To the Magic Kingdom and Back Again

     I just returned from a week in the Magic Kingdom down in Orlando, it was a long and tiring week that was full of fun and  just a little aggravation, I am however happy to be back in Middletown.

I have never been to the land of Disney during the summer and was expecting the worst... the crowds, the heat and the cost, as it turned out it wasn't that bad. 

The weak economy must have started to keep people away, the parks were not full as I was expecting. I never had to wait longer than 30 minutes(most less than 20, some no wait at all) to gain access to any of the major attractions but 1 and that was the newest, Toy Story Mania, at the Disney Hollywood Studios that set me back 70 minutes.  I talked to plenty of park guest and they all had the same opinion as I did, it seemed that all of the parks were slow for a holiday week, maybe a 1/3 off of normal attendance. Off course when I talked to the workers back at Port Orleans Riverside Resort where I was staying about this, they all assured me that they were very busy and that on the 4Th of July you wouldn't be able to walk around the Magic Kingdom. 

Many of the locals that I spoke to had mentioned that they could not remember a time when Disney advertised so much on their local TV channels. They said that have been swamped with commercials for the past few weeks. 

My family avoided the Magic Kingdom the 4Th and instead went to the Animal Kingdom Park,it was dead! We finished touring the park, seeing and riding all of the attractions before 5 pm, so we left and went back to our resort and waited for that evenings fireworks show, which was spectacular. 

The weather all week was generally overcast gray skies, which kept the temperature down and made the trip bearable. And lucky for us, we only got caught in the rain once. The rest of the time we were indoors waiting on an attraction. Saturday and Sunday turned out the be the hottest and nicest days.

Overall the cost of the trip was very affordable, however if it was not paid for in advance a few months ago, I would have probably stayed home and saved the money.

 I like a lot of other people are worried about the economy and I may have been better off if my family and I stayed home, as it had seemed  others had.