First Trip to the Magic Kingdom

I visited Walt Disney World for the first time ever in 2009. After dreaming and saving for years, I couldn't believe that I was finally going! I enjoyed the anticipation itself, filling the months leading up to the trip absorbing The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, the Imagineers' guides to Disney World, the website TouringPlans.com, and the Disney Vacation Planning DVD (which I ordered for free online, woo hoo!), all the while making lists of my top rides and shows to visit, places to eat, ops to photograph, pretty spots to take a break, trivia to know. 


As evident through my earlier posts on Busch Gardens Williamsburg, I love amusement parks that blend exciting fun with artistic beauty, and Walt Disney World is no slouch in that regard. Add the genius of the Disney Imagineers, and you have creativity and unexpected surprises at every turn, from the most spectacular shows to the smallest details in your surroundings.

Since we were staying for about a week, we decided to lodge at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness. Huge trees with knarly, exposed roots surrounded the dwellings, quite a different environ than the cheerful maple and pine trees surrounding my own house. We had our own kitchen (great for gluten-free cooking), a bedroom, a surprisingly comfortable murphy bed in the living room, and all-over rustic decor with a nod to Bambi here and there.
On our first afternoon at the resort, we rode a bus to the dock on the southern shore of the Seven Seas Lagoon. Click here for a satellite view of the cabins and lake, which is pretty impressive.
 White egrets and Spanish moss created a haunting atmposphere that had existed long before the resort was ever a gleam in Walt Disney's eye. Since my only experience with Spanish moss had been with little dried bags of it at craft stores, I felt like I had drifted into a world riverboats, trappers, haunted ancestral estates, and the occasional pirate. I probably just made a travesty of Florida history. But it is a tribute to the state that its beauty awakened my imagination so much.
  

The fenced walkway and gazebo along the water in the photograph above are remnants of Discovery Island, a nature preserve and zoo that closed in 1999. I decided that the skipper would think I was crazy if I asked him to drop me off so I could explore, so on I went to the Magic Kingdom. I learned later that a self-proclaimed explorer had poked around the island one night that same year, and had photographed the derelict buildings, the empty cages, a few preserved animals, and other moody miscellany. Incidentally, rumors suggest that he may be banned from the World (of Disney that is) for the rest of his life.

I will never forget my first view of Cinderella's Castle. The weather for our afternoon arrival at the park was warm but grey. The park's orange bunting celebrating autumn popped dramatically against the hazy clouds, creating a more dramatic picture than a sunny day would have created. The only blue was the regal blue roofs of Cinderella's castle, set off with gilded accents.




But even that did not prepare me for the spectacular view of the castle at night, when the ever-changing lights morph it from pink to green to brilliant gold:

Architects used forced perspective in the castle's design, tapering the towers and walls (or whatever the architectural term) just enough to create the illusion of being much taller than the castle's 189 feet. The effect is especially striking at night, when you stand in the circle at the top of Main Street, north of the Disney and Mickey Statue, and look straight up at the castle. By the way, I got that tid-bit of engineering information from the Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom.

The ever-changing colors of the spotlights intensified the castle's fairytale aura. I captured the colors in mid-change right before I boarded the Golden Carousel.

Later than evening, a side shot that I captured revealed an interesting, less commonly photographed view of the castle. This is one of my favorite shots of the castle, and I later tried my hand at painting a watercolor inspired by the image.

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