And Then There Was Disney World

After time spent in the Bahamas and Ocala, the deep gravitational force that is Disney World drew us back to Orlando. We only had two days, which we knew would allow only enough time for a sample of what the Mouse Colossus had to offer. We began with Epcot, which had always been a bit of a mystery to me. Having now been there, though, I highly recommend it. Around the world in 80 minutes; here we are in England:


Now we're in Italy:


Now back to Futureworld, complete with a truly useful Monorail:


We plunked down the funds for the absurdly expensive Park Hopper pass, which allows ticketholders to attend any of the Disney parks for the duration of time allowed by the tickts. Determined to make use of this capability, we Monorailed over the Magic Kingdom, which is the equivalent of Disneyland, minus the Matterhorn. This kids wanted to do a couple of the rides, so we did exactly that:






The next day, we went to Animal Kingdom. Part zoo, part amusement park, it is a surprisingly large property, but because it is so lush, it feels very crowded. In addition to a safari, we spent a lot of time doing things that were essentially free play for the kids. A resource center/petting zoo:






Meeting Mickey and Goofy:




A huge playground in the Dinosaur area:




Then, in keeping with our we-paid-for-it-we'd-better-use-it philosophy, we Monorailed back to Epcot, where we could grab a variety of food a la carte for dinner. Also, we had no choice but to leave Animal Kingdom, since it closed at five. We were there for nearly all of its open hours and saw maybe thirty percent of the park.

Back at Epcot, the light was getting low, so we decided to take some pictures with the clever topiary. Kelly took this one:


Michael decided he wanted to use the camera, so he took this one:


Before we could wrest the camera away, he snapped this one, too:


While Cheryl and Kelly picked up some yummy delicacies in Norway, Michael went shopping for clothing that fits his personality:


The long day closes: