Orlando, FL 2016 - Day 5

The Magic Kingdom

Twenty years ago this week, Chad and I took our first trip to Disneyland together and that’s when this whole thing started: Our passion for the park and our desire to raise kids who love it like we do. So, visiting the Magic Kingdom today was a huge deal for us, and we were all a little nervous because we don’t know it like we know Disneyland. I spent eight months planning this trip and read six travel books in preparation, but I still felt unprepared. It's like when you visit family that you don't know very well, and even though they're super welcoming, you just feel uncomfortable.

This morning, Orlando was covered with a thick blanket of fog, and when we arrived at the Magic Kingdom parking lot, the ferry boats to the park weren’t running because of it; so we took the monorail to the main gate instead, and as we pulled up, we had a whole jumble of emotions. We went through the bag check and then the metal detectors and we watched the opening show with Mickey and all the Disney characters. From the train station, they sang and danced and welcomed us to the park before the rope drop.

I had our FastPasses scheduled, our lunch reservations made, and a general plan for the day, and I knew that we had to go straight to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland or we’d be waiting in line for hours later in the day. We had a twenty-minute wait and we savored every second. Pure Disney magic surrounded us in a familiar way and we were totally content, even if we didn’t know exactly what we were doing.

This is all they did all day long

Over the next few hours, we went on all our favorite rides and tried to not compare them to Disneyland. But we did anyway. We ate lunch at the Jungle Cruise themed restaurant called Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen and then went on the Jungle Cruise where our skipper treated us to a barrage of cheesy jokes and cringe-worthy puns. It was delightful.

The Jingle Cruise - always fun at Christmas

It's a Small World

The Haunted Mansion

In Liberty Square, we went to The Hall of Presidents. First, we watched a film narrated by Morgan Freeman about the history of our country. I’m sure it was wonderful, but I’d be lying if I told you I stayed awake for it. What can I say, Morgan Freeman’s velvety voice lulls me to sleep like Excedrin PM. At the end of the short film, the curtains rose and sitting on the stage were all 43 of our presidents. They were incredibly realistic audio-animatronics, and Morgan Freeman’s voice introduced each one of them. It was all quite moving.

Chad and I got to revisit some of the attractions we experienced twenty years ago, but have since closed in Disneyland: The Swiss Family Treehouse and Country Bear Jamboree. They were two of my favorites from when I was a little girl, and I was sure the kids would feel the same. I could not have been more wrong. In fact, the girls refused to even come see the Country Bear Jamboree and chose instead to sit outside in Frontierland. Like lunatics.

As the sun set, we took the Walt Disney World Railroad around the Magic Kingdom and got off on Main Street. We shopped and bought sweets at the confectionery. At the end of Main Street, we caught the end of A Frozen Holiday Wish, a show in which the characters from Frozen convince Elsa to cover the castle in ice and snow. The result was so breathtaking that even Jackson commented on the beauty of it. You know when a 16-year-old boy is impressed by a princess castle, that it must be incredible.

This castle is unbelievable

We still hadn’t been to Tomorrowland so we finished our night there. The Incredibles and Frozone were hosting a dance party and about a hundred people were dancing and having fun, and we tried to get the kids to join them, but they refused. So Chad and I looked into each other’s eyes, I counted, “5,6,7,8,” and we started fast-dancing and snapping. All three of our kids scattered like frightened squirrels. We kept it up until we were worried that they might actually run away.

Saying goodbye to Disneyland in December, 1996

The last two rides we went on were older than I am: Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress and the PeopleMover. The rides were fun, but we were all so tired and delirious that we just made jokes and laughed hysterically. On our way out of the park, Chad and I stopped at the Emporium on Main Street to buy Christmas ornaments for each other. When we were on our first Disney trip in 1996, we bought each other ornaments—he bought me a baby Minnie and I bought him a baby Mickey (we were babies ourselves at the time). Those two ornaments were the only ones on our tree for our first Christmas. Tonight, once again, we bought each other Mickey and Minnie, but this time they’re just a little older, and our Christmas tree has a few more ornaments hanging from it, but other than that, it feels like not a lot's changed.

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

Zip-A-Dee-Ay

My oh my, what a wonderful day

Plenty of sunshine headin’ my way

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

Zip-A-Dee-Ay

-The Niemeyers