PART 4 – THE ‘NOT SO’ MAGIC KINGDOM
It was Wednesday and we were awake early again and raring to go to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. We were still chuckling about the ‘Journey to Atlantis’ escapade at Sea World but little did we know it would come back to haunt us...
In past visits to Magic Kingdom I’ve always remembered it as not being my favourite park but having a certain ‘Je ne sais quoi’ about it and I always felt that our visit to Magic Kingdom would epitomise our holiday. The boat ride across the lake, seeing Cinderella’s Castle, the parade and of course Mickey Mouse –this is what separates a holiday in Orlando from anywhere else in the world in my opinion.
A few days prior to our trip I had said to the boys “It’s not the best park but I defy you not to spend the day walking round with an ear to ear grin just purely because of the Disney atmosphere. If you don’t I will eat my hat!”...
The day started well and we were soon boarding the ferry across the lake. We could see the castle in the distance; I looked at the boys faces to see their reactions. Ben looked suitably impressed but Jack looked subdued. I asked him what was up but he just said “nothing”.
On getting in to the park the magic hit me again. We headed down Main Street USA, took the obligatory photo with the castle in the background and then debated which area to hit first.
We were heading past the Haunted Mansion so decided that would be our first port of call. As we got into line Jack started crying saying he was scared. After attempts to try and persuade him failed I said I would wait outside while my wife and Ben went in. I tried to keep my spirits up (if you excuse the pun) and told Jack it didn’t matter as there were plenty other rides he would love.
We did the Tree House thing and then the Tiki Rooms and then headed for Pirates of the Caribbean. As we headed down into the dungeon-type environment Jack started to cry again. “What now?” I asked. He told me that he didn’t like it cos it was dark and he was scared. “You’ve seen the films” I quipped, “what’s to be scared of?” He reluctantly tagged along but I could tell he wasn’t happy. As we boarded the boat and it took off we hit the small water drop in the dark and Jack then started having flashbacks to Journey to Atlantis and started to scream again.
"I WANNA GET OFF! I WANNA GET OFF"
He slowly calmed down as we journeyed through Port Royal, Tortuga or wherever it was supposed to be and we set off further afield.
We got a point blank “NO!” from both of them when we asked if they wanted to go on Splash Mountain or Thunder Mountain. Frustration was starting to creep in and the fact it was such a hot day didn’t really help matters.
“We’ve travelled over 4000 miles and spent 3 hours here already and all I’ve really seen is a bunch of bl**dy singing animated parrots!” I exclaimed over-exaggeratingly.
We got a good spot for the 3pm parade which was good and we then headed over to Tomorrowland. Jack started panicking again at the entrance to the Lilo & Stitch ride when he read something about there being moments of complete darkness. We managed to get him to go on it (again, reluctantly) and he came off looking suitably unimpressed.
We visited Toonland and got the usual Mickey and Minnie photos done and then it started to rain. Great! We meandered over to Fantasyland and discussed going on Peter Pan, Snow white and It’s a small world but Jack obviously had an inner fear that every ride would consist of darkness and water drops so refused to do any of them.
I had, by this time, had enough and the thought of having “hat” for my evening meal was becoming a reality. I then went into sulk mode and shouted “Right, that’s it” (in true Basil Fawlty fashion) “We’re off” and stormed of five paces ahead of e
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