Disney – Magic Kingdom
Even more so than at Epcot, we felt we were missing something – children! It is so strange to be queueing up for rides when it’s just a couple of oldies. But the Magic Kingdom is a place where it doesn’t matter how old you are. There is always a child within!
I had visited Disneyland in Anaheim many years ago, so it was very pleasing to see it faithfully reproduced in Orlando. I made sure to go on some of the same rides, like the Walt Disney World Railroad, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain. And I finally got to go on the Liberty Square Riverboat and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which I missed last time.
Actually it is impossible to do it all in one day, and we didn’t start till late in the morning. So, like with Epcot, we missed getting express entries to our favourites and had to wait in extremely long queues. At least there are signs at the front of the rides estimating the wait time, so we were able to juggle the order of rides and not waste too much time. However it is a really long day, especially if you want to wait for the fireworks, and there is a lot of walking back over covered territory to get to the rides you do manage to book express passes for. Late in the afternoon we called in at Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, not just for the comedy, but also for a rest. We didn’t know it, but they like to surprise members of the audience by featuring them on the TV screen in the warm-up for the show. They certainly surprised Hubby – who was nodding off in his chair!
The Magic Kingdom seems bigger and better than Disneyland. Certainly the parade was bigger and more entertaining. And all those hours spent watching cartoons and movies with the grandchildren paid off – we knew exactly which character belonged where. The floats are really colourful and intricate and the characters on foot very engaging. I took lots of photos to show the grandchildren when we returned home.
The fireworks display at the end of the day was fantastic and it seemed that everyone who had come to the Park that day had stayed to watch it. The crowds were enormous, especially right in front of the Cinderella Castle.
And trying to get out of the Park there was a human tide washing everyone along to the bus stops and car park. We dived out of the way in the Main Street and headed in to the Baseball themed restaurant for hot dogs! Finally, when the crowds had thinned, we took the shuttle to the car park – and couldn’t find the car! We had not been aware there were different names for the car parks – Heroes or Villains – and we had no idea where to go. We took a lucky guess, got off at the wrong stop and wandered around some more before the remote on the key chain located the rental car for us!
Related articles
- Dueling Disneys: Why Disneyland beats Disney World (ocregister.com)
- Disney World Celebrates Its 43rd Anniversary (miami.cbslocal.com)
- Disney Theme Parks To Stay Open 24 Hours Straight (huffingtonpost.com)
- Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is Still Number One (chipandco.com)
