We arrived at Magic Kingdom about an hour before opening - hence we were approximately numbers 2056 and 2057 in the queue to get in. I didn't know that that many people could get that many children organised to go somewhere at that time of the morning. And this was during term time! I can only imagine (and shudder) at what the school holidays must be like.
Disney is ... fun. It's classic fun, with exciting shops, and Disney characters, and iconic images come to life (such as the Cinderella Castle and Tom Sawyer Island), and roller coasters that are not designed to make you throw up at 200 feet. Yes - I managed to get Mum (and myself, for that matter) onto a roller coaster - the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - that does not do any loop-the-loops, doesn't ever have a 200 foot drop on either side of it, and rushes through classic Olde Golde Towne countryside in constructed scenery based on Red Rock in Arizona (Arizona). Methinks.
I had spent a lot of time researching the Park before we left, and came up with the following Magic Kingdom in a Day Schedule:
1. After leaving the turnstiles, head immediately for the central hub, turn left, and head for Adventureland. Collect a Fastpass for the Jungle Cruise, check out the Swiss Family Treehouse, and then return to do the Jungle Cruise.
2. Take the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
3. Head for Frontierland, collect a Fastpass for Splash Mountain, and then take a round trip on the Walt Disney World Railroad.
4. Take the Splash Mountain ride.
5. Collect a Fastpass for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and check out Tom Sawyer Island.
6. Take the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
7. Test your shooting skills at the Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade and then head towards Liberty Square.
8. Take a cruise on the Liberty Square Riverboat and check out The Haunted Mansion.
9. Head to Fantasyland, collect a Fastpass for Peter Pan’s Flight, and go on the It’s a Small World ride (classic Disney, and just delightful).
10. Take Peter Pan’s Flight.
11. Check out the Mickey’s PhilHarMagic Show.
12. Go for a spin on the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (we actually opted out of this - it's not scary at all, but looked quite stomach-churney.
13. Wander through Mickey’s Toon Town Fair.
14. Head to Tomorrowland, collect a Fastpass for Space Mountain (also opted out of this - a few too many warnings about damage to necks and backs - ours are bad at the best of times), and take a ride with the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (great aerial views of the Park).
15. Take the Space Mountain ride.
16. Wander through the rest of Tomorrowland and then head back to Main Street U.S.A. (completely missed any of the vehicles!) to check out Cinderella Castle. I was a bit disappointed that this didn't have more in it - you walked through it on the lower level, but the rest of the Castle is just design, not functional.
This schedule worked surprisingly well. The FastPass system is great - at the entracne to certain rides are Fast Past machines - you put in your Park ticket, which is spat back out along with a pass to return at a certain time - e.g. if you put your park ticket in at 10.00am, you may be told to come back between 11.10am and 12.10pm - at which point you enter the Fast Pass queue rather than the general queue. On popular rides this can cut your waiting time from two hours down to about 10 minutes. This was for the time of year we were there, at least - I imagine school holidays and mid-summer the queues may take longer.
The other beauty of Fast Pass first thing in the morning is this - most of the early-morning Americans know about Fast Pass, so the first thing they do on arrival is go to Fast Pass machines. Tis means that no one is actually going on the rides as they are all queuing to get Fast Passes to avoid the queues! As such, we walked straight past all the Americans queuing to get Fast Passes to take the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Work with it, and you can cut your queue times down considerably.
We also did some things off the cuff that we hadn't planned to do - although old, the animatronic show Country Bear Jamboree happening to be about to start as we walked past, and this was a delight. FOr a list of the rest of the attractions at Magic Kingdom, check out the Disney website.
If you are visiting Magic Kingdom (or Disneyland in LA, which is almost an identical layout) then I do recommend researching the Park beforehand, and working out what you want to do ahead of time. Obviously what we chose to do was different to what a family would chose to do. One really nice thing about Magic Kingdom is that their lack of stomach-churning, G-force submitting, vomit-inducing roller coaster-type rides means there is also a lack of teenagers and early 20s idiots tearing about the Park. Definitely the most family-friendly Park of all those we went to.
More photos from Magic Kingdom.
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