Disney World (Florida)

...and a total of 18 Disney and non Disney hotels and resorts. I am going to give you a brief overview of the magic that is ….'Disney'

MAGIC KINGDOM

This was the first built and possibly the most famous of Disney's attractions and is home to most of Disney's famous characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and friends and , if you are very lucky, you will come face to face with them as you wander around, even getting the ...
...to gather to catch the Disney Characters as they parade in all their glory in their specially built cars and floats. Then as you continue on to 'Adventureland' you will be able to visit the Swiss Family Treehouse where the famous Swiss Family Robnson were shipwrecked, take a magic carpet ride with Aladdin and take a jungle cruise. Next you will visit Frontierland where you will encounter 'Splash Mountain' one of the more famous roller coaster rides. ... more

We have just returned from a 2 and a half week adventure in Florida and, whilst there is lots to see and do there, no trip to Florida would be complete without visiting the No.1 vacation destination in the world……'DisneyWorld'.

DisneyWorld covers an awesome 47 square miles and they are expanding all the time. There are 4 Theme Parks, 3 Water Parks, numerous Golf courses, 3 main Shopping, dining and entertainment areas, the relatively new World of Sports complex (which hosts a variety of sporting events throughout the year) and a total of 18 Disney and non Disney hotels and resorts. I am going to give you a brief overview of the magic that is ….'Disney'

MAGIC KINGDOM

This was the first built and possibly the most famous of Disney's attractions and is home to most of Disney's famous characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and friends and , if you are very lucky, you will come face to face with them as you wander around, even getting the chance to have your photo taken and an opportunity to obtain their autographs,..Personally I gave this a miss!

There are seven 'lands', the first of which, as you enter, is main street USA, this is where you will need to gather to catch the Disney Characters as they parade in all their glory in their specially built cars and floats. Then as you continue on to 'Adventureland' you will be able to visit the Swiss Family Treehouse where the famous Swiss Family Robnson were shipwrecked, take a magic carpet ride with Aladdin and take a jungle cruise. Next you will visit Frontierland where you will encounter 'Splash Mountain' one of the more famous roller coaster rides. Other lands are Liberty Square, Fantasyland, Mickey's Toontown fair and Tomorrowland. Each of these lands has it own colourful theme and varied rides and attractions, not forgetting the most famous centrepiece…'Cinderella's Castle' The daily nightime firework spectacular 'Wishes', revolves around the castle and, in my opinion, is a must see and the perfect way to round of your day.

Personally, I feel this park is ideal if you have young children. We visited this park in Spring 2002 when my son was 7 years old, he thoroughly enjoyed it then, however we gave this park a miss on this particular visit as it was our least favourite. Having said that, if you are visiting Florida for the first time, it really is a must see….and as I said , magical for the little ones.

EPCOT

This is the second park that Disney built and one of my personal favourites, although my son and other half disagree with me. Epcot is split into two and the first part you visit as you enter, past the famous 'GolfBall' is Future world.

Future world is more of an educational experience taking you into the world of tomorrow. You can build your own robot here, using computer technology, Take a trip through time from the past to the future world of communication on the fascinating spaceship earth, or take a simulator trip to Mars on Mission Space, which was my favourite ride here……you are strapped into a simulator, a computer screen is lowered to eye level, you are tilted back in your seat and then simply blast off to mars in your own rocket, you actually experience the G-forces and the feeling of weightlessness…fabulous ! Another attraction I enjoyed was Test Track, you sit in a car and play the part of a crash test dummy. You hurtle round the 1 mile long roller coaster test track and experience braking tests, acceleration test and crash test..Great fun. There are many more attractions here, including The Body Wars thrill ride, The Living Seas, Innoventions (you can get hands on with latest technology), Soarin, a simulator ride in a hanglider. All in all both educational and great fun, something here for the young and old.

My favourite part of Epcot is the World Showcase, set around a beautiful lake, you can travel around the world ..all in a day , basically each country you visit depicts buildings, culture, food and more from that particular country ! You will visit colourful Mexico, take a cruise on El Rio del Tempo through the river of time, see how Mexico used to be. Next stop will be Norway, wander around quaint Nordic buildings and take a take a whirling, spinning boat trip on the fjiords of Maelstrom, see the colourful China, Dine, shop and , of course, drink in Germany, sample wine in Italy, visit USA as it used to be, sample sushi in Japan, marvel at Moroccan culture, enjoy French cuisine, fish and chips in The United Kingdom and finally chill out in Canada. Don't forget to finish off your day with my favourite attraction of all …the 'Illuminations-Reflections of earth'. This amazing firework, water and laser spectacular will just take your breath away.

Warning…you will leave this park exhausted…but happy, oooh I love this park!

MGM STUDIOS

This is , for the most part, a working film set but open to the public with some amazing thrill rides and attractions based around the world of film and entertainment, this is another favourite of mine but another exhausting day is ahead of you!

There are some fascinating thrill rides and attractions here more so than any other Disney parks, many not for the faint hearted, however there is still much for the younger ones too. Don't miss the Disney Stars and Motor Cavalcade, a colourful parade full of all the little one's favourite characters all set to music…pure Disney magic. Another favourite with the kiddies is Honey I shrunk the Kids Movie set Adventure..parents you can put your feet up here whilst the little ones play on a giant ant and crawl through the giant undergrowth..great fun.

For the older kids among us, Tower of Terror, will scare you witless (it did me), Plummet in a lift down 13 floors at speed, then a sudden stop and you are whinched up , only to do it all again, this ride is completely random, you never know how many floors you are going to drop ! Rock'n Roller Coaster set to the music of Aerosmith is a fast looping roller coaster, you will blast from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds and twist and loop to the thump of Aerosmith…'Awesome'.

Put your feet up for a while and pop in to see one of the 30 minute stage shows, such as , Beauty and the beast, or Playhouse Disney, or take part in Who Wants to be a Millionaire, see the Muppets in 3D……or…and this is the very best as far as I am concerned…see the 'Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show', the very best of stunt drivers will push their cars and motorcycles to their death defying limits, truly the very best of all the shows we saw whilst there and not to be missed !

Now, there are many many more attractions here, you can take a behind the scenes backlot tour, and see how movies are made. Bear in mind we visited at Christmas and the highlight for me was the streets of New York, this is a film set, all built in perspective, early evening they had it all decked out in the most amazing Christmas lights we had ever seen, then, just when you thought the magic could not get any better, they start to pump out real snow….truly amazing and most surreal !!

Finally you cannot leave here without seeing the evening firework spectacular 'Fantasmic, here, you can thrill to Mickey as he fights with the evil Sorcerer, marvel at the amazing laser and water spectacle all set to music…truly awe inspiring !

ANIMAL KINGDOM

This is the newest and biggest of all the Disney parks, set in some amazing 500 acres of land. It is more relaxing than the other parks, but you will still need a whole day here.

The centre piece of this amazing park is the Hand Carved Tree of Life, this stands several stories high and has over 300 intricate animal carvings…it really is incredible. There are several lands in all, each with it's own theme.

Camp Minnie Mickey, where you can meet some of your favourite characters, Oasis, see many animal exhibits here, Discovery Island, where you will find the aforementioned Tree of Life and Mickey's Jungle Jammin parade ! In Rafiki's Planet Watch you can ride the Wildlife Express train, visit animals in their own habitat on an outdoor discovery trail and get up close and personal in an animal petting yard. Don't forget to visit Asia and get soaked on the Kali River rapids water ride, see Dinosaurs in Dinoland and ride the death defying 'Dinosaur' ride.

I saved the best till last, visit Africa, here you can take part in the Kilamanjaro Safari, you will be taken in an open jeep through the wilds of Africa and get up real close to some of the most fascinating animals, such as Lions, Cheetahs, Elephants, Zebras, Giraffes, Alligators and many, many more. A good tip here is to do this trip early in the morning , this is because as the day gets hotter the animals, especially the lions, tend to seek shelter from the sun and may be more hard to spot.

After a couple of days wandering through the wonder of the above you will want to take a bit of a breather, and what better way to do that than to relax at one of Disney's two main water parks, however the opening dates differ, whilst you will find a water park open whatever the time of year, very often one of them will be closed for maintenance so check before you go.:

TYPHOON LAGOON
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This is the newest and largest of the water parks and the theme is of the aftermath of a huge storm, said to have thrown ships onto the shore and wrecked the countryside.

This is fun, the centrepiece is a mountain upon which is perched a gigantic shipwrecked sailing ship! There are many water rides here, including a wave pool, my son couldn't get enough of this. Safety here is paramount and there are lifeguards just about everywhere, so I felt comfortable in letting my son wander off on his own, this left me and my partner to chill out on the man made sandy beach right next to the bar…..blissfully sipping cocktails to the reggae beat …..mmmmmmmmm.

BLIZZARD BEACH
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Set in 56 acres the wonderful heated wave pool contains a staggering 2.5 million gallons of water ! The whole thing is themed around winter and skiing, this is quite surreal considering the beautiful Floridian weather.

Again, there are many water rides, but the most stunning of these, also forming the centrepiece, is Summit Plummet, awesome, you climb a snowy mountain and then plummet horizontally down, down and down until you make a mighty splash at the end.

Again lifeguards are plentiful and so is the ice cold beer !

I recommend a couple of days at theme parks then a day to chill at a water park, where there is fun for everyone.

Parking is plentiful at the parks, however Magic Kingdom's car park is set some distance from the park, but it is simple enough to take the monorail and only a few minutes journey.

Security is tight, all your bags are subject to a search before you enter any of the parks, I found this reassuring.

You are not allowed to take any food into the park, although I think they tend to turn a blind eye at this. Prices for food within the parks is pretty extortionate and I didn't find it that varied in all honesty, you get you usual burger and fries, pizzas etc, nice enough but not worth the amount you will pay. At one particular park we paid the equivalent of £8 for a plain burger, fries and a small coke ! Take plenty of water to drink with you as you will need it, although there are fountains scattered around. You might want to try the enormous turkey legs, the price for these was pretty reasonable and they are really tender…problem is you will look a bit like the flintstone family wandering around with these in your hands !

Opening times for all the parks does vary throughout the year, expect parks to open any time from 8am to around 8pm, later on special occasions when special events are planned.

Getting there is pretty easy if, like us, you stay in Kissimmee, we were only a 5 minute drive away and decided against a hire car, we relied on the free shuttles from our hotels, only problem with this is you are tied to their pick up times, however seeing as the taxi fare was only about £6-7 pounds it really was no problem. Many people opt to stay in International Drive in Orlando, again there are many shuttles from the hotels and Taxis are not that expensive, so I do not think a hire car is a necessity but can see how it would be more convenient.

A little tip for the parks, if you have already visited and are on your second visit, when the special shows are on, if you have already seen them, take advantage of the shorter queues at this time on the more popular rides. Failing this, if there are lengthy queues you can take advantage of their fast passes, simply pop your ticket into the machine and you will receive a pass giving you and hour window to return to the ride and skip the queues.

Busiest times of the year here are late February to Early August and Christmas Day to New Year, bear in mind the hurricane season after August.

Facilities for the disabled are plentiful and adequate. For those , like me, that smoke, there are designated smoking areas in all the parks and these are easily found on the maps.

Okay, finally the prices, well these are not cheap but I would advise you shop around, there are many special deals and combinations, I won't go into all of them but if you are planning a holiday here, your local travel agent can advise you on the various multi park tickets you can purchase, such as a 7 day Magic your way ticket starting at £120 for adults and £95 children (bear in mind they class adult prices as children over 10) Under 3s can go free. Some typical day prices direct from the parks are:

Theme Parks aged 10 and over £35-40 plus vat aged 3-9 £30 plus vat
Water parks aged 10 and over £20 plus Vat aged 3-9 £15 plus vat

So there you have it, believe it or not this IS a brief overview, there is so much more to see and do but if you do want to find out more see your local travel agent or go to the website :

http://disney.go.com/home/today/index.html

Overall, this was our second visit and even better than the first, I cannot praise this place enough, all I can say is you've got to experience it to appreciate just how fabulous it all is.

Ooops, nearly forgot..one final word of warning, beware their automatic flushing loos! When these things flush, boy do they flush, all I can say is be very careful not to lean forward before you have finished what you are doing....it's not nice !!!!

***We booked our holiday through Virgin, check their website out for more information on the Disney experience : http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/ contact them and they will even send you a free Disney dvd showing you just how magical it will be ...currently you can book flights from only £390 per adult, £320 per child direct to Orlando International Airport, they also offer a huge choice of accommodation in and around the Disney area..something for everyone***

And Happy holidays !!! 

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