Magic Kingdom and DisneyQuest

Yesterday we returned to the Magic Kingdom. The parking lot is located south of the park, on the other side of a lake, and guests must take the monorail or a ferry to get to the park.

 

The lands of the Magic Kingdom are similar to Disneyland, except there is a Liberty Square instead of a New Orleans Square. Many of the rides of Disneyland are here, but with some differences in location and details. We rode most of the rides and watched the parade and a show in front of the castle, and of course met characters, mostly princesses.

Last night we went to Downtown Disney and spent some time at DisneyQuest, a huge indoor arcade. We had a great time playing some of the games there.

They had several large scale games which used virtual reality or very large screens to surround you. It was pretty cool.

Disney-MGM Studios

Yesterday we went to Disney-MGM Studios, the third park opened at Disney World. Like Animal Kingdom, it only has a handful of rides, so could use some more, especially ones the whole family can ride. We rode all of them and watched several shows, including the new car stunt show.

The park has a weird layout. The entrance is Hollywood Boulevard, at the end of which is the Great Movie Ride, which is a slow moving ride through several scenes from movie genres. To the right is Sunset Boulevard, where the two biggest rides are - the Tower of Terror and Rock-n-Roller coaster. The kids really enjoyed riding those. There's also a Beauty and the Beast show.

Behind the Great Movie Ride is the Animation Courtyard, some soundstages, and the Backlot Tour. There's also a special effects show, which I was picked to take part in. We had lunch at the Sci-Fi Diner, which was a lot of fun. Diners sit in tables that look like cars and watch clips of old sci-fi movies. 

To the left of Hollywood Boulevard is the Backlot Annex, which contains the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, Star Tours, and a Muppet 3D movie, along with the usual stores and restaurants. We finished the night by watching Fantasmic!, which here is held in a large amphitheater off of Sunset Boulevard.

Sea World

 

Yesterday was our first visit to Sea World Orlando. Our admission was free with the passes we bought last year at Busch Gardens. It is pretty similar to the one in San Diego, which we had visited back in 2000, and to Marine World, which we went to often when the kids were young.

There’s not a lot of theming at Sea World, and few rides, but we still had a nice time watching the Dolphin, Sea Lion, and Killer Whale shows and seeing the animal exhibits. I thought Journey to Atlantis, their water coaster, was pretty well done. It's not as well themed as Disney or even Universal, but it is better than a lot of rides at Six Flags or even Busch Gardens.

They also have a lightly themed roller coaster called Kraken which is pretty wild, with multiple inversions. Sea World is located just off I-4, a few miles northeast of Disney World.

Blizzard Beach

Thursday evening we went to Magic Kingdom, the first and oldest park. Magic Kingdom is of course very similar to Disneyland, though there are several differences. Although Disneyland has more rides, Magic Kingdom is bigger and has some things that Disneyland doesn't, especially some shows.

We enjoyed a couple of rides, meeting some characters, and watching the fireworks. 

Yesterday we went to Blizzard Beach, one of two water parks at Disney World. The story behind Blizzard Beach is that there was a freak snow storm that fell in the area, so they created a ski area, but then the snow began to melt. Blizzard Beach lies west of Disney-MGM Studios. 

There's a big wave pool and a dozen or so slides, plus a lazy river that goes around most of it. The two WDW water parks are really well done, much better than any other water parks we've visited.

Animal Kingdom

Our second day was spent at Animal Kingdom, the fourth and newest park at Disney World. It’s only got a half dozen rides and a half dozen shows, but it’s easy to spend a whole day there by checking out the animal exhibits. In the center of the park is the Tree of Life, surrounded by Discovery Island. Several themed lands surround it - Dinoland USA, Asia, Africa, and Camp Minnie-Mickey.

Dinoland has three rides, plus some animal attractions, a play area, and some games. The kids enjoyed the spinning coaster in the Dino-Rama area, which is themed to a roadside carnival. There's also a Dumbo-like spinner, and a jeep ride like Indiana Jones, where you go back in time to see Dinosaurs. There used to be a Tarzan musical show, but it closed a few months before.

We went on every ride in the park, including the new roller coaster, Expedition: Everest, located in Asia. It has a great queue and is a lot of fun, although Susan didn't like the part where it goes backwards, and said she'd never ride it again. Asia also has a raft ride and a bird show.

One ride we always do is Kilimanjaro Safari in the Africa section. It’s very good - a long ride on a truck like vehicle with lots of African animals to see. Animal Kingdom definitely needs more family style rides like it. We also enjoyed taking the train to Conservation Station. 

Camp Minnie-Mickey has character greeting areas and two shows - Pocahontas and Lion King. Animal Kingdom is a beautiful park, with really great theming, but does get quite humid in the heat. 

Disney World

We checked into the Pop Century Resort. This was my and Susan's sixth visit to Disney World, and the fourth for the kids. WDW is huge, with over a dozen hotels, four theme parks, two water parks, a large shopping area, and sports fields, and lots of space in between. Magic Kingdom is in the north, Downtown Disney in the east, Wide World of Sports in the south, and Animal Kingdom in the west, with Epcot and Disney-MGM Studios in the middle. Pop Century is to the east of the latter.

It was our first time staying at a Disney World Value Resort. The theming isn't real impressive, just frameworks of giant icons of the last half of the 20th century, and the rooms were a little small and noisy, but we were only staying a couple of days, then checking into a two bedroom timeshare, so it was fine.

Yesterday, we met up with friends, and spent a day at the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot. It was our first time visiting Epcot during a festival, and we enjoyed seeing the topiaries and other garden exhibits. Epcot was the second park opened in Disney World, and consists of two halves: Future World in the north, which contains pavilions exploring science and technology, and World Showcase in the south, which contains pavilions celebrating eleven nations from around the world. It’s a big park. 

The kids enjoyed Mission:Space, but Susan rode that in 2003 and wasn't willing to try again. Epcot had added Soarin' and Turtle Talk with Crush since our last visit, but we had already experienced those at Disneyland. Still we rode most of the rides and the kids met characters and did some Kidcot activities.

That evening we went to our friends' timeshare for dinner and a swim in the pool.

Florida National Parks

 

We flew out to Florida this week to visit some National Parks and some theme parks. We flew into Miami, and from there we drove south to Biscayne Bay National Park. This park is mostly water, but we checked out the Dante Fascell Visitor Center on the mainland, and walked a bit along the coast. After the kids earned Junior Ranger badges, we drove west to Homestead.

After checking into a hotel in Homestead, we drove out to the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center of Everglades National Park. We picked up Junior Ranger programs and looked around a bit, then the kids helped the Ranger retire the flag for the night.

The next day we drove south through Everglades NP to the Flamingo Visitor Center, stopping to walk some trails where we saw Anhingas and Alligators. After the kids earned their Jr Ranger badges, we headed back into Homestead, then turned west and stopped at the Shark Valley Visitor Center to look around.

We continued west to the Big Cypress National Preserve, where the kids earned another badge. We spent the rest of the day driving north to Disney World.