Thursday 13 March 2014

Our holiday to Disney world: The Magic Kingdom

Or the 'Castle park' as Alex called it.



This park caters for all ages, but really mainly for the little ones who believe the magic of Disney-Alex really believes that Mickey lives in the castle, that idea set in stone by actually seeing Mickey through a window after the fireworks "is Mickey going to bed now", my heart may have melted a little.

There are plenty of places to meet and greet characters from Mickey and the gang to Buzz, and princesses-if you time it right you might not even have to queue long, just stalk them when they walk out and too their post ;)

Our favourite rides
We obviously didn't do rides to satisfy our wants and stuck to the children's rides, but to be honest there aren't huge roller coasters in this park anyway. Alex's favourites being the Tomorrowland speedway and Buzz Lightyear's space ranger spin. The Monster's Inc show is also fun (perhaps actually more so for adults) very clever as it's interactive with the audience.


Some time out
Sometimes you just need to get away from the hustle and bustle or out of the queueing.
The Walt Disney World railroad is great if you need a bit of a sit down and especially more so if you have a train mad child like Sam! It goes around the whole park so it is nice to have a good look everything-it can even get babies to sleep too!
Some other rides that are good for a bit of a break (and great for after a meal) are 'it's a small world' and the Tomorrowland Transit again you get a bit of a sit down (often these don't have as big queues either unless really busy on the day).
On a hot day the kids (and big kids) will love the Casey Jr, splash and soak area to cool off.
As I was waiting with Sam whilst James and Alex were on some rides I also found a path that never seemed busy, it runs from the back of Goofy's Barnstormer and ends in tomorrow land, it was wonderfully peaceful and was just what I needed when I found it all a little too much!


Places to eat
We had our heart set on trying to get into Beast's castle, a new restaurant in new Fantasy land but alas it has been fully booked in advance for months. However if you take a minute walk around the corner you can find Gaston's tavern where you can taste amazing pork shanks, the biggest cinnamon buns I have ever seen and a delicious but ever so sweet frozen apple drink with toasted mango marshmallow topping-a winner in the boys and my eyes!

Top tip- If you've booked your holiday well in advance book some restaurants then too as the popular ones do get booked up quickly, you can always cancel nearer the time. 


Don't worry we shared the cinnamon bun between us!!

The lights and firework show
If you want a spot at the front along main street you need to get there early and park your bum on a curb-to be honest I wouldn't bother so much-the show was a little, odd. But the kids enjoyed all the lights and music.

Top tip- If you do want to get close make everyone go to the toilet first and grab food to keep the younger ones amused whilst waiting-everywhere gets busy just before the parade!

The fireworks are shortly after, if you are in main street it is really busy, so make sure little ones are kept close. The fireworks are really amazing as well as the light show on the castle-they really are big and quite amazing. 
We actually viewed the fireworks in 3 different places over the holiday
-once with everyone else on main street in front of the castle which was nice but just too crowed
-once on a beach at the Polynesian resort over looking the lake and Floridian resort, this was my favourite so peaceful and quite private, plus no crowds to fight through afterwards!
How beautiful and peaceful
-once to the right of the castle on a bridge, so close to the fireworks you feel them thundering through your chest with each bang which was quite something.
The fantastic light show on the castle just before the fireworks-it really is clever



My views
As lovely as this park is I felt I always seemed a little stressed out here, I think the volume of people is just too much for me, topped with longish waits for rides you haven't fast passed. Having said that seeing the magic work on your little ones faces is absolutely priceless, and as with every Disney park it was meticulously clean and cleverly themed-even down to the fences surrounding rides not yet open!

Talking of magic moments when on the Peter Pan ride Alex said "wow Mum we are actually flying!" and he really believed-perhaps that's why the wait is always so long!

2 comments:

  1. Oh my I am a demon! Everytime I see a Disney Park review the first thing I think is 'WOAH it looks so good!' followed far too closely by 'the food looks awesome!' It looks like you had a great time xxx

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