Blossom really captures the whole Disney spirit. The episode is narrated by someone who sounds exactly like Snow White, and they even manage to make The Hall of Presidents interesting. Yep, seriously. The episode is the only one in the competition to take place at Disneyland, and (taking advantage of the smaller park size) they have all of the characters interact with the Disney characters/attractions in a very comprehensive way. But before we get into the nitty-gritty of the episode, does anyone find it odd that I’ve never once covered a Blossom episode on The Very Special Blog? I mean, she is the queen of very special episodes, right?

Well, there is one simple reason for that. You see, I got in trouble in elementary school for watching Blossom. It was that episode where Blossom and Six go to a make-out party and after that it was like the Blossom police lived in my house! I did manage to see this Disney episode though, but I remembered pretty much only the part where she sees her boyfriend kissing another girl from the Sky Buckets.

That’s pretty much the only plot in this episode. Blossom sees Vinnie kissing someone (who turns out to be his cousin) and she flips out. When he tries to explain that it was a totally innocent situation, she doesn’t believe him. This makes her kind of an ass, in my opinion, but he’s been acting really weird all day, so her suspicions are not without merit. It also turns out that Vinnie has never been to Disneyland before and is incredibly afraid of heights–which he’s been trying to hide since he’s a cool guy and all that. Other than that, we get to see Joey try to get a date with Sleeping Beauty, who tells him that she’s engaged and so are all of the other princesses. (Sheesh, stop hitting on these women while they are working!) Then he gets stuck riding the rides with a nun all day since they are both alone, and it’s pretty great.

Blossom’s other brother (the not Joey Lawrence one) has brought his girlfriend to the park with them and every character in one of those full body-suits is into her. That’s really weird. I mean like fine if she’s soooo hot or whatever, but in that case shouldn’t the princes be trying to get with her? It’s like only Tigger and Dopey are into this girl and yet this dude gets jealous. Luckily, Abe Lincoln sets him straight in the most interactive Hall of Presidents ever in the history of halls and presidents. Six also gets with the Jungle Cruise guy who they happen to know from high school. Then they discover that their father is actually an Elvis impersonator performing center-stage at Tomorrowland. It’s boring and the only reason I’m pointing it out is that he makes out with Belle at the end of the episode in which there is a montage of make-outs. (There really was SO much kissing on this show.)

The plot of this episode isn’t the cool part though. It’s really great how they feel so genuinely connected to this place. They are a family with memories there, and that makes it the most realistic of all of these promotional episodes. Six talks about feeling a little sad because the park reminds her of spending time there as a kid before her parents split up. Blossom and Six make a b-line for the Sky Buckets because they have traditionally always started their days there. It just feels really sincere in a way that the other episodes don’t. And since Disney is a place where sincere and fake come together to form magic, then I think this episode really nails it on integration of setting.

The overall plot of Boy Meets World, is a little more intricate, but that doesn’t make it better. Basically, Corey has been dating every single girl in school since he broke up with Topanga and that makes her not want to date him again. No shit. Anyway, he follows her to Disney World after she and two other classmates win a contest to study dolphins in Epcot. The other two classmates are alleged cult-leader Andrew Keegan and a girl who Corey recently went on a date with right before the trip. This girl also has a bad habit of showing up when Corey is professing his intense feelings for Topanga, and mistaking them for his thoughts about her. Corey sneaks away from Philly without telling his parents, Eric covers from him surprisingly well with a really stupid looking life-size plush, and Corey manages to stalk Topanga all over the place while posing as Disney workers and sneaking into unauthorized areas.

Now, I can take a lot of ridiculousness for an episode (i.e. Michelle gets to be a Princess and total asshole to her family for a day) but this is just too much. Someone on the Disney side of things would have shut this down and put him in Disney jail until Alan an Amy could get on the next flight to Orlando. Also, I’m not buying that they didn’t notice he was missing. They’re like the most hands on parents in the 90’s ABC family. Ridiculous things happened in Full House but since Snow White found Michelle almost as soon as she disappeared and Danny was rich enough to live on Alamo Square and take 10 people to Disney World–I figured they had special circumstances.

Anyway, Topanga isn’t down for Corey’s stalking, and it’s only after he bumps into Stacey Keenan (we’ll see her later in Step by Step) who has decided to “hang back” alone after a guided tour (ugh yeah right) and becomes best friends with a sad dolphin who has lost her lover that he stops acting like a maniac. Corey realizes that he needs to chill out and let Topanga live her life, which is of course when she decides to date him again. Other than Corey/Shawn sleeping on Splash Mountain (so ridiculous), we see a few choice locals but nothing is really integrated into the plot. Almost by default, Blossom gets the point for plot. While Boy Meets World may be more intricate (sort of), I want to yell at it a lot.

The fashion point totally goes to Boy Meets World though. I would have expected Six to bring this one home for Blossom but she wears a really weird purple sweat-headband the entire episode and I’m not on board. Plus, Topanga’s outfits are rocking the entire week she is in Disney. I especially like her sea-foam green crop top and pants set. I can’t find a picture of that so here’s a picture of another one of her cute outfits:

Blossom also gets the point for music because they had a live performance form a band called The Party which is made up of former MMC cast members. I didn’t particularly like their music but their cool 90’s choreography won me over. Plus, BMW didn’t have any music at all.

Point Break Down:
Boy Meets World: Vacation Attire (1 pt)  1 pt

Blossom: Integration of Disney Setting (1 pt) + Overall Plot (2 pts)  + Music (1 pt) 4 pts

Very Special Winner: Blossom

*While this was not a “very special episode of Blossom,” Snow White does say that they’re going to the park for a “very special day.” Also, what is this trend of good costumes bad everything else? Maybe I should run some analytics on this. Maybe the next bracket challenge will even have seeds and statistics.