the tragic kingdom

I reluctantly Disneyed yesterday. I spent 50% of the time waiting in lines and witnessed three arguments all involving mainlanders. Let me ask you- What is the official queue etiquette? You can send someone ahead to bags your spot in the queue. Fair enough, if there are two or three of you joining the person who has bagged the spot. But bagging spots for an entire family of more than five people. A bit ridiculous don't you think? I witnessed a Disney staff member being shouted at by a mainlander who was only a few centimetres from her face. I guess the heat brings out the best in people. If I spoke mandarin I would have intercepted and told the guy, who was going red in the face to bugger off and leave the poor staff member alone. Honestly, these parents are meant to be setting an example for their children.

The biggest queuing blunder is found in in Adventureland for the jungle boat cruise. The queues are divided up into English, Putonghua and Cantonese. The longest lines people queue up for are the English and Cantonese versions. The locals would rather line up with the English speakers rather than the people from the motherland because mainlanders have a reputation for being rude and of course being queue-jumpers. Also, distance wise, the English line is shorter than the Putonghua line and the Cantonese lines. Over the loud speaker, the patrons are told that no matter which line you end up in, the waiting time of three minutes is the same. However, because there are more people in the non-putonghua lines, the staff decided that they'll put on extra boats for the English and Cantonese speakers. This lead to the putonghua-mob chucking a big stink (and rightly so) because their line wasn't moving while the other two were. Now whoever dreamt up of this baby deserves to be yelled out.

Highlights - Space Mountain ( I went on it twice) and this thing called Mickey's Philamagica (saw it twice). If you plan on going then STOP READING!

However, if you don't plan on going then I will spoil it for you. The Philamagica is a 3-D show with animation and music on the screen. But there's more! For example, when they show apple pie on the screen, you can actually smell apple pie and when Donald gets splashed with water, you can actually feel water being splashed on your face! I ordered a piece of apple pie for afternoon tea subconsciously. When my brother enquired whether I had ordered it because of the show, it was only then my brain made the connection. No baked goods are safe with a mind like mine.

Would you believe that the food in D-land tastes like aeroplane food? I think it's because the caterers for the airlines are located very close to the resort and the airport.

When watching 3-D shows do you:

a) try to grab the 3-D object even though you know there's only air in front of you;

b) take your 3-D glasses on an off because you are curious as to how the 3-D thing works;

c) both (a) and (b)

I have observed that kids mostly like to do (a) and adults like to do (b). Of course, I was (c).

I lined up with Vomit Extraordinaire (at least for 30 minutes) so that he could take a photo with Buzz Lightyear. When I returned him to his parents he was starstruck and announced, "Buzz touched me here" (pointing to his right shoulder). No wonder when it came to bath time he was bawling his eyes out.

During the line up, Buzz had to rest and we were told that Buzz needed his "batteries recharged". One parent got annoyed and was yelling at the staff, "He is coming back isn't he?" "He better be coming back!" I was waiting for the.. I'm gonna hold my breath and count to 10!...