Janelle's Tour Through Disney World

For the past couple of years, we've purchased annual passes to Disney, which are available only to Florida residents, and they allow you to access any of the four parks here at any time. Well worth the expense if you love taking time off from the "real " world now and then, and enjoy being able to act like a five year old! We are not going to be able to afford renewing our passes this year with things like they are, so went for our last "hurrah" today.
The weather was perfect - about 70 degrees when we got there at a little after 8:00, and the crowd was very light. I guess with the economy like it is, and with school being back in session, is the reason for that.
Everything at the Magic Kingdom is decorated for fall/Halloween right now, and I hope you'll enjoy the little tour I'm going to take you on.

Me at the front gate to the Magic Kingdom.

The train station at Magic Kingdom. This is where Mickey and friends, as well as a family who is chosen to be special guests for the day, ride in on the train at the opening of the park each morning.
Here are a few of the Disney Characters greeting the crowd:
Snow White waving to everyone.


Mad Hatter, Alice in Wonderland, Chip n Dale, Daisy Duck and some Disney dancers
Now this guy was just BEAUTIFUL! You can see how extremely large he is by looking at the person walking beside him. He stood there stomping his left front hoof, as he waited for the lady who is the conductor on the trolley to tell it him was time to go down Main St. His hooves, by the way, were about the size of a small dinner plate!



Scarecrows, Disney Style. This is just inside the gate, and is where many of the characters go to sign autographs after they get off the train.
Disney's Main St., U.S.A. with Cinderella's Castle in the background. If you've ever been to Disney Land, the castle there is much smaller, as is the original Disney Land park.
On the way to our favorite ride at the Magic Kingdom, "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad", we were just walking through Frontier Land, and look who walks up, all dressed up like Davey Crockett! For once, I felt really tall! :) lol
"Big Thunder Mountain Railroad" - this is always the first place Bill and I head to when visiting the Magic Kingdom. This rollercoaster is just enough to be fun, and not be scary, even for the little guys. My days of riding fast rollercoasters which pull a lot of G's is over! We always ask if we can wait to get in line where we'll be able to ride in the very back car - it just seems more fun back there - like you can feel it pull you and whip you around the corners more.
Bill takin it easy for a few minutes - it's so rare that the park is as empty as it was today, so we were able to just stroll around at our leisure and not be rushed to get from one place to another. This is the advantage of having an annual pass - if you miss something one day, you just go back in a few weeks.
Now isn't that peaceful looking? The thing that some don't realize about this is that even though there's a Captain who mans this paddlewheel, it runs on a track underneath the water.
Next we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean, and yes girls, I DID try to get a pic of Johnny Depp to put on here, but the way they have it lighted inside, and also having a rule of no flash photography, I wasn't able to. You'll just have to make a trip down here to Florida and see it for yourself!
Here's a shot of Cinderella's Castle from the bridge at Tomorrowland. The past couple of years, we've watched them repair and reroof many sections of the castle to get it ready for "The Year of a Million Dreams", which has now lasted two years....
The man behind the dream - Walt died from cancer before Disney World opened.
This is one of our favorite places inside the Magic Kingdom! We never leave the park without first stopping by the Main St. Confectionery. If you buy a box of six pieces of fudge ( the best I've ever eaten by the way), they give you a 30% discount. We brought home 2 pieces of peanut butter fudge, 2 pieces of turtle fudge, and two pieces of plain chocolate fudge.

We were the only ones in line at the monorail as we were leaving the park, so I asked the conductor if we could ride up front. We've been able to do this before, but I wanted to try to get up front today, so I could take some pics to show you what the view is like from the front. I wish his windshield hadn't of been so dirty - with the humidity rising during the morning, and the love bugs coming in for their bi-annual visit, it was a little foggy looking.

After we got to the stop for the parking lot area, the conductor handed us Co-Pilot licenses. If you and your family get to travel here to Florida to visit Disney World - don't be afraid to ask for favors like this - they will do just about anything there to keep visitors happy. The LAST thing Disney wants is a bad rep.

The Grand Floridian Hotel - you better have some MAJOR bucks stashed away if you want to stay at any of the Disney hotels, but especially this one! We've been able to enjoy a little time there this past year, when one of the kids and the grandkids came down from Tennessee and stayed at the resort. It's a beautiful resort, and one wouldn't even have to leave the hotel to enjoy a really nice vacation. They even have a special pavillion there for weddings, which have Cinderella's Castle as the backdrop.
A topiary of Mickey that you see when you first come in, and as you're leaving. It amazes me how they can train these bushes, which takes years of pruning.
We were fortunate enough to find a back way into Disney, which keeps us from getting caught up in a lot of traffic. I wish I could've gotten this shot a little closer to the sign as you're leaving the property - it says, "See You Real Soon".

It has truly been fun to have our passes and be able to go down to the various parks at Disney and just take time to do something fun and what we find relaxing. It's something I'm going to miss this next year, but I'm sure we'll find other ways to spend our Saturdays and Sundays and have ALMOST as much fun! :)

So Long Mickey!