And I Think This Should Wrap Up the Vacation...

Okay, so we are down to Magic Kingdom and Disney Springs. Those are the equivalent of Disneyland and Downtown Disney in California. The whole Magic Kingdom being Disneyland thing still throws me off. I think it should be Disney World (which it was before they started adding things) and all of the parks together should be the Magic Kingdom, but they didn't ask me so I didn't get to say.

But anyway...

Disney Springs. It wins over Downtown Disney as far as size and restaurants go. It's huge. Which is kind of the Disney World theme. More is more. BUT...it loses to Downtown Disney in how far it is from everything else and the lack of Disney specific stores. That was the weirdest thing to me. There was a World of Disney which is like all of the Disney parks stores in one space, but in Downtown Disney there is that and a few extra clothing stores and Disney snack places and Disney art studios. Disney Springs had more just regular mall stores instead. And the ton of restaurants.

And when we got there on Saturday? Forget about it. It was so packed. We tried to do a little shopping and a little looking around and just couldn't. We met my family for some dinner and chose a quick serve place that we had heard good things about. We were in line for 30+ minutes just to order and then had to sit at two tables outside. Which wouldn't have been too terrible but it was cold. Right? Florida was so freaking cold. We went from cold to hot and then back to cold during our trip. And Saturday night it was cold. I felt badly for my niece, I think by the time dinner was over she was really regretting coming to see us. Now, that could have been the company but I'm going to pretend it was the wind.

We would have spent a lot more time in Disney Springs if it had been closer to the hotel for sure but the night we went for fancy dinner (so good, I mentioned it in the first blog) we waited for close to an hour to get our bus shuttle back to the hotel. Just not at all convenient. If it had been it would have been really bad for our budget and our waistlines I think. I really did like the variety, the space, the much better during the week than on the weekend parts. But it just can't beat Downtown Disney for convenience. We hit up DD probably daily when we are in California. To grab food, to shop, to walk around outside of the parks. It's just so easy.

Dinner with the Fam. Love them. 

There was also a cute little photo place that was tied to our Memory Maker. I was not happy to see that our "act scared" was due to Mal. I would have acted "Fan Girl" if I had known!

Posing with the Lego Hulk is a tradition...now I've gone coast to coast.

And now the main event. The Magic Kingdom. Disneyland is The Happiest Place on Earth and The Magic Kingdom is The Most Magical Place on Earth. All things being equal I'd rather be happy but there is something to be said for magic.

It's similar but not the same. It's bigger. The streets are wider. The lands are a little more spread out. Cinderella's castle has turrets and gates that spread it out wider than Sleeping Beauty's castle. And there is a restaurant in Cinderella where you can walk through Sleeping Beauty's and see her story. So a little different. They have a few rides that are different, and few different spins on rides that are the same. And like all the rest there is just more to it. More rides, more areas, more space, and a ton more people.

But it's still the favorite park. The rest are fine, but The Magic Kingdom is just Disney. It's what you are thinking about when you think about going to Disney, it's what you want. But there are some differences. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Be Our Guest, they still have Country Bear Jamboree and The People Mover, and the Carousel of Progress (which was hilarious and sad at the same time), and I am sure more that I can't think of. We tried to hit things that we couldn't do in California or were different in Orlando and then work our way out from there. 

Christopher tried the Citrus Swirl which you can get along with Dole Whip in World. We were both excited to try it, as it was something new and he got it first. When he told me what it was I decided to pass. It's basically frozen OJ concentrate with vanilla ice cream. When I was a kid we would eat that as a replacement for being able to get Dreamsicles. I never want to eat that again. I told Christopher I already knew that it tastes like poverty and sadness. I'm kidding, but only kind of. He liked it and I bet if I didn't have baggage I would think it was fine as well, but I stuck with Dole Whip. You can never go wrong with Dole Whip.

Seven Dwarfs Mine train was like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but with smoother track action. That was the other game we played, trying to see which rides were the same frames with different skins. There are a lot that are Small World but...and a few Big Thunder Mountain with...styles. We liked it. It was fun. Still like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad better. And we think Big Thunder Mountain is actually longer in Magic Kingdom. Which is when the more is more is the best idea! AND...the line is covered and has things to look at and do while you wait so that's cool too. 

We did a special dessert buffet to get a reserved space to watch the fireworks show one night. The dessert was just okay, the weather did not cooperate and we were freezing, but the view of the projections on the castle was AMAZING. We were so impressed with what they can do with that now. They also used a lot of that technology the night we did the after hours Villian party. There was a stage show and they changed the castle for each villain. It was pretty darn cool. 

The after hours party was also really great. It was an extra ticket, but the crowds are small and you can ride things easier and just walk around without having people breathing on you constantly.  And it was villain themed so I loved it for that as well.

Space Mountain...well. This might be the biggest disappointment of our trip. We LOVE Space Mountain in California. It's a multiple rider for sure. And we were kind of impressed at the start for the Orlando version. The line is much cooler. In both ways. It's inside so you aren't baking like you are in California and it has some really neat things to look at. But the ride itself is awful. Like old school Matterhorn before they smoothed that out a bit awful. It's jerky and the cars are small and uncomfortable. It was one of the rides that was going to have a special theme for the Villains night so we rode it twice just to see the theme. Ugh. Not worth it. They added a little bit of a laugh and turned the lights out completely. California has a GREAT soundtrack and when they do overlays they do actual changes to the lights and music. It was just so not good. 

Pirates had the other additions for the Villains night and they added live actors into the ride. You had a pirate warning you in line that there was trouble ahead and then at a couple of spots in the ride there were pirates interacting with your boats. It was fun. Pirates overall is a better ride in California, but it wasn't bad in Orlando. 

I could talk about each area but I'll cut it off now.  The overall feeling for The Magic Kingdom was that it was the favorite park in Disney World, it was bigger than Disneyland, there were some real plusses to it. But it was super crowded. I think, for me, if you could change out the castle from Cinderella and put in the better Space Mountain then figure out how to get rid of a few hotels or streets or something in California I would like it better. In California. But since it's in Florida it's not my favorite, my favorite is the OG Park. But it was close.

This is actually from the restaurant of our hotel. Great view of the fireworks.

The monorail went right through our hotel.

Mal making her appearance at the Villains night

End of the night the Villains stand on the balcony and insult you as you leave! It was hilarious!

Waiting for Big Thunder...in the rain, it worked

It was a little wet

Giving our Meh instead of Ta Da reaction to Space Mountain

Christopher and I rode Splash Mountain at the Villains party but they weren't quite on the ball with the photo!

Our bundled up (it was 40) goodbye to The Magic Kingdom

So I think you've got the theme. It was big. It was crowded. Like crazy crowded. But we had a really good time. We got to spend a week together enjoying something we all like. We got to see things we had never seen before. We were able to see family not at a funeral so we weren't all crying at each other. We got to have some good food. We bought some fun things. But mainly we just enjoyed ourselves. 

Right now I'm even more grateful for that. I have no idea when we will see Christopher face to face again. We were going to go to a football game in September and then have the holidays together but I'm not sure that any of that will happen now. Our lives are all changed for the moment. And I am beyond grateful that it happened after we came home from vacation and not before. We planned for almost a year, just like everyone whose vacations were and are being cancelled right now. I am so sad for them and I hope they get a chance to go soon and have as much fun as we did. 

Disney.

Love it.