On with the park… Now as you know from my other stories we went for Halloween, 9 nights. There really is no other place to spend Halloween. The magic Kingdom pulls out all the stops. We started our day with a massive bag check before we even hit the gates. And in we went. I will say the entrance is similar to Disneyland as well as Main Street. The Castle is beautiful, and played host to the Cinderella stage show at the castle entrance 2 times a day.

We began our day with a Character Breakfast reservation at the Plaza Inn on Main Street. The restaurant is beautiful. This was a Winnie the Pooh Character Breakfast. After all the Character Breakfasts we'd had we hoped this was gonna be a real serve yourself buffet. But OH NO, this was the same old sit down and order and we'll serve you the same dish over and over and over again. no surprise as the bill for $58 was not surprise as well. Defiantly not one of the best we'd had. The Character interaction was great though. My son loved it, and since it was Halloween the characters were giving out candy to all the kids as they visited your table. After that it was off to Adventureland we went.

This is home to the Tiki Room, Swiss Family Tree House, Jungle Cruise, Shrunken Ned's Junior Boats, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean. We skipped Tiki Room. We made our first ride Pirates. It's my favorite! As you walk up the entire exterior is made to look like a Spanish fort complete with Pirate flags and cannons on the roof. The entry way is huge, and open. Once inside you are in a dark cave and there are scenes of Pirate skeletons sitting around a card table playing poker, and a treasure chest. The lighting is very dim. Then around the wall you go and into your boat. The ride is similar in some scenes and different in others. I will say at the end of the ride you get the satisfaction of seeing the pirates that have tied a man to a chair in what appears to be a large living room to a mansion of some sort, anyway they are steeling the treasure. The ride seems shorter than Disneyland’s though. But just as great! And the Jungle cruise is different as well.

I must admit I do like the Magic Kingdoms Jungle Cruise a lot more. This one is almost the same till the end Your boat heads through a cave where you see cobras, tigers, treasure, and as you come out, the elephants. The Swiss Family Tree House is what our Tarzans Tree House used to be. The magic Carpets of Aladdin are really fun. It is similar to the Dumbo ride but you’re in a carpet. As you go around you control the carpet it goes up and down and you can make it lean forward and back, also a huge golden camel spits water on you each time you pass. My son loved this ride. Which meant about a good 3 times in a row each time we entered Adventureland!

As for the Neds Junior boats they were a pay and play sort of thing you put in your quarters and drove a mini radio controlled boat. From there we headed to Frontierland.

It hosts Splash Mountain (we skipped our son was to short), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (we also skipped our son was to short), Tom Sawyers Island, Country Bear Jamboree, and the Shootin Arcade. The only thing we did in this land was the Country Bear Jamboree; it was a little different from what ours was, but really cute. It was our saving grace for air conditioning since as you know it was a good 100 degrees and the humidity was disgusting.

After that we headed for my second favorite ride which is my son's favorite ride ever....The Haunted Mansion. In to Liberty Square we headed. Liberty Square hosts the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Revue, The Hall of Presidents, Liberty Square Riverboat, and The Haunted Mansion. With a 3 year old who is impatient we chose the obvious, The Haunted Mansion. The creepy exterior we loved. They had like an outdoor courtyard that’s all creepy looking and the entrance to the ride is on the left side of the house. As a whole I have to admit I like Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion better. BUT this one was great as well. Just different.

Once you exit the elevator you get in line for the ride a lot of what we see when we walk the hall to enter the Doombuggies in Disneyland, you see after you are in your doom buggies in the Magic Kingdom. The differences had no effect on our son, he was pleased as ever. We rode about 5 times in a row. And off to Fantasy Land.

Fantasyland hosts “it's a small world”, Peter Pan’s Flight, Dumbo, Ariel’s Grotto, Snow Whites Scary Adventure, Mad Tea Party and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. As you may see the rides not here where Alice in Wonderland, Matterhorn, Toads wild Ride, and Pinnochio. We missed those too. Anyway everything was basically the same however the way Fantasyland appears makes me miss Disneyland.

Even though 9 years had passed it still had the same feel to me. Carnival looking. Small world is all inside, there is no big beautiful exterior it is all in a building, same with Peter Pan and Snow White. The rides are the same as Disneyland’s. Ariel’s Grotto was a clever set up for a picture opportunity with Ariel. There was a sort of big play area then you wind your way through tunnels that have all her treasures along the wall, forks, trinkets and treasures. At the end of the tunnel is Ariel and King Triton is looking into the cave from the water below shooting water out of his Triton. Very cute.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, what a fantastic ride, and very different from Disneyland’s. Once you have rode the Magic Kingdom’s, you won't waste time in line for it at Disneyland cause the Magic Kingdom’s puts Disneyland’s to shame. The ride entrance is all done up with enormous books with Winnie the Pooh stories written across the pages you can read in line. The actual ride, you are in a hunny pot programmed to move according to the scene you are in. The ride is much longer than Disneyland’s. The hunny pot seats about 5 people. When you see Tigger your hunny pot begins to bounce, when the flood scene happens your hunny pot starts tipping in all different directions as if you were in water. We were amazed. As we exited we noticed there is a painting on the wall of Toad from Toads wild ride hanging over a rolled up paper to Owl. We later learned this was a tribute to all the Toad fans! Believe it or not at this point it was only lunch time.

All of that accomplished and it's only lunch. We headed to Casey’s Corner for a quick Hot dog. Into Mickey's Toon Town Fair we went.

Honestly there were lots of people and kids running wild and really it looked like a big confusion. It was laid out strange not like Disneyland’s at all. It hosts Mickey’s County House, Minnie’s Country House, Donald’s Boat, Hall of Fame Tent, Judges Tent, and Goofy's Barnstormer. We went into the Judges Tent to meet all the characters, and onto the Goofy's barnstormer which is a roller coaster that's actually really fun for kids. Similar to Gadget Go Coaster in Disneyland. At this point we were burnt with the confusion and left that area.

We are headed to Tomorrowland. Which hosts the Indy Speedway, Tomorrowland Arcade, Space Mountain, Astro Orbiter, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Carousel of Progress, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, The Timekeeper, and Alien Encounter. WOW, as you can see their Tomorrowland is full! We had a great time on the Indy Speedway our 3 year old was steering and it was crazy, I'd never heard him laugh so hard as he did each time the car hit the track, which was like every 3 seconds the entire ride.

Space Mountain we had to pass our son was to small to ride. But I do know it has not changed since the last time I was there, and the ride track is slightly different but the rockets only seat 2 people per car as Disneyland’s seats 4 per car. Anyways I was pleased to see the Tomorrowland transit it's really the People Mover! We rode it so many times, it made me realize how I missed it in Disneyland. We skipped the Carousel of progress, and the Time Keeper as well as Alien encounter (this one my son was to short for) and we headed for the Astro Orbiter, (rockets), and onto BUZZ Lightyear.

This ride is so cool. We all loved this ride. It is one Giant Video Game but your in it. You are supposed to help buzz as rangers in training to shoot Zurg and all the LGM and targets throughout the ride. You are seated in a car that is round it has 2 guns attached as two counters one per gun to count your points as you shoot targets and one joystick to move your car in a complete circle is you want. The ride is actually long it takes you through I think about 6- 7 rooms, as you come out it reveals your score on the counter and there is a wall that ranks your status as what level ranger you are. We rode this ride so many times I lost count.

We repeated some of our favorites up until dinner time, and we headed into Liberty Tree Tavern where we had a Character Dinner reservation. This to no surprise was the same ol buffet you order and they'll keep the same plate commin. At this point we just didn't care anymore. The Characters were all dressed as patriots and the interaction was great. The food was sort of a country style chicken, potatoes and such. I believe this was a nice $76. I must say they are not afraid to charge for food at all. And then at this point since we are Annual Passholders there as well we were headed in to the Annual Passholders Halloween Party!

As the public exited the park we were entering the Harbor House located in front of the Haunted Mansion for our party (the Passholder party was free). They served a ton of Candy including Disney's wonder balls, popcorn balls, fruit and drinks. All the Disney Villains came to the party we saw the Evil Queen from Snow White, Malficent, Jafar, Cruella Devil, The Big Bad Wolf, and many others. The party was about 1 hour. Then we headed out to the Halloween we would never forget. We paid at the time $75 for the Halloween event titled Mickey’s not so Scary Halloween Party. (We enjoyed it so much we bought tickets to go back the next night) The park is closed to the public as of 6:00 P.M. only people who bought tickets were allowed in for the event that starts at 7 P.M. The tickets are a separate purchase and not included with your park ticket.

We started the evening with the Haunted Mansion that had glowing green fog all around it. The rides are all the same but the park has 13 candy spots where trick or treaters can get candy. And candy they got, they were not messin around my son had candy bars, and a ton of wonder balls!

They had 2 costume parties My son was up there dancing around dressed as Spider Man having the time of his life. Halloween story telling at certain locations, Cinderella’s Surprise Celebration at the Castle, Halloween river boat ride complete with characters and candy! They even rolled out Cinderella's Glass Carriage in Fantasyland, and to top off the night Mickey’s Boo to you parade. A special Halloween Parade.

We were so impressed. The parade kicked off with scary music and then a fog horn and before we knew it there was the Headless Horseman carrying a real pumpkin on fire in his right hand on a real black horse right down the middle of the street in Liberty Square. Everyone gasped and started clapping and screaming with excitement and on with the parade.

All the characters were dressed in Halloween costumes, and all the villains were there. The one that I remember best was Cruella Devil’s float. She had a car she was driving and the back was a huge glass cage with like 5 real Dalmatian dogs inside. And of course Minnie and Mickey brought up the rear dressed as farmers. As the parade came to a close the Halloween Fantasy in the Sky firework display began.

It was great, as we headed up Main Street we had noticed all the pumpkins the whole main street was all decked out. All the lighting had changed to green and purple, it was really more than we'd imagined. At this time it was midnight, well a little after. As we exited we knew we would be buying tickets the next morning to do it all over again.

That was one Halloween we will not soon forget, it was our best! If we had it to do again we would. It really wasn't as crazy packed as we thought; we rode all the rides over and over again with minimal wait.

We loved it so much we have planned to go back Halloween 2005!