Before we left for Disneyworld, many friends gave us advice. The best advice we got was:
- Get to the park early, when it opens.
- Take a water bottle and fill it in the park. (We saved at least $20 each day)
- Pace yourself. When you have had enough of Disney for one day, go to the hotel and relax, ready for the next day.
- Go on the animal safari first thing in the morning, while the animals are active.
Heed the above advice and you will also enjoy your trip to DisneyWorld.
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Day 1. - Caribe Royale, Magic Kingdom.
Left Bradley airport at 6 AM. Got to our hotel in Orlando just after the 12:30 shuttle bus left. This is when we discovered the Florida interpretation of the word “Frequent”. The hotel assured us when we booked that shuttle buses run frequently to the theme parks.
The next “Frequent” shuttle bus to Disney world was after 5 PM. We took a taxi to Magic Kingdom. A spotlessly clean white Lincoln Town car with beige leather seats and a polite driver. It was a ride worth paying for and we booked him for our trip to Sea World on Wednesday.
There were so many people at Magic Kingdom that we struggled to move. We could not see the 3:30 PM Main Street Parade because of the volumes of visitors. After a few hours of fighting the crowds, and one ride at the Indy Motor Speedway, we had learned the lay of the land and were ready to attempt our next visit early one morning. Waiting times were sixty minutes or more for the rides and in many cases we could not see where the ride was because the line started somewhere else. We went back to the hotel on a shuttle bus that stops at every theme park.
I learned the following lessons at Magic Kingdom on Day 1.
a. Waiting sixty minutes in line for a ride is a civilized form of torture.
b. Be grateful if you are able to get on more than 2 rides in 3 hours.
c. People in crowds are rude and push children out of the way to get on a ride or see the parade.
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Day 2. Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney.
Left hotel on the 7 AM Shuttle and were in Animal Kingdom by 8 AM. There were no rides at the Safari Ride in Africa and we went on the safari three times, back to back. Each safari ride was slightly different because the animals move around in their small enclosures.
We then walked over and saw Bengal Tigers. I was impressed at the size of these cats. Larger than lions. Then onto the carnival rides by which time the park was getting crowded and lines were increasing to twenty minutes. Our sore feet directed us home and we caught a shuttle bus back to the hotel about lunchtime. Spent the afternoon swimming.
We saw that Magic Kingdom was turning visitors away because the park had reached capacity of 80,000 people.
Went to Downtown Disney in the evening. It took us 2.5 hours to get back to the hotel (About 3 miles) due to infrequent shuttle buses and uncoordinated shuttle schedules.
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Day 3.
Visited Sea World, using same taxi that we used on Day 1. It was great to walk out of the hotel and get into a waiting taxi. I can get used to this lifestyle.
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Vast degrade in service compared to Disneyworld. Sea World opened at 9 AM, compared to Disneyworld at 8 AM. Staff did not know how to operate turnstiles which delayed us ten more minutes. Then sections of the park were shut off until 10 am. We got in line to feed the dolphins and had to wait 15 minutes before the store opened to sell us 3 sardines for $5. Highlight of the day was to feed dolphins, Clyde and Seamore show (including the mime before the show), the manatees and the penguins. Walked under shark tanks. Rest of visit wasn’t great. Sea World is grossly Overpriced in my opinion.
Here is Clyde and Seamore show.
Took taxi back to hotel at 12:30. Swim and then dragged our bodies over to EPCOT. We rode on Spaceship Earth. It was worth the pain to enjoy this. We saw how the Gutenberg press contributed to the Renaissance. We went under Michelangelo painting the Sistine chapel. We loved EPCOT – Very educational – Hence not very busy.
We are living in new world when old concepts are explained in terms of computers terms. When I taught basic PC skills in 1990’s, we explained folders as analogous to metal filing cabinets with different types of files. Spaceship Earth explains to today’s generation that the Roman Empire is the same as the World Wide Web in terms of reaching all parts of the known world. - It also makes me feel really old, having worked with computers before the Internet existed J
We are sick of eating pizza and cheap sandwiches, but unwilling to continually pay high prices for food, day after day.
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Day 4.
Feet are sore. This reminds me of military basic training. At least when you are training for a road race you get to cop out sometimes if you were wise enough to establish a training schedule that give you some room for recovery.
Took the 7 AM Shuttle bus to Magic Kingdom. Cleared security and walked into the park at 8 AM. Straight down almost deserted Main Street to the Castle. (We could not get near the castle on Day 1). Then wandered around and enjoyed the deserted streets. Took a ride on Peter Pan’s flight. Next, visited “It’s a small world after all”. Were scared in the Haunted Mansion again.
Even the smells are realistic. Haunted mansion smells musty. Pirates of the Caribbean ride smells damp. So much attention paid to detail in Disneyworld.
What a pleasure to visit after Day 1, where we were pushing and being pushed through the Haunted Mansion. Next, we visited the Indy Motor Speedway again so that our son could drive.
We stood in line and rode three times. We took a Disney bus to MGM studios. We were not impressed at MGM studios and took a shuttle bus back to the hotel after an hour. Our sore feet, short tempers and the crowds were getting the better of us and we were done with Disneyworld.
This evening – enjoyed buffet at our hotel – Caribe Royale. Curtis remembered us from visit earlier in the week and gave us exceptional service. He recommended roast beef in red wine sauce. Excellent choice, as was the rice with Red Beans.
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Day 5.
Slept in. Got up late, checked out and snuck into breakfast buffet five minutes before the 11AM closing. Then went swimming at the pool until our shuttle bus took us to the airport for a 7:55 PM flight back to Connecticut.
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Overall impressions:
1. Disneyworld is well run, and organized, although you sometimes feel like a piece of prime beef being herded into a slaughter house.
2. The
educational attractions are almost always not well attended. The most mindless
attractions are in demand. This is a pity because the “Hall of Presidents” at
Magic Kingdom and “Spaceship Earth” at EPCOT are incredible history lessons.
Even at peak time, “Spaceship Earth” waiting line was under 20 minutes. The Hall
of Presidents has talking models of US Presidents. This was the first time I
ever heard President Bush deliver an eloquent speech
J
3. You don’t
realize how well Disneyworld is run until you go elsewhere. The service and
experience at Sea World was a joke compared to Disneyworld. Sea World staff are
not well trained, and generally disinterested in park visitors. Parallel
organizations with similar target market, but a morning at Sea World made us
realize the effect of smooth organization at Disneyworld. Disneyworld should be
a required case study for all business students. How do you get 50,000 staff
working together to create a clean, safe entertainment park? Well – Ask
Disneyworld management. They do it every day – and with a smile.
4. Visitors to
Animal Kingdom are smarter than visitors to Magic Kingdom. Animal Kingdom
visitors stop and read signs and learn about the animals. They ask questions of
the staff. Magic Kingdom visitors are rude, self-centered and only interested in
providing pleasure to their overweight bodies.
5. Magic
Kingdom can increase capacity by 30% if all visitors are weighed, and most are
required to lose 150 pounds before purchasing tickets. Wow. I was astonished at
the sheer size of many of these visitors.
6. Children
strollers these day come with all the bells and whistles. Bags for everything
and air-ride suspension. I am surprised that they are not self-propelled.
7. I was
surprised to find a Holy Bible in our hotel room, courtesy of The Gideons. With
so much focus on other religions these days, and trying to give everyone equal
rights we seem forget that our own religion is also important and offers
tremendous value to the world. I was able to read John 3:16 in Afrikaans.
8. The Turkey
Legs on offer at Disneyworld are a scene from a medieval feast. I shudder at the
thought of walking around all day gnawing at a piece of meat on a bone. They are
a popular menu item judging by the number of visitors we saw mauling them.
9. The “Fast
Pass” system was a complete waste for us. The rides we wanted a fast pass, did
not offer one. The rides we took had no or short waiting lines. “Fast Pass” did
not work for us at all.
10. Parents go on a
survival challenge when visiting Disneyworld. When we boarded the monorail, I
heard a father yelling at his children to “Go, Go, Go” and get the best seat.
The same family raced off the monorail into the park. This is how they started
their “Vacation”. It seems that a vacation should be more relaxed than this.
11. We are lucky to
live in Connecticut with fireworks in surrounding towns on the week of July 4
every year. In fact, we see so many spectacular fireworks that Magic Kingdom’s
spectacular fireworks did not impress us. Disney’s fireworks are very well done
but we are spoiled with similar events every July.
12. I am very lucky
to be visiting Disneyworld with my family. This would not be possible if we did
not take the leap of faith in 2000 when we left South Africa to move to the USA.
We could not afford this vacation if we were living in South Africa.
13. I got some great personal photos for my PowerPoint Presentations, making the whole trip very fruitful.