Magic Kingdom Day Trip

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: With cooler temperatures back in the sunshine state and the tourist crowd a little thinner, we decided to take a day trip to Walt Disney World. Being a Florida resident has its perks as we have the flexibility to visit the park when its not so crowded and Sunday was one of those days.

This was our first trip back to the park since it started to get hot and full in May. We had originally planned to go up on Saturday, but the crowd of the 40th anniversary celebration pushed our trip back a day to Sunday.

We hit the road early, destination Magic Kingdom. We arrived at the park about twenty minutes to park opening and the parking lot was not very full. We walked right onto the monorail. We did not encounter any large lines until we reached the bag check area at the entrance.

The bag check is the biggest waste of time in my opinion. For starters, the security guard barely even check the bags and people with strollers and electric wheelchairs manage to get through the without bags line all the time. Secondly from a safety standpoint, do you really think someone smuggling illegal items into the park would do so on in a bag, talk about obvious. This process would be made so much easier by scanning the crowd and spot checking potential targets. It is much easier to go through airport and cruise terminal security screenings then to pass through the bag line at Disney.

One we passed through the bag check, we breezed through the turnstiles and into the park. A little crowd had gathered in front on the Main Street Train Station to watch the park opening ceremony. Once Mickey arrived and invited the guests into the park, we headed straight to Fantasyland.

Starting in Fantasyland was a break from our normal routine. Usually we start in Tomorrowland and work through the park counterclockwise, but today we had a different approach. Today we were going to take the little guy on Dumbo and Snow White's Scary Adventures before they close in advance of the Fantasyland expansion. Usually by the time we reach Dumbo, it has a 40-50 minute wait so we skip over it. Today we started with Dumbo.

Once we reached Fantasyland, we hit all of the major rides. We rode Dumbo, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan's Flight before moving on. With the future expansion of Fantasyland, the original Dumbo will be replaced by a new Dumbo ride and there is rumors that Snow White's Scary Adventure will be closed for good. So we wanted to ride those first.

A neat story for those of you who follow the site, a pet peeve of ours is the lack of respect shown by some of the guests of the parks. This was never the more evident then from the line cutting incident during a past trip to Epcot. While waiting in line for Dumbo the group in front of us had a member that needed to use the restroom. The mother asked if it was ok if her daughter went to the bathroom if we would allow them to get back with the rest of their group. While it may not seem like that big of a deal, I thought it was awesome that the lady thought of the people around her before just assuming that they can jump back in line in front of those who were waiting. Its amazing how a little but of politeness goes a long way.

Once we finished in Fantasyland, we headed to the Haunted Mansion. With my mom being in a wheelchair, we board the ride at the exit platform. Its quicker to get onboard, but we miss the new features in the line queue. It never fails, no matter how many times I ride the Haunted Mansion, I find something new each time.

Then it was off to the mountains of Frontierland. First stop was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a favorite of the whole family. We were seated in the last row of the train, which is the best spot of the ride in my opinion. After we got off, my son and I raced over to Splash Mountain to take a drop into the ole briar patch. We walked right onto Splash Mountain with little wait, I think the ride time was actually longer then our wait time.

We then took the back passage way from Frontierland into Adventureland to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean. We had originally planned to watch the teh Enchanted Tiki Birds show but growling stomachs told us otherwise. We began to look around for food options but seeing how it was now noon, they were all packed so we opted for a grab and go meal. We had a funnel cake from the Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square. We had never gotten one from there, it was pretty good although the grease and powdered sugar did me in mid snack.

With full stomachs, we ventured across the park to Tomorrowland. We stopped by the Mad Tea Party for a spin on the teacups but a long line quickly changed our minds. So it was off to a relaxing ride on the Peoplemover. While it by no means a thrill ride, it is a great way to kick back and relax. Afterwards we jumped into the Carousel of Progress, another beat the crowd spot. It is amazing how the show continues to perform continuously every day and was originally unveiled by Walt Disney during the 1964 World's Fair.

With work and school looming in the morning and a three hour car ride home, we started to head towards the exit. We made a stop that never seemed to end by hopping into the Emporium gift shop. That is where our son had his grandma wrapped around his fingers as he tried to buy every toy in the store. He escaped with a Pirates of the Caribbean Lego set in what felt like an eternity later.

Our last stop was a trip around the park on the Walt Disney World Railroad. The trip around the park is a must do for all of our trips. When we finished the complete circle, we left the park and headed to the car.

We had originally planned on having dinner at Walt Disney World before heading home. We wanted to eat at one of our favorites, the Trails End inside Fort Wilderness. However their dinner did not start until 4:30 and we needed to start heading home so we grabbed dinner at the Chili's at Champions Gate on the ride home.

This was our fist October trip to the Magic Kingdom. It was neat to see the Halloween decorations throughout the park. In typical Disney fashion, the decorations are over the top. While I would love to take our son to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, but almost $60 for a passholder is ridiculous. They really need to work on the pricing for passholders. The passholders already spent an arm and a leg for the annual passes, they should be given a better rate on the special events, especially since for the most part it is mostly the same attractions that are available for guests on a regular night.

Our annual passes are valid through January 2012, so I can see another trip or two to WDW before they expire. I hope to make them an overnight trip as the day trips are just too exhausting. Almost six hours of road time combined with running around the parks equals a very tired family.

Check out the slideshow below for pictures from today's trip to the Magic Kingdom.