September trip to Disney & Sea World

Just recently got back from a week up at Disney with friends from Philadelphia. We camped at Ft. Wilderness, while they stayed at The Animal Kingdom Lodge. The parks for the most part were not crowded. We didn't wait anymore than about 30 mins. for anything. Had a little sneak peak at Space Mountain while riding the "Blue Line" aka The WEDway People mover. Couldn't really see too much except alot of track. I am hoping they really "spruce" it up like they did at Disneyland a few years back. Anyway, I also got to ride the Manta at Sea World. What an awesome ride experience! It was great! Didn't get to ride the new "Toy Story" attraction. Way too crowded. Maybe next time around. Well, that's it. We had a great time as always! The only other thing I did notice were alot of temper tantrums this trip! Kids hitting their parents when they didn't get their way! Who is raising Who? What happened to a good smack on the butt? (not that this has anything to do with theme parks and rollercoasters, but, it really bothered me to see this and nothing being done about it!)

I still wish parks would offer at least one day a year with no admission to anyone under the age of 18... or even 21. Smoke-free and kid-free!

Bear, That would never work. When we were at the World last week, I was surprised to hear how many guest were upset that Space Mountain was closed. If you had a no kiddie day, I would not want to be at the gate telling the thousands of families that they can't see Mickey today.

Not to mention all parks rake in the dough off of those parents whose kids cry "buy me this" from the time they enter the park until they leave. The parks could always just mark it off on the calendar as a blackout or buyout day, not open to the public.

The minor league hockey team in Las Vegas that's been having an over-21 night one game a year for the past few seasons. I know it's just a fantasy, but it would be nice to visit a park for once and not get clipped in the ankles or broadsided by a stroller. And sometimes the parents have bigger meltdowns than the kids do.

Getting clipped by strollers is annoying until you have to push a stroller around a park all day. People will cut you off at every turn. It is a nightmare getting a stroller through the park.

That said, I don't think I would blow the kind of money on a Disney vacation for any child under say, six or seven, as they really won't remember it much anyways. They also won't melt down as much.

KTS, I couldn't agree more. We waited till our kids were 12 & 10. I see tons of kids that can't ride 1/2 the attractions and go into a fit because of it.

^^ I'm sure there are mindless, rude people with and without strollers-- and I'll throw in any kind of transportation on wheels (wheelchairs, scooters, jazzies). It's just that the rude ones with wheels take up more room when they decide to cut you off, stop suddenly in front of you, etc.

Don't kid yourself. Kids will remember a lot more than we think. Took my 3 1/2 year old nephew this past July and he's still talking about his 6 days at the World in glorious detail. Because there is such an emotional response to the sights and experiences, those memories are burned in deeply.

My niece was even younger, in her 2's, her first trip to WDW and she remembers more than I do! We didn't have a camera with us that trip so no pictures to jog her memory but she can still recite the day-by-day itinerary.

I think what annoys me more than the stroller family.. Is the 8 wide family, where everyone wants to walk in a wide row like they are preparing to break out into a Riverdance.

Seriously. If you are caught behind them or coming towards them its like you have to bail into the grass in order to pass the group.

They're actually playing Red Rover, ridem.

ahh yes.. I remember that game.. Sent a kid to the hospital when I was in elementary school.. Clotheslined and nearly choked him.

But certainly a better analogy, either way.. Annoying..

Clotheslining annoying people in theme parks. Now that's an idea. Thanks, ridem.

Most of the very young kids are not going to remember much if anything about the trips. There will be exceptions though. I was amazed at the number of totally miserable people at Disney when we were there in June. Most of them were families with very young kids. Kids were hot, tired, overstimulated, cranky, etc. I hope for their sake that we were seeing them at bad moments or at least that there were a couple of good moments during the trip to hang onto for memories sakes. Other much smaller group of people who didn't look like they were having much fun were folks with older teenagers who just looked totally bored to death.