Jack and Dina in Disney World

Jack and I are in Disney World. Tim is joining us this afternoon.

I feel so weird writing a post in the present. Lately, all my posts have been posted SEVERAL days after I've written them. But I'm actually going to post this one this morning.

Anyway, I was just going to write about a few Australia-related things that we've encountered here.

1. There's a food and wine festival at Epcot. They have a stand for Australia that serves lamb, Barramundi, and Lamingtons. Jack and I shared a Lamington. It was okay. I felt it didn't have enough chocolate and coconut. But I can't really judge it in terms of authenticity. I had only two of them in Australia...not much to compare it too.

Another time, Jack had the Barramundi.  Later back in our room, we talked about which food we liked the best. Jack said he liked the Australia fish.

I said, "I think it was called Barramundi." I told him this was an Aboriginal world.

Jack said something like, Okay Ms. Australia know-it-all. Then he tried to quiz me. Who is the Premier of New South Wales? I told him it was Nathan Rees. Jack looked very proud of me.

2. We went on It's a Small World. For those who don't know, this is a ride where you travel on a boat and see very stereotyped images of various countries. They're not really offensive stereotypes, but still....it's a very simplified image of the world. I knew they had Australia, well because we've been on the ride many times. But I forgot what they had for Australia. When we got to that section, these women pointed to the Platypus and gleefully said to the toddler with them. Ducks! Look Ducks! I was tempted to correct them, but I didn't want them calling me Miss Australia know-it-all and then demanding I tell them who the Premier of Queensland was.

I was a bit annoyed because all I saw was the platypus, a kangaroo, and some awful representations of koalas. I complained to Jack about the lack of humans. Then we turned the corner and saw one of them. It was an Aboriginal child with a boomerang and a dingo. Totally adorable. I took a photo. It's not really fair, though. Australia has this tiny corner. Other countries get much more space. Mexico has this huge part in it, and they already have a whole ride dedicated to themselves in Epcot. What's the deal? Disney World better start giving more love and attention to Australia. Yeah. They also need to get their information straight about lost luggage, stop being so greedy with their ticket prices/processes, and provide more comfortable sheets and pillow cases.

3. The other day I went to the concierge desk to make dinner reservations. The woman who helped me was from Melbourne. She was lovely....adorable and sweet. Well, at least she was better than the asshole who assisted me earlier in concierge land. She asked me if I we were enjoying ourselves. I lied and said yes. I HATE lying, but felt weird blurting out. No. It's been pretty awful here and I'm regretting that we became Vacation Club members. Why the hell did you leave Australia to work at this shitty place?

And we ARE having a great time. It's just there are things about Disney that are really annoying me.

Anyway, I did say something like Are you doing okay here? And the concern in my voice was probably a bit odd. It was like I was talking to an Australian prisoner in Guantanamo Bay.

4. World Showcase in Epcot doesn't have Australia as one of their countries. And that's really sad. But fortunately, the UK section sells a few candy bars that I love. Jack and I shared a Curly Wurly, and a Turkish Delite. Well, in all honesty I don't love Turkish Delite. But we ate it because it reminds us of Australia. Jack was wearing an Australia T-shirt, and the British guy, who helped us at the counter, asked if we've been to Australia. I said yes and asked the same of him. He said no. He reminded me of me a few years ago. He said he was dying to go to Australia, but the plane ride was too long. I agreed with him but said since he was in America, he was a bit closer now. I was pretty much pushing this guy to go to Australia. I realized something weird about myself. I know some Australians think of the UK as the mother ship. But I see Australia as some kind of British Mecca. I feel that British people need to go to Australia...like it's their holy land or something. I really felt that this Liverpool guy NEEDED to get his ass to Australia someday. I have no such feelings about Americans going to Australia. In fact, I'm usually jealous and resentful when Americans mention going to Australia.

5. I've read two Aussie books while here. In one book I read, one of the characters reminded me so much of myself. I mean we're not exactly alike. But the girl's personality reminded me so much of myself...especially the way she related to people and how people related to her. Reading the book was almost therapeutic to me. But then this character tragically DIED. Well, at least I think she did. It was all left a bit open-ended. So that kind of sucked. Both books were beautiful, but not exactly light happy holiday reading.




What would our world be like if we
knew for sure there 
was life after death, and 
we could easily talk to our 
dearly-departed on the Internet?

The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts 



8 comments:

  1. Brits like coming here to check how the penitentiary colony is faring.

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  2. Talking about that ride on disney world reminded me of John Safran again - sneaking into Disneyland via a work area and attaching information plaques he made about founder Walt Disney to a display (highlighting little known Disney "facts" such as Walt Disney's alleged early support for Adolf Hitler)- this was on wiki.

    A lot of Brits do come to Australia. I think enough really. I think we need more Canadians.

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  3. Love your post ... wish I was there ;)
    We had an influx of 'poms' as the Bristish are called here when the governmment of the day opened up the immgration flood gates. The poms came out in droves. Paid only ten quid for the journey. There were plenty of whingers amongst them who couldn't stand the heat and happiness and went back to the grey, insular lifestyle of that era. No loss ;)
    Keep having fun. xo

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  4. Andrew: They like coming here too...especially to Disney World. I probably hear as many British accents here as I do American.

    Amy Michelle: Yeah! I've heard about Disney being a Nazi supporter.

    I met a Canadian in Australia. He was on the Bridge Climb with me...came from a cruise ship.

    The embarrassing thing is I can't tell American accents from Canadian ones.

    Redness: I wish you were here too. That would be awesome. Or maybe not. Then I'd be sitting there wondering, why the hell did you leave Australia to come to Disney World????

    Stop picking on your poms. Harry Potter is one of those people. He's awesome. Anthony Hopkins too. Although he's Welsh. Do they count as Poms, or do they get a different name?

    Oh...and Jeremy Irons. I love that guy!

    Now that I think of it, I like lots of British people....just not the ones at Disney World. They make the lines too long. It would be less crowded here if they all stayed home.

    I'm joking of course ; )

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  5. We get to the US in 3 wks, we'll be doing Disney-- did you just buy the Vacation Club thing? Is that a timeshare? We have to decide where to stay... any suggestions?

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  6. Laura,

    Did you forget you're FLORIDA girl in Sydney????? I thought you've been here before. Or do you usually not stay on property?

    I feel weird giving you advice about this. But since you asked....I'd probably go with one of the Magic Kingdom resorts. Polynesian maybe or Contemporary. I'm guessing Benji and Oliver would like Magic Kingdom best. Or do you think they're more Epcot kids? They have this awesome thing now at World Showcase. It's a Kim Possible Program. I think both the boys will love it. So in that case, stay at The Beach Club. Then you'll be right next to Epcot. There's a really good waterslide. Would they be into that at all?

    I think it all really depends on what you guys like.

    If you like animals, Animal Kingdom Resort is great. But it's harder to get to the parks from there.

    As for your other question. We joined the vacation club when Jack was a toddler. We've had it a pretty long time. And yeah. It's a time share program.

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  7. When I was little we used to stay at The Contemporary, but usually now we stay in a apartment/condo off property. The last two times we went we stayed at Reunion Resort (like 5 minutes away)-- but not sure what to do this year-- I know staying on property would be so convenient... And last year we looked into rooms at Animal Kingdom, but we need connecting rooms and it was sooo super expensive we just went back to Reunion. It does sound fun to stay at Disney though, wonder if they have apt. style places there???

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  8. Laura,

    There are apartments on property. I think they're all Vacation Club? but you can stay there if you're not vacation club members...if anything is available. It might be hard to find something on short notice.

    I think you can make reservations directly with Disney. Maybe? Or you can rent from a DVC member. I don't really know how that works. Here's the renting message board...there might be something there that helps.

    http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29

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