Duck Brown Goes To Disney - Day 1

Saturday 20 January 2007
We realized a few months ago that if we wanted to take the kids to Disney World during the off-season without taking them out of school, this winter would be our last chance. After months of saving, planning, and preparation, the day was finally upon us.

Leaving home only 8 minutes after our planned departure time (which is a record) got us to our gate at Dulles airport in plenty of time. The only misstep was that Ella wore the wrong shoes. The brown shoes she put on were less comfortable than the sneakers she left behind, but more importantly, they were less thickly heeled. Later I'll reveal why this is important.

The flight was remarkably unremarkable, especially for Ella who chose to sleep for half the trip. We arrived in Orlando around 1:00 PM and made our way to meet the Disney Magical Express. The best part of this service is that we were able to check our bags at Dulles and not have to deal with them again until they (magically?) showed up in our room.

The magic bus took took us to our resort - Fort Wilderness. This would mark my fourth stay at the Fort, and I was very curious as to what this time would bring since the last three times were each marked by significant events:

• 1977: My first trip to Disney
• 1992: The Spring Break that changed history
• 1993: The "Storm of the Century" caused us to bug out a day early.

We checked in and made our way to our cabin. Now, I am big fan of tent camping, but there is also something to be said for camping in a climate-controlled building with a kitchen, a bathroom, and a separate bedroom. After getting settled, we walked to the Bike Barn and rented a golf cart. I'm not sure if this is what people do when camping in the actual wilderness, but hey, we're on vacation, and besides, it is fun.

We tooled over to the 700 loop and met up with my parents, hence forth referred to as Oma and Opa. Since they are knocking on 70, they are required by federal law to spend time each winter in the sunshine state. They'd trailered their RV from Pennsylvania to Florida over the previous few days and we were excited to be able to share this vacation with them. I was also excited that they had already parked the RV, so my help was not required.

After saying our hellos and spilling some of their food, we carted to the marina where we caught the boat to the Magic Kingdom. I'm no sailor, but I have to say that boating to the Magic Kingdom is much nicer than taking a bus, and not just because it is faster.

Once in the Kingdom, our first ride was the train since outside of a Zeppelin, we'd already taken every other form of transportation this day. The park was surprisingly crowded for January, but we managed to ride:

• Haunted Mansion: Alex said this was too scary, but Ella did not think so
• Cinderella's Carousel: Of all the carousels we've been on, this was one of them.
• Dumbo: (girls) Ella was thrilled to drive the pink Dumbo all by herself. What is it about this ride?
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: (guys) It was a little scary, but Alex was brave and had a great time.

We met back up at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe in Frontierland which was disappointing food-wise, but happened to be along the route of the Spectra Magic parade. This was fairly decent as parades go, and we got to see a who's who of characters. After the parade all that was left to do was buy some cotton candy and ride the boat back to the Fort. It had been a good first day.