Disney World: The Good, The Bad and the Surreal (SuperSoap Weekend)

Cafe Society
1

Went over this long school holiday with my two young kids…I am not an amusement park kinda guy, but this was about the family.

The Good - the kids had a great time and everything was convenient and accessible. You have to plan ahead - e.g., make reservations for dinner months in advance - but if you do it is easy.

The Bad - the obvious commercialism; the gift shops at the end of every ride. The Pin Trading stations felt like they were designed to get the kids hooked.

The Surreal - it happened to be ABC’s SuperSoap Weekend at the MGM park when we were there. Who knew? Have you heard of this? It is basically the equivalent of a sci-fi or comics convention except for Soap Operas. The good news is that attendees were SO focused on seeing their favorite soap stars that the rides were pretty accessible. But it was so freakin’ crowded! And it was truly bizarre from an outsider’s perspective - roving gangs of people wearing matching homemade t-shirts and carrying placards with their favorite stars on them. I saw one group of 4-5 women wearing matching shirts that read “GH-ing like it’s a full-time job!” I assume they are pledging their love to General Hospital. Umm, okay then.

Clearly there is a HUGE base of folks into this - but talk about surreal for someone who knows nothing about it! It was amazing to once again realize that there are whole, vast worlds out there of communities who thrive centered on common interests that I know nothing at all about.

Anybody attend this? Or at least know more about it that I do?

2

The first two weeks of November are some of the greatest times to visit Disneyworld (especially during the week). We’ve been twice during that time, and most days the rides had almost no waits and even those that did were rarely more than 15 minutes. I think that once, and only once, we waited 45 minutes for a ride.

Don’t know anything about that soap opera thing, but I agree with you that it’s so weird to see some of the hobbies out there.

3

They have a Star Wars-themed weekend every year, too. Lots of mostly-osbcure actors and crew members for people to meet. I think they have some kind of Jedi-training events for the little kids, special merchandise, the whole production. I try to stay away during these times, but it seems that there’s always some special event going on.

4

I always go to Disney World in mid to late September. When I was there this year, a cast member told me that it’s the deadest time of the year for the first couple of weeks after Labor Day.

A couple of friends went during the Star Wars weekend once and got the crap scared out of them by Darth Vader.

5

Since they got rid of the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Ride DisneyWorld has been dead to me.

6

I concur, but replace with Mr Toad’s Wild Ride.

7

Blah, both those rides were lame.

Tower of Terror kicks every other ride’s ass up and down every day of the week, and twice on Sundays.