Day 2: Disney World

Monday just turned out to be the perfect day. I woke up before my wife, as I already know will be typical, took a shower, fixed breakfast and sat on the screened-in covered patio with breakfast, coffee and paper in hand. The mornings were beautiful every day in Florida. By the time I was finished, I woke up Taylor, and after a shower, we were off to Disney. Parking was quick (Sea World should take a lesson) and after a short tram ride we rode the ferry boat across the lake and disembarked at the entrance of Magic Kingdom.

We started the day looking thru some of the shops up and down main street Disney, eating some lunch along the way.

Circling back towards the entrance, we decided that since we planned to stay at the park until almost closing so we could see the fireworks, we should probably scout out where we were going to eat dinner. Outside Information services, we learned that the main restaurants were full, but were told to go ahead and try to make a reservation in the event someone canceled. Did I mentioned that it was a perfect day? As it turns out, we lucked out, and there was an empty spot at Liberty Tree Character Dinner and Dining.

We then worked our way down the shops on the other side of main street, made our way thru and around the castle and walked thru most of the park.

We decided to see the presentation in The Hall of Presidents, which I still remember from my visit in the early 80's as they had just added President Regan. To catch everyone up to speed, the presentation starts out on screens that follow the curve of the front of the theater, giving a quick history of the start of our nation. The screens then lift into the ceiling to reveal the 43 life size anima tronic presidents, some standing and some sitting. Each president was named in order from Washington to Bush, and as the president was named, he would be spotted, and the president would give a nod to the audience. Some of the presidents spoke, such as Lincoln and Bush, and if you watched others would nod or wiggle a foot as the program progressed. Those who talked even went so far as to stand up out of their chair when they spoke, even using their arms to push up out of the chair, and would then sit back down when finished. It was very much like what I remembered.

We also rode The Pirates of the Caribbean, which was also very much like I remembered, with a few additions from the movie.

They added an anima tronic Jack Sparrow in a few scenes, and one especially cool touch was the addition of a smoke screen that looked like a water fall that the cars passed thru, and on the smoke was projected the talking image of Davey Jones.

We eventually made our way back to the shops, as we had scouted out the souvenir we wanted to purchase, then made our way to dinner, where we took pictures of each other with the various Disney characters who came around to our table.

After dinner, we scoped out a spot on Main Street and watched the fireworks around Cinderella's castle (which were set to music), then afterward, made our way towards the entrance where the Spectromagic parade began. Every float and character was covered with lights.

After having ridden the ferry boat to the park entrance, we left via the monorail, rode the tram to our parking area, and made our way back to the condo to wind down and get some sleep in preparation for...Day 3...Epcot.