More Observations from Florida

We heard lots of foreigners while at DisneyWorld. Not just Spanish-speakers, which were no surprise, but Russian, German, Portuguese (a couple of the guys had on Brazilian soccer shirts), French, Italian, Arabic, Bengali (or was it Hindi?), and what may have been Dutch (the speakers were strikingly fair-featured). I guess the strong Euro against the US dollar is making travel to the USA appealing. It was cool to see them in the World Showcase, visiting their own or nearby countries' displays and talking to the employees there. All employees at the World Showcase are in the US on a 1-year Visa from their own country to work at Disney.


Another random thing I noticed is that in Central Florida, whether at the parks or at a restaurant, if (when) there is a line for the ladies' restroom, no one uses the handicap-accessible stall. These women stand in line cross-legged, practically dancing, but will not use the handicap stall in case someone in a wheelchair rolls into line. You know, I'm not saying someone in a wheelchair should have to wait in line behind 12 people for the one or two stalls that they are able to use, but if no one in a wheelchair is waiting, why not use that stall? It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, having a toilet sit there unused when there was a line of people who just wanted a toilet to use. I'd see the empty stall, ask the women in front of me "are you going to use that stall?" Those 3-4 people ahead of me would say no, they weren't going to use it, so I'd go straight to it. My asking the question did emboldened one woman to go use it. I just thought it was really silly.


Go to the left. Have you heard that about theme parks? "Go to the left; the natural tendency is to go to the right, so waits are less if you go to the left side when given a choice." Believe me, that secret tip is no secret anymore. I heard so many people saying aloud to their party a bit ahead of them "remember, Marvin, go to the left because the line is shorter." As if on cue, the crowd would instantly swell towards the left, blocking poor Marvin's advantage. We got to where we'd go to the right when there was a loudmouth hollering "secret" tips out loud.