Walt Disney World 2004 - Page 3

We start things off at the Magic Kingdom. If you arrive before the park opens, you can see the small show they do at the beginning of the day. After a few moments of song and dance, the train full of characters arrives at the station. Mickey says a few words, and a guest family helps throw confetti to open the park. The characters then come down to meet the guests. This is a nice change from the old way of wandering through the shops on Main Street while waiting for the rest of the park to open.

Here is a shot of the Roger E. Broggie engine of the Walt Disney World Railroad waiting for guests to board at Mickey's Toontown Fair Station. A nice shot with lots of steam. A few days after this, the construction walls went up and the station came down. They are replacing it with a new station almost exactly like the old one, which was beginning to have some age problems, such as rust.

Mickey's Star Traders in Tomorrowland has received a rehab to tie in its theming with the upcoming Stitch's Great Escape attraction. One theater will exit through this shop, and the other will exit through the Merchant of Venus shop. Stitch shows up in a few places here and there. I liked this picture of Mickey as a pilot behind one of the cash registers. And I can always find stuff in this shop that I don't seem to find anywhere else.

I always take several pictures of Cinderella Castle. Some of them turn out well, and some of them don't. I like this one, with a mix of light and dark clouds in the sky. And the trees mostly hide the lighting rigs that were up in front of the Castle for the Grad Night programs.

A shot of the Partners Statue. A while back, I noted that the statues at Disneyland and Walt Disney World appeared to be different colors, with the Disneyland statue being darker. But on this visit, the Florida version looked just as dark as the California version. I suppose that is the effect of age.

A shot of the bright colors along Main Street. This is always my favorite area of the park, because of the excitement you can feel as people head off to other areas of the park. I also enjoy the music and the general atmosphere of Main Street, and this shot to me captures some of that feeling that I get.

Moving over now to the Disney-MGM Studios, here is the view up Hollywood Boulevard. I suppose I am getting used to seeing it now with the Sorcerer's Hat, so it doesn't look as bad as it originally did. But the placement still makes the street seem shorter, as well as blocking the view of the Chinese Theater. I was not surprised that nothing special was done this day for the park, which had opened 15 years ago on this particular day. I did hear that they put up a sign in front of the hat a few days later about the anniversary, but I find it interesting that they didn't have it on the actual day.

A view of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror from Sunset Boulevard. The overcast skies seemed to add to the spooky atmosphere of the tower. Bright sunny skies are always nice, but this time, clouds seemed to work well. Fortunately, it never did rain, except for a few sprinkles.

Here is another shot of the Sorcerer's Hat. You can see that the clouds present in the previous picture have gone away. I would prefer for the hat not to be there, but it does make for some pretty good pictures every now and then. For a time, the Earfful Tower served as the icon for the park, but since you can barely see it from inside the park, I suppose they decided that they needed something more visible.

And we close out our visit to the Disney-MGM Studios with a look at the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade, a fun little parade with characters in cars that mirror their personalities. Here are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy in the parade's final car, bidding us farewell until we return again.

That's it for this trip. Thanks for reading!