My Disney Vacation - Part 5, The Kingdoms

This will likely be my last Disney vacation blog. The 4 kingdoms are the main attractions of Disney World. I'm going to hit the highlights of each.

Animal Kingdom
This is the first kingdom we visited. Animal Kingdom is like a zoo, with rides, shops and restaurants. The majority of the animals are from either Africa or Asia. Animal Kingdom has every animal you'd likely want to see (elephants, rhinos, hippos, gorillas, etc.), plus a few strange ones, such as the Tapir.

One of the highlights of Animal Kingdom is the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. It's like a real African Safari, and the animals get right next to the vehicles. I would recommend going early for this one. We went about 9 am and the animals were very active. The best show in Animal Kingdom is the Bug's Life 3D show. It is under the Tree of Life, and was the best 3D show at Disney World. Everest is the best ride at Animal Kingdom. It's a roller coaster modeled after a trip up Everest, and was easily my favorite roller coaster style ride at Disney World.

We spent about 7 hours at Animal Kingdom, and saw just about everything we wanted to see.

Hollywood Studios
I've gone back and forth on this, but I think Hollywood Studios was my favorite kingdom. It's really an homage to movies, not just Disney Movies, but all movies. The thing about Hollywood Studios is, it's not about the rides...in fact, the rides are mediocre at best. The Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster is highly overrated, and Star Tours is a simulator that will make you sick if you aren't prepared. I did really like the Great Movie ride, which is a slow moving tour through the movies.

No, Hollywood Studios is all about the shows. The big show is "Fantasmic" which is a trip into Mickey's Imagination. There's fireworks, flames, unique costumes, animation and music. I've never seen anything like "Fantasmic". It was the best show I saw all week.

Other top shows at Hollywood Studios are the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, the Muppet's 3D and Beauty and the Beast. Yes, I said Beauty and the Beast...they do 30 minutes of the musical, and I love musicals. The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular was a great show too. The 2nd Unit team, which shoots the stunts, goes through different scenes using stunt performers. Very cool stuff.

I absolutely loved Hollywood Studios. We went there twice and spent about 8 hours total in the park.

Epcot
Epcot was the other kingdom that I really loved. We went to Epcot twice, once on New Year's Eve, and again 2 days later. There were so many people at Epcot on New Year's Eve that we had to go back again.

One of my favorite parts of Epcot is the Monorail, which we rode to get there. I wish the monorail was available all over Disney World, but sadly, it's only available from Magic Kingdom to Epcot.

Epcot is the most adult of the kingdoms. On New Year's Eve, we basically did the World Showplace, which is a tour through various countries set up around the lake at Epcot. That was fun for my wife and I, but probably wouldn't be that much fun with the kids. We really liked Morocco, China, Mexico and the United States. At the United States, we got to listen to a really good acapella singing group, and then talk with them afterward. There is also a terrific, 35 minute, show/video on the American Journey at the United States exhibit.

Even though Epcot is for older visitors, it still has some great rides. My favorite was the Soarin' ride. It's a glider simulation where you are gliding over California. I was nervous because I hate heights, but it ended up being my favorite ride. The Test Track and Spaceship Earth are 2 other really fun rides at Epcot. We skipped the Mission Space Ride, as we heard rumors of people getting sick on that simulator.

Epcot's fireworks show on New Year's Eve was outstanding. Because of the huge crowds on New Year's Eve, we went back a 2nd time and spent about 16 hours in Epcot total.

Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom is the most famous of all the kingdoms, and also the busiest. We were planning to be at Magic Kingdom on New Year's Eve, but there were so many people that we could barely move. So, we went back on New Year's Day about 5 pm and stayed until about midnight. This allowed us to do everything we wanted in Magic Kingdom, while not having to fight huge crowds.

The one thing multiple people told us to do was to take in a parade at Magic Kingdom, so we did that. I thought it was a really neat parade, but I think it was a bit oversold to us by friends.

There were 2 great shows at Magic Kingdom. The first was the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which is an interactive animated show. We went twice, and the show was different each time. The characters interact with the crowd to make a hilarious show. Pretty cool considering the characters are all animated. The other neat show was "Mickey's Philharmagic", which is a 3D trip through various Disney movies on an adventure with Donald Duck.

Space Mountain is probably the most famous ride at Magic Kingdom, and it's a really good ride. But for my money, the best ride is Thunder Mountain Railroad...it's just a really nice, thrilling ride. I was a little disappointed with Pirates of the Caribbean, though the animatronic Capt. Jack Sparrow did look just like Johnny Depp.

Magic Kingdom was fun, and I'm sure it will be my kid's favorite when we take them someday.

So, that's my Disney Vacation in 5 blogs. Thanks for reading!