A Magical Day

On Wednesday we went to cash in on our free Disney visit.  We drove down on Tuesday afternoon after visiting the shelter.  I wanted to get the most out of our day so I wanted to be there when the gates opened at 9.  It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive and who wants to get up at 5ish, drive all that way, walk around Disney all day, then drive all the way home again.  Not me!  Bill found us a great place to stay for a really good price on Bookit.com.  


The Comfort Suites was located in Kissimmee just behind the Old Town amusement park and near many restaurants.  After checking in, we wandered around the park.  It was a fairly decent little park with some interesting rides.  One of them involved wearing a harness, lying on your stomach, being hauled up to the top of a huge tower (300') then being dropped toward a lake.  Yikes!!!  You obviously remained attached to a tether and ended up swinging back and forth above the lake.  I'm sure it felt like free falling; I'm also sure I would have lost my meals for the day.


One of the other ones involved sitting in a chair that was attached at the bottom of two large towers.  The tension was tightened, then let go and the chair went flying into the air and tilted backward.  That was another lunch loser if you ask me but they were both fun to watch.  We wandered around a little and ended up eating a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant.


We were up at 7, had a nice complimentary breakfast and were on our way a little after 9 (running a little late).  There was already quite a line of traffic and it took us at least 30 minutes to get through the gate ($14 to park, give me a break) and directed to a parking space...Grumpy 118.   There were over 11,500 parking spaces.  At $14 each...do the math...over $160,000 per day if they are all full!

From there we had to turn in our voucher and get our ticket, which is plastic like a credit card.  They also scan your fingerprint so that you can't transfer your ticket to someone else.  Very high tech.

It's difficult to tell but Cinderella's Castle is in the background.  I think we are looking good, don't you?  You can see a lake in the background, as well.  The Magic Kingdom is on the other side of the lake.  We took a boat across but the monorail is another option.

Although the park was busy, it wasn't crazy busy.  The longest wait we saw was 40 minutes.  After crossing the lake we took the train to the back side of the park and got off in Toontown Fair.  That's where we saw Mickey's House

Minnie's House   

and Donald's boat.

His clothes are drying on a line above the boat.  We took these photos while waiting in line to ride a small roller coaster (designed for kids but enjoyed by adults).

I think our first ride was the Mad Tea Party.  If you know me, you know that spinning is not my cup of tea  (haha, a little pun).  I spent my time on the ride with my eyes closed while Mr. Bill made us spin faster and faster and faster.  Yuck!  That was nearly my one and only ride.  Did you know?..."protein spill" is Disney speak for vomit.

We wandered back and forth through the park all day.  It used to be that as you walked around the park, the characters were walking around too.  You could stop anywhere and get a picture with them.  Not anymore...now you have to find them at specified locations and wait in line to take a photo.  For some reason, I thought that was kind of sad and took away some of the magic.  

We had lunch sitting by a lake with Cinderella's Castle across the bridge.  Two hot dogs, fries and cokes for only $18.  Can you imagine bringing your whole family?  I didn't tell you, admission to one park for one day is $79.  When the park opened in 1971, an adult admission was $3.50.

There aren't really a lot of rides in the Magic Kingdom, especially for adults.  We did go through the Haunted Mansion

and rode the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad coaster, which was just our speed.  We didn't go on Space Mountain.  The wait was long and neither of us had much interest in it.

We had a great snack later in the afternoon.  I had a root beer float and Mr. Bill had a pineapple citrus float.  OMG, they were delicious, especially since we have been carefully watching our diets and haven't been eating sweets.


We finished up our magical day around 6:30.  We didn't stay to see the fireworks since that would have been another hour or so but the lights on Main Street were on when we left.

We rode the monorail back to the main entrance, waved good-bye to Mickey

rode the "people mover" back to Grumpy 118 and headed home.  It was a fun day, very relaxed, no agenda.  Just the way we like them.


Thanks for stopping by...
;o)