Our travels around US & beyond

During our recent trip to Orlando, we spent our first day in the Magic kingdom. If you have young kids, this park is a must. You could spend a few days in this park trying to taking it all in. But with small kids some of the most popular rides in the park were of no interest to us. This helped us to go through the park easily in one day including a break in the afternoon.

We were staying in the park that day and was able to take advantage of the extra Magic hour in the morning. We did get there really early and took the ferry across from the parking lot to the park. Though it was earlier than normal, there were still a lot of people that were there already. But I realized later in the day that, the few early hours were really a great time to be in the park.

The ferry boat

We rushed to Fantasyland ( through the Cindrella's castle )with a view to do the Dumbo ride and the Winnie the Pooh ride before the lines formed.

One of the  paintings on the wall of the castle, from the story of Cindrella

 Obviously, the kids have a knack to way lay the best laid plans and my elder wanted to go on the carousal instead of the Dumbo ride.


To make things worse, the Winnie the Pooh ride broke down. Not a very auspicious start to the holiday. We finally split up, Mother and elder one going on the Carousal and Dad and younger one going on Dumbo. We were hoping that the Carosal ride would be over in enough time for Prahlad to join and be a threesome on Dumbo. Apparently, the carosal broke down for the first time in years and we both finished the ride at the same time. And we were off to Winnie the Pooh ride.

The wait time was around 15 minutes and we decided not to use the Fastpass there. The line was interesting with games and exhibits (like the Rabbit's garden, Winnie's hunny pot collection) to keep the kids entertained. The ride itself was fun (Had the same general story line of the ride in Disney Land California).



There was an interactive wall of 'hunny', where you can pretend as if you have your hand against a cascade of honey moving your hands back and forth on the touch sensitive screen. Interestingly, the screens have the images of Winnie, Piglet and Tigger hidden underneath them. You will need to search for them though.

My elder son is at Winnie the pooh's door!

They checkout the hunny pots

We then set out to Toontown to meet Mickey. Little did we know that Toontown was under renovation!!! That was something of a surprise to us. We didn't see any mention of this on the websites, nor did the maps that Disney send us mention it. We had some strong feelings of displeasure then and was certain we would send a strongly worded email to Disney. We still haven't done it though.

As we were standing in front of the Tommorowland Speedway as we were planning our next steps,we decided to try out the ride. (It was not on our original list). Both the kids got a driver's license before they got to drive, and that too issued by Mickey himself. I didn't know even a 20-month can get a DL in this world !



It was indeed a fun ride for the children and we decided to do it one more time.

We decided to hold off going to Florida until we had been to all other states. We wanted to cap our quest to get to 50 states by doing something special. With 2 small kids, the choice of where to go in Florida was simple. We had to go and see Mickey!!!

A snap from the car

A view of the Cindrella's castle from the ferry boat

We decided to take a short 4 day trip focused on Disney World, leaving on Wednesday evening and returning on Sunday evening. We were advised that 4 days were not quite enough. If your intention is to exhaust all the attractions in Orlando, and to go through every inch of every park, 4 days will just not be enough. But if your intention like us was to see the key attractions and do the parks in a relaxed manner (Doing what you can and not worrying about what you can't), 4 days are just fine.

Do note. Disney world is a world on to itself. Spread over 30,000 acres, the resorts and parks are spread out. It takes time to go from your hotel to the parks and between parks. Disney does have a free transportation system for guests, but depending on the time and your destination there may be a wait. We used the transportation once (From Magic kingdom), but preferred using our car for the rest of the parks.

Another point to note is how much Mickey owns the parks. Sure there are all these other characters, but there is no doubting who the head honcho is. Mickey shapes are all over the place. But I think the one that took the cake was a high tension transmission tower that was in the shape of Mickey mouse!!!

We stayed a couple of days in the value resorts inside the park, and a couple of days in a Marriott hotel (Courtyard) close to the park. Staying at the park allowed us to take advantage of extra magic hours at the Magic kingdom and we felt that was a good deal.


In case you are planning to visit Disney World, here are a few suggestions.

1. Read the book Walt Disney World with kids: This book really helped us put things in perspective. It provides a lot of great information and  tips and helps you plan your visit before you reach Orlando. The more you plan before you get there, the more time you will have to enjoy the park. We really feel the book helped us have a great trip.

2. Book your flights early: Tickets usually become expensive quickly. It may be best to book tickets during the middle of th week when they are usually cheaper than the weekends.

3. Decide whether you want to stay in the resort or outside: We split 2 days in the resort and 2 days out. It is a matter of balancing convenience and expenses.

4. Go to the parks early: The first few hours are the best times to enjoy the park

5. Take a break in the afternoon: If possible go back to your hotel and take a nap in the afternoon. It will help you enjoy the day better.

6. Learn about Fast Pass an use them wisely: The fast passes really help you manage your time and reduces the time wasted standing in line.

7. Don't waste time shopping: Try and pack your shopping to the end of the trip at the world largest disney store in down town Disney. It will give you more time to enjoy in the park and save you from having to haul all that shopping across the park for the whole day.

8. Make sure you relax and enjoy: Regardless of how well you plan there will be moments that you will be frustrated, especially when you are travelling with kids. Just relax and enjoy the time with your family.

9. Create an account and get customised maps at http://customizedmaps.disney.go.com/. This will be delivered to your home and can be used in the planning stage. You can keep it as a keepsake. If you have bigger kids, it would be fun for them!
Over the next few days, we will put more details and particulars about the different parks we visited and the things we liked. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions.

I too became a Narnian for a few minutes. At the Buffalo Museum of Science there is an exhibit which ends on May 8, 2011. I lifted  a sword for the first time. Man, it is heavy!
Entered into the wardrobe, and saw the actual lamp (from the movie) on a post with 'ice' on the shrubs.
Re-lived the experience sitting on the 'icy cold' throne of the White witch.
Actual costumes from the movie.
Saw a catapult being shoot with "350 lbs." balls. Kids in the museum were shooting the catapult and having a lot of fun. Saw a movie on the making of the movies. Wanted to visit New Zealand, Slovenia and Czech republic- seeing the beauty. The movies did not do justice to the actual places.

I do not have more pictures as phorography was strictly prohibited inside the exhibit.


'Aslan' was standing outside, and so here he is!


For those of you who have no clue what I have been talking about, this is about an exhibit based on 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C.S.Lewis and the movies that came out based on the books.