moinab

I think they are missing out on a vast, untapped market. One of the major complaints about WDW that I hear from my friends is that they market a lot more extras to little girls (princesses, Bippity Boppity Boutique, etc,) without so much for little boys. Most of the boys I know LOVE Legos, and would love Legoland, if only it weren't on the other side of the country!

Here's a picture of my Charlotte, around 18 months old.

Ugh, it's tough, being the grown-up, having to make these decisions. The more I think about it, we can't NOT go to DL/DCA. That would be absurd. Even though it is pricey, it is the mother ship, after all! The dilemma is that I know my kids would love Legoland. Damn, I wish they'd hurry up and build another one in this country! Less talking, more doing!!!!

Sorry I'm late to the party, just catching up, here! We LOVE Pets Ahoy!!! Haven't been since my older two were just little schmoos, but we'll be heading back soon! I'm not ashamed to admit that Jaws 3-D was my first Jaws movie, and my favorite! And while the Jaws captions and photos were indeed all kinds of awesome, you TOTALLY rule for the One Crazy Summer reference!!!!!!!! "Why are you so fat?!?! Why are you so fat?!?!"

Awwww! My home park! Black Widow was originally "The Loop," and it was a big deal to us, way back when! Actually, my original home park was Mountain Park, in Holyoke. Anybody remember that one?

Scott, my long lost brother from another mother, please, please, PLEASE take more trips and post more reports! I have missed them, so! There is just too much unparalleled awesomeness to be addressed, here, but I have to try! 1. Love the green napkins for the poker game! 2. How old is your niece? She looks a LOT like my 21 month old daughter! 3. Yay! Wilderness Lodge! Too bad you can't post in Smell-o-vision! 4. Jesus does love the monorail. Believe. 5. I miss Living with the Land. And Epcot. 6. The piano guy from Casey's - does that guy ever get a day off? I swear I've seen him every time we've ever been to MK! 7. "Take this one! We'll be back with more." = coffee on my work monitor. 8. Apu!!!!!!

I think it depends on the kid. My son has read biographies on Walt Disney, but I don't think he is at a point where he has any kind of emotional connection, like my husband and I do. I do have some Disney-loving friends with teens who are very much enchanted with the Disney mystique. I just read this on Mousesavers: Is anybody familiar with this? I'm wondering if we get 3-day play passes for WDW, would we be able to use them at Disneyland? It would be a gamble, since there's no way to know for sure if they would accept them. If not, we'd still be able to use them for WDW, but then we'd be left scrambling at the last minute for DL tickets. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of possibilities, here. Another question - how many days would you recommend for DL/DCA, keeping in mind that we will have to take turns going on any rides not suitable for a 2 year old. I realize that several rides will be down, being January and all.

That's kind of what I have been thinking, Gregg. I grew up watching The Wonderful World of Disney, and have those images of Disneyland imprinted on my brain. Frankly, I can sway my kids opinion, either way. They are gung ho on Legoland for the moment, because I just introduced it to them. I didn't think to check Mousesavers. Hopefully, I can pick up a bunch of OT shifts, this fall, so the expense won't be as big a concern. I would really love to do both. *sigh*

I do forget how spoiled we are, here!

Ok, hear me out. The Disney park price increase thread got me thinking (a dangerous thing!) We will be flying to SoCal from FL for a cruise, in January. We have been planning on flying in a few days early, to go to DL/DCA. My husband is the only one in the family who has ever been to DL (or CA, for that matter.) We have been to WDW many, many times with FL resident seasonal passes. Between the cost of the cruise and airfare for 5 people, the trip to DL is going to be a stretch, but I've been looking at it as a once in a lifetime thing. However, I have been torn about Legoland. My son, who will be 9 at the time of the trip, is a Lego fanatic. Seriously, he has a room full of Legos, and that's all he ever wants for gifts. My older daughter will be almost 7 at the time of the trip. She likes Legos, but is not as obsessed as her brother. We also have a 2 year old, who will be along for the ride. The only theme parks my kids have been to, thus far, are WDW and SeaWorld. They never knew that Legoland existed. I don't see that we'd be able to do both DL/DCA and Legoland. Now, knowing that we have extensive WDW experience and a child who lives and dies for Legos, would it be absurd to consider skipping DL/DCA and just going to Legoland, before the cruise? In my way of thinking, by skipping the 3 or 4 day hopper passes for DL/DCA, we could probably get seasonal passes for WDW again, next year. (We haven't had them since April, 2008.) My daughter has been watching the DL planning dvd obsessively for the past few weeks, but when I showed both of them the Legoland site and the photo trip reports on TPR, they both said they would rather go to Legoland! Also, my son has been wanting a Lego Brickmaster membership, which, for $40, includes the magazine, 6 Lego kits throughout the year, and a free pass to Legoland. Sorry - I know that's a lot of info, but I'm curious what you all think.

Ugh. These DL/DCA ticket prices are stressing me out. For only slightly more than what it will cost us for 3 or 4 day hoppers for our trip in January, we could buy FL resident seasonal passes for WDW. Oh well. Once in a lifetime trip to Disneyland, then we can go back to our WDW passes in 2011.

Just catching up on the past few updates. Awesome, as usual! I would have pegged Angus McNasty for a Presbyterian. Hmmm.

Awww, Lucky Dog looks so sad - I want to hug him! Hope you have an uneventful flight and can get some rest!

My dad would have loved this. When I was little, we used to watch the Boston Pops and BSO all the time, and saw them perform live, many times. He also loved the Star Wars movies and especially loved the music. Not sure how much of that he would remember, now. I may suggest it to my step-mother, though, if it makes it to New England.

Erik - I think it may be your destiny to take over one of these sad, neglected SBNO mini-golf courses and transform it into the best damn mini-golf the area has ever seen!

I guess you don't want to see what they do with the sausage!

Amazing report! Thank you so much, for sharing!

Actually, a friend posted it on a private board. I didn't ask how he found it! And thank you!

Yes, it's innovative Japanese pudding packaging at it's best. Thought this might appeal to some people here, on many levels! http://gizmodo.com/5324004/niigata-bust-pudding-continues-japans-trend-of-being-a-little-creepy

I don't think anyone was referring to you as a rude, egotistical teenager. I was referring to the scientific fact that teenagers, developmentally, are ego-centric. The brain isn't fully developed until the early 20's, and during the teen years, it is difficult to see beyond one's own limited experience. That is just basic developmental psychology, not a personal attack. This is an example of an ego-centric thought: "as a smaller child, I couldn't care LESS about anything other than rides, and through my observations, this is the same way for MOST kids" Your observations are very limited, but you are not seeing it that way. You are extrapolating your limited experience to generalize to "MOST," which simply isn't true. And I'm sure you know exactly what I mean when I talk about parks overrun by rude teens. That in no way is an implication that you, yourself are rude, just because you happen to be a teen.

Dude, I think you're just stuck in a 15 year old enthusiast's frame of mind. I'm not saying that's wrong, I'm just saying that you don't have another frame of reference with which to view the situation yet. For instance, here's one you might be able to relate to, given your location. I'm right in the middle of Dollywood and SFOG. I can tell you without any level of uncertainty that most parents in this region who have children under the general height limitations for SFOG's major rides will undoubtedly choose Dollywood for a park visit over SFOG. Does that mean SFOG doesn't have enough to keep the younger ones interested while the grownups enjoy their day too? At least not in my opinion. Dollywood is just generally regarded as a more complete, well rounded, and overall friendlier park to visit for the family. It doesn't hurt that there is plenty to do outside of the park.....and I'm not even counting the "redneck Kissimmee," otherwise known as Pigeon Forge/ Gatlinburg. Think of it this way, the Smoky Mountains are to Dollywood as Colonial Williamsburg is to BGW. Parents aren't scouring the parks' internet sites for height restrictions when planning their vacation days. Sometimes it's simply more than just thrill rides. In many cases, it's actually just word of mouth from other parents. Again, I'm not faulting you. You're still young. I'm just trying to give you a different perspective. Excellent post !!!!!! I was thinking pretty much the exact same things, as I was reading through the past few pages. Teenagers naturally have an egocentric mindset that makes it difficult to comprehend other points of view. As a theme park loving mom of 3 kids under 10 years old, I most definitely look at a which parks have the "whole package." I can also tell you that most parents with younger kids prefer a more "family oriented" park, which translates into a park that isn't overrun with rude teens. I haven't been to these parks yet, but I can't wait to go to Dollywood, and we'll be driving right past SFOG to go there. And, for the record, my 8 year old and 6 year old will tell you that Epcot is their favorite WDW park. That's right - they prefer Epcot over Magic Kingdom!

I hope you do take the weekend off, Robb. You certainly deserve a break. Life is too short to suffer fools.

That is just flat-out LAZY! If you can't be bothered to spend a little bit of time pulling up information on your computer before you take a trip, you fully deserve whatever crappy time you get for lack of planning! Anytime you are shelling out a significant amount of money on anything, you should research what you are doing, or suffer the consequences of your own stupidity.

Troll.

Agreed! Although the continuing need for it certainly does. Too bad there isn't a way to automatically filter, like "fluffy fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo."