>Did You See That?

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I’ve been asked before, “Where is the best place to watch Wishes (the Fireworks in the Magic Kingdom)?” Or “Where would you sit if you could sit anywhere for a parade on Main Street USA?” I’ve answered before where my favorite places to sit for the Fireworks in Oooooh, Ahhhhhh (part 1) The parades are a little different you can find plenty of great spots all along the parade route. These are great questions and yes I guess it does kind of matter where you see these Magical Experiences from, but people only seem to worry about these views in the Magic Kingdom. There are other views in the Magic Kingdom that I find are Unknown Magics that people either don’t recognize or don’t take the time to see. So, today I bring to you the Unknown Magic of the things to see in the Magic Kingdom.

Of course the most fantastic view in the Magic Kingdom is of Cinderella Castle. But most people think of the same view or take a picture from the same place; coming up Main Street USA with the Walt Disney World Train Main Street Station behind them. But from the side of the Castle, where the water is between you and the castle, there are also great places to view the Castle. All the way across the Seven Seas Lagoon at the Polynesian Resort, the view of the Castle is amazing, but from the Grand Floridian the Castle is also visible.

But Cinderella Castle isn’t the only great thing to see in the Magic Kingdom. The Mountains of the Magic Kingdom are pretty amazing also. Starting in Tomorrowland, you have the oldest of the Magic Kingdom’s Mountains, Space Mountain. Space Mountain is a magnificent white growth bursting into the sky. Or, over in Frontierland, you have Splash Mountain and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. These are particularly magnificent at night, but still impressive during the day.

Throughout the Magic Kingdom, there are other great things to see that aren’t large and looming above, but just wonderful Unknown Magics that you can see if you take the time to look for them. Some of my favorite things to see are the second floors of the different buildings. For example in Adventureland, the second floor of the buildings above the shops are really great to see. Next time you are in Adventureland, look up at some of these balconies. The buildings actually look like people could be living in them, because of the plants and decorations on them.

Another great thing to see is in the Pirates of the Caribbean. It is made great because of the details that the Disney Imagineers put into the scene. The scene is the one where the one drunken pirate is in a mud hole with a group of pigs. The mud on the pirate along with the hair on his legs and arms as well as the other little details make this part of the attraction a Magical Experience.

But one of my all time favorite sights while in the Magic Kingdom is seeing the Liberty Belle, the paddlewheel steamship that is found on the Rivers of America, as it comes past the Haunted Mansion. It is just an amazing thing to see that is a Magical Experience that many people just don’t take the time to enjoy.

So, now you know, there are many great Unknown Magics that are waiting for you all over the Magic Kingdom. They are the wonderful things, besides Cinderella Castle, that you can see that create Magical Experiences. Some are big and bold, others are things you need to take the time to look for and can only enjoy if you take the time to see them. So, next time you are in the Magic Kingdom, slow down and see what you can see.

>A Great Shot.

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 With Twitpics, Facebook photo albums, and text messages with a picture, it is so easy to share a picture of even a video with a friend or loved one. When you go to Walt Disney World, you could spend all day sending pictures to people. Of course any picture from Walt Disney World can make for a Magical Experience and help you remember your trip months and even years later, But if you are a new visitor to Disney, what picture should you take and where should you take it? There are some places that everyone gets a picture at, in front of Cinderella Castle, with Spaceship Earth behind you while you are looking at the World Showcase, in front of the Tree of Life, and on Hollywood Boulevard in front of the Sorcerer’s Hat. But there are some really great places that many people don’t get pictures at because they don’t know about them or rush by
 them. So, today I offer the Unknown Magic of the Other Great Places to get
Pictures.

One of my favorite places to have a picture taken is not in a park. It is in the Polynesian Resort’s Grand Ceremonial House. As you walk into this great building, you are transported into a tropical paradise. The lobby even smells tropical. But the most wonderful object in the building is the waterfall in the middle of the room. This is such a great place to take a picture.

Another great spot to get a picture without going into a park is at the ticket and transportation center. They have topiaries there of the Disney Characters that slowly spin. They are in planting areas that have seats all the way around them. They make for a very neat picture.

Besides the places listed above, there are wonderful Unknown places to take pictures and make Magical Experiences, in the parks. In the Magic Kingdom, some of the best places to get a picture for first time visitors are in front of the attractions. The problem with this is that you probably won’t be able to get a clear picture with only your family in it. So, instead of in front of the attraction, try getting a picture with some part of the attraction that is out of the way; for example, at Splash Mountain, take the picture near the big Splash Mountain Pole or even after the ride at the Brer’ Rabbit Sign, where he is all wet. A picture here will remind you of how wet Dad got on that ride and how you all laughed about it for a few hours.

If you have your little Princess with you, a great place is at the Cinderella Fountain or the Cinderella Wishing well. The Fountain is found behind the castle, and the wishing well is off one of the side paths that leads to the castle and is near where the meet and greet for the Tangled Characters is. Both of these Cinderella themes are great places for a picture with your daughter even if she isn’t wearing her Princess dress. Of course any of the places where you can get the Haunted Mansion or Space Mountain in the Background are great and in the queue for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, if you can get a picture with Buzz it’s kind of fun.

Over in Disney Hollywood Studios our favorite place to get a picture is in Toy Story Midway Mania! There are quite a few neat places throughout the queue to get a picture of your family or children, but the best of them is in front of Mr. Potato Head. If you haven’t been through this attraction, I’ll share a secret about it with you; there is a rather large Mr. Potato Head Animatronic figure that talks to you as you are in the queue. He actually interacts with the crowd and tells jokes and makes comments. As you pass by him, there is a space where you can stop and get a picture with him.

Following a close second to this is getting a picture of your kids putting their hands in Mickey or Goofy or Donald’s hands in the cement in front of the Great Movie Ride. This is just a fun little thing to do when the kids are younger that can make for a great picture and a Magical Experience and most people just walk right by the castings in the cement without giving them a second thought. Other great places are on the Streets of America, with San Francisco in the Background and anywhere around the Muppet Theatre.

In the Animal Kingdom, there are so many different little paths and wooded areas that you can take great nature pictures of your family, but great places to get pictures are in the Tree of Life, while waiting for it’s tough to be a Bug and with Mount Everest in the background before you get too close to it.

In Epcot, there are many neat spots to get a picture; with the trolls in Norway, on the steps of the pyramid in Mexico, or even in front of the statue outside Mission Space. But some of the ones that get overlooked are my favorites. Outside of the Seas with Nemo and Friends there is a wonderful display, that has Nemo and his friends in it, this is a wonderful place to get a picture.

One of my favorite pictures we have taken in Epcot comes from Great Britain. There are English phone booths off to the side of the main walkway around the World Showcase. These are neat to get a picture in. We recreated this Magical Experience of my son from years ago, this past summer when we were in Epcot.

A place that is often overlooked is in Canada. There are some great Totem Poles that can make a great background for a family picture.

One of my favorite pictures we have of my wife and I in Disney comes from Morocco. As you walk around inside the Moroccan pavilion, there is a place where you can sit and get your picture taken, that has a street scene behind you. The street scene is from the Aladdin movie, it is very neat to have this as a background.

So, now you know, there are some great places to take pictures, which are Unknown Magical places. To create these Magical Experiences that you can treasure forever, you just have to keep your eyes open and your camera handy. You never know, you may even find a great picture just walking through the parking lot.

>Don’t be afraid of the Dark.

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There are some attractions in Walt Disney World that Cast Members refer to as “Dark Rides”. That doesn’t mean that the ride is scary, but that it takes place in the dark. Many of these “Dark Rides” are in the Magic Kingdom, a few are in Epcot, and some in Disney Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. My earliest Magical Experience on a Dark Ride was with my brother when we went in 1979. He was all excited about his socks. Yes, his socks. He loved the fact that as we lifted off on Peter Pan’s Flight the black light turned his socks purple. So, with the same excitement my brother had about his socks being purple, I present to you the Unknown Magic of the Disney Dark Ride.

While many of the “Dark Rides” are considered Thrill Rides, some are very tame and even aimed at the younger audience. Peter pan’s Flight for instance is a very nice “flight” through the movie Peter Pan. You start outside the Darling house with Nanny barking at you and “fly” your way through until Captain Hook and the Crocodile are floating out of sight. Another great Dark Ride for kids is Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. In this ride, it is only dark for a very short time, during the Blustery Day

scene, the rest is brighter. One of the other Dark Rides in the Magic kingdom aimed at kids, but much darker, is Snow White’s Scary Adventures. This ride is very dark and some of it is scary, maybe a little too scary for very young riders.

Another Dark Ride that can be scary for younger riders is the Haunted Mansion. Although it may make Magical Experiences, there are some places during the ride that

 your youngster may be grabbing for your hand as you drive by in your Doom Buggy. Another one that you need to be careful of is Sounds Dangerous in the Disney Hollywood Studios. Almost the entire show is done in the dark. So is Stitch’s Great Escape in the Magic Kingdom. If you don’t like total Darkness these two should be avoided. Another one that is a little scary for older children even is Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom. As you travel back in time to get DNA from a dinosaur, you encounter darkness and some scares along the way.

Over in Epcot the only scary part of the Dark Rides come in Norway when riding the Maelstrom. Between the Trolls coming to get you and the waterfall, you might be a little worried. But please don’t be worried, neither the trolls nor the waterfall hurt you and it is a great ride. In the Mexico Pavilion, the Dark Ride is a wonderful romp through Mexico looking for Donald Duck. Another Dark Ride where you are looking for a

Disney character is only half dark. It is Splash Mountain. While on this ride, you are looking for Brer Rabbit and end up going all around the bayou to see where he could be. Of course this ride ends with a 52 ½ foot drop, which is the part that is no longer in the dark. Another ride that is in the Dark, on a boat in water is Pirates of the Caribbean, which is one of the all time great Disney Attractions.

Probably the most famous Dark Ride in all of Walt Disney World is Space Mountain. It was opened in 1975 and underwent a refurbishment in 2009 and as of this writing is undergoing new musical enhancements. If you have ridden Space Mountain, you know that it is a thrill ride/roller coaster that is completely in the dark. Over in Disney Hollywood Studios, the Rock n Roller Coaster is also a Dark Thrill Ride Roller Coaster. Both are awesome rides and have the thrill of Darkness to add to the ride, but the attraction that uses the dark to its advantage more than any other is the Tower of Terror. The Official name to this attraction is the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Taking place in the Hollywood Tower Hotel, this attraction leads you through the lobby of the hotel and then onto an elevator. The ride from there is one that either thrills you or scares you. Not because of the darkness, but because of the ride itself.

So, now you know, there are Dark Rides throughout the Walt Disney World Resort, to give everyone a Magical Experience. Some aimed at the youngsters, some at the thrill seekers, and some for everyone. So, When in Disney, Don’t be afraid of the Dark.

>Stay Cool!

>Today is June 8th the 10 day forecast for Walt Disney World has the lowest temperature at 89 degrees. And this is June; July and August are even hotter. The weather isn’t going to change. The kids are out of school in the summer, that’s not going to change. So, what can you do? Do you make your plans, and hope for the coolest summer in Florida’s History? No, you don’t need to do that, what you do need to do though is to find a way to make things bearable. Keeping cool in Walt Disney world is all about the water. Not for drinking, but for cooling down. At each of the parks, there is some sort of Water location that is not an Attraction that can keep you cool. This is today’s the Unknown Magic, the Water Stations. None of these Water Stations are set up as just a Water Station. Each one of them is hidden so that they blend into their surroundings.

At Disney Hollywood Studios, there are two of these Water Stations. One of theme is off the Streets of America. It is actually an umbrella that is attached to a lamppost. I know that sounds strange, but you are on a movie lot after all. To grab onto the handle of the umbrella, you need to step up on the base of the lamppost. As you do this, you look like Gene Kelly in “Singing in The Rain”. Then Water squirts out of the top of the umbrella so that you are truly, ‘singing in the rain’. The other Spot in the Studios is towards the Backlot Tour Area, near the Studio Catering Co. There is a Coke Stand in the middle of the street. The Water Station if you want to call it that is next to the Coke Stand.   It is the giant Coke bottle on the road. Every so often out of the top of the Coke bottle, a stream of water comes squirting out.

Over in the Magic Kingdom, there is a similar squirting area. It is in Adventureland, right after you go across the bridge and are getting closer to the Jungle Cruise there are Tikis standing on the side of the pathway. The Tikis all “spit” water at you. This is a nice way to cool off, but it is also a fun Magical Experience when someone you are with gets cooled off, when they didn’t expect it. Also in the Magic Kingdom, Near Big Thunder Railroad, there is a geyser with a small boardwalk around it near the waters of the Rivers of America. If you stand close to this geyser, you will get wet.

Over in the Animal Kingdom, you can stay cool without getting soaked, by using the fountain outside the Kali River Rapids (if you don’t have time for the lines or if you don’t want to get that wet, because on Kali River Rapids, you WILL get Wet!)

Epcot though offers the most places to cool off by getting wet. Outside the exit of Test Track, there is a “car wash” area called the “Cool Wash” , that has mist machines spraying as you walk thorough them. Off to the side of the Main walkway from Future World to World Showcase, there is a play fountain, for kids (of all ages) to play in on hot days. There is another one of these near Mission Space. The neatest water play area though is near the front of the Imagination Pavilion. This area has The Leaping Fountains. At the Leaping Fountains, the water “jumps” from one pad to another. It is very fun Magical Experience to watch and even more fun to see, when people try to “catch” the water as it jumps.

So, now you know, on those hot days when the lines for the Kali River Rapids and Splash Mountain will be too long to wait in, you can still enjoy a Magical Experience, get a little wet, and cool yourself and the family off.