McSisters Weekend

For the uninitiated…McSisters’ Weekend occurs on Martin Luther King weekend of each year [celebrating not only our affinity for civil rights, but the first 3-day weekend of the year]. It’s a four-year-old tradition where Anne Louise, Nic and I pick a new, never-before visited town in which to find an ESPNZone and sit and watch the NFL playoffs. [The plan is usually much grander.]

This year, the McSisters visited Walt Disney World [No….NOT the one an hour up the road from me….the other one]. And I have to say, aside from all those annoying children running around – it was awesome. Here are some highlights from The World [as those in the know like to call it]:

• You know what is a Disney buzzkill to an 8 year old “princess”? Going to Lion King the Musical and drawing the seat behind the 5’ 12” “mouseketeer” in the front row. I bet there wasn’t a kid for 8 rows who could see around me. [“it’s MY vacation too, ya little brat”]
• It must suck to be an accountant at WDW – “Do we really need 3 acrobatic monkeys in the 1st Act? Can we not downsize to 2?”
• The Magic Kingdom doesn’t sell beer?? As Nicola said – and they call this the happiest place on earth?! Ha-rumph. Anne Louise lost all 4 cans of beer she was assigned to smuggle in and Nicola managed to get a whole BOTTLE of Sauvignon Blanc in. That’s it – Nicola’s assigned to bring the shampoo through all future TSA checkpoints.
• I have bad news for Rita – we went to Vietnam-land in Epcot and I can’t see what else we could POSSIBLY get from a vacation to Vietnam.
• There is apparently a well-known rule that if you travel together to Disney, you must all wear matching t-shirts. In the most obnoxious neon color possible.  (So as to mitigate the risk of losing Aunt Gladys?) Should I worry that the McSisters dressed me in my earth tones and sent me on my way?
• WDW refers to EVERY employee as a “cast member” and dresses them in costumes, no matter their job. While I applaud the effort, I think your 1776 Liberty Café lost its claim on authenticity when it hired its all-minority cashier staff. I don’t think there were many Asians manning the taverns in 1776. [So do you really need to subject cast members Malcolm & Soon Yi to a uniform of knickers and bonnets?]
• If you are good at stilt-walking, WDW is the promised land for you.
• Nicola didn’t enjoy the “It’s a Small World” ride nearly as much as she did in 1977 when she made my mom ride it endlessly. The ride DID manage to offend Every. Single. Culture I can think of. And there absolutely must have been a surplus of hula girls at the “prop-house” because even the Icelandic portion of “It’s a Small World” featured a grass-skirt-wearin’ hula girl.

Next year’s McSisters’ Weekend is New Orleans…if it survives the riots after the Super Bowl loss.