The afore-mentioned J. Lileks has been enjoying a family vacation in Orlando, FL at Disneyworld and writing about it in his blog. Now several things about this are true. The fact that reading about Disneyworld fills me with longing means that I am more homesick than I realized, where homesick in this context is “longing to be someplace familiar”. On more than one occasion in my adult life I have had business reasons to be in Orlando, and in each case was able to sneak away with a colleague for a day reliving my childhood in the Disney empire (especially Epcot). I have also recently visited the more adult-oriented fare at Downtown Disney both in Orlando and Anaheim. I had realized a few weeks ago that I was quite homesick for this sort of entertainment when I priced a long weekend at Eurodisney but gave up on the idea when I realized how sad it would be to visit there alone. The Lileks commentary on the Disney experience is dead-on how I feel about it; it’s not cheap, but it’s remarkably clean and the infrastructure is amazing. I have not had the opportunity to see it through a child’s eyes since I first went aged about 10, so I can only imagine how fun that would be these days. And yes, I know I’m tragically uncool for admitting I enjoy this schmaltz or miss it in any way. This expat thing is a killer, what can I say.
The other amusing piece out there in the blogosphere today includes a hypothetical sample of what would happen if Lileks tried to write straight news, along with such equally implausable gems as Sylvia Plath’s weather forecast and Bill Shakespeare’s Star Tribune Wedding Announcements (featuring both Puck and a character called the “OLIVE GARDEN SERVING WENCH”). Even if you have no interest in the blogging style of Lileks the other sub-pieces of this wry commentary are absolutely priceless.
(many thanks to Dad for keeping me on top of the Lileks news from this distance)
Not From Around Here 
I first went to Disney World with my family when I was 9. I don’t know if you’ve heard the story before, but from experience I can tell you that taking 6 people on a road trip to FL in July riding in a baby blue station wagon in which the AC has recently gone out, towing a tent trailer where you will spend your nights at camp grounds, is definitely not the way to go.
For all of the reasons mentioned above and others I’ll relate if you really want to know, when my husband suggested a family vacation to Disney World shortly after we got married, I was less than enthusiastic about the idea. Every memory I had from the trip at age 9 was negative.
He somehow finally managed to convince me to go. It was a large family affair including his and mine. We went in August (not the time to go either) and sweated to death, but it was an enjoyable trip. His family spent all of their vacations there when he was younger and it’s his mother’s favorite place on earth. I believe at last count I had been back 8 times since the horrors of my youth and now I find it quite therapeutic. I’m also of the opinion that’s it’s not really for kids at all, but for those who are kids at heart. You name the date and I’ll meet you there!
I’ve seen some ads for DisneyWorld on TV recently, and I kinda want to see it again…since I haven’t been there since you were little. Didn’t you have an orchestra trip there in high school? I realize going there with 60 people you don’t know all that well is not the ideal experience. I’ll meet you there along with Karla and whoever else wants to go…just tell me when!