Kissimmee, FL

Alrighty then. I’m back in DisneyWorld after a 2 year absence (Paris 1998). We have a huge day ahead of us. We arrive at 10am. I thought Scotty might be joining us today as he arrived last night, but he is heading out on a casino cruise instead. No breakfast required and we arrive at the Magic Kingdom. Our first ride of the day is from the car park, via trolley to the ferry and into the Magic Kingdom. From there our day went like this:

Walked straight up Main Street USA, past all the shops to the front of Disney’s castle, which is pretty much the center of the park.

DisneyWorld, Orlando, FL

The girls go on Cinderella’s Merry-Go-Round while I take some photos.

Peter Pan’s Flight: A flight ride through the story of Peter Pan (exactly the same as the one in Paris, but this time I could understand the commentary). Nice gentle ride for the kiddies.

Legend Of The Lion King: Cartoons and puppetry following the story of the Lion King. Enjoyable.

Pinocchio Village Haus for breakfast / lunch.

Exit Fantasyland and enter Liberty Square.

Haunted Mansion: Once again similar to the one in Paris, but the ride was scarier than I remembered. Kim, Marie and I liked it.

Exit Liberty Square and enter Frontierland.

We got a pass for Splash Mountain as there is an hour’s wait.

Jump on the Walt Disney World Railroad, which runs around the edge of the park. We did a complete lap to kill some time.

Splash Mountain: Water ride taking you through the story of Brer Rabbit. The end of the ride drops you from the top of the mountain, soaking you at the bottom. Great fun.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: A roller coaster ride as if going through a mine. Best part was hearing Reggae scream / laugh.

Mike Fink Keelboats: A boat ride taking you past scenery from Pocahontas and Tom Sawyer. Good fun.

Enter Adventureland.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Another water ride where you are amazed by Disney animatronics / puppetry. This time in the form of pirates. Good ride.

Back on the Railroad in Frontierland to the other side of the park to Mickey’s Toon Town Fair. Cousin Suze, Kim, and Reggae line up to meet Mickey Mouse after we walk around Mickey’s Country House.

Into Tomorrowland.

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party: The tea cups again. Woo Hoo! Crammed in with Reggae, Kim and Marie and literally spun out. Ride of the day.

Went to go to Space Mountain in the hope that it would be like the Paris one. Unfortunately it was having “technical difficulties” and the wait would be close to 2 hours, if it was fixed. We didn’t bother.

The Timekeeper: As per Paris Disney World, it is the story of time travel projected on a 360-degree screen. Much better this time, mainly because it was in English and I could understand.

From here we went back to Main Street to look through the shops. I bought Amy a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. We then picked a spot to wait for the Main Street Electrical Parade. This parade had all the Disney characters (except, mysteriously, Donald Duck) greeting the crowd, or the characters were in a spectacularly lighted carriage. I loved it – really got into the fun that everyone around us was having. I took heaps of photos. After that it was a fireworks display, which looked awesome going off above the castle. It’s near 11pm when we get back on the ferry to the car park. Yet another great day.

Awaiting The Main Street Parade

Mickey Mouse

Fireworks Over Magic Kingdom

Me & My Mickey Ears

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Steak ‘n’ Shake for an extremely late dinner of burgers and fries. Once at the hotel it was straight to bed as everyone’s so tired.