Vacation: Disney Theme Parks, Florida
Here is my next installment for fun Florida vacations! This time, I’m focusing on Disney. Obviously a very family friendly set of parks. Let’s break down the attractions:
Magic Kingdom
This is the oldest of the theme parks, first opening in 1971, and identified by the famous Cinderella Castle. It is the most visited theme park in the world. It is divided into 7 lands listed below. The areas are designed to allow you to experience the past, present, and future of Disney.
1) Main Street, USA – shows the architecture and culture from around the country. All of the attractions, restaurants, and such represent different areas of the US. This is where you can board the Walt Disney World Railroad which takes you on a 20 minute tour around the entire park.
2) Adventureland – It is designed to look like a conglomeration of different foreign lands (Middle East, South Pacific, Africa, South America, and Asia). It has rides that match the theme, such as Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Swiss Family Treehouse, and The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
3) Frontierland – This is themed after the Wild West. The attractions here include Splash Mountain, Tom Sawyer Island, Country Bear Jamboree, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
4) Liberty Square – This area represents a town during the American Revolutionary period. The attractions here include the Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents, Riverboat, and Rivers of America.
5) Fantasyland – This area is designed to look medieval and has a carnival/fair atmosphere. The representative attractions here include Snow White’s Scary Adventures, “It’s a Small World”, Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, Pooh’s Playful Spot, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and Peter Pan’s Flight. The Cinderella castle is here!
6) Mickey’s Toontown – Find all of your cartoon friends here! You will find “Goofy’s Barnstormer”, “Donald’s Boat”, and Mickey’s and Minnie’s Country houses in this part of Disney.
7) Tomorrowland – This area represents the Space Age and has attractions to match, including the famous Space Mountain, Speedway, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Astro Orbiter, and Stitch’s Great Escape.
There is also tons of places to eat and shop. The entertainment is top notch as well. You can meet all the Disney characters throughout the park, watch parades, get involved in the Street Party, watch fireworks, listen to Storytime with Belle, watch live stage shows, learn how to be a pirate, and much more!
Epcot
This theme park first opened in 1982 and was built to showcase human achievements, imagination, and concepts of the future. The park is in 2 main sections – Future World and World Showcase.
Future World is divided into pavilions that explore technology. You are welcomed into this section by “Spaceship Earth” – the huge giant ball often pictured as the face of Epcot. This is also a omnimover ride. Attractions in this section include Soarin’ (simulates hang-gliding), Mission: SPACE (motion simulator ride), Ellen’s Energy Adventure, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Test Track (automotive testing facility), Innoventions, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Imageworks – The Kodak “What If” Labs, and more!
The World Showcase has pavilions which represent 11 countries: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. The cool thing about these areas is that they have attractions, shops, and restaurants that are representative of those countries. They are even staffed with citizens of those countries! This is obviously a little more catered to adults, especially because they serve alcoholic beverages throughout the area.
Hollywood Studios
This park used to be called “MGM Studios” for those of you who may have visited in the past. The feature you will see immediately upon entering the park is The Sorcerer’s Hat from Fantasia. The park was built to show you Hollywood-style action (live shows, tours, attractions). It is designed like a motion picture studio with lots of streets and buildings. There are tons of fun things to do here, including The Great Movie Ride (recreations of memorable moments in movies), Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage, Voyage of the Little Mermaid (live show recreation of the film), The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (simulates a 13 story drop), Star Tours (Star Wars full-motion simulator), Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith (roller coaster set to music), Muppet Vision 3-D (3D film tour through Muppet labs), Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, The American Idol Experience, and much more.
Downtown Disney
This area has more than 70 choices for dining, shopping, and entertainment. It is divided into 3 sections – West Side, Marketplace, and Pleasure Island. They have a 24-screen AMC theater, Cirque du Soliel La Nouba show, DisneyQuest 5-story indoor gaming experience, the largest Disney character store in the world, Characters in Flight (rides in a giant tethered balloon), The House of Blues, Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe, T-Rex A Prehistoric Family Adventure (dinosaur themed restaurant with hands-on areas for kids), and more.
I could have written so much more about each location because there are endless activities throughout each park. These parks will keep you busy for days. I’ve done all of these at various ages. Most recently, I’ve visited Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney. One word of warning, most Disney parks are very expensive. I believe my wife and I paid about $80 per person at the gate for Hollywood Studios! And for us, it wasn’t worth it because we didn’t spend an entire day there. You get more bang for your buck if you take a family here. For 2 adults, there just isn’t enough to do to justify the price. Downtown Disney on the other hand is worth the trip. I’ve always liked this area because of the unique building and attractions. It reminds me a bit of City Walk in Orlando. Disney Quest is a lot of fun! I’d recommend a trip to Downtown Disney for no other reason than to hit this!
