The Ultimate New Years Eve Party, Pt. 4

Photo courtesy of Glenn Payne

Our last day of this ultimate New Year's weekend in Florida was spent at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. This was my first visit in over twenty years, and the only thing I remembered from that vsit was a splitting headache that forced me to quit riding after one spin on Space Mountain. For this particular visit, I wanted so much to avoid comparisons with Disneyland in Los Angeles. I wanted to take in the park and enjoy it for what it is. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that. I found myself constantly thinking "oh, I like this Tomorrowland so much better than Disneyland's!" or "Fantasyland at Disneyland is so much prettier than this." As hard I tried, I just couldn't help comparing the two parks throughout the day. Surprisingly there are notable differences between the two parks, but fortunately both are great. The Magic Kingdom is wonderful. It's Disney! Yes, it's very different from Disneyland. And thank goodness! In fact, I was really surprised at just how different the two parks actually are. The Magic Kingdom is so much bigger. Everything is spread out more. The avenues are longer, the walkways are wider and distances between rides are greater. There also appear to be a lot more public seating areas at Magic Kingdom. Of course the Florida influence adds its own unique character, as does the LA atmosphere at Disneyland. Disneyland is much more intimate, more vintage looking, and has, I think, more character. But the Magic Kingdom feels more relaxed, less pushy, and just plain bigger. Which do I prefer? I'd have to say Disneyland. I like the vintage look, and I love the Matterhorn. Ultimately it comes down to Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World and Indiana Jones that make Disneyland the winner for me. The Magic Kingdom loses some of its magic with it's not-so-magical treatment of It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. Tomorrowland is hands down the best area in the park. It is magnificent! Both the decor and the rides here are outstanding. Alien Encounter scared the bejeezus out of me! That alien licked my head! And Buzz Lightyear was such a great surprise! I cannot stress how much fun this high tech shoot-em-up ride was! It was so much fun, we got back in line to do it all over again. This time Cindy let *ME* man the spinning control while she concentrated solely on shooting the targets. And what did she do? She scored 134,300!!! From now on when we're on rides where any kind of shooting is involved, Cindy get yer gun. I also LOVED Timekeeper with Robin Williams! The photography is absolutely flawless, for once the storyline makes sense and is easy to follow, and surprisingly Robin Williams is *fabulous* in the role of Timekeeper. I laughed, I was in awe, and I could not stop looking around. Usually Cinema 180's are losers, but Timekeeper is a bona fide keeper and I *highly* recommend it! This day at the Magic Kingdom worked out wonderfully. Jeff Tolotti met up with Susan, Cindy and I at 10:00. We arrived an hour earlier, which gave us time to do Alien Encounter, Buzz Lightyear twice *and* enjoy a fantastic apple strudel and coffee at the Main Street Bakery. This apple strudel was seriously yummy - a *HUGE* freshly baked piece chock full of apples, cinnamon, raisins, dates and nuts. I'd have expected to pay an arm and a leg for this, but the strudel and coffee was surprisingly under five dollars! This reminds me how underrated the food is at Disney parks. Epcot, too had a ton of nice looking places to eat. We rode everything at the Magic Kingdom. Once again, fate was kind to us and our waits were minimal, with most everything close to a walk on. We used the Fast Pass system judiciously to bypass the only large crowds of the day at Splash Mountain and Winnie the Pooh. Once Jeff arrived we went to Timekeeper, then we rode Space Mountain. Jeff had managed to snag two Fast Passes, so he and Cindy boarded early while Susan and I waited in line for fifteen minutes at most, and the ride op let us have the front. Space Mountain is my favorite Disney coaster, and I wish the Magic Kingdom would add the Dick Dale soundtrack. It adds so much to the ride experience! Next we rode the Mad Tea Party. All four of us crammed into our little purple tea cup and proceeded to spin like crazy! When Jeff jumped in we all went "WHOA!" I should also add the spinning wheel did get a little porno pole-ish feeling after we were done! We made our way into Fantasyland next, got our Pooh FastPass, and rode Snow White's Scary Adventures, which was a walk on. This ride is GREAT! I loved it! We all got into a big argument afterward about which movie and witch were better - Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. I prefer Sleeping Beauty, both the movie and witch. Cindy likes Cinderella, which obviously doesn't have a witch. She had all of us in stitches when she named Ursa in The Little Mermaid as her favorite witch and proceeded to perform a dead-on monologue straight from the film: "Look at me....wasting away to practically nothing.... Life's full of tough choices, ... idn't it!" Thanks to some creative maneuvering by our hostess with the mostess, Jeffetta, we quickly got our FastPass tickets for Splash Mountain and got in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I love this roller-coaster! It's my favorite mine train, and between the two Disney parks I give the edge to the Magic Kingdom's version. I love the rustic station that takes you down to the bottom of the mountain, and there's a great little manuver in the first part of the ride that doesn't exist in the Disneyland version. I also really like the theming incorporated into the ride. Normally this kind of thing does matter on a roller-coaster but on Big Thunder Mountain, theming is essential to the ride experience. It's setting is also very unique. This particular area seems very remote from the rest of the park, but I like it's wide open spaces. The Haunted Mansion was next. Wow, this is VERY different from the Disneyland version! I love the Mansion at Magic Kingdom, it actually looks like a real Haunted Mansion. But their overuse of flourescent is way too amateurish for this state of the art attraction! Jeff gave us a great explanation for how some of the ghost scenes are created! It was time for Splash Mountain. This really is a fantastic ride and if it weren't for Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls at Islands of Adventure, Splash Mountain would easily be my favorite log flume ride. The boat has good speed and it's a very entertaining attraction with the typically high standard theming and technical wizardry Disney has become known for. Unfortunately ol' Brer Rabbit kept causing technical difficulties, and our ride was constantly interrupted with stoppages. I was a little surprised we weren't allowed to go again but nevertheless, I still very much enjoy this ride. It also has to be the longest ride of its type, with a duration of at least nine minutes. If this were a typical Six Flags style log flume that kind of length might start to get a little tedious. Thankfully Disney knows how to keep the entertainment going! We hurried to make it to our Pooh FastPass. Susan was *so* excited to ride this. She absolutely loves Winnie the Pooh cartoons. She oohed and ahhhed throughout the whole ride, and I also thought it was very cute. At one point our car rocked back and forth, which I thought, if I were a kid, I would have had a giggle fit. I'm sorry they took out Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to make room for this, but Pooh is a great Disney ride. We took a little stroll over to Mickey's Toontown Fair, which, according to Jeff, has undergone many Mickey's _____ transformations. We rode the Barnstormer, which brought my coaster count to 207. I thought Barnstormer was a perfect choice for that number! It's a Vekoma (wow, I'm actually using manufacturer's names now, call me Mr. Althoff!) Roller Skater, the only two train Roller Skater in existence (boy, I'm on a roll now!) This was only my second Roller Skater and I think they're alot of fun. I especially loved the way this coaster went through Goofy's barn (and the impression it made in the side of the barn is very funny!) Next we went back to It's a Small World. Tsk, tsk. WHAT were they thinking? I couldn't tell if Jeff was disgusted by the botched entrance or the entire ride in general. Many people liken Its a Small World to Chinese water torture, but I happen to think it's adorable! We all stopped for some ice cream treats. Susan couldn't wait to bite the ears off her Mickey Mouse ice cream sandwich. I got an orange juice bar which actually tasted like honest to goodness, frozen orange juice concentrate! One of these days I'm finally going to come back from Florida with a bag of oranges. All day long I had been hearing negative snipes about Pirates of the Caribbean. This is my favorite ride at Disneyland, so Cindy warned me not to expect too much. Finally we entered what I thought was a very impressive queue, and boarded our boat. WHAT HAPPENED??? What a disappointment! No pirate talking over the entrance, only a voice coming out of nowhere. Only one drop (in complete darkness which I thought was cool - hey I give credit where it's due!), and no build up at all. Instead, you're led right into the pirate ship battle. Only this battle apparently substituted air rifles for cannons! The red glows from each cannon were accompanied by a pitiful sounding "pfft" that even made Susan groan! It was awful!!! We got off Pirates of the Caribbean fairly disappointed. I didn't want to leave like this! Fortunately we stumbled on Swiss Family Robinson on our way out! This ride was recently changed to Tarzan at Disneyland, causing a small uproar among SFR fans, yours truly included! What fun it was to climb up into the tree and see the little rooms, with little poems posted out front. Ah!!! I can go home now. Before we left the Magic Kingdom, Jeff and I wanted to do some shopping. We both bought Epcot's Milennium Celebration CD. I also bought a navy blue DisneyWorld sweatshirt, while Cindy got a Tigger shirt. We also fell vicitim to the worst of Disney. "Disney's Magical Moments Parade" was clogging up the streets and blocking our exit from the park. This is cheese at its most ripe. Solid Gold Cindy proceeded to amaze (and disgust) all of us by performing a dead-on imitation of what was taking place on each float, with exaggerated hand and arm gestures....."It's time...to remember....the magic!" Our time in Florida had come to an end. It's probably a good thing, since my feet had worn out their welcome! We took the resort tram, rather than the parking lot tram, back to our car (a good tip for those of you leaving the park at closing time, it'll reduce your wait immensely and still stop at the parking lot) in order to have a better look at the Wilderness Lodge, a place I would *love* to stay sometime! It was hard saying goodbye to Jeff and Cindy, who were with us everyday and made me laugh so much, and who's company I so enjoy. Besides, we they were off to ride Countdown to Extinction at Disney's Animal Kingdom! I really love you guys! This was without a doubt the most perfect trip I've ever taken. The weather, the flights, car, hotel, roads, parks, crowds, lines - all were perfect. In addition, we got to hang back and spend time with good friends who always make us feel comfortable and welcome. This was a trip I very much needed to take, and I enjoyed everyone's company immensely. In addition, I know Susan felt the same way. I can always tell when she's enjoying herself because she goes off to ride with *her* friends. So, on behalf of Susan and myself, I'd like to say a very sincere thank you to Cindy, Jeff, Champagne Steve, Jim, Kevin, Kaley, Victor and Jerry. You guys made our new year a wonderfully happy one, indeed. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! Mark