The Wonderful World Of Disney World
I’d done a lot of research before we left home about Disney World – what to see, when to get there, special hints and tips. You name it, I thought I had it all covered. I’d even printed off schedules and worked out with our Ride-Max software which times of the day were best to visit which attractions. No matter which websites I looked at though, they all said the same thing about visiting Disney World in the week leading up to the 4th July weekend: don’t do it! Most of the websites had the dates blocked out in bright red suggesting you would be a downright idiot to visit at this time of year. Oops! Bad planning, eh? We’d already booked our flights so there wasn’t’ much we could do. I’d given everyone a pep talk on the way in about sticking together and about how crowded it was going to be and that we’d probably be spending LOTS of time in queues.
Well, after a couple of presses of the snooze button, we really had to get out of bed and face the day. Disney World here we come! The American hotel breakfast was just as we’d expected; nothing too flash. That was of course, except for the Mickey Mouse, pour-it-yourself waffles. Molly and Maisy were especially impressed with those! The chocolate chip muffins and apple and apricot danishes seemed a bit much at that time of the morning but there was something sort of resembling Sultana Bran (with a few extra sugary sultanas) and some toast and jam (jelly) that did just fine.
Although our hotel website had boasted a very close- within walking distance proximity to the Disney World resort – it was in actual fact a good 15 minute drive to the Parks, so we had to catch a taxi. A bit of a trap for young players! Never believe what they tell you on the internet. It would pay to look at a map. That’s good advice that I should’ve taken myself! The hotel does have a free shuttle bus but having rolled over one too many times in bed this morning, ignoring the alarm, we missed that.
As it turns out, our hotel is in close proximity to some of the land the late Walt (bless his frozen soul) purchased back in 1963 but he owns 42,000 acres! The kids were joking today suggesting Orlando should be renamed the City of Disney! So yes, we were close to the outskirts of the massive land area that comprises 24 themed Disney hotels and 4 theme parks but certainly not in walking distance of the Castle!
Now Molly would admit it if you asked her; she really isn’t a morning person and we reckon we were well and truly through the turnstiles and lining up for our 2nd ride before she really joined us in mind and body. The rest of us were running on adrenalin and were just so excited to be there we forgot how tired we were. We’d decided to spend our first Disney day at Hollywood Studios and there was lots to do and see. Our tickets encouraged us to “show our Disney side” so we strove to do that but really weren’t too sure what it meant.
The Beauty and the Beast show was a great start with lots of Disney talent and singing and dancing galore and the Star Wars simulation ride was one of our favourites. The best by far though was the Toy Story Mania, where you are in little cars and have to shoot, by pulling a ripcord, arcade style targets, whilst wearing very cool fluoro yellow 3-D glasses. It’s so much fun! Sam smashed us all with his record score but Molly wasn’t too far behind. There were lots of movie-making attractions and behind the scenes movie rides, which were actually quite similar to the ones at Movie World on the Gold Coast. The Little Mermaid show was fantastic and the rollercoaster junkies gave a big thumbs up to the Rockin’ Roller Coaster, which had baby blue 1950s Chevy convertibles for carriages. Maisy got a thrill from meeting Wreck It Ralph and his off-sider, Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. and we all got lots of cuddles from Mickey and Minnie. Minnie was especially concerned about Toby’s broken arm (still in a cast) and bent down to kiss it, much to his embarrassment but to the delight of everyone else!
We’ve noticed some prevalent fashion trends around the streets of Disney World. Long fluoro socks for instance are trending well this year, teamed with matching fluoro long shorts and muscle tees for a complete look. We’ve also seen our fair share of large people wearing unbelievably tight clothes. Now I’m talking tight. So tight you can almost see what they had for breakfast. They aren’t doing themselves any favours. Trinny and Susannah would have a field day here. Bras seem to be an optional extra too, with many – again on the more voluptuous side – choosing to go sans bra. Long socks with crocs (or just any sandals in general) are big in Orlando too. Not too sure how you could wear socks and sandals in the middle of a blistering hot summer? Well it all makes for interesting viewing anyway! The boys have also been busy spotting soccer jerseys from around the world, on the back of World Cup fever, and there seem to be an awful lot of Mexican soccer fans here!
The weather has been incredibly HOT and humid! It was 35 degrees today and a real stinker. We are like little beacons with our lily-white complexions, lighting the way for all those around us with our glaring winter “tans”! Needless to say we’ve plastered ourselves with suncream to try and avoid a nasty situation. Being so humid, you just have to keep hydrated and cold water becomes warm water in a matter of minutes!
Maisy had her eye on a pair of Mickey Mouse ears that were complete with pink sequins, purple flowers and a long flowing princess train at the back. You really feel like you’re in a Disney Park once you don the ears!
Remarkably and contrary to all the warnings, we really didn’t have to wait much longer than 30 minutes in any queue. I know 30 minutes sounds like a long time but the clever people at Disney make the wait much more interesting for you, with lots to see, read and experience while you’re in the line. The time passes in a flash! By late afternoon we’d ticked just about everything off our plan for Hollywood Studios and decided to take a free shuttle bus to Magic Kingdom. Being almost exactly the same as Disneyland in California, we had decided we probably wouldn’t need to make a visit this time, since we’d explored Disneyland only 4 years ago and had limited time in Orlando but with a bit of time up our sleeves we thought we’d go and check it out anyway. This turned out to be a great idea!
Being back there was just so much fun! We all enjoyed reminiscing about the last time we’d visited Disneyland. Just as we walked in, a very kind lady who was heading home for the day, gave us all her FastPass tickets, which fast-track you through the queues on selected rides. This was gold! We made a bee-line for Splash Mountain and used the time in the line to try to ease Maisy’s hesitations about taking the plunge (literally!). She’d been way under the height threshold last time but now towered over the cut-off height and had no excuse! Maisy and I are…let’s just say, the most cautious members of the family where rides are concerned (I think I have an overactive sense of self-preservation – well that sounds better than just being a big chicken) so there aren’t a lot of rides we can all go on as a family. It was great fun to all be on Splash Mountain together in the one carriage, although I think I deafened everyone with my screaming!
Toby, Sam and Molly used their newly acquired FastPasses on Space Mountain and were able to bypass the hoards of crowds waiting for up to an hour! As Toby would say: “SWEET!” They returned with grins from ear to ear! After a few happy snaps and a whirlwind tour we bid the Castle farewell and caught the monorail and a bus back to the Pizza Hut for dinner.
The Pizza Hut was a special request from the kids due to the fact that most of our Pizza Huts have now closed down and it would be a real novelty to go back. They were envisaging an all–you-can-eat feast with dessert bar included – tiny marshmallows and choc fudge sauce….But this Pizza Hut was different! There was a pretty limited menu and no all-you-can-eat pizza in sight but the enthusiasm and dedication of the waiter made it lots of fun anyway. We asked him how big the Medium pizza was and he said “’bout as big as your large!” and then burst into fits of laughter! He was right. The large pizza that Toby and Sam were convinced they could get through was MASSIVE! Needless to say we took home almost a full pizza made up of all our left-overs!
