The Mellado's Disney Adventure ReportDates: 6/26-7/5, 1999 (ten day trip) Adventurers:
Copyright 1999-2006 |
Day 7: Friday, July 2,
1999 Again, excitement set in very early in my brain, and I was up by 6:00 a.m. The kids slept soundly on, and I didn't hear a peep from Dad & Lucila next door, so I decided to walk around part of the CBR lake and take some photos. I took a quick shower, and refreshed, equipped with my fanny pack, refillable mug, movie camera, and 35mm, I was ready to go. (Nothing like traveling light, you know) It was already warm, and of course, humid. The walk around the lake was beautiful. It was that time of morning where there was light, but not everyone was up quite yet, so it was very peaceful. I walked to the pool, and there was one lady in there enjoying the warmth of the water in the morning sun. I took a quick picture from the pool area of Martinique across the way, and continued. The only other sounds were the birds and the occasional jogger taking a lap around the lake. I kept marveling at the beauty of this resort, and the aromatic air caused by the many flowering plants here. I reached the end of the lake, near the island of Barbados. There is a wooden walkway here, covered by trees, and surrounded by some kind of plant with beautiful white flowers, and the occasional bench to sit and relax while listening to the birds and cicadas as they go about their daily lives. I could have spent more time here relaxing, but I continued on, greeting the infrequent passersby on the way back to their rooms, refillable mugs in hand. There were a couple of very energetic young children on the beach of Martinique, and I filmed them as they took turns swinging each other on a hammock. There was such innocence in their pleasure, and I could remember a time when I, too, used to play so carefree.........heck, sometimes I still do.... lol. Still filming, I came up to Center Towne, and a kind person that I could kind of see through my viewfinder opened the door so I could go into the food court. After filming in there, and filling my mug with pink lemonade, I went to the little store and bought some milk for the kids' breakfast. It wasn't as easy filming with milk & mug in hand, but I continued, and got the fish off the bridge to Parrot Cay Island, and the birds. By now more guests were up and about, and I figured it was time to make my way back to the room. I opened the door to find the kids all dressed and almost ready for the day. Dad & Lucila were also up, and they were ready to go. We had breakfast, and we were out the door. Now, I know by reading the boards, that using WDW transportation to get to the MK is the way to go. But, no one else in our party (shall I say, Dad & Lucila?) reads the boards, and couldn't fathom any other way to get to the MK, but by riding in our minivan (the nicely air conditioned, roomy one, I might add). So, after gearing up for the day, we all piled into the van and set off to the MK. The kids were so excited. We arrived at the parking booth, and after checking the dates on our parking permit from CBR, the CM waved us through with a smile. We still had a little ways to drive to get to the actual parking lot. We passed the exits to the deluxe resorts, and the Richard Petty Raceway. The boys' interest perked up at this point but maybe another time. They're pretty young, still, and you need a driver's license to participate. Finally, we came to the parking lot. I didn't even try to use my AAA parking permit. There were too many cars streaming in, and I knew I didn't have a chance. But the parking spot we got wasn't bad, and soon we were on the tram. We really seemed to have pretty good luck wherever we parked. The tram dropped us off at the TTC. It was different than I expected. It was pretty big, with an area to buy tickets, and past that the boarding area. To our right were the monorails, and to the left was the ferryboat. We decided to take the ferry. Although there were a lot of people, it was not really that crowded, so we had a nice ride. We could see the castle rising above the Magic Kingdom. I couldn't get over what an impressive sight that was. As we pulled away we could see the beaches of the Poly. To the right of the 7 Seas Lagoon was the Contemporary and to the left was the Grand Floridian, with the wedding chapel off to the side. It was such a pretty boat ride, and we were so excited, because we could see Cinderella's castle rising up from the Magic Kingdom. I'm used to seeing Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland, and it isn't nearly as majestic as the castle at the MK. I was reminded of when I was a child and we could see the Matterhorn when going to Disneyland, before the surrounding buildings rose up around Disneyland, obscuring the view. However, nothing comes near to the feeling you get when you see Cinderella's castle in the distance. It's so beautiful. The boat docked and we walked right off and to the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. The entrance is basically set up the same as Disneyland's, except for the ferry landing, monorail, and bus entrances (quite different, lol). Once through the entrance, the sight of the familiar Mickey face in flowers greeted us, with the train station above it. We took the right tunnel to Main Street. Although, the basic setup is the same, there are a lot of differences between the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. Once we went through the tunnel, I could see that the lockers were located underneath the train station, where at Disneyland, they are located about halfway down the street and off to the right. Here, everything seemed so much bigger, too. There are stairs to both train stations, but here, the station is actually on the second story. The locker area has a lot of old pictures, which I found interesting to look at. We decided to begin with a train ride around the park so we could kind of see how the Magic Kingdom was laid out. (I asked for Bruce Metcalf-a poster on the WDW list, & found out he was working that night, so we didn't see him). The train ride was nice, but I was expecting to see a little more of the Magic Kingdom, like you can see Disneyland, but the train tracks are more isolated at the MK, so we saw very little of the park. 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