One of the joys for all of us, I think, is the escape we get when we go to Disney World. All the horrors of real life can be forgotten. I love that.
However, I’ll be in WDW during the UK General Election. I’m a politics junkie — which I know is dumb and makes me a masochist — but it’s one of my addictions.
Ordinarily I would tune in to the TV coverage at 10pm when the exit poll is published and then stay up as late as I can — typically three or four in the morning — as the results come in.
Now, being in Florida actually works in my favour in one respect. 10pm UK time is 5pm Florida time. I’ll either be on the DME or checking in to my resort at that time. Nothing much usually happens for about four hours after that, which takes us to 9pm EST. But I’ll be at MVMCP and it would be insane to be constantly checking my phone for new results to come in — right?
I’ll probably be on a bus back to my resort at about 1am EST, which is 6am UK time and the picture will be pretty clear by then.
So there might be “legitimate” times to switch my focus from Disney World to Real World. But in a way I’m sad the two are coinciding.
It’s possible that there will be a hung parliament in the UK again, which will mean endless news coverage for days!
How linked in to the real world do you allow yourself to be when you’re in Disney’s World?
I don’t want politics of any kind infiltrating WDW. Instead, you should watch re-runs of The Real World from MTV.
Edit: or you could just watch this South Park clip that pretty much sums up politics in general:
Okay, the embedded clip wasn’t working for me, and I probably shouldn’t post it anyway. Let’s just say it’s a debate between a particular kind of hygiene product and a sandwich you wouldn’t want to eat.
Not at all. I don’t look at news at all when I’m on holiday. I probably would check the election result when I got up the next day to be fair, but there’s not much else. Maybe if I was in holiday in Spain when we were due to leave the EU I would check if we’d actually left and make sure I could get home.
I’m almost never aware of anything happening in the real world when I’m in WDW. Social media doesn’t count as real world, and that’s about all I’m tied into once inside the bubble. The exception would be real-time unfolding events - your election would qualify for me. If I were going to be there during the US elections next November, you bet your bippy I’d be tuned in hard.
Note to self: taking day after election day off. It was a mistake last time not to have done so after being up so late.
That is simply impossible for me. I HAVE TO KNOW THE RESULT IMMEDIATELY. No way could I go to bed without checking.
Maybe — MAYBE — I have the discipline, and Disney has the magic, that I don’t look at my phone during MVMCP. Maybe. I might leave it till the bus. No, the wait in line for the bus. No, the walk to the bus. Once I’m out of Main Street.
My recollection is, though, that you somehow get your results out really early. Perhaps because your polling places close much earlier than ours. Ours close at 10pm. The first constituency to announce its result is usually at 11pm. Then you get a slow dribble till about 2am, when things start coming in fairly quickly. The result (which party has won a majority) is usually known by about 4am. Your system is way quicker than that. Oh, we also have all paper ballots, counted by hand.
Yes most polls close at 7pm local time. But that means our Cali polls are closed at 10pm my time.
We do get some results called earlier, based on data as it rolls in. I will say that we do typically know or have a good sense of the result, before midnight my time (eastern)
I am a fellow politics junkie and I disconnect completely when at WDW - and basically anywhere when I’m on vacation. Real vacation, not a weekend away.
Will you be able to go to sleep after checking the results? If so, check them. If not, avoid until the next day and then check on your way into a park. You’ll know and then be instantly distracted for a few hours so you can get your mind off the results.
I can totally sympathize as a political junkie myself! I do try to disconnect from the normal things I’m obsessive about when I’m on vacation. For example, I stop checking social media, try not to touch work email for as long a stretch as possible, etc.
If there was an election while I was on vacation, I would probably try to abbreviate my attention, but especially if it was something important like the presidency at stake, I wouldn’t be able to help myself from checking the returns periodically. I’d just try to limit it to a quick check while standing in line, then maybe turn on the TV back at the hotel room.
