiday break. While we generally managed to avoid long wait times, the increasing popularity of the park and resulting shoulder-to-shoulder crowds at that time of year began making the experience less enjoyable, so we stopped going, usually replaced by a ski trip if there was snow in our local mountains.

Even though I know Disney World in Orlando, Florida is supposed to be better and larger, given our proximity to Disneyland, I nevertheless thought a trip to Disney World was superfluous. However, when we were planning our next big family trip and I floated some ideas by the family, it was clear the kids wanted Disney World—so Disney World it was.

Pre-Planning

As I’m sure anyone who has visited the resort (it’s actually a collection of resorts and theme parks, versus the two simple theme parks in Anaheim, Disneyland and California Adventures), planning for Disney World is like planning for battle. My initial online research was very confusing and overwhelming, given the number of choices, parks, resorts/hotels, options, etc. However, with the aid of a book a friend kindly purchased for me as a Christmas gift when he heard we were contemplating the trip, I was able to focus a bit and narrow down my planning. At the end, I did simply go through the Disney World reservation system—which included information on available deals and packages, as well as flights—since obviously it was a simple integrated all-in-one package. (I did independently compare flights and found the flights through Disney were the same I found on my own and at the same price.) And by the time I got to this point, I had done a little research and was a bit more knowledgeable about the whole process and system.

The main reason I found the process a bit overwhelming is because in addition to myriad options, you are also encouraged to book restaurants 180 days in advance and Fast Passes for attractions 60 days in advance. Apparently, those reservations disappear quickly. Indeed, I logged in 59 days before our trip and found that one of the most popular rides, the Avatar Flight of Passage Ride at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, had already sold out of Fast Passes. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to move our planned visit to that theme park to the last day, which did the trick. By that point, four months out, most of the restaurants were also booked.

Another option that required a bit of calculation was the dining plan where each person was allotted a couple of “quick service” meals, one “dining-service meal” and an allotment of snacks and drinks throughout the day (they are given as a total package, meaning they could be swapped and used up or reserved as needed among the members of your party during your visit). I initially signed up for it because it could still be cancelled later because it sounded like a good deal since our meals would all be paid for in advance. Of course, once I did the math, it turned out not to be such a bargain. When I broke it down, it came to nearly $120/person per day, keeping in mind that my party of five included a teen and a tween who are not big eaters. Given that the more expensive sit-down restaurants no longer had any availability on most of the days of our visit, it was clear we would be losing money if we committed to it, so I cancelled the plan. It turned out to be a good decision—I’m sure in some circumstances it can be a good deal—especially if you get reservations at a nice place each night—but if not, you’re likely to come out behind. As many pundits noted, Disney would hardly put together a plan like this if they weren’t making a profit.

Accommodations and General Impressions

Disney of course is renowned for its crowd/line management process, and this was on full display during the trip. Disney World, of course, has its own dedicated presence called Disney Express at the Orlando airport, so once we landed and checked in with them, we and our luggage were taken care of and whisked straight to the hotel.

We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort one of their largest, with room themes for the films Cars, Little Mermaid, and Lion King. Most rooms at Disney World are clearly intended for families of 4 or less, so one reason we booked at Art of Animation is because it has suites that can accommodate 6 (my brother accompanied us on this family trip). We partly chose a Cars themed room thinking it would be the least cheesy of the bunch. I can’t comment on the other themed rooms, but we were actually very pleased with the suite. The room was just large enough to accommodate our party of six without feeling cramped – plus, it had two full baths, a master bedroom (which my wife and I took), and a couch with a twin bed and a pullman bed that opened out over a small dining table. There was also a kitchenette, microwave and fridge.

I’ll talk about food in a bit, but I do want to mention that most of the hotel resorts also have food areas—the Art of Animation had a huge cafeteria style food court. While I’m sure I wouldn’t have wanted to eat there every day, there was some variety in the options and Disney is especially smart to leave it open an hour past the time the parks close, meaning that you can still grab dinner—or even a nice dessert—when you get back. So even though we arrived at our hotel about 9:45 p.m., it was nice to be able to grab a relaxing dinner after a full day of traveling. On busy days like this, I tend to like a full breakfast in the morning, but in order to get an early start, we ended up buying croissants, orange juice and other pastries the night before and eating them on the run the next morning—I was surprised that this kept me plenty satisfied until lunchtime.

Aside from its sheer size, one significant difference between Disneyland and Disney World is the use of Magic Bands (see photo at right). Shipped to us prior to the trip, the Magic Bands electronically contained our reservations and Fast Passes, and even gave us access to our room--we didn’t even need to check in (Disney texted our room number right before we arrived). As a matter of convenience, if you link it to a credit card, you could even pay for all purchases at the parks with it, protected by a PIN code.

And, yes, Disney World is a lot larger than Disneyland. In addition to simply having more room (a LOT more room) to grow, the scale is a bit larger that made it feel a little less shoulder-to-shoulder/claustrophobic when it was crowded. (With that said, even though we were there during our kids’ spring break, the parks were not as crowded as I anticipated--lines were rarely at the full capacity they were clearly set up for.)

One interesting difference between the two Disney resorts, in my observation, was the makeup of the crowd. While of course we met and saw people from many different countries, particularly the U.K., France and Germany, it was fascinating to hear a variety of Southern accents, something I just don’t hear in California. Like Disneyland, given the crowds, for the most part everyone was happy to be there and lovely and courteous to others, very chill.

The Theme Parks (and Food!)

We were at the resort for four days and on consecutive days went to Magic Kingdom (classic Disneyland), Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. In addition, since the flight on our final day didn’t depart until 8 p.m. in the evening we added a fifth day to go to Hollywood Studios, the fifth and final theme park at the resort. (There are other destinations at the resort like TK and TK.)

On our first day, of course, we got to the park bright and early. At our hotel (and presumably the others), there was a dedicated bus stop for each park. Although buses run at various intervals, usually about every 20 minutes at peak times, they actually ran buses fairly frequently to accommodate the crowds and keep people moving, with a bus sometimes pulling up just as as one departed. As I said, we found the lines and crowds to be nowhere near full capacity.

While on the map I could of course see that the Magic Kingdom was on the far side of the Disney World property from our hotel, it really sunk in on the bus ride: although we were within Disney World, the bus ride to the parks took anywhere from about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on traffic and distance of the theme park—and this included going onto a local road, hopping on a freeway and traveling at highway speeds! We could see plenty of areas under construction and plenty of space to grow.

Of course, once we arrived at a park, a necessary inconvenience was the security check. Again, for the most part, these were quick and painless, again helped by the fact that it was nowhere near as crowded as I expected or it could have been.

After a first full day at Magic Kingdom, getting back to the hotel close to 11 p.m., we went to Epcot the next day and found ourselves fairly exhausted. While we did not curtail our trip to Epcot in any way, we actually ended up back at our hotel that second day by early evening and were in bed by 10 p.m. The third day, we slept in an hour later for our second visit to Magic Kingdom and happily found that this had no effect on our ability to get on rides in the morning and were never that tired again (in retrospect there may have been some jet lag involved as well.)

Disney World allows for a variety of experiences—what I mean by that is if one wants to spend time all day hitting rides and attractions you can do that; but there are also plenty of shows, parades (I joked, “There’s a damned parade every 5 minutes!”) and of course just the immersive environment of the park. And, of course, you can just chill at the hotels and hang out by the pool. It really is difficult to have all these experiences and enjoy all the attractions and shows in a day, so you have to make choices or decide to spend one day doing more of one activity or the other. (With that said, I don’t think I could spend more than the five days we spent there.)
As I mentioned earlier, because we planned our vacation relatively “late” (about 4 months out), we were unable to snag many restaurant reservations—on our first full night, we ate at the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen. It was fairly nice and I was surprised at how open and spread out the tables were. After a day of running around, it was a welcome respite to sit down and be served a nice meal.

It helped that my son, a Disney geek, already had a good lay of the land. In fact, armed with a waiting times app and an innate map of the parks in his head, he turned out to be our navigator and guide for much of the trip! Once we finished one activity, he would tell us what ride had a relatively short wait and, after we agreed, he would just lead us there! What a treat it was for me to be able to just sit back and enjoy. Of course there were times when we’d split up if people wanted to do different things or even just relax.

Speaking of food, aside from the restaurant mentioned above, we ate most meals at the “quick service” restaurants found everywhere. While food is still predominantly the fast food burger/hot dog/pizza type—which I really didn’t want for five straight days—with a little bit of looking you can find a little bit more variety. Epcot, with its focus on international fare, seemed to have the most options and, if not for the kids, my wife and I could have spent the day going from one food vendor to another. I had a scallops dish there and we shared some pretty good fish and chips. During our visit at Animal Kingdom, I found a good place that sold ribs and a rice/vegetable dish at an “African market” (during the day, I also bought a tasty grilled corn on the cob!). Other highlights included a very good roasted turkey leg that I shared with my son (which can also be found at Disneyland) and an empanada at Hollywood Studios that my wife texted me about.

In any case, it was a great trip, helped by great weather (we were in shorts the whole time, it was slightly humid a couple days and we had some light rain another couple times) and low crowds.

The Attractions

Below is a list of the attractions and activities we enjoyed during our visit. In the next part of this blog, coming soon, I’ll provide a review/overview of our trip!

Day 1/Magic Kingdom
Pirates of the Caribbean
Haunted Mansion
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Fast Pass)
Under the Sea: Journey of The Little Mermaid (Fast Pass)
People Mover
Carousel of Progress
Thunder Road Mountain
Hall of Presidents
Country Bear Jamboree
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Fast Pass)
Little Mermaid
3 parades
Dinner reservation: Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen
Seven Dwarfs (Fast Pass) 

Day 2/Epcot
Space Ship Earth
Test Track (Fast Pass)
Journey Into Imagination With Figment (Fast Pass)
Sides
Oh Canada Pavilion
China Pavilion
RELAUNCHED! Mission: Space (Fast Pass)
RELAUNCHED! Mission: Earth
Nemo Ride 

Day 3/Magic Kingdom
Haunted Mansion (Fast Pass)
Splash Mountain
Muppets
People Mover
Monster Laughs (show)
Tiki Room
Pirates of the Caribbean (Fast Pass)
Disney Rail
Carousel of Progress
Seven Dwarfs (Fast Pass) 

Day 4/Animal Kingdom
Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain (Fast Pass)
Kali River Rapids
It's Tough to Be a Bug
Avatar Flight of Passage (Fast Pass)
Navi River Journey
Dinosaur (Fast Pass) 

Day 5/Hollywood Studios
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Star Tours
Indiana Jones Stunt Show
March of the First Order Parade
Star Wars Launch Bay Theatre
Walt Disney Presdents
Star Tours

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