by Michael P. Coleman
While in Florida recently, I decided to take a sojourn to the granddaddy of all theme parks, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I used to take my daughters there every spring, but since my kids decided to grow up on me, I hadn’t been in a decade or so. I was excited to see how the park had changed.
As I have lots of family and friends in Florida that I’d not seen in years, and a few new places throughout the state that I wanted to explore, I realized that I only had one day during my trip to visit WDW and reminisce about spring breaks gone by at the Mouse House. I decided to do and document a whirlwind tour of the Walt Disney World Resort — Disney In A Day! After all, with today’s busy schedules, ubiquitous smartphones, and around the clock “on” schedules, I thought many would benefit from hearing a few strategies on how to have a comprehensive sun-up-to-sun-down WDW experience in a single day.
I recruited my sister Karen (who lives near Orlando) to join me, which was no easy feat as she loves to exclaim “I don’t do the mouse!”. Even as kids I could talk her into almost anything, and once she was on-board, I made arrangements for single day “Park Hopper” tickets, allowing us to jump between the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and the Animal Kingdom, riding and seeing the highlights of each park. I was optimistic that with an early start and a planned attack, we could get it all in.
We failed. You can’t. That’s not to say we didn’t have a good time. We had a GREAT one.
Karen and I’d decided to begin our day at the Magic Kingdom, and end with a nail-biting return to the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios. After Karen picked me up, we zipped into the immense parking lot, and hopped on a open-air tram…which took us to a boat…which took us to the park’s main entrance. Those steps seemed irritating at first, as we were both eager to tread ground together for the first time in over 30 years. I soon realized that those steps are a part of the Disney experience, helping us leave reality behind, for a while at least, and fully immerse ourselves into Walt’s wonderful world.
That transition was marred a bit by the line at Guest Relations, where our passes were being held. We spent over an hour in line, and there was no chain lift, shoulder harness, lap bar, or death-defying drop to justify it. We were amused by the guy in the Michigan State University hat who tried to jump from the back of the line because, in his mind, he shouldn’t have had to wait like everyone else. I saw to it that he waited. I will say that the Disney staff (or “cast members”, and they prefer to be called) were amazingly chipper with the restless crowd, even on such a hot, humid morning.
I hoped that Guest Relations queue wasn’t a precursor of what was to come once in the park. It was and it wasn’t. We waited several other times during the course of the day, but most lines were shorter than expected.
My sister and I decided to start with Pirates Of The Caribbean, which I hadn’t ridden since my own daughters were young. I’d heard that the ride had been retooled to help promote Disney’s Johnny Depp movies…and the line for it was inside, allowing us to cool off. This ride is one of many at Walt Disney World that features world-class, lifelike “animatronic” characters. The ride has in fact been upgraded, and even if you’re not a huge fan of the franchise (they kinda lost me after the first movie), it’s a fun ride.
After that, we cooled off on Splash Mountain, a classic flume ride that is thematically linked to what is perhaps Disney’s least known feature, 1946’s Song Of The South. The historian and completist in me was a bit disappointed that the ride didn’t include Uncle Remus, but given the nature of the film and that character’s stereotypical foundation, I understood why. Disney’s all about G rated, controversy free, family-friendly entertainment — and they certainly succeed at providing it throughout the Magic Kingdom.
Next up was Thunder Mountain, a rapid, rollicking roller coaster without the gut wrenching first drop that I usually crave. Again, a family-friendly coaster that riders of all ages can enjoy.
We then visited the Hall of Presidents, a curiously haunting show in which all of the country’s presidents seemingly come to life via the magic of Disney’s animatronics. During my first visit as a kid, Jimmy Carter was the current president; later visits with my own daughters featured Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. This time around, actor Morgan Freeman narrated a moving historical film that incorporated an animatronic Abe Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg address, and ended with robo-George Washington handing off the mike to “President Barack Hussein Obama”.
The attraction’s animatronic figures appeared amazingly lifelike and, after having just seen the film, which devoted a few minutes to slavery and the civil war, the Obama segment was a stirring climax to the show. I was particularly impressed that these animatronic presidents were able to hold the attention of today’s kids, just as they had over thirty years ago during my first visit to the park.
While in the neighborhood, we visited the nearby Haunted Mansion, another of Walt Disney World’s original attractions. It was a complete trip back in time. Outside fixtures have been updated – not repaired, as this IS the haunted mansion, after all! – along with some of the attraction’s visual effects. However, the overall experience retains its charm.
We ended our day at the park with one of my all-time favorite rides, Space Mountain, and WDW’s newest coaster, the 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride. The latter was surprisingly fun, recreating classic scenes from Disney first full-length animated feature, 1937’s Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, and including some of the park’s most realistic animatronic characters. (Spoiler alert: look for a very authentic-looking wicked witch, to your right, at the very end of the ride.)
We rode the new mine ride much sooner than expected, as another park guest, Waldo Laurencio from Miami, pulled us out of the hour-plus-long line with the promise of getting us on immediately with two of his unused Fast Passes. He said two of his party hadn’t made it, and he didn’t want the passes to go to waste. Semi-reluctantly, we gave up our place in line, ultimately trusting a total stranger and his kids, and ending up with a great ride, a good story, and potentially, a new friend. Only at Disney.
Somewhere between Liberty Square and Fantasyland, just before Karen yanked me into a Christmas-themed gift shop (no one does Christmas like my sister does), she suggested we stick around the Magic Kingdom and forego the late afternoon trip to Hollywood Studios. Over the course of just a few hours, my sister’s comically bitter refrain of “I don’t do the mouse!” had morphed into the joyous exclamation “Just one more ride before we go!”. The Disney magic that I’d first experienced in 1980 was as potent as ever.
We’ve already begun planning our next trip to Walt Disney World. Next time around, we’ll brave that Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios, but this time, we’ll plan to spend the entire day there, and plan a few other days for EPCOT and the Animal Kingdom. I need to seriously look into a few of those magical Fast Passes. I also just might call our new friend Waldo – if he’s free, maybe he and his family will join us.
Michael P. Coleman is a Sacramento, California-based freelance writer. Connect with him at michaelpcoleman.com, at mikelsmindseye@me.com, or on Twitter: @ColemanMichaelP
