February 21, 2008 Disney World Magic Kingdom

We once again had reaffirmed in our minds - WE DON'T EVER HAVE TO GROW UP! One trip to The Magic Kingdom was the only proof that we needed. Fortunately we were accompanied by some MOC friends that are staying here at Mouse Mountain in their own Montana. Now we hope that we can also share it with you with this journal of our visit. The Pixie Dust was being spread everywhere and the very large crowd was in a jovial mood. Kids were chattering and laughing, parents indulging their children and their own fantasies, and Carol and I seeing that we can still be very young. I had trouble keeping a large smile off of my face and Carol's knees, although difficult, were holding out better than could have been thought. We took frequent rest stops and saw a whole host of fascinating displays, attractions and just plain happy faces all around us. Just passing through the entrance brings the first feelings of relief and excitement. Then, after a beautiful boat ride to the park itself, we were met by a Disney Parade where we met the Disney characters. Goofy was, well, goofy. Mickey was his usual energetic, vivacious self. The Seven Dwarfs were, oh, small. The Pirates of the Caribbean were menacing. The Beauty was, of course, Beautiful; The Beast was beastly, Cinderella was princessly, and the whole cast was colorful and amazing as they danced and sang their way down Main Street to the sound of marching bands and their own singing. The weather was ideal for us - middle 70s and some cloud cover. It started raining at one time so we cut into The Tiki Club and were entertained by large flocks of talking birds. We then went across the courtyard and ate at a covered patio restaurant. By this time, the rain had stopped so we continued our journey. The Palace was huge, of course. Everything seems larger than life here. The photo in The Small World on the drive showing the little girl waving at one of the characters is typical of what we saw here all day. Seeing the interaction between the children and the characters is priceless. There were the scary parts too. We were accosted by the Wicked Witch and, during one ride in Fantasyland, Carol and I were riding in the front row of a boat and got a large wave of water hitting us when the boat dipped as we were being accosted by some witchly creatures. This did shut down my camera for the rest of the evening so we I had to stop taking pictures after taking ONLY 175 of them. There was a very impressive display where all of the Presidents of The United States were on stage at the same time. Different presidents talked at different times and the animation was amazing. The night ended with a bang, literally. There was a tremendous fireworks display over the Palace and Tinker Bell flew over the crowd from near the top of the Palace spreading Pixie Dust as she flew. Great stuff!!! Kids of all ages, some even older than I, all applauded and loved it. When we exited the park, we were part of a huge crowd but they really know how to move the people here. The crowd was always moving and we heard no grumbling all the way back to our truck. When we arrived, we took the tram to a boat that took us to The Magic Kingdom and when we left we chose to take the monorail instead of the boat back to the tram and then to our parking lot. The traffic was moving smoothly too. To sum it all up, a wonderful day from start to finish.