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| Our magical day begins...…... |
Fully caffeinated, we left the hotel around 7:45 to start day one of our four day Disney adventure. We'll be going to a different park every day. While it may change, the order for the remaining three days is Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and wrapping it up with EPCOT. We set the order by using some of the Disney Crowd Predictors that can be found on line. There are a number of these out there and the consensus is that these will be the days that the crowds will be the smallest at the various parks.
I started the day by missing the Magic Kingdom exit sign which put us at the entrance to the EPCOT parking lot. I tried to convince Beth that I was just giving her a sneak peak at where we'd be going later in the week. I don't think she bought it.
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| The right parking lot! |
What we both really appreciate about the Magic Kingdom is that it really hasn't changed much over the years. There have been a few changes and additions but many of the rides and attractions are the same as they were back in the 70's and 80's when we were youngsters. There's newer technology available and it's being used where it's appropriate, but it's cool to see they've left so much of the park as it was originally built. We found ourselves migrating towards many of the older attractions such as "It's a Small World", Country Bear Jamboree, Peter Pan's Flight, the Enchanted Tiki Room, etc. Much of today was a stroll down memory lane, and it was a nice stroll.
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| Main Street USA |
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| Thunder Mountain Railroad.....our only thrill ride |
We did learn a few things today that may be helpful for the rest of our visit. Hopefully they will be helpful to you as well.
Helpful Hint #1 Don't Trust The Crowd Predictor Calendars!
As I mentioned above, the consensus was that the crowd at the Magic Kingdom would be on the "lighter" side today. I'm not really sure how the good people who put these predictive calendars together define "light" but it sure is different than I define it. It seemed as if at least a quarter of the worlds population was at the Magic Kingdom today. Maybe everyone looked at the calendar, saw the good news of smaller crowds and decided to take advantage of the situation. All I know is that there were a bunch of folks and a bunch of strollers at the Magic Kingdom today. Also, to be fair, the weather was pretty lousy around here yesterday and that could have possibly made some people delay their visit by a day. While the crowds were big, it really didn't have any impact on us because of the Fastpass.
Helpful Hint # The Fastpass Works Great!
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on how the Fastpass works, but it does work very well. If you're planning a visit, download the Disney Experience App where you can learn more about it. Another option is to do a google search. There is a ton of information out there that is very helpful. It may seem a little complicated at first but it's quite easy to use. Even a guy who ends up in the wrong parking lot could figure it out. You may not get a Fastpass to everything you want, but it will be very helpful.
It's was a magical day at the Magic Kingdom. With a good nights rest we'll be ready for Hollywood Studios tomorrow...……..the crowds are supposed to be light!
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| Our magical day ends. |
