I'm guessing it will take me a few days to report on the week, but we'll see.
Despite all the drama getting my flights to Florida arranged (what, you missed this post?), everything went fine at the airport. I was on the flights I thought I was on, got my boarding passes and checked my luggage with no problem. My flights were on time. And I slept pretty well on the longer first one. Heck, I even got a good nap on the second. And my room was ready when I got there since I got there later then originally planned. Which meant I could leave stuff in there and head out to the park.
As planned, I headed to Magic Kingdom first thing. I was supposed to connect with Angelique, but that didn't happen since her cell phone wasn't working and she was so tired she went back to her room to nap. But I did spend the day hanging out with Lori and her sister. It was their first time in any Disney park, so we had lots of fun. And I discovered just how disorienting things could be. Yes, it is the Magic Kingdom, but it is layed out very differently. Even the attractions with the same names are slightly different. The Fantasyland dark rides are longer and tell the story better. Haunted Mansion puts you on the ride sooner and adds a library filled with books by ghost writers. We hung out in the park until about 10 but then decided to go back to the hotel and get dinner. I met up with a whole bunch of my friends, and we hung out near the pool until close to twelve.
Monday morning was up and going early again. Animal Kingdom opened an hour early for resort guests (and there were plenty of us), so Lori, her sister, Angelique, and I headed there first. We started with Kilimenjaro Safari, a ride through an African preserve with real animals. I've heard that you see more animals in the morning. We certainly saw plenty. We skipped the raft ride because we didn't want to get wet. But we did ride Expedition Everst, which I loved. At that point, we split up, with Angelique and I finishing out the park by ourselves.
From there, we headed over to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). We managed to hit most of the rides here as well. It did help that the park was open late for resort guests that night. That's why I did Toy Story Midway Mania with only a 30 minute wait. (I love that ride.) We met up wtih the rest of the group for dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater. It's a restaurant set up to look like drive in. You even eat in cars and they play cartoons and previews for old 50's sci-fi movies. It makes it hard to talk, but it is lots of fun.
The one thing that was pretty bad about Monday was the weather. It started off party cloudy and humid, but it quickly clouded over. It started to rain about 2:30 and never really stopped. It was a warm rain, but I was concerned about my camera and cell phone getting wet. If it weren't for those things, I would have enjoyed the rain. Not that I let it stop me. I just covered my backpack with one of my coats and kept right on trecking.
See, I told you it would take me several entries to cover the entire trip. :)
1 comment:
I told you that Magic Kingdom was great. My relatives that live in Florida said not to waste my time, that it was the same as Disneyland, and not really a good park. However, I think knowing that you're not surrounded by Anaheim helps. The whole boat/monorail thing to get there really, really helps make it something special.
The high humidity and warm rain is typical Florida. It really does not matter when you go, it likely will be very humid (and downright miserable at times). The first time I went, with my dad, it was mid-September. It was humid and it rained everyday (severe thunderstorms at times that forced the closure of the water parks and certain rides). We found some fairly cheap ponchos (a few bucks) and those lasted us the week.
Second time I went was in December, which is rumored to be one of the best times to go (the period between the Monday after Thanksgiving and the last Friday before Christmas break usually see the lightest crowds and the most pleasant weather -- little rain, not hot/not cold, just right really).
Can't wait to read more of your adventures.
Post a Comment