In the Heart of the Magic! (Disney World Orlando Florida - Magic Kingdom)

Member Name: Hot_Pants

Product:	Disney World Orlando Florida - Magic Kingdom
Date:	21/02/05 (1655 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of characters, Great for young children

Disadvantages: The transportation to the park from the car park

Please don’t expect this to be a short op. There is so much to say. Magic Kingdom is the park we heard the most about before our trip to Orlando. It is the one place I had high expectations of. Did it live up to my expectation? Read on……

Disney’s Magic Kingdom is located at the end of Highway 192 to the South West of Orlando. Finding the park is easy, and it is well signposted.

Car Parking cost us $8. Disabled badge holders follow the blue line and get a really good parking space, close to the park transportation.

Most of the parks are located by the car parks, but Magic Kingdom is situated on its own Island, so to get there, you will have to travel by monorail, or Mississippi steam boat. We used both of these, and fund the monorail to be much quicker. There are always large queues to get onto the transportation, and I found this to be the most frustrating part. Bearing in mind that we went at the beginning of January, which is the quietest time of the year, I can’t even begin to imagine the horror of the waiting times to get into and out of the park in peak season. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Getting into the park at the other end was easier, and security were flowing pretty well. Inside the park, my first impression was of a well kept park, which was clean and litter free. So far, so good. We grabbed our maps, and headed for the stroller park.

To hire a stroller isn’t cheap, but it is well worth it. The park may not seem big at first glance, but even the adults will have incredibly achy feet by the end of the day. Going around the park, you will see kids up to about the age of 11 or 12 sitting in their sibling’s stroller. We just booked a double, so the kids were happier.

First things first – get an autograph book. There are characters all over the park in designated spots, and the queues were well managed. The children got the autographs, and then had photos taken. I think the longest we waited was 5 minutes, but the park was very quiet.

The next thing is to either make sure you all have walkie talkies, or arrange a meeting place. The park is very large if you should get separated. My 9 year old was given a walkie talkie just in case.

The park itself is split up into 7 sections. I’ll take you through them one at a time. I will only mention the rides and things we experienced as you will be reading for hours otherwise.

*Main Street USA*

Entering Main Street, you have the option to jump on a Steam Train, which will take you to Frontierland or Mickey’s toontown fair, so depending on where you want to start, this could be one option. There is a horse drawn carriage, or other vintage cars you can take to ride up the Main Street if you wish, but you may have quite a wait.

Guest Relations are also based here in the City Hall.

As you stand at one end of Main Street, and look towards the centre of the park, Cinderella’s Castle is the first thing to strike you. It stands beautifully proud the other side of a roundabout.

Along Main Street itself are mainly shops. If you head into the first shop you see on your left, and wander through the shop to the other end, you will find yourself at the other end of Main Street! It is HUGE. Before you head out into the park though, pick up a times guide so that you know when the parades and shows are on.

*Adventure Land*

Here you will find an area set next to a lake. The Swiss Family Treehouse looks like a must from the bottom. You will climb and climb and climb those steps until your knees ache. Up in the treetops, you will find rooms set up to look like the tree is lived in. I have to say that for the waiting time, I wasn’t impressed. The kids were not happy that we’d dragged them all the way up there for that.

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin were next. This is a ride with magic carpets that goes round and round, and the carpets go up and down.

Pirates of the Carribean is a VERY loud ride. You jump into a boat, and take a ride through a land of drunken and debauched pirates. There is actually one drop on this ride, and although it is on water, the wettest you will get is sat at the front, and it is just a little bit of spray.

*Frontierland*

Splash Mountain is the man ride everyone heads for here. It is a log flume style ride which starts inside through a character village with cartoon type alligator, and then heads outside for the ride. Prepare to get very wet.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a runaway mine train. The kids loved this, and I thought it was pretty cool too.

*Liberty Square*

The Haunted Mansion is quite corny, but good. You sit in a car, and it takes you round the mansion, and out into the garden. At one point, you come across a mirror, and there is a ghost sat in the car with you. Certainly good for freaking out young kids.

The Liberty Square Riverboat is a Mississippi steam boat that goes around a lake. Before you queue up for it, remember that you can go on a boat to get back to the car!!

*Fantasy Land*

Peter Pan’s Flight is a ride for the children. You sit in a miniature Pirate Ship, and it flies above Neverland. This is not to be missed if you have young children.

Mickey’s Philhar Magic is absolutely brilliant. It is a 3D show where Donald tries to conduct the orchestra, and gets himself into trouble. Much more than just a music show. Everyone went out of here going “WOW”.

Cinderellas Golden Carousel always seems to attract the queues. It is just a merry go round, but the kids seem to love it.

Ariels Grotto is where you will find Ariel. We started to queue for this, but after the line didn’t move for 10 minutes, we gave up. There is a water play area for the kids to run around and get soaked while the parents do the queuing up.

Dumbo the Flying Elephant is another of those rides that go round and round, and the elephant goes up and down. This also attracts the big queues, so I suggest if you have young kids, this is the area to head to first thing in the morning before all the queues build up.

Snow Whites Scary Adventures is another one of those rides where it takes through the story book. The kids really enjoyed it.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is another ride through a storybook, but sat in a hunny pot.

The Mad Tea Party is a teacup ride, and another one of the kids favourites.

*Micky’s Toontown Fair*

Here you will find Minnie’s Country House and Mickey’s Country House. You can wander through the houses. Sit in Minnie’s fireplace, or sit by her sewing machine. Explore the kitchens. The kids adored the houses.

Donald’s Boat is another water play area. We had to stop the kids, as they really were getting drenched by this point.

Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm is a rollercoaster. The kids thought this was brilliant, and insisted on riding until we lost count.

*Tomorrowland*

Indy Speedway – Petrol powered cars, which run around a rail. James was just tall enough to drive, and he loved it. Not very fast, but great fun for the kids.

Space Mountain is the other big ride here. It takes place in the dark in a shuttle type vehicle. It wasn’t as bad a ride as I thought it was going to be – there are no head restraints!

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin I think was James’ favourite. You sit in a car, and use a laser to shoot all the baddies in the galaxy. It tots up your score for you so you can see how badly you’ve done!

That’s all the areas in the park, but there is still more to do!

*Parade*

We missed the afternoon parade, but saw the festival of lights parade in the evening. All the characters were lit up, even the dresses. The parade is brilliant, and a chance for the children to see any characters they’ve missed during the day.

*Food*

Another way to guarantee seeing some characters up close is to book a character meal. We booked the Liberty Tree Tavern for dinner. The food was a Thanksgiving dinner, eat as much as you like, and cost $20, which was about $12 with the exchange rate. Excellent value. The characters were Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale. They really interacted with the kids, and Goofy pinched Amy’s lolly from her to have a lick for himself. He ended up on the floor with Amy climbing on top of him to get her lolly back. It was all taken in good fun, and no frowns from the staff.

Once again, don’t forget your autograph books.

There are lots of places to eat, and loads of snack barrows. The churros are lovely, and I’d recommend these for a snack while you are waiting for the parade.

If you want to book Cinderella’s Castle for a character meal with the Princesses, you need to ring exactly 90 days before you want to dine. I plan to try this for next Christmas.


On a Health & Safety note, please be careful. When we arrived in the Fantasyland, the ground was wet where the floor had been washed prior to the park opening. IT IS VERY SLIPPY. After my sister in law ended up on her rear end coming out of the loos (That was a sight, I can tell you!), my daughter then slipped down the steps from the carousel, and hurt her back. The staff were lovely, and when she asked the lady if she could trade a pin, the lady gave the pin to her without swapping. I can’t imagine they can do anything about this other than ripping up the whole of the flooring and starting again, so I guess this will always be slippy.

Oh yes, pin trading! Oh, I think I’ve written enough for this op. I’ll tell you about that in my next one.

Have fun.

Sam xxx

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