Hey all like many of you I grew up with Dis-*Removed* VSH tapes, I also went to Dis-*Removed*-World in Orland when I was a kid and had the time of my life there, on Dec 2022 I went there again with my girlfriend and we both have mixed feelings on out time there. So here is how it went down.

Getting ready was a nightmare. First off, the price was insane, and being Canadian made it even worse. We could only afford to go to two parks for two days, as park hopping required an extra fee, which we thought was ridiculous. In the end, it cost us about $400-500 CAD for both of us.

We booked in June for the Christmas season in December. Hoping for a nice Christmas dinner, I went online to reserve a table, but to my horror, all the restaurants in the parks we were visiting (Epcot and Animal Kingdom) were fully booked six months in advance. Never in my life have I seen nothing available that far ahead, I guess next time Ill have to book at least a year in advance. I had to go on a cancellation waitlist but never got a spot.

Flying to Orlando was decent enough, but getting our car rental was Fucked. They tried to give us a car with bare tires, claiming it was safe. We called them out on their bullshit and had to wait three hours while they found a new car. They ended up giving us a free upgrade and automatic toll booth payment at least, but the car rental staff were such scumbags.

To save money, we booked an Airbnb at a house that turned out to be infested with cockroaches. The hosts were a nice Cuban couple who didn't speak much English but did their best. We just made the best of it and only stayed there to sleep and shower.

Food was another issue. My girlfriend, a former bodybuilder, had a strict diet. Orlando didn't have many options other than deep-fried, fatty, sugary junk food. Fortunately, we found a German grocery store nearby the Air BnB we were staying at with ready-made meals we could eat. We ate there and packed snacks and water for the parks.

Our First stop was Epcot and when we got there it was really nice at first, the park was still pretty much empty since we got there on the opening hours but got super busy quick. So here are the rides we were able to get on and what we thought of them,

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure - 2.5/5 - nice little 3d ride but way too short and didnt really do much with the 3d effects, just a little water spray and some heat and thats it, still we enjoyed it.
Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along - 1/5 - Not as fun as you think, and kinda awkward as no one but me and my partner were singing in the group of 8-12 people. The new animation was also really low quality.
Frozen Ever After - 1/5 - Should have been pretty good but my god the projected CG faces on the animatronics just look awful, I shouted "oh come on are you guys really that cheap!" when I saw them.
Journey Into Imagination With Figment - 1/5 - Very old ride that even when I was a kid thought was lame so Im not sure why they kept it around, the staff there also looked miserable, like working at this ride was some kind of punishment.
Living with the Land 2.5/5 - A bit boring but kinda relaxing, its perfect if you are tired and need a break.
Mission: SPACE - 3/5 - kinda fun but I insisted we go on the hardcore version of the ride and it made my partner ill for the rest of the day so be careful if you have a weak stomach.
Test Track - 4/5 - I had a good time on it, I like that you get to make your own car and see who in the group made the best one at the end of the ride, but it was aging and the end of the ride gift shop was just a chevrolet car dealership with people literally asking if you are interested in buying a car.
Turtle Talk With Crush - 3/5 good for a laugh but dont expect to talk to the character as it was made for little kids and only they got to speak. Still the guy doing the voice was pretty funny and even made us laugh a few times.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind - 4/5 - This one should have been a 5/5, but we had some major issues. First off, to actually get a spot in line, you had to book a time to line up using a phone app we were forced to download. Second, halfway through the line, the ride broke down. We had to wait 30-50 minutes while I nearly went insane listening to the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy talk about how awesome the ride was in these cringey, fake interviews they played over and over again. I can still hear them to this day. We were behind a German couple, and my partner chatted with them in German. I don't speak the language, so I sat down on the dirty floor, hoping we would start moving. Eventually, we did, and the ride was fun, but that line was hell.

Few other notes:
- taking pictures with characters (Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Santa, Pluto) were not too bad, little line up but only 5 mins really but we were disappointed we couldn't find any villain characters as we were both fans of the villains.
- We also listen to a band play classic british rock songs and they were awesome.
- food was good and the price surprisingly not as bad as I was expecting.
- We ate at the Moroccan cafe since we loved their food and no one was there, we were surprised to see the cooks were genuine old women from Morocco making the food, we had a nice chat with them and I thought it was funny that they were flirting with me. Their food was a solid 5 outta 5
- Issue was the park was too big for only one day, and all the damn scooters made walking a hazard. Seriously Ive never seen so many scooters.
- the genie app SUCKS major balls and I kept hearing people around me complain to staff they couldn't figure it out, thankfully Im pretty tech savvy so I could work around it but holy shit its seriously one of the worse apps Ive ever used. I HATE phone Apps so much.

overall a 3 outta 5 experience

Next was Animal Kingdom

We got there a bit late so it was already kinda busy but not as bad as Epcot when it got busy.
the rides we were able to get on and what we thought of them,

Avatar Flight of Passage - 4/5 - it was fun to see your avatar and get your own flying beast that has its own unique name. A little short though but overall good.
Na'vi River Journey - 0/5 - boring. Nothing but that damn projected CG crap again and only one animatronic thats not even that impressive, not worth the 40 min line up at all.
Kali River Rapids - 4/5 - actually really fun water ride and thankfully you dont get that wet at all.
Expedition Everest 5/5 - probably the best roller coasters Ive ever been on, only downer was the giant yeti animatronic they promised to fix was still not active.
DINOSAUR 3/5 - a classic but you can tell its on its last legs, lot of the dinosaurs were not moving and looked like their skin was falling off on some of them, still had a good time.
Kilimanjaro Safaris - 2/5 - fun to see the animals but wow what a downgrade from what I remember as a kid, I remember it was a fun adventure ride where you were stopping poachers from killing animals, from what I heard people complained it was too scary for kids so they made it super lame.

Few other notes:
- didn't take any pictures with characters as much as I wanted to, my partner didn't want to wait in line for characters that weren't even villains again.
- Loved seeing the animals and they looked well taken care of
- Lion king show was a classic and we had a good time singing along to the songs
- got to draw a Zootopia character with a animator that complained about CG movies having no soul.
- ate at a little café again, however the food was forgettable.
- We had a bad sight when we got back to our rental, someone hit and ran the car, scrapped the whole side of the vehicle and took the side mirror off. The park couldnt do anything about it as they had no cameras in the parking lot, spent a good part of the rest of the day dealing with the insurance. To whoever hit our rental and just ran off, Fuck You.

overall a 3 outta 5 experience

We also went to universal studios which Ill talk about in another Journal.
Maybe things have changed over at Dis-*Removed*-World but I most likely wont go back till A: They offer a better package or B: the Canadian Dollar recovers.