Orlando theme parks, Part VI: Disney World's Magic Kingdom, visit 2

 Personally, I was on the fence about the need to revisit Disney's Magic Kingdom on this theme park sweep in the Orlando area of Florida. But because there were children in our party(one toddler and four teenagers), the decision to do so was made long before we even arrived in Florida.

Demand for tickets to the parks is so high to begin with, that you almost have to buy admissions before you ever arrive. But given that we were still in the throes of COVID-19, the parks were lowering the number of people admitted to the parks each day, making it even more imperative that you buy tickets well in advance to guarantee you'll be admitted when you want to go there. 

 I did a little less picture-taking on this second visit to Magic Kingdom, but I found that I really liked a lot more of the second-visit shots that those I took during the initial visit. And ... it was on this second visit that I decided to try the Space Mountain ride, which I'd passed up on the first visit. As I mentioned in the previous post on the Magic Kingdom visit, I'm glad I tried it ... but I wouldn't do it again. 

As always, to view a larger, sharper version of an image, simply click on it. To view a full gallery of images from the second visit to Magic Kingdom, click on the link in this sentence. 

Rather than begin with a park entrance shot -- already been done -- I decided to show the princesses (and one fairy godmother) who were greeting visitors from the upper balcony of the building at the start of Main Street just inside the entrance. That's what you see in the photo leading off the post and the ones above and immediately below.

Above and below: We tried the Dumbo ride on this visit. It's certainly no Space Mountain, but then ... I was perfectly OK with that.  

Above: Ornamentation above the Dumbo amusement ride. 

 

Above and below: All I'll say is that I do like to photograph interesting signage. And no, we didn't dine at the Tortuga. 

Br'er Rabbit (above and closeup in the first image below), shilling for Splash Mountain. This was an inanimate Br'er. In the second photo below, a real person inside a bear outfit waves to visitors from a balcony perch overlooking the pedestrian thoroughfare. I'm not up on all my Disney characters, but I believe the bear is Jamboree Bear.

  

Above: A tree-branch framing a butte-like rock formation.

Above and below: Water again integrated into the composition, this time on a Magic Kingdom ride that I think was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller-coster.

 

Above and below: A couple of unusually serene scenes in an otherwise hectic, and high-traffic theme park. 

Above is the start of yet another spontaneous parade, and this time, Goofy (next two images below) stars as the featured Disney character.

  

Above: An egret (I think), enjoying a perch on an upper-level balcony to catch some quiet time. 

 

Above: This "exhibit" (for lack of a better description) stands alone in the middle of the thoroughfare. It is close to an Old West restraining stocks that visitors could place themselves into for souvenir photos, but still ... with no explanation that I could find in and around whatever it was supposed to represent, I had to wonder. 

Above: Just a building that caught my eye, probably because of the conal roof formations. 

Above: If I may borrow the title (and lyric) of a 1970 Cat Stevens song (from the "Tea for the Tillerman" album), this guy appears to be "on the road to find out." 

Above and below: Perspective and closeup shots of the lantern of Aladdin at this Magic Kingdom attraction.

 

Above and first two below: Sculptures I came across near the end of the day. 

I provided a couple Cinderella's Castle pictures in the first post (in Part I). But I felt I'd be remise if I tried to close a post from the second visit without at least more nod to the park's centerpiece structure (above). And if you've forgotten and/or are unable to figure it out, at the left is a statue of the late franchise founder Walt Disney holding hands with his first animated creation, Mickey Mouse. Below, a statue of Minnie Mouse atop one of the concrete pillars surrounding a nearby plaza. 

Above: There were staffers shilling balloons near the Main Street entrance again.  

Just before leaving for the day, I was seated on the curb alongside Main Street waiting for family to return from getting beverages nearby. Yet another spontaneous parade materialized as I waited. It include characters from the Winnie the Pooh/Christopher Robin franchise (that's Piglet above), followed by a marching band. I conclude below with five photos of the instrumentalists and marchers. The enthusiasm and smile on the face of the drummer (in the penultimate image), in turn, made me smile. The photo was taken just as he caught the drumstick at the end of a quick flip. 

Rather than ride the monorail again to return to the parking lot, we elected to sample the alternative ferry boat trip there (above) across Seven Seas Lagoon. Admiral Joe Fowler was at the helm. The first photo below is our view of the departing shore just as we pulled away across the lagoon. The second and third photos below are perspective and closeup views of one of the Disney resort hotel complexes along the water. 

 

Next up: Harry Potter section at Universal Studios 

Previously in the series:

Part I: Magic Kingdom

Part II: Hollywood Studios

Part III: Epcot Center

Part IV: Disney's Animal Kingdom

Part V: Universal Studios

Orlando theme parks, Part I: Disney World's Magic Kingdom, visit 1

In the 10-year period from 2010 to 2020, I took more pictures than I did in all the previous years of my life. What happened that decade to change all that? 

Lots: Neighborhood photo documentations. Theater. Football and basketball games. Campus landscapes. And in that one decade, I did the most traveling I've ever done -- by a longshot. 

I was pretty exhausted at the end of doing an archival shoot of a community theater production in Indianapolis, because I was constantly moving on the stage, angling for optimum perspectives and shots. I also was pretty worn after running along the sidelines of a college gridiron to keep up with play at football games, and I usually was using my very heavy Canon EF 70-200mm f/28.L IS lens while doing it.

Still, that decade of photography might not have anything on the single week -- yes, just six days -- that I spent photographing theme parks (mostly Disney) in the Orlando area of Florida in late May and early June.

But for six consecutive days in Florida this spring, I don't remember being as exhausted as I was each late afternoon after traipsing through Magic Kingdom (twice), Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center, Universal Studios and Hollywood Studios. We usually got to the parks at or near when the gates opened (8 a.m. in most instances) and didn't leave until after 4 or 5 p.m. The eternal standing in lines for various rides or shows exacerbated the fatigue. 

One thing in my favor was that I used my light (relatively speaking) but extremely versatile Tamron 20-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens on my Canon 6D each day for all my shots, but I shot a lot, pushing the capacity on my 32GB SD cards to near capacity on most days, and exceeding capacity (requiring a second card) on just the trip to Epcot Center.

Today, I'm going to begin an initial installment on the pictures from that tour of the sundry theme parts. I'll devote one post for each day (six days), then spend separate posts on two specific attractions at two of those parks -- the Star Wars area of Holywood Studios and the Harry Potter area of Universal Studios. 

The visit to the Orlando area came in that small window between when the CDC said that people fully vaccinated for COVID-19 could be outdoors without masks and that while they should be safe indoors as well, it was advisable to wear masks in crowded indoor situations. At all of the theme parks, masks were required only while standing in lines and while inside a structure. Today, a month and a half later, with COVID cases nationwide quickly rising again -- and with Florida being one of the states where the upward spike is most dramatic -- I'm not sure what they are observing or requiring at the parks.   

Hope you enjoy the tour as I do this reminiscence. 

Today's post is devoted to our first trip to Magic Kingdom, which occurred on May 29. The photo leading off the post is the iconic flower-formed image of Mickey Mouse's face that greets visitors near the entrance of the park. I don't intend to suggest that photos here are representative of the full theme park; they are images I selected to include for this post for various reasons. 

As always, you can view a larger and sharper image simply by clicking on it. You can see a full gallery of images from the May 29 visit to Magic Kingdom at the link included in this sentence. 

Most visitors use the free Monorail system (above) to actually reach the Magic Kingdom property from the parking lots (parking is $25 per car). You'd think they'd make it pedestrian friendly so you could just walk into the park from the lots, but no.  The park does provide an alternative means of getting to the Kingdom from the lots -- a ferry boat across Seven Seas Lagoon. 

Yes, Magic Kingdom has a City Hall (above), which actually does have an area where visitors can conduct business (such as seeing about getting an express pass to rides for people with disabilities). Quite often, people dressed in Disney character outfits (below) perform in a review and/or simply wave and greet visitors just inside the entrance area, perpendicular to City Hall. 

A walk down Main Street towards Cinderella's Castle (above) awaits visitors once they get past the plaza across from City Hall. A little closer look at the castle (first photo below) followed by two photos (a perspective and closeup, second and third photos below) of park namesake Walt Disney with his longtime pal, Mickey Mouse, situated in another plaza in front of Cinderella's Castle. 

Above and below: Just beyond the castle is this merry-go-round, which I presume is ideally situated to grab the attention of toddlers while still early in their visit to the park. 

When my family visited Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., when I was 10 years old, my greatest excitement was driving the bumper cars. An exterior shot of the Speedway at Disney World appears above; a slice of the bumper car track appears below. I was at Disney World in 1978 and '80, and I don't recall that I rode the bumper cars then. But things have changed since I was at Disneyland many years ago; I saw no physical contact among the cars when I was there this year. And yes, this time, I did ride a bumper car; it was not the thrill I remember it being many, many years ago. 

Above: A curve in the Monorail track inside the park. 

Above: Space Mountain (I think) in the distance, which has an all-interior ride (almost entirely in the dark) that I elected not to try on my first visit May 29. I was persuaded to try it on the return trip June 3. While I'm glad I got to experience it, I would not do the ride again. 

Above and below: Because of these photos' proximity in the next to the photo of Space Mountain, I could understand if you thought this image was from that ride, but it is not. I don't recall the ride the above photo and below are associated with, though. 

Above: There are lots of waterfalls landscaped throughout the Disney theme parks; this is one at Magic Kingdom. This might have been from Splash Mountain, but I'm not sure.

Above and below: Examples of different lamps that struck my eye during my walk through the park. 

The character Gaston has his own statue and tavern at the park; later in the day, I would run into a personification of this arrogant and chauvinistic antagonist in "Beauty and the the Beast" in one of the several spontaneous mini-parades the theme park throws during the day. 

Above and below: I forget the brand connection of this carriage I came across (it could have been associated with the Cinderella story), but I photographed it because I was attracted to the windows' reflective quality. 

Above: An attraction I enjoyed in my 1978 and '80 visits to Disney World was the Hall of Presidents, which featured a show in which wax representations of all U.S. presidents are positioned on a stage and are programmed with audio capabilities to make a presentation to seated audiences. But the hall was closed both days I was there this time; the explanation was that the hall was preparing the figure and script for the newest president, Joe Biden. 

Above: A fellow pedestrian, perhaps sharing my dismay about the Hall of Presidents closure. 

The photo above and the four immediately below are from the most involved mini-parades I witnessed this day. 

Above: A river cruiser takes off on a short ride. This might have been from the Rivers of America area.

Back at the plaza in front of Cinderella's Castle, this statue of Chip and Dale can be found on one of the stone and brick pillars. Other Disney characters can be found on other pillars. 

Above and below: Peter Pan personified in an extremely brief mini-parade down Main Street. 

Above: A better view, in my opinion, of Main Street looking toward Cinderella's Castle than the one I presented higher up. 

Above and below are two shots of Gaston from yet another mini-parade. In the photo below, I was close enough to him that I could hear him as he preened and boasted, "You're getting my best side, too!"  

Above and next two below: More characters from mini-parades. 

Next up: Hollywood Studios