I rode...

THE TOWER OF TERROR!!!

...Twice! You read that right, I, Jennifer Snow, the world's biggest roller coaster/thrill ride coward in the world rode the biggest beast at Disney World. And I loved it!

Chris and I went back and did another all day trip to Disney Saturday so that I could see the last two parks, Animal Kingdom and MGM (now Hollywood Studios). Animal Kingdom was fun, more on that later, but MGM was terrifying for me, much as it was ten years ago, and it was all because of the "Tower" looming in the distance. Unlike ten years ago, I entered the park yesterday determined to ride the tower of terror. I have spent 23 years waiting while everyone else had the time of their lives and I got tired of it. So on this my third trip to Disney, I put on my big girl panties and rode it. I figured I'd scream like a baby, piss my pants, and get off threatening to kill Chris. I was amazingly surprised. I went through the ride, turning Chris' hand purple from squeezing it, and then we dropped. That was it. The weird, unpleasant sensation of having your stomach in your throat wasn't really there but the view of Orlando from 170 feet in the air was stunning, and I was hanging by a cable waiting for the next drop. It came, I screamed, and after another two we were at the bottom with the doors opening and as I stood up to get off my only thought was, "Wow, that wasn't scary. It was actually a little disappointing." I ran back around with Chris to the entrance, grabbed a fast pass to ride it again and left for Rock N' Roller Coaster. Ten years of fear and anxiety taken care of in 3.04 seconds.

This is the Rock N' Roller Coaster track before they built the building that houses it. You launch the way fighter jets launch off aircraft carriers by a catapult propulsion system, and you go from zero to sixty in under two seconds. It shoots straight into an upside down loop, then through dozens of hair pin turns, through a cork screw or two, and finally back to the station all while not knowing what's around the corner because you're in complete darkness. Way cool, enough said. We rode this one twice, and I loved it since I haven't been upside down on a roller coaster since I was eight and I've never done a cork screw. Awesome!!

I'm working backwards on this post so the Tower of Terror was actually the last thing we rode, but the first thing we rode was the Expedition Everest ride at Animal Kingdom. Chris and I refer to it as the Yeti ride since that's what rips up the tracks and makes this even better than the Tower.

This is the Yeti ride. It doesn't look that scary but let me tell you something else. Most of the ride takes place inside the mountain. You go up the incline and where there should be one hell of a drop, you stop dead in your tracks, literally. After a few suspenseful seconds you fall backwards accelerating into darkness and hairpin turns and small drops that cause numerous G forces. Enough to make you feel like you have an elephant sitting on you while your eyeballs are getting sucked out of your head - I'm not exaggerating. You stop in the darkness where the yeti comes out and tears up the tracks. The entire train shakes and grumbles and after the track resets it shoots you past an animatronic yeti and snaps a picture of you as you shoot out of the hole in the side of the mountain and plummet down to what must be a most excruciating death. Chris and I rode it three times!

Okay well that's all from Disney World for this weekend. We also stayed for the fireworks at Epcot's World Showcase, one of my favorite things. Anyways, I just wanted to announce that the world is need of a new coward of the universe since this one is apparently a Tower of Terror, Rock N' Roller Coaster, Expedition Everest buff. And just a thought, the next time you see a thirteen year old girl watching the doors open on the Tower with her eyes getting bigger with every scream it emanates don't laugh at her. Instead, realize that she doesn't know what you know about it's deepest secret. Be understanding, listen to her concerns, and then drag her ass onto the damn thing and hope for an awesome drop sequence. She'll thank you in the end, and if she doesn't, then be sure to have some Xanax on you. I was that kid once and although I'm sorry to say that my dad and sister never could succeed in doing what I just told you to do, Chris did, and I'm very thankful for that and for my family's attempts. Where most people have found holographic ghosts and the Twilight Zone I found my courage and a love for the Tower of Terror. I can finally go to Disney without fear. Thank God for that! So if you're going anytime soon, swing by the Tower and as you drop through the Twilight Zone think of me, I'll be sitting beside you.

The number one reason to live in Florida

Disney World.

I have to admit that I've never been a big Disney fan. Okay, so I lied a little. I've always loved Disney movies particularly The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan, and I think that Donald Duck is the coolest duck to ever waddle the planet, but I never understood what was so amazing about Disney World - a theme park with a giant resident mouse. Really, growing up everyone I knew who went came back exhausted, sun burned, and talking about rides that I thought I would die on. Not to mention the giant mouse and the cost of it all. I never went to Disney as a child, and I grew up thinking that yeah it would be fun to go some day and see what all the talk was about, but I never thought that I'd love it like my friends had, and then I went.

One day when I was thirteen my sister, who was seventeen, decided to announce to my parents that she was going to be eighteen in a few months and that she wasn't allowed to become a legal adult without ever having gone to Disney World, the place that had defined childhood for so many of her friends. And so, after months of planning we left on a hot summer day and drove the eleven hours to the land of Mickey. I have to admit that for having deprived us of Disney World for thirteen and seventeen years, my parents did a great job of making up for it. We stayed at one of the resorts, and although we only had five days to fit a lifetime's worth of Disney moments into we did it by seeing every park. There were rides that I missed, and I didn't see a single character while I was there, but I had a good time. Granted, thirteen is not a good age to go to Disney. You're a teenager who doesn't want parents and you have to go on vacation to a place that caters to five year olds. As I said, I had fun and I owe my parents a huge thanks for taking my sister and I on a vacation that they're probably still trying to payoff, but I have to admit, it wasn't the Disney my childhood friends had known.

That being said, I wasn't sure what to say when my boyfriend, who grew up going to Disney World for two weeks every summer came to me Thursday night and announced that he wanted to celebrate our upcoming college graduation with a six day vacation to Disney World in December. The first thing that scared me was the prospective cost, and then there was the detail that had assisted in making my first trip not as much fun as it should have been - I hate roller coasters. Scratch that, when I was thirteen I had severe anxiety, and I mean severe. I was such a coward that I couldn't even bring myself to ride Dumbo. Truly pathetic, I know, and it all but ruined the park aspect of my first trip. My dad and sister, and even my mom, were riding all the cool rides while I stayed behind and worried about something that thousands of people have survived. I tried to have a good time, but I left at the end of my once in a lifetime trip to Disney World with a horrible store of regrets, and I've hated myself for it for the past ten years. When Chris announced his much desired vacation I panicked. I've changed a lot over the past year, and I mean a lot, and for me our upcoming trip to Disney World was the one thing standing between who I wanted to be and almost was, and the coward I had been for the better part of my life. Things had to change so I agreed to go to Disney World for six days, and I made a promise to myself to enjoy it, rides and all, no matter how terrified I was. As I went to bed Thursday night I began trying to convince myself that I could find my courage sometime in the next three months, and then six a.m. came Saturday morning and those three months turned into three hours.

We were supposed to go to the beach yesterday, and I was thrilled about it. So when I took Bogart out for his stroll at five in the morning in a downpour I was bitterly disappointed. Chris was awake by the time we got back and after putting Bogart in bed with us, we started discussing our options for our rainy Saturday. Somehow the topic of our vacation came up, and Chris started talking about getting annual passes to Disney World. That's right, twelve months of my biggest fears. We were either going to get annual passes or a six day hopper pass for our vacation, but sometime around six o'clock he decided that we'd go with the annual pass. And then came the idea that changed everything. It was Saturday and we had nothing to do, why not go to Disney World? Seriously, I had three hours to try and conquer twenty-three years of anxiety. Chris called Disney at 7:30 and, because it's Disney, someone answered. Fifteen minutes later we had a confirmation number for our passes, and by eight we were on I-4 to Orlando.

We picked up the passes at the Magic Kingdom at 9:30 and headed out for what I was hoping wouldn't be a nightmare. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean first which has always been my favorite ride, then we rode the Thunder Mountain Railroad which I had found the courage to ride on the last day of my previous trip. After Thunder Mountain the order gets fuzzy, but the important bit is that I rode everything that I had been too afraid to ride ten years earlier. I have always been particularly afraid of Splash Mountain because I have a super big fear of big drops, and yes, even little ones. Opryland, where I used to go back in Nashville, had a smaller version called the Flume Zoom. I rode it once when I was five or six and after almost shitting my pants I refused to ever consider riding it again. Chris of course wanted to ride Splash Mountain, and I knew that if I didn't ride it with him I would hate myself for another ten years or longer. So without a single thought we got in line. I tried my best to ignore the "Last Chance Exit" that I saw as logs full of soaked and terrified people floated by. Somehow I made into the log and as we pulled out of the station Chris asked my if I was okay. I thought it a rather pointless question since I was stuck in a log with my fate in some employees hands. "I can't change it, so it's not worth worrying about," I thought to myself as the clickety-clack of the track carried us to the top of what I was certain would be the beginning of my end. I guess I don't have to tell you that I survived since I'm here to write this, but I will say that the last fifty foot drop at the end literally had me coming out of my seat, screaming bloody-murder, and white-knuckled as I told Chris that I'd kill him if I lived to see the end of the ride. Well, I survived the ride and Chris survived with just a couple of evil looks shot his way as we pulled back into the station just in time to see a ten year old girl take the last chance exit that I had known so well in my youth. I felt bad for the girl but also hopeful for her since I had just done something I had sworn off eighteen years earlier. Although I was scared to death on the ride, the adrenaline rush afterwards and the satisfaction of having done what I thought was impossible had me, surprisingly, promising Chris that I'd do it again the next time we go back. I'll still scream until my lungs collapse, and Chris will get more threats but I'll still enjoy it in the end. I guess my dad was right, it's not as bad as I imagined, but it's almost as bad. Okay, well that's all that I have to say about riding big rides that used to terrify me, and just for the record, yes, I rode Dumbo; it was awesome. I was the happiest person on the ride.

Other highlights included riding the tea cups which made us continue to spin for another thirty minutes after the ride ended, the haunted mansion, space ship earth, test track, and the coolest ride there, Soarin'. We also split an ice cream Sunday and because it's Disney they let us switch from vanilla to mint chocolate chip without charging us extra. We went to the world show case at Epcot and saw China and Mexico. The biggest highlight besides overcoming massive childhood fears was finally getting to see characters. I saw Minnie in the morning at Adventure Land, and then I finally did it, I saw Donald Duck!! In fact, I saw him three times. I saw him in Adventure Land with Minnie and he was dressed like Davy Crockett but he looked more like a Russian. I saw him again at the Character Spot in Epcot in his usual sailor attire, my personal favorite. Lastly, I saw him in Mexico wearing a sombrero! I never actually met him since I didn't have a camera, we forgot it in the mad rush, but I saw him and that's good enough for me. I'll get a picture next time, and maybe a hug, too. We left at eight right before the world show case fireworks because we had to get home to Bogart. I was sad to miss the fireworks, I loved them last time, but it was okay because I knew that I could come back anytime I wanted.

A lot of great things happened yesterday, but the best part was that I got to see how much I've changed in ten years and how much I've overcome. Not only did I ride Splash Mountain and Dumbo, but I'm also seriously considering riding the Tower of Terror. I might not be so brave when I actually see it and hear the screams, but I'm a lot braver than I used to be, even if only from a distance. I still have "severe" anxiety, but thanks to Disney I know it's nothing I can't handle. The other great part is that Chris, because he grew up going to Disney, has that little kid excitement that I missed as a kid and I discovered that it's contagious. The moment we entered the park I found myself grinning even more eagerly than the youngest kids there. Thanks to Chris I finally found not only my courage but also a love for all things Disney.

We won't be able to go again for a couple of weeks because of classes and homework, but we're planning to go back in about three weeks just for an afternoon and evening to watch the fireworks, see world showcase, have dinner, and maybe go to Downtown Disney. The cool part about yesterday was that I had time to enjoy everything. Really enjoy it, Disney style. Having annual passes, that are good for fifteen months because of a special, is the best thing we've done together. We don't have any black out dates which we had to pay more for, but the passes also cover parking which is $12 for everyone else. We're hoping to go at least twice a month which means that the tickets will pay for themselves in no time. Going to Disney over the weekend and knowing that I can go back anytime makes Monday seem a little easier to handle.

No matter how bad things get at work I can always run away on the weekend to Disney World, ride Splash Mountain, get a hug from Donald, and remember what it's like to be both a kid without a care in the world and an adult who has new found courage. How many places can give you all that in 12 hours? Only Disney can, and it's only an hour and a half away. We got rained on most of the day, but somehow we just didn't care and neither did anyone else. It's funny how much patience that place can inspire. Yesterday I learned that no one really grows up all that much, we just forget how to be happy, and I learned that it's never too late to get back what you've lost or never had. That's the magic of Disney. As for vacation in December we're definitely going and instead of searching in dark places for courage I'm taking day trips to Disney World and trying to hold off the overwhelming excitement of spending six days with the coolest mouse in the world.

Okay, well I know that this post is ridiculously long, but I had a big day yesterday. I overcame fears, found courage, and discovered a magic that I thought disappeared on my sixth birthday. All of this has been written to simply say that I'm not who I used to be, and I'm glad. So, if you come to Florida and want a friend to go to Disney World with give me a call, and I'll ride Splash Mountain with you. Tomorrow is Monday, and I'm looking forward to it because it's one less day until I can go back. I feel like the little kids in the commercial who are looking out their widow at Cinderella's Castle with the carriage coming for them. My carriage can't get here soon enough. Two more weeks and I'm back at my favorite place. I'll give Donald hugs for everyone. Until then, take care, be good, and try to remember what it was like to be a kid back before bills and responsibility took over you life. As for me, I'll be dreaming about pirates, a temperamental duck, and a man named Walt who gave a lot of miserable adults a world of happiness. Thanks. On a closing note, Disney is the number one reason to live in Florida. And yes, it's above sailing. That's only because you're not absolutely miserable if the weather is bad and because it's always available. I can finally say, I love Disney. I hope you do, too.