Thursday 9 July 2009

Day 9 - Disney World, Florida

Today we went to Disney World at Orlando. It consists of four different theme parks and lots of other small things around it. It'd take at least a week to see it all, so we went for the classic Disney experience of Magic Kingdom. You can tell that the place is designed for kids and families, but we enjoyed our trip there. It was expensive to get in, but every ride and experience is extremely well made and breathtaking. In short, it was worth it. The whole of Magic Kingdom is built like a miniature world with different areas, like Adventureland which is a jungle/pirate/caribbean experience, Tomorrowland, a sci-fi/space/technology area, or Frontierland, a gold rush/western town. Below is a shot of a street in Frontierland, showing that so-fake-it-looks-authentic look that's visible throughout Disney World.



The park was filled to the brim with families, fat Americans and fat American families. We'd seen some 'wide load bottoms' around before, but Disney seemed like an XXL-magnet. A lot of people actually went around on those electrical permobiles (you know, originally designed for old people who just can't give up driving) and in wheelchairs because they were too heavy to walk around the place. So far, everyone (regardless of size) we've talked to have been lovely and friendly and you can't help loving this country, but it sure is crazy in some ways.

The queues to most rides were very long, between 30 and 60 minutes. At first, we just walked around to find something with a short queue and ended up on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Apparently the films were based on this ride, but when the films were so successful, they changed the ride to fit the film better :)

We saw some great interactive shows: The enchanted Tiki something with and Aladdin theme, Stitch's Great Escape (from Lilo and Stitch) and a Monster's INC standup comedy show. A lot of the rides were clearly for the kiddies, and we didn't exactly feel like hanging around for 30 minutes to ride some tea cups! Unfortunately, the biggest ride of the park was closed - Space Mountain. Disheartened by this, we went for something to eat, and while we enjoyed (hmm..) some fast food, the now familiar Floridian afternoon downpour began. This was actually good because people fled the queues in the rain, and we managed to get into both the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain rides with virtually no queues. The latter was an awesome log flume ride with plenty of splashing and thrashing and a great way to end our day at Disney World. Below is a shot of a non-authentic Louisian steamer boat, in case we don't see any down in New Orleans. In the background you can just make out Splash Mountain!


Of course we also saw the trademark Disney castle, but we didn't stay for the late night fireworks. Here's the castle anyway; proof that we were actually there!

We're now relaxing in another cheap roadside motel outside Gainesville before heading to the Panhandle coast tomorrow. We're going to have a lazy day tomorrow, looking to see some more beaches (and hopefully sun - I know it's out of season, but this has really not been the Sunshine State so far!). The plan is to delay our trip by one day, so that we're in Las Vegas between a Sunday and a Tuesday (originally Sat-Mon) because the hotels are ridiculously cheap there on Sundays and weekdays, and about twice as expensive on the weekends. We're looking at a luxury hotel on the Strip for about $70 a night - that's 500 SEK (or 50 euros for our international readers). Crazy!

3 comments:

  1. From Space to Disney
    Now you have seen it, wich remind me of the trip with Sara and Yvonne we never did

    I got problems to post comments, sometimes they disapear, odd

    The cats are fine, but i think they are longing for you:)

    Love and hugs to you both

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  2. Dear Friends!
    It´s nice to read you have been both at the Space Center and at Disneyland - I think the both must be fantastic but at different ways, of course - I had gladly would be with you! I´m sure about too, that Disneyworld is a total another thing, than Liseberg and their green rabbits (ha ha!) Tomorrow I will go up to Finspong and meet our family, and congratulate Gittan and Arne, for example! So you will not hear from me the following week, but have a nice time there you are! Bye bye!

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  3. Tack för att vi får följa med er på ert stora äventyr over there. Det första jag gör när jag vaknar på morgonen är att sätta på datorn för att se om det finns något nytt. Och för det mesta finns det alltid något nytt spännande att se och läsa.

    Ta väl hand om varandra och kör försiktigt!

    Have a nice day ;)

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