If it’s an amusement park. I’d be interested in hearing about it.
10 Likes
Ok that just made me laugh so hard!
1 Like
Right? Just this past weekend I saw my Native shoes and thought … what happened to MouseMatt’s trip report?
1 Like
Let me give you an insight into how my mind works. Buckle up. Viewer discretion is advised.
Writing trip reports can be quite time-consuming and onerous. In the past I’ve written about the tyranny of the trip report audience. Once you’ve started, you feel under pressure to continue. Of course, it is often a real pleasure to do.
Right now, I’m just not feeling it.
And the reason is that I’m not really feeling it with these forums in general. The last year and more have been really stressful — for us all — and have been strewn with the disappointment for many of us of cancelled trips.
Yet it’s easy to get the perhaps misleading impression that for the many US members of the site, things are very much back to normal.
But they’re not for me. I have the constant uncertainty hanging over me — as I have had for some time — of whether my four-times rescheduled trip, now slated for August, will actually happen or not.
I’ve written about my (very real) frustration about this on these forums and it’s felt like I’ve been met by a tsunami of indifference. Well, fine. We’re all centred on our own little worlds and does anyone really care about anyone else’s issues? Do we even have the bandwidth?
So, yeah, fine. No-one gives a crap. But that makes it hard to find the motivation to continue writing a trip report.
This does feel a little petty to me, I’ll admit. But I feel what I feel. I have thousands of dollars invested in a trip that I first booked in December 2019 and I still have no idea when, or even if, it will happen. Meanwhile, the rest of the world moves on and these forums fill up with jolly trip reports of people going to Orlando right now. Some of them, multiple times.
From time to time I poke my head up and express my frustration and a forum that I have historically associated with being a supportive one takes no interest. Or, in the most recent case, is met with hostility from a poster who has had two (or is it three) trips in the last year and is soon to go on another one. A trip I offered supportive advice about.
So, yeah. Sorry. Not feeling it.
10 Likes
I’m sorry you feel unsupported by some on this forum. And while some of us have expressed interest in seeing your trip report, please don’t feel obligated to post if you’re not feeling it. We would be interested to read if and when you want to share.
8 Likes
I do want to share! I usually enjoy doing so. I’m just drowning in my own little world right now.
5 Likes
I’m feeling a good bit of remorse about the flippant post I made about your trip report earlier. Please accept my apologies. I may have been drinking.
I really wish we (the U.S.) would open up to you [Brits]. I think your country has made great strides in quelling the novel coronavirus and its recent variants. I think y’all took it more seriously than we did for a year. I think – I think our government is just a titch sensitive because the previous administration did such a god-awful job of taking an actual, for-real pandemic seriously. (They weren’t overly fond of science, and that was a shame.)
Honestly, your reason for perhaps not finishing your trip report is a lot better than my old excuses. Y’all don’t really know me – I haven’t been here long because my family’s finances were so bad that I swore off All Things Disney because it just hurt too much to see what I couldn’t have [“me, myself, with my nose pressed up against the glass”], so it’s been 15 years since I was anything like a real Disney fan – but I used to start trip reports and then just run out of gas because I had the attention span of a gnat. I couldn’t claim that a pandemic had altered my outlook on life or that I felt unappreciated because my countryfolk weren’t allowed into a country that I wanted to visit. And I was a writer! Writers are supposed to write! But I would get to Day 4 of the Big Honkin’ Trip Report and just… stop writing in the middle of the trek from the Mexico pavilion to the Friendship because my toddler fell asleep while gripping a giant sombrero, and I still had to carry him – in my arms! – to the Yacht Club.
I mean, that’s exciting stuff. And I had no “srsly, am I gonna be allowed into Florida?” worries. But I dropped that trip report like a racist date at Prom who just declined to dance with my best Black friend.
So please take all the time you need. You really do deserve it. And I hope you had a nice time in… wherever you were in this trip report.
(Someday, I’ve really got to go to England, because I am just ignorant. I’m sorry.)
6 Likes
I totally understand where you’re coming from. And I appreciate your post 
3 Likes
Refreshingly honest. Sorry it’s been tough. Cheers to you on the downs and ups to come. And the downs after that. And then more ups. I like authenticity more than perfection.
4 Likes
You aren’t the only one who feels this way. I take breaks from the forum for a week or two at a time. It wouldn’t be so bad to read all the trip reports if there was any end in sight but they just announced an extension to our lockdown. Looking at another 3 weeks at least. Schools have been virtual only for two months. They’ve closed restaurants, stores, etc. except for online purchases and curbside. They’ve restricted outdoor recreational spaces. We can’t do anything or visit with anyone. For perspective, my area has 270,000 people with 355 active cases, 10 people in ICU and 14 in acute care.
5 Likes
Where do you live?
Ontario, Canada.
3 Likes
I can’t handle the political BS. But I’ll pop in enough to say we want you here. And we’re frustrated that our friends can’t come over and enjoy the things we do take for granted daily.
Not all of us (me) are good at expressing that as well as we (I) should. I don’t know what you’re experiencing on a daily level. My heart hurts thinking about it to be honest. And I’m also sorry for not knowing better things to say other than, we miss you being here too.
8 Likes
lately I have been more of an on and off lurker, not posting much.
I am sorry to hear of your frustration, and your feeling lack of support. When I have found your trip reports I have always enjoyed them. I understand the conflict to some degree. I hope you find enjoyment on your current trip and should you report about it thank you.
I have enjoyed your trips and reports of Disney and have watched your love of the planning and trips blossom. I am sorry you have had so many cancled trips and understand your gripes that you are seeing trip reports from those of us stateside and wishing you could go. Whether it is August or not will have tp be seen. But whenever it is I am sure you will have a great time.
5 Likes
Sorry for all you’ve been through, but I have to respectfully disagree on the forum’s support. All evidence I’ve seen here shows unanimous support for you from fellow liners. You are loved. I know that can’t make up for being stuck in lockdown while we Americans can freely go to WDW though. I remind myself how blessed I’ve been to go there twice during the pandemic and do think of those like you who would give anything to be there but can’t. It sucks to have to be this patient, but your day will come, and it will be more magical than ever, and I believe all of us here will be just as overjoyed along with you, my friend. Keep your head up.
11 Likes
I’m going to cheat a little with my trip report by writing (at least some of) my concluding remarks today. They will go some way to explaining my little meltdown last night.
I visited two UK theme parks. Blackpool Pleasure Beach is 125 years old this year. I’ve been going there for over forty years. Though Blackpool itself is run-down, it still has beautiful sandy beaches and sea views, and Blackpool Tower is a thing of beauty. Alton Towers is a run-down stately home, but with beautifully kept gardens, as well as my top two rollercoasters in the world.
Yet as I left the Pleasure Beach after a day and a half, I said to my friend that I feel no particular reason to go back for another five years. This despite the fact that the brick with my name in it in their 125th anniversary wall was not installed by the time of my visit, so it will be there next time and that will be fun to see.
Alton Towers will draw me back more quickly. Maybe a couple of years. It’s a more complete experience.
But — as we all know — visiting WDW (and, for me, UOR) is like some kind of drug. No amount of time spent there is enough and you’ll move heaven and earth to go back again. I even sold my car a couple of years ago to pay for a trip. (I hardly ever use my car. It wasn’t some great sacrifice.)
So why the difference?
Size is one thing. WDW is enormous: there’s so much to see and do. Immersion is another. Neither of the UK parks are really theme parks. Not in the way that the WDW parks are. Or WWOHP at UOR. Technology is yet another factor. The Spider-Man ride at UOR blew my mind when I first rode it. There’s nothing like it in the UK. The same is true of FOP.
Dining is a big deal in Orlando. There are awesome restaurants. UK parks have pretty generic, mediocre food — the kind of stuff people think you get at WDW, but don’t: burgers, fried chicken and so on. And the US really seems to know what it’s doing when it comes to meat. Except bacon. Your bacon shames you.
Then there’s the “being in America” thing. As much as I think your politics and culture and so on are . . . let’s say “special”, I never get bored of landing in the US and walking out of the airport and being acutely aware of the fact I’m in a very different country, a very long way away from my own. It’s genuinely thrilling. I much prefer visiting in the summer because the heat and humidity are a constant reminder of how far I’ve travelled and how different everything is. Christmas at WDW is magical in some ways, but the weather is basically the same as Britain in the summer. I can get that by staying at home.
My first proper trip to WDW was in August 2017. It was supposed to be once-in-a-lifetime. As soon as I got home I was desperate to return, which I did the following summer. By November of that same year I was frantic to return and booked a trip for December. I went twice again in 2019. And that was my 2020 plan: June and October.
And then . . . nothing. Trump pulled the blinds down and they’ve stayed down ever since. Because I’m an idiot I keep visiting this site, and most of my Facebook groups are Disney-related. Then I watch YouTube videos and so on. And all I’ve seen and read since last summer is stories of people going back. VelociCoaster has soft-opened at UOR and people are boasting of the relatively short lines.
And what makes it so frustrating is that the reason I can’t go is not my fault. It’s not because I can’t take the time off. I can. I’m my own boss. I could go tomorrow if I wanted. And it’s not because I can’t afford it. I can. It’s because of mother nature and because of politics. And it makes me furious. I hate feeling impotent.
And I loathe uncertainty. There are times when I think “to hell with it, I’ll reschedule (for the fifth time) to December” or even summer 2022. After all, there are the Magic At Sea cruises available. (I would say there’s Disneyland Paris, too, but who the hell knows when I’ll be able to go back there.)
I also — strange but true — have friends in the US. Friends who I really want to see in person again. And they want to see me. And we can’t.
Open up your damned country. There’s just no reason not to.
13 Likes
Matt I don’t have a lot of time to write a proper response. But your words often resonate with me more than others. Your post above is another example. I have very often felt the same as you. There have been long periods of forum avoidance for me. Jealousy and resentment have burned inside me. But there is a great big beautiful tomorrow. For me it starts in a few weeks when my 8th planned trip hopefully happens. Yours will happen soon too. Even if it’s not august. On a final note, please continue throwing out your witty and sometimes cross remarks here. The forum feels incomplete without your voice.
12 Likes
This! Definitely take breaks as you need to but please come back to us.
I find the forums a much healthier place for me, personally than other social media. I’ve been around more in the last few months than ever before. Mainly because I like you all so much and find all the differing perspectives interesting.
I truly hope you get to take your August trip. and if you do, I can’t wait to read about it!
5 Likes
