Disney, wow where do I start? From the moment we got to the Magic Kingdom on Sunday night I was so taken with all the shiny, prettiness of the park. Everything is clean and dazzling. I thought that I would be bored but really I had a fabulous time at the happiest place on earth. The first night we had a buffet dinner with CornyT's family and all the Winnie the Pooh characters, eyeore, tigger, piglet, they were all there. We then headed to Big Thunder Railroad, then we caught the first of a lot of great 3-D shows, and then we completed the night with a ride on the less than stellar Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland.
With that small taste of Disney we were ready to really get to it the next day at the Disney/MGM studios park. We first hit the Tower of Terror and picked up a Fast Pass for the Rockin' Roller Coaster. Our favorite ride was without a doubt the new Expedition Everest at the Animal Kingdom park. The roller coaster is housed in a replica of Mount Everest which actually looks like a real mountain and creates some beautiful views throughout the park and you actually have to remind yourself that it is not a real mountain. In fact, it is the highest "mountain peak" in Florida. Anyway, the theme of the ride is that you are treking through Mt Everest and run into some local wildlife. I won't give the whole ride away but it is truly Disney at it's best.
To anyone going to Disney, I recommend grabbing fast passes for the popular rides first. The fast pass is an ingenious system that allows you to make a reservation to ride the attraction at a specific time and go through the fast line. This can often cut as much as an hour or two off of your wait. And while I am giving recommendations, I also highly recommend staying at a Disney Resort because you get access to early and after hours access to certain parks on certain days. Also, if you go get the Disney meal plan. Disney food is notoriously over-priced and the quality is only about mediocre. The meal plan however makes eating at Disney a lot more affordable. For 38 dollars a day you get a huge lunch, a snack, and a sit-down dinner. The dinners alone were typically 30 dollars a person if you didn't have the meal plan so it was quite a bargain. Plus you didn't have to carry any money around, just your Disney room key. They certainly have extracting money from the guest down to an art. If you are staying at a resort and purchase a souvenir, they will deliver that souvenir to your room so you don't have carry it around with you all day. What better way to convince you to buy even more things. The one thing I found actually a little creepy about the whole Disney experience was the biometric/fingerprint reading they take as you enter the park. That's right, Mickey has your fingerprints on file. Feels a little creepy and big brotherly to me and I am not really sure what purpose it serves but it is written on your ticket that you cannot enter the park without a providing a biometric reading. Strange. But the park is so much fun and everyone is so happy that you forget all about the potential invasion of privacy;). I also learned that it really is actually a lot of fun to go as a couple without kids. I am sure going with school-aged kids is a lot of fun but with really young ones it just looks like more work than fun. Their scared of all the creepy dancing animals and the loud noises, heat and crowds just make them tired and cranky.
The Princess dinner was probably the time the little kids in our group were the happiest. Five Disney Princess, Belle, Alice, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Jasmine, walk around the dining room and stop at every table to meet you and take numerous pictures with you. It really was a lot of fun to watch CornyT's 3 year old niece become overwhelmed with excitement and absolutely starstruck by each Princess. Although, she I am not sure she was completely fooled by it all because later she said "they looked different." Smarty pants.
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