When we got to the Magic Kingdom parking lot, we noticed the amount of cars. It looked as if it was going to be a crowded day. We got our tix and rode the monorail to the Magic Kingdom gate. This was my first time riding the WDW Monorail. Needless to say, it really freaked me out when we were pulling into the station at the Contemporary Resort . We passed directly over this indoor cafe with the waiters and people serving and walking directly beneath the track
! First time I have seen that before!
After we got to the Magic Kingdom, we hung around the front Emporium shop for a little while. I picked up presents for my family and gf. From there, a friend and I decided to head to Space Mountain first. We got there and it was down. So we decided to check out this arcade immediately next door.
As soon as it opened, we were in line. I will provide descriptions of my ride experiences below with my rating:
Space Mountain - 15 min. wait - 8/10- Pretty decent. I was happy to see such a large capacity being used with the two seperate coaster tracks. The ride itself had neat effects but was a bit bumpy and jerked around the curves. Thought it was fun for my first ride ever on it!
We passed by Mickey's Toontown Fair over to Fantasyland next...
It's a Small World - 15 min. wait -6/10- What can I say? It is definately geared towards the smaller generation. I loved the animitronics being used. That's all I really have to say, besides that fact that we got stuck in one of the rooms for 10 mins due to a backup (one of the rooms with the main theme playing)
.
Mickey's Philharmagic - 25 min. wait - 10/10- Excellent show! The 3D effects were awesome! Disney did a real nice job on this one, including adding certain effects built into and around the theater! I won't say anything else, because I do not want to give away spoilers. If you visit Magic Kingdom, make this a MUST on your trip.
Haunted Mansion - 10 min. wait - 8/10 - I loved the themeing used on this one! My only problem was that it was way too short. It looks like it would have been a lot longer from the size of the building looking from the outside.
At this point we decided to try Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but the line was over an hour, and we had to meet with the other friends of ours for the afternoon parade. So we elected to take the Disney World Railroad back to Main Street....
Walt Disney World Railroad - No wait- 10/10 - This proved to be our key to getting around the park quickly on this day. What a neat steam operation! The engines and track are excellently cared for, and run well. Definately one of the best theme park railroad operations that I have seen in a while
.
After the parade in the afternoon, we chose to get dinner from Frontierland. We took the railroad back to Frontierland, and we got a Fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We elected to get one of those huge turkey legs for dinner. That was a great dinner because the turkey leg was almost the size of your head. It tasted really good, and was very filling! I wish Six Flags would sell something like this.
After dinner, we arrived at BTMRR for our Fastpass riding time...
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - 4 minute wait with Fastpass - 10/10 - Awesome ride! Definately the best mine train that I have ever ridden. I loved the themeing, and Big Thunder delivered on its drops and turns. This is another ride that I would recommend.
Pirates of the Caribbean - 20 min. wait - 5/10 - I thought that Pirates was pretty dissapointing. The themeing was OK, but it wasn't anything very special. You can tell that this ride is showing its age.
Jungle Cruise- 20 min. wait - 7/10 - Decent. I loved the deep jungle theme and the use of the low-riding jungle themed cruisers. The only low point here was our extremely cheesy ride narrator. He also didn't seem very enthusiastic about working Jungle Cruise that day.
After Jungle Cruise, we had about an hour left until we had to meet our group to watch the fireworks show in the evening. So the two of us took the Disney World Railroad back to Tomorrowland. Joel returned to the arcade, while I went to take some pictures, and get a second ride on Space Mountain...
Wishes Fireworks Show- 10/10 - Excellent fireworks show! It was full of color and was very lengthy. I also loved the use of laser technology in the middle of it.
Overall, this was a great day for my first trip to the Magic Kingdom. The midways were very crowded all day. I was surprised at the amount of people that were there, for it being early March. The ride lines were short all day due to Disney's excellent pension for capacity. This is definately one of the best capacity parks out there. The employees were also very helpful and courteous! When I bought my ticket at the beginning of the day, the ticket vendor was nice enough to give me her own personal plan of a day's outing at the Magic Kingdom. She also gave me recommendations of where to go when. Best part is she did it all with a smile! How many parks out there give you customer service like that??
Thanks for reading!
