Yesterday we went for afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian hotel, a spectacular building outside and in!
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
Then, a monorail ride to Magic Kingdom …
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
The park was quite busy, but Margaret and I, and Joanne and Earle, rode a few things in Tomorrow Land including the “PeopleMover” (which broke down just before we got on), the Carousel of Progress (which broke down during our ride), and Buzz Lightyear (which didn’t break down!):
With weather today in the comfortable high 60s, we went to Epcot for a few hours, including riding Spaceship Earth and Nemo – and at the aquarium there we saw this “hidden Mickey” at the bottom of the water:
We planned to go late to Magic Kingdom, to catch the midnight fireworks – previously we’ve gone earlier in the day and not made it to midnight! But driving through Walt Disney World we saw signs saying the Magic Kingdom was closed! Turns out it was VERY VERY full of people, but by the time we got there about 9:30, some folks (like us previously) had left, and so we got in.
Cinderella’s Castle
Everywhere through Main St and around Cinderella Castle, people were stopped and already waiting for the show more than two hours away! Temporary one-way routes through the park eventually got us to Frontierland, and we did get on rides easily enough – must be the shortest queues on the busiest night of the year!
We finally arrived behind Cinderella Castle near Disney Philharmagic, expecting to see partial views of the fireworks; however we discovered the special New Years show is a “360 degree” event with fireworks in front, behind and to the side! It was all quite fabulous, and my phone camera does a poor job of sharing it with you …
Perhaps a video better captures the event, and shows just how surrounded by fireworks we really were!