Vicki and I camped in WDW's Fort Wilderness campground February 26-March 9, and were in the WDW parks nearly all of six days. Other days we were "on property," more or less, riding the monorails or skyliners, shopping at Disney Springs, hiking in Fort Wilderness, or watching Penelope swim in the Meadows pool complex.
Unlike Gaul, Walt Disney World divisa est in quattuor partes: the original Magic Kingdom, the Experimental Prototypical Community of Tomorrow (known among the unwashed as EPCOT), the Animal Kingdom, and the Hollywood Studios. We did all four, some more than once. Also some more than twice. Personal bests, of a sort. Vicki says we had also camped at Fort Wilderness before, but, as Gandalf said, I have no memory of this place. Of course, one doesn't do all of what's in the parks, but cherry-picks among favorite rides and attractions from past visits, among new rides, among the most popular, and also among whatever the ten-year-old in your party says she wants to do (within limits). Also one cherry-picks from among the various wait-times, Genie+, and Lightning Lanes (all of which are beyond my skill) available. One day, amazingly, we did 16 rides in three different parks, but that was under very special circumstances, thanks to Rebecca and Jeremy.
WDW is a photogenic wonderland, especially if you're into kitsch and simulacra and people-watching. Also plants, landscaping, and faux architecture. I took some 1,100 pix. Few were on rides, however, since one doesn't want to risk losing one's phone/camera while the G-forces are rearranging one's internal organs, spine, etc. Also I didn't take many pix while standing in lines. For this and the following posts, I have organized the best pix into 1) miscellaneous scenes, 2) family, 3) fireworks, and 4) the inevitable out-takes. Quattuor partes. All brutally edited.
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First day, rope drop: in Hollywood Studios, the
Toy Story department |
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| Overall, I thought the Star Wars department was best done |
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Food on Tatoine or some other planet; the food at WDW has
improved greatly since our last visit...reflecting the venue, with
interesting ingredients; here, a beef stir-fry with fried yucca |
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| X-wing fighter |
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Under heavy guard, we are proceeding to interrogation on Rise of
the Resistance; the location of the rebel base? Cleveland, I kept
telling them, but they never broke character |
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| Princess and Chewy |
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| Now at the Indiana Jones stunt show |
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Indy and special lady friend escape after blowing up the enemy
aircraft |
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Somewhere in the Hollywood Studios park, maybe Sunset Blvd., there was a nice Disney museum preceding an excellent 16-minute biopic of Walt; above is the original Abe Lincoln model and control board, from the 1964 World Fair: the birth of Disney animatronics; Vicki would have seen it there, having ridden the Greyhound bus from Miami to New York, alone, as a 16-year-old; things have changed |
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| Enemy aircraft |
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On the lake at Disney Springs; one of the non-Disney rides was
on these water-going cars from the 1970s; $125 for a 20 minute
ride; no lines |
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Now in the Animal Kingdom park, which I much enjoyed: a river
view, with Mt. Everest in the background--except, it looks more like
the Matterhorn; maybe a spare from Disneyland? |
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On the safari ride, where a real truck takes you around to see the
real animals; can't tell the players without a program |
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| Non-animatronic hippos |
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| Ditto, crocodiles |
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| Baobab tree; real? There were many |
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| Suitably-attired Penelope eyes a giraffe |
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| Oliphants, Mr. Frodo! |
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| Rhinos |
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| Above and below water views of a hippo |
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| Merely meerkats |
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| Excellent signage throughout, seriously |
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| And specimen |
