November 29, 2001 - Magic Kingdom

This morning we're scheduled to drive to Cape Canaveral for a 7:41 P.M. launch of the space shuttle, the first one since September eleventh.  Ourb neighbor, Woody, has broken a valve on his water heater and wants a ride to Camping World to try to replace it.  I happily volunteer to drive him there and get out of the madhouse for an hour or so.  Together, map in hand, we brave Disney IntraWorld Highway System.  Camping World doesn't have the part, but Woody is a delightful and interesting guy who lives, with his wife Ann, in Punta Gorda.  He has bought his small motor home in order for Ann to provide a support vehicle as he rides his bike from Florida to Massachusetts this coming summer.  When we return to our Fort Wilderness campsite, the family has gone to an amusement arcade.  It's quiet.  I take a shower in the comfort station.  When I return, so have they.  As I dress I turn on CNN only to discover the launch has been scrubbed because of a problem in space. Suddenly, Peter gets his wish and we quickly dress and head for the Magic Kingdom.

We head out and arrive at the bus station with the bus, saving us a half-mile walk to the dock.  We board the boat and motor to the Magic Kingdom with a brief stop at Wilderness Lodge, a Disney hotel looking like one of the national park lodges in mammoth scale.  I want to take a Disney hotel tour after the kids leave.  The boat motors across a road running underneath the lake and pulls up to a dock in front of the Magic Kingdom. We head through the turnstiles and walk up Main Street where a film crew is making a film of the Christmas parade.  A camera grinds away on a high platform while the director shouts at the hundreds of assembled cast members and extras along the street who are shouting and cheering.  We are hustled along the sidewalk since we don't belong as part of the cast or extras. Peter wants to ride on the Buzz Lightyear attraction, so we head for Tomorrowland.

The sign outside Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin says the wait is twenty minutes, but we walk in with almost no pause in the line and board the hooded cars.  The safety bar comes back and puts a laser gun in each of our hands.  A spin control is on a panel in the middle.  We happily shoot the lasers at targets as the car moves through a bright and fun world of space monsters.  Alex scores 17,000 points.  I score about 5000.   We emerge with everyone happy.  Alex wants to ride the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway next. Rick and his family go over and get in line while we sit with the video camera at a convenient table.  The race cars run along tracks, but can be marginally steered and speed controlled.

Now we make our first big mistake.  Rick and I have been implacable about riding on Space Mountain even though Alex is frightened at the prospect. Space Mountain is a wild mouse style roller coaster.  The kicker is it's in the dark.  I squeeze into my seat and hold on until it's over.  We emerge with Alex claiming he conquered his fear.  He isn't the same for the rest of the day.  We stop for lunch, but neither kid eats much.

Sort of refreshed, we head for Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square.  Alex protests he doesn't want to ride this attraction.  We all cajole him.  Just as we go through the gate, Peter announces he has to poop.  Suzie ducks back through the turnstile while the four of us forge on into the pre-ride, an octagonal room with paintings on the wall.  The doors close, we're moved away from the wall and the room appears to become higher as the paintings stretch.  I don't think we've moved an inch.  Another door opens with hoots and howls of agony coming through.  We board the moving cars and enter into this delightful world of death, ghosts, horrors and surprises.  We ride through a haunted Victorian mansion with ghost couples dancing in wild circles and apparitions jumping out at us.  The effect is delightful, not nearly as scary as the hoots and howls led us to fear.  I spend a good deal of time during the ride trying to figure out how they do it.  I can't.  We emerge into the sunshine.  Alex looks thoughtful and a little green.  We find Suzie and Peter and head into Fantasyland.

It's a Small World, The Legend of the Lion King, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - we ride them all.  The Legend of the Lion King is a live action and puppet retelling of the Disney film.  It combines marvelous stick puppets with animations from the film and live actors to tell the story in about twenty minutes.  For me, it's better than the film although much too loud.  The others are rather small and tame, although delightful, rides.  It's a small world seems a little shopworn to me.  This ride came to WDW from the 1964 New York World's Fair.  It's exactly the same as it was 37 years ago, the year Irene and I were married. Alex feels sick, so he and Irene head back to the campground, while the rest of us forge on.

We walk over to Adventureland.  As we walk through the gate the décor changes to Afro-Asian-tropical.  Suzie and Peter walk through the Swiss Family Robinson tree, we ride my favorite - The Pirates of the Caribbean, they ride a new carnival-type ride called Alladin's Magic Carpet, and we all ride the Jungle Cruise.  The Jungle Cruise has been refurbished, visiting more places than I remember, including a cruise down the Mekong River in Vietnam.  The jungle cruise guide no longer shoots an attacking animal along the way.  The pirates are not raping as many women in the Caribbean although there's plenty of pillage, white slavery, and burning to go around. Generally speaking, my memory of a low undertone of racism and sexism has been eliminated in Disney attractions.

It's getting dark and we head for home.  A full moon is rising over the lake as we hit the dock at Fort Wilderness.  A line of people is waiting for the boat to return to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Magical Christmas Celebration, a $35.00 extra.  We pass.  We walk back to the campsite and find Alex in a much-improved mood.  After a dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets we discover the Eagles playing on TV.

I came to Walt Disney World prepared to be critical.  There's some to criticize, but, generally, the Magic Kingdom has not proved to be a disappointment.  Tomorrowland seems a little long in the tooth.  When WDW was built thirty-some years ago, tomorrow was predicted to be a world of mechanical marvels.  Who would have predicted the electronic revolution we've been through?  Little or none of this arises in Tomorrowland.  There are always attractions closed for refurbishing, but the Galaxy Palace Theater looks empty and forlorn.  Twenty-five years ago, when we were last here as a family, the Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea attraction in Fantasyland was closed for repairs.  Today it is still closed.  The lagoon has tracks running underneath the water and doesn't appear to be used for anything.  It's time to put something new there.

Spotless bathrooms and constant cleaning make up for a more than a couple of dingy old rides.  There is enormous attention to detail.  The janitorial and custodial cast members are friendly.  One, named John, stops to give a boy resting on a bench next to us a Mickey sticker from a pouch he carries.  He also carries a supply of Magic Kingdom maps for those who have lost theirs. He obviously feels he's part of the act.  The ride guides and hosts manage to keep their acts fresh.  There is little of the sing-song presentation often found in places where people constantly repeat the same script all day long.  When Irene and Alex returned to the trailer this afternoon, she found a note on our door that our mail had arrived at the front desk.  Since the desk is about a mile away, such service greatly exceeds any expectations of mine.