The latest road trip stats:
Universal odometer mileage: 94,989
Odometer mileage at destination: 94,940
Miles driven to destination: 42
Total miles driven to date: 1,951
States driven through: Florida
I'm no Walt Disney World virgin. In the course of my lifetime, I've been to Disney a dozen times or so - one of the perks of living in Florida for a period of time. But with the exception of a visit to Epcot/Downtown Disney as part of a business trip in October 2010, it's been more than 20 years since I last visited the magical part of Florida. I knew that if I was coming to Florida and spending time at Universal, I would need to give equal time to Disney World.
On Thursday, February 12, my brother and I departed our Universal resort and drove approximately 11 miles to our Disney resort - Caribbean Beach. We lucked out that at 9:30 in the morning, our room was available. We dropped off our bags and went off to see Mickey, Cinderella, Elsa, and the rest of the Disney characters by entering the Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom opened in October 1971 and a couple of years later, my family moved to Florida (for the first time) and after our first visit to the park in 1973, I was in love and have loved every subsequent visit. I was incredibly excited to experience Disney all over again.
The Magic Kingdom is still one of the best places to visit in the United States. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, it's crowded (even in the off-season). But it really is magical. My favorite rides were still up and running: The Haunted Mansion, the Pirates of the Caribbean, and Space Mountain. But there were a couple of new attractions to experience and other old favorites to rediscover. After watching so many people with their noses stuck behind their camera or cell phones, I decided to actually experience Disney, rather than worry about photographing it. Therefore, I ended up not taking very many photos over the past few days.
Day two of our three day visit was spent at Epcot, which is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture, and is often referred to as a "Permanent World's Fair." There are two distinct areas in Epcot - Future World at the front of the park, which is where all the technological innovations are experienced. The rear of the park is the World Showcase area which has eleven "worlds" to discover: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. The best part of the World Showcase is the ability to gorge oneself on various foods. The Moroccan meal we had for dinner was my favorite. There were a few excellent rides in Future World: Soarin', Test Track, and Mission: SPACE. A word of caution for riders of Mission: SPACE - do not eat or drink anything before going on that ride. They actually provide barf bags which is quite telling on how extreme the ride is.
After leaving Epcot at the end of day two, Tom needed to purchase a gift for his girlfriend and wanted to go to Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex about 2 miles from the resort. It turned into a bitter and sad reminder of the hours I spent there in October 2010 during my business trip, picking out birthday presents for an ungrateful recipient who probably tossed them the minute he opened the gifts. Yeah, I hated the time that we spent there.
Our last day was predominately spent at Hollywood Studios, which is "dedicated to show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s" (Wikipedia). I've only ever been to this theme park once and that was more than 20 years ago so I had very little knowledge of the new and exciting attractions. This theme park was so much fun. There were four outstanding rides which should not be missed: Star Tours (a continuing Star Wars adventure ride), Toy Story Midway Mania! (an interactive arcade shooting game), Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (a wickedly fast and furious roller coaster), and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (a thrilling ride aboard a haunted elevator). After seeing nearly everything at Hollywood Studios, Tom and I headed back to Epcot for dinner at the Biergarten in the Germany section of World Showcase.
There's a really fun restaurant in Hollywood Studios that I would highly recommend: the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant. Picture this: you’re in a car at a drive-in watching silly, mid-century B movies about zombies and the blob, when a server glides up to your table with a fabulous burger and some fries! Just about perfect, right? I think so, too. Disney’s Sci-Fi Dine-In is an extraordinary restaurant that’s worth at least one try, but it's unique enough to warrant more than one visit. Reservations are highly recommended - we had to wait nearly an hour for a table for lunch.
So ends my week of theme park adventures. It was incredibly fun and I'm glad that I had a chance to visit both Universal and Disney World. I fully plan on hitting up Disneyland when I get to Los Angeles.
Check out my photos from stop 7 (Disney) at my GART photo site. Today, I return back to Boca Raton for a few days before heading off to Atlanta.
The Magic Kingdom is still one of the best places to visit in the United States. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, it's crowded (even in the off-season). But it really is magical. My favorite rides were still up and running: The Haunted Mansion, the Pirates of the Caribbean, and Space Mountain. But there were a couple of new attractions to experience and other old favorites to rediscover. After watching so many people with their noses stuck behind their camera or cell phones, I decided to actually experience Disney, rather than worry about photographing it. Therefore, I ended up not taking very many photos over the past few days.
After leaving Epcot at the end of day two, Tom needed to purchase a gift for his girlfriend and wanted to go to Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex about 2 miles from the resort. It turned into a bitter and sad reminder of the hours I spent there in October 2010 during my business trip, picking out birthday presents for an ungrateful recipient who probably tossed them the minute he opened the gifts. Yeah, I hated the time that we spent there.
So ends my week of theme park adventures. It was incredibly fun and I'm glad that I had a chance to visit both Universal and Disney World. I fully plan on hitting up Disneyland when I get to Los Angeles.
Check out my photos from stop 7 (Disney) at my GART photo site. Today, I return back to Boca Raton for a few days before heading off to Atlanta.
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| Can I pass for an Asian woman? I think not! |
3 comments:
You should have let me go Downtown Disney solo. You aren't supposed to dredge up unpleasant memories at Disney. The Disney Secret Service will "pants" you if they find out about unhappy at the happiest place on E-arth.
Also, you forgot to mention that I worked at The Magic Kingdom when it was just a little theme park. It was 3 years old when I worked there when I was a junior in high school.
Damn. I completely forgot.
Sandi, loved reading about your visit to Disney World! It's one of my favorite places on this whole planet. :) Melody (from Prague)
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