USA 2011 trip Park #6
25 August 2011
Today was our ‘Disney Day,’ and we had a lot of discussion over which Disney park we should go to. I had only budgeted for one day of Disney, since it is incredibly expensive compared to all other parks. We excluded Epcot from our list early on, but were torn with the others. I really wanted to go on the Tower of Terror Ride at Hollywood Studios, and Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. Disney parks are kind of known for family friendly rides, not thrilling ones, and so we decided on Magic Kingdom. Even though the rides were tame, Kyra and I were both looking forward to visiting the attractions we had only ever seen on TV like the Tea cups, Dumbo ride and of course the Cinderella castle.
We made our way around the park in a clockwise direction starting with Adventureland. We loved the Tiki Room animatronics, but were a little underwhelmed by Pirates of The Caribbean and the Swiss Family Tree House.
Frontierland was a great improvement with the excellent Splash Mountain, and our first Disney Coaster, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The queues were devastatingly long no matter which way we went, so we only got to experience everything once. We would have dearly loved a few extra turns on Thunder Mountain – it was glorious!
In Liberty Square we laughed along at the animatronics in The Hall of The Presidents, and cheered for Robot-Obama. The Haunted Mansion was another (not so scary) let down, but hey, I guess I was desensitised at an early age.
In Fantasyland, I tried to remember how desperately I wanted to experience everything here when I was 5.
It was heart-warming to see mums and dads making their little prince and princesses’ dreams come true. By this point I had a true understanding of how much a day at a fun park would cost for a family, and I loved all these parents for making it happen. I know my parents had to save a great deal to get us to the Aussie theme parks for which I am eternally grateful. Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh – all the favourites were here!
Kyra and I were both a little hesitant for the It’s a Small World’ attraction, but felt it was our duty to go on it (plus the line was relatively small compared to all others.) For me, this was like that Episode of the Simpsons where Bart and Lisa lose their minds on a similar ride at Duff Gardens. It felt a little claustrophobic, but mostly just boring. It was good to see Australia represented with our Indigenous people and some native animals.
Tomorrowland was the home of Space Mountain, which at that point was the greatest indoor coaster I had experienced. I loved everything about it. The thematic queuing area, the high speeds, the effects – good job Disney! This was the only exception to our ‘can only ride things once’ rule. The Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Lilo & Stitch attractions were all a bit meh, but again, remember we were adults on a quest for the best thrills here…
We finished the day in the Main Street, and it really was a beautiful site once the castle lit up as the sun went down. I’m fairly sure the souvenir shop was one of the highlights, but alas the goodies were generally out of our price range. I am really glad we went, but it was definitely a one day/one time only park for us.
Roller Coaster Ramble 