Visiting Sunny Florida Part 2 – A Day at the Epcot and Disney’s Magic Kingdom

This is the second leg of our visit to the state of Florida on the east coast – a fun weekend at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, otherwise known as the “happiest place on earth”. It also included visits to the three other Disney theme parks in the area – Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios – which were all just as fun and exciting, waking up our inner child. The parks were all in Orlando, in Central Florida, about a three-hour drive from our home base in Fort Lauderdale. With much anticipation, we looked forward to this trip which my nephew has all mapped out ahead of our visit.

Our Disney tickets have been purchased and reserved way in advance, the way it has been since post-COVID-19. If you ask me, I think the price has become more and more exorbitant-now costing an ‘arm and a leg’. It covered entrances to all four theme parks though. Since we had only two days to visit them all, we crammed two parks in a day. On day 1, we went to the Magic Kingdom, the house of Mickey and Minnie Mouse; then rushed to the next one by 2 pm – to Epcot. On day 2 we visited the other two parks. It was a breeze transferring between parks, thanks to the buses that were just waiting to shuttle us around. We just had to get in line.

This is where we stayed - Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort about a 15-minute shuttle ride to Disney World. Our building is aptly named Hoops Hotel

The resort provided guests with shuttle rides to and from all four theme parks- all day, which was really nice and hustle-free. That’s comfort and convenience for the guests.

The following day, right after breakfast, we queued up for the Magic Kingdom Park, the equivalent of California’s Disneyland.

The MAGIC KINGDOM

Here’s the familiar entrance to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. It’s adorned with colorful flowers and Mickey’s ears. ….and the crowds. It looks like Disneyland!

There’s the enchanting Cinderella Castle, swamped as always by kids and adults alike.

In front of the castle is a garden with ‘golden’ statues of Disney characters.

Here's Minnie Mouse

And here's the funny Goofy

The “big boys “ went for the new rides while I stayed on the ground, just snapping pictures and feasting my eyes on the castle and enjoying the ambiance. I love going to Disney not for the rides but rather for the happy crowd and sights.

Off they went to Tomorrowland

They went to Space Mountain, a wild roller coaster ride in the dark that zooms through “outer space” that leaves you wobbly and dizzy afterward.

And then later, they tricked me into lining up to a train roller coaster. They said it was like a kiddie ride. Nope, it wasn’t. I ‘almost died’.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iduOATRd_c4

It was the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride. It climbs through a gold mine, rip-roaring through twists and turns at lightning speed - the wildest ride ever!

EPCOT

By two o’clock we transferred to another theme Park..the Epcot. It also has exciting rides, but what makes it unique is that it offers international cuisine from around 11 different countries. They are in separate pavilions but collectively called the World Showcase.

This is Epcot’s icon- a giant ball called Spaceship Earth.

There was a food and wine festival so we walked around, scouting for places to grab a bite or drink. The place was packed!

This place was massive.. it seemed like we walked for a mile. The “big boys “ had rounds of German beer. I had pretzels.

Giant pretzel, anyone?

Remember the Spaceship Earth at the Epcot entrance? It looks beautiful at night.

So our first day went very smoothly, and the weather was perfectly fine – none of that famed Florida heat nor the sudden burst of rain that often happens in these subtropics. It was a perfect day for family bonding, hustling around like kids, getting to know Epcot, and of course, basking in Disney’s Magic.

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