Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, Florida – is it really the happiest place on earth? I guess it all depends on your perspective. It’s certainly an enchanting place to be, and one where you can leave behind life’s cares and enter into a magical world of make-believe. People generally seem to either love or hate theme parks! As a family, we are definitely in the camp of theme park lovers. There’s something cathartic about parking all the worries of the world for a day and abandoning yourself to the thrills and spills of theme park rides and entertainment.
We started our day with breakfast (which we had pre-booked) in the Be Our Guest Restaurant. The restaurant is modelled on the beast’s castle from Beauty and the Beast. The girls loved dining in the enchanted atmosphere, watching the portrait of the prince change to the beast and watching the petal fall from the rose.
The rest of the day was spent in a happy blur of rides, meeting Disney characters and watching the parade and fireworks later that evening. Some highlights were : Its a Small World (just so cute), The Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse (really cleverly done), Gaston’s tavern (where you can sample “beer” made from apple juice topped with toasted marshmallow foam), Space Mountain and the Winnie the Pooh ride.
You could easily spend a couple of weeks in Disneyworld. As well as two water parks, there are four worlds to explore : Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Magic Kingdom (which we chose because it’s the most traditional) and Hollywood Studios. Universal also have two theme parks in Orlando. More than a few people were aghast that we only allocated one day of our itinerary to Disneyworld. However, it wasn’t the focus of our trip, and although a lot of fun, we were more interested in seeing the natural wonders of America. After a day of Disney princesses (and other delights, which I’m sure they secretly loved), we placated the boys with a day trip to The Kennedy Space Centre.
While we were in Orlando visiting Disneyworld and the Kennedy Space Centre we stayed at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. This added to the experience and was a lot of fun for the kids. Each section of the Resort was themed from a different Disney movie. The section we stayed in was Nemo themed (as was the pool complete with underwater speakers). The Cars themed area was also amazing.
A skywriter wrote a special message (pictured above), just as we were embarking on our journey to Miami. This was a great reminder of the source of all our happiness here on earth and into eternity.
Have you visited Disneyworld or Disneyland? Are you a theme park lover or hater?