Disneyworld is so big it warrants a post dedicated to it. Disneyworld is apparently the size of two Manhattan islands, or the size of the city of San Francisco.
That. Is. Ginormous.
It consists of 4 main parks, of which I visited 3 – Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We stayed at one of the Disneyworld resorts called Fort Wilderness. It’s a forested area with cabins and campsites for pitching tents. We stayed in one of the cabins and it was damn fun!
See, the exterior of our cabin and the surrounding area. Since it was raining in Florida for quite a bit just before we arrived, small “ponds” were found behind our cabin from the rainwater. We saw tadpoles in the ponds. The cabin can sleep 6 people comfortably; there’s a bedroom that holds 1 queen size bed and a bunk bed, and then in the living room there’s a pull-down Murphy bed. I have never in my 23 years of existence seen a Murphy bed in real life, so it was certainly interesting. In the cabin there is also a dining table and a working kitchen with a huge fridge, oven, microwave and cooker. Outside our cabin is also a sitting area with a picnic bench and a BBQ pit.
Even the bedspread has a Mickey emblem on it.
Each day we have to walk about 2 minutes out to the nearest shuttle stop to take a bus to main bus depot servicing our resort. From that depot we would ride other buses to the different parks. That goes to show how big Disneyworld is.
Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom is, well, animal kingdom. It’s a theme park and safari built into one. The must-go of this park is the safari ride where we are taken through a savanna showcase of animals.
Our safari vehicle.
The safari is named Harambe Wildlife Preserve, and being the true Disney experience, the ride simulated a ride through a wildlife preserve where we chase after imaginary poachers and eventually nabbing them. On the ride we saw giraffes crossing our path, baby African elephants, white and black rhinos, various antelopes and deers, a pride rock and lions and also cheetahs. It was a great ride! Because of the very convenient FastPass system, we are able to secure our spots in a queue without physically being there. If not, the average wait for this ride is 1 hour.
Apart from the safari rides there is a zoo portion showcasing animals in enclosures.
From top left: Flamingoes, bald eagle, okapi, some primate I don’t care for, meerkat and another okapi. I really like the okapi. It’s so archaic looking. FYI, the okapi is not related to the zebra even though it has stripes. It is in fact the closest relative to a giraffe, even though it’s not as tall. I first saw the okapi in the Museum of Natural History in NY and thought it’s extinct and then I saw the real ones in Animal Kingdom! Imagine my delight!
Apart from these animals, there were tigers. That kept staring at me.
The tiger is found is another part of the park that is themed to be India and the nearby Nepalese region. See the art on the wall that mimic an old India.
It is at this part of the park we found ourselves in Nepal.
Staring up at Everest.
It never ceases to amaze me the effort and money put into building theme parks. And in retrospect, it is funny how I saw so many wild animals out of their natural habitat in this trip to the US.
Epcot
Epcot is a park that brings together the different cultures of the world and also showcase what the future world might be like.
This giant golfball is the emblem of Epcot. In it houses a space-related exhibition.
I particularly loved the parts of the park where they showcase the different cultures of the world, even building small replicates of these countries.
I found the miniature Temple of Heaven (天坛) particularly amusing. because I have been to the real one and I’d have to admit it’s a great job done copying it. The outside, that is. The cuter part is how you enter the Temple of Heaven and find Qin dynasty terracotta warriors. We also visited little Germany and indulged in German sausages and German beer. Epcot is the only Disneyworld park where you can find and consume alcohol.
The park is so big one can spend a good part of the morning and afternoon weaving through the buildings, strolling from Canada to China to Mexico. Oh yes, there’s an amazing ride at Epcot that’s imported from the Anaheim Disneyland called Soar, which is a 4-D ride that showcases the diverse scenery of California. The seat lifts you up to this gigantic screen and air is blown towards you to create the sensation of flying and dropping over the Californian landscape. It was a truly awesome ride, and definitely worth the 1 hour queue time.
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom. The holy grail of Disneyworld. No trip to Disneyworld is complete without Magic Kingdom. The castle, the character shows, the magic of Disney.
I like this photo of the castle. Looks like it’s burning up, no? :d
Mickey and crew parading around Magic Kingdom. Apparently there’s a trail where you can follow them on the parade.
Me in the Class of 2009 Mickey hat. See, Sarah and I saw some people wearing this in Animal Kingdom and we wanted one too. We hunted around all the shops we passed by but we couldn’t find it. We eventually found it in Magic Kingdom and we so had to buy it, since we’re class of 2009 too. So I wore the cap wherever I went in Magic Kingdom and some people actually commented it’s cute. The Disney staff would congratulate us on our graduation when they saw the cap. It was super fun!
One highlight of Magic Kingdom is the fireworks show at night. So we stayed and staked out in front of the castle by 8 plus and the show started at 9pm. The crowd was crazy, as with any fireworks show.
I like this photo of the castle too. Looks eerie~~~
These photos are dedicated to my fireworks-loving friends including and not limited to KL, TS, Cel.
Below is the video I took in honour of those named above, so that at least some one will derive joy out of this:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK3yv6g9Q5E]
The fireworks… aren’t as spectacular as I expected. I expected Disney things shooting up the sky, like many many Mickey ears or something. Alas, nothing of that sort. I did feel that part of my exorbitant entrance fee is shooting up and burning in the sky though.
And a parting shot – confetti a la Disney.
i’m so glad my first disney was the hong kong one – otherwise i’d have gone to it feeling totally disappoint in comparison to the other disneylands/worlds!
sleeping in a cabin sounds so cute. must have been crazy, though, the amount of legwork to cover the theme parks!
WAH fireworks!
I can’t view the vid though! I think there’s something wrong with my computer or something, BAH.
You make me want to go to the US!! :(
Yeah.
Then again I don’t intend, in the near future, to go to another Disney themepark.
The amount of legwork, yes. But you don’t feel it cos there’s so much to see and do and we diid take frequent stops to drink/eat snacks/eat gigantic turkey leg/read map.
Haha I took the vid for you all loh. My hand tired, LOL.
Anyway of course my posts are meant to make people want to go to the US. I had a great time there (not like HK).
You just need to go once in your lifetime bah. If you do a budget trip, it won’t be as expensive as mine bah.