Disney World, The Magic Kingdom
Writing by admin on Monday, 26 of March , 2007 at 3:08 pm
Disney World - The Magic Kingdom
“The Magic Kingdom” is also a nickname for the Disneyland theme park itself. This usage predates the Florida theme park, but Disneyland never officially bore this name. While Disneyland’s official nickname is “The Happiest Place On Earth,” the official nickname of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is “The Most Magical Place On Earth.”
The Magic Kingdom park is constructed above a series of tunnels called utilidors, short for “utility corridors,” used by park employees (”cast members”) to reach areas inside and outside the park without being seen by park guests. This means that cast members in Tomorrowland outfits never have to be seen in Frontierland, for example. The utilidors were built at ground level (due to Florida’s high water table) and the area around them was filled in with dirt from the “Seven Seas Lagoon” which was being dug in front of the park, and the Magic Kingdom itself was built on top. This means that, technically, ground level inside the Magic Kingdom is actually on the second story.
The park contained twenty-three attractions on the day it opened, twenty of them copies of attractions at Disneyland. Today the park map lists forty-eight attractions (though several of these, like the Guest Information Board, probably shouldn’t be included in the number) in seven themed “lands.” Major attractions are listed below.
The Walt Disney World Railroad runs along the perimeter of the park and makes stops at Main Street, Frontierland, and Mickey’s Toontown Fair.
MAIN STREET, U.S.A.
A visit to the Magic Kingdom begins by walking underneath the Railroad Station & into Town Square, where you’ll get a great view of Cinderella Castle at the top of Main Street, USA. You can take a nostalgic trip down Main Street, U.S.A., aboard a horse-drawn streetcar, a fire engine or a horseless carriage. This is America as it was nearly a hundred years ago with its glitzy cinema and Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. At one end of the street is Town Square, with its City Hall and tree-shaded areas for town concerts by the Walt Disney World Band.
At the end of Main Street is the ‘hub’ where you’ll find roads leading off to the different ‘lands’ of the Magic Kingdom. Just beyond the hub is Cinderella Castle, and the gateway to Fantasyland. The lands are (clockwise from left) - Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Fantasyland, Mickey’s Toontown Fair, Tomorrowland.
Trivia:
In Cinderella’s Golden Carousel, Cinderella’s own horse is the only one which has a golden bow on its tail. It’s in the second rank in from the outside, in the line immediately before the Indian chieftan horse.
ADVENTURELAND
Strolling beneath dense vines and bamboo branches, guests pass the gigantic Swiss Family Treehouse — re-created from the famous Walt Disney movie — and make their way to a last-outpost river landing where they board tropical launches for the Jungle Cruise. Curious gorillas, playful Indian elephants in their daily bath and frolicking hippos created in life-like realism by Disney artists make for a total mood of adventure in faraway lands.
Attractions:
Swiss Family Treehouse, a large tree with steps and walkways leading high up around it
The Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management, with Audio-Animatronic birds that sing (the old attraction has been updated to include The Lion King’s Zazu and Aladdin’s Iago)
Jungle Cruise, a boat ride with a skipper who tells bad jokes
Pirates of the Caribbean, a dark ride through pirate scenes
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, a Dumbo ride on flying carpets
FRONTIERLAND
Beside the picturesque Rivers of America is the land of frontier America — the old west with its boardwalks, brass-railed saloon and forest forts. Here, too, is the zaniest troupe of singing bears ever assembled, in the Country Bear Jamboree. It’s real old-time music with a foot-stompin’ beat. Just across the river is Tom Sawyer Island where Injun Joe’s Cave, the Magnetic Mystery Mine and old Fort Sam Clemens await exploration. The Island is reached by log rafts.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad takes guests for a wild ride on a runaway mine train. Young frontiersmen may also try their hand in Frontierland Shooting Gallery where fast-moving targets abound.
The tallest peak in the Magic Kingdom, Splash Mountain, features a log-flume ride with one of the world’s longest flume drops — a five-story, 47-degree descent reaching speeds of nearly 40 mph. The attraction plunges guests into the Disney classic, “Song of the South.”
Attractions:
Splash Mountain, a log flume
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a fairly tame steel roller coaster
Tom Sawyer Island, reachable by raft, on which are caves and a fort for kids to explore
Country Bear Jamboree, a show with Audio-Animatronic singing bears
LIBERTY SQUARE
The true spirit of America is brought to life in the shadow of a giant oak, known as the Liberty Tree. Within the Hall of Presidents, the most impressive moments in American history are presented in life-like realism with all of the nation’s chief executives on a single stage through the three-dimensional magic of the Audio-Animatronics system.
Across the way is the sparkling Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Revue, where dance-hall ladies and elegant gents sing and dance. Nearby on a graveyard hill is the ominous Haunted Mansion with the liveliest collection of ghosts ever assembled for all to see as they travel through the ancient rooms aboard “doom-buggies.”
Liberty Square visitors may also board the Liberty Belle, an old-time sternwheel steamboat, for another adventure into America’s historical past. Mike Fink Keelboats and Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes also make the journey ’round the river past Indian camps and a settler’s shack.
Attractions:
The Hall of Presidents, a show featuring an Audio-Animatronic version of every United States President
The Haunted Mansion, a dark ride through a haunted house
FANTASYLAND
Happiest of all the Disney lands is the one inspired by animated Disney film classics — Fantasyland. Here, in the courtyard of Cinderella Castle, are the Mad Tea Party, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Snow White’s Scary Adventure and Peter Pan’s Flight. In the center of all is a gigantic jewel — Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel.
Guests have the chance to prove their worthiness to Merlin in the daily “Sword in the Stone” show. Most charming of the adventures is Walt Disney’s salute to all the children on earth — It’s a Small World — where hundreds of doll-like figures sing and dance in their native costumes.
The “animateered” performance of “Legend of The Lion King,” based on the hit Disney animated feature film, “The Lion King,” creates a mystical jungle where animators’ drawings are brought to life using an advanced form of puppeteering and special effects. The show includes the film’s dramatic opening song, “Circle of Life.”
The lush lagoon setting of Ariel’s Grotto offers a chance to meet “The Little Mermaid” character, Ariel, and then cool off in an interactive leap-frog fountain spouting between sea sponges. Guests also can meet popular classic characters at the Fantasyland Character Festival.
Attractions:
it’s a small world is a dark ride through colorful stylized representations of many countries (the attraction is currently being renovated and will reopen in May 2005)
Peter Pan’s Flight, a dark ride in a pirate ship flying over London
Mickey’s PhilharMagic, a 3-D movie experience
Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel, the oldest ride in the park, a carousel built in 1917
Dumbo the Flying Elephant, the prototypical Dumbo ride
Snow White’s Scary Adventures, a dark ride through scenes from the movie (only scary for young children)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a dark ride through scenes from the Winnie the Pooh stories
Mad Tea Party, a ride in spinning teacups
MICKEY’S TOONTOWN FAIR
The newest land in the Magic Kingdom is designed to create “character connections” between guests and Mickey Mouse and all his toon pals. Mickey, Minnie, favorite Disney heroes and heroines — and even a villain or two — await guests in the Toontown Hall of Fame. Mickey and Minnie also open their Toontown “mouse-houses” for guest tours. Donald Duck has docked his boat, the Miss Daisy, providing splashing surprising for seafaring youngsters. The Barnstormer, the first kid-sized roller coaster at Walt Disney World, zips and zooms through Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm in crop-dusting bi-planes before crashing through a hayloft to complete the high-flying adventure.
This is only the beginning of a day in the Magic Kingdom. Special events include Disneys “Magical Moments” parade, a brilliantly colored, musical spectacle with six themed floats parading down Main Street, U.S.A. There’s also live entertainment in every “land” — song-and-dance shows of classic Disney tunes in the Castle Forecourt, a quartet of toe-tappin’, foot-stompin’, singing cowpokes in Liberty Square and much more, including themed holiday entertainment, impressive fireworks shows during the summer and special times of the year, plus high school bands, dance and musical groups from throughout the world. In addition, there are face-to-face meetings with the Disney characters throughout the park, plus fascinating shops, themed restaurants and snack facilities.
Attractions:
The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm, a small steel roller coaster
TOMORROWLAND
Tomorrowland features a glimpse into a city of the future as envisioned by the sci-fi writers and movie-makers of yesteryear.
The main thoroughfare of this “city” is the Avenue of Planets, home to the Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center where X-S Tech, a mysterious corporation from a distant planet, is displaying a new teletransportation device that brings the audience face-to-face with an alien in The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter.
Across the way, The Timekeeper takes guests through a hysterical blast through time in a Circle-Vision 360 format.
Armed with infrared lasers, guests join forces with Buzz Lightyear to defend Earth’s supply of batteries from the evil Emperor Zurg in Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, a spinning, brought-to-life Tomorrowland spin-off of the hit movie “Toy Story.” The shoot-’em-up fun triggers sight and sound gags, while a lighted display inside guests’ toy-spaceship vehicles keeps score.
High above Rockettower Plaza, guests can board the machine-age rockets of Astro Orbiter and surround themselves with whirling planets as they swing through space. On level two, guests can ride the world’s first transportation system utilizing the magnetic-powered linear motor on a sightseeing tour compliments of Tomorrowland Transit Authority.
An updated version of the popular Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress gives guests a revitalized performance, complete with a new pre-show. The unique rotating theater provides a fascinating look at how our lives have changed through electricity and new inventions.
Action, speed and perpetual motion await as guests “blast off” into the night skies of Space Mountain for a twisting, diving “return-to-earth” aboard miniature space-shuttles.
Drivers young and old in individual cars enjoy the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, matching speeds on a winding rally course.
Attractions:
Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, a ‘racetrack’ with small gas-powered racecars
Space Mountain, an indoor steel roller coaster in the dark
Astro Orbiter, a Dumbo ride in rocketships
Tomorrowland Transit Authority (also known as the WEDway PeopleMover), a gentle ride over Tomorrowland
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, an Audio-Animatronic show which debuted at the 1964 New York World’s Fair
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, a dark ride with “laser guns” to shoot targets and score points
The Timekeeper, a CircleVision 360 film starring Robin Williams, Rhea Perlman, and Jeremy Irons
>>return to Disney World Information
Category: disney
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Meneame -
- Digg
No comments yet.
