We spent a couple of hours at Animal Kingdom today. After four weeks of having annual passes to WDW, we finally got Simon to see Finding Nemo: The Musical. It's still remarkable just how good of a show that is, considering it runs every day, with seven performances. Simon loved it, and of course my redheaded stage manager loves it too.
I asked Diana today if she thought visiting the theme parks would ever get old. I would assume not, given the fact that we grew up going to Cedar Point, and as season passholders there, we've never stopped enjoying it. The big difference here is that they're open literally every day, and instead of an hour drive, it's 25 minutes. If we do get the new house, it will be 15 minutes. If that weren't enough, there are four parks there. Universal has two. And if I ever go full-time at SeaWorld, there's the main park, water park and Busch Gardens in Tampa. There are seven or eight times the theme parkness to visit.
I do expect that things will change over time. Simon will certainly reach an age where he thinks Magic Kingdom is beneath him, and by extension I'm sure we'll feel similar. When we have more opportunities to go without him, I'm sure we'll do a lot more Epcot stuff (read: Food & Wine Festival). But I still think we'll find it valuable to visit on a somewhat frequent basis.
One thing we have learned is that, much to my surprise, the Disney parks aren't terrible, even on summer weekends, if you're only visiting for a few hours. Granted, we've never been the type of people who want to plan everything and make sure we do every last thing, but when you can just bail at any time and come back another day, it's pretty easy going. Even parking isn't that big of a deal with the trams. Yes, the midways can get dense with people, but between high capacity attractions and Fastpass, it's not hard to enjoy yourself. I look forward to the "off-season" when the kids are back in school.
I don't know what we'll think in a year, but Simon really enjoys himself, and we have a good time as well. The week before last, we went to Epcot after work, just to enjoy some live music, eat popcorn (and gelato), and watch Illuminations. It was in the low 80's, breezy and not humid. It was the perfect night out for Team Puzzoni.
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