We were staying at the Grand Floridian and visited the Magic Kingdom on our first day.

The first thing that annoyed me was the fact that I had called ahead to get tickets which turned out to be "Exchange Certificates". The person on the phone that sold me the tickets mentioned that since I was a FL resident I would get one of three deals - I opted for the 3 day park hopper tickets which came to $154 each. After we arrived at the MK, we found that we had to wait in line for nearly 40 minutes to "Exchange" our "Tickets" for real tickets. After that, I saw a huge sign that stated I could have gotten a 7-day park hopper pass for just $171 each. We felt ripped off on this deal.

We noticed other patrons simply going up to the automated machines and getting their tickets in a matter of seconds while we waited in sweltering heat for our prepaid tickets. Perhaps these folks need to consider an "E-Pass" type system.

After getting inside the park, Main Street USA was very crowded. We started at Adventureland and made cleveer use of FastPass tickets to walk right onto lengthy-wait rides.

Both the low and the high point of my day was when I somehow accidently left my cell phone in the boat on the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. After noticing the phone missing just after exiting the ride, I ran to the front of the line and told them. They actually shut down the ride while they searched and located my phone! Furthermore, they even acted the part - when my phone was located they came out and made a spectale of me "finding my lost treasure"...which the crowds in the line loved and laughed at.

Another bad point was the Jungle Cruise - the "guide" was horrendous - she lacked enthusiasm and acted as if she would rather be anywhere else than Disney. She even forgot to fire the gun at the hippos and later made some excuse about being "too startled to shoot"...though she never used any emotion the whole trip.

The last time I had visited Disney was 10 years ago - and I was amazed to see that not much had changed. The Haunted Mansion was *exactly* the same - I mean nothing had been upgraded. Many of the props were faded from UV sunlight and we saw a convoy of trucks pass while on the Jungle Cruise (supposedly in the heart of the Amazon away from civilization).

Ride wait times in late July were 25 minutes. We used FastPass until we got to FantasyLand and then the system started getting overwhelmed and we started getting very very tired. The heat was oppressive - 100 degrees according to the Main Street USA thermometer. Remember folks - there are thousands of people and everything is paved in asphault ... so it can get pretty hot. Water was 2-3 bucks a pop, but worth every penny. One way to save would be to bring a frozen bottle of water in a waist pouch and refill at water fountains...but half the fun of Disney is in eating and drinking the Magical foods.

Overall, we had a great time and minimal wait times on rides. Staff were friendly and helpful. They just need to overhaul some of the rides.

Our family went in June and boy was it crowded. Just wall to wall people. First it took well over an hour to get from the parking lot to the park entrance due to the slow moving lines for the monorail & paddle boats (with no shade). It also made the parade and fireworks very difficult to view. Even though we staked out a spot on main street an hour before the parade it seemed like 1/2 the people there did the same thing. We were 3 deep which wasn't bad until the late straglers just started butting in front of everyone as the parade started. Better get a reservation early for dining too as they run out quick and the lines are long and the seating/tables are limited at all of the counter service style eateries. We were actually hoping for rain to "clear out some of the people", but alas it never really happened, which is unusual in the summer.

Now with all that said, it's still a great park. With fast pass we were able to get on all the "mountain rides" (space, splash & big thunder) without any difficulty. And one of our favorites, Pirates of the Caribbean, for some unknown reason had no waits all day (went twice and just walked on both times). Also got fast passes for Buzz Lightyear which is a real fun ride for the kids. We skipped most of Fantasy Land as the kids are a bit older now (and were we glad when we saw the lines there), but the kids went through Mickey & Minnies houses and found alot of "secret stuff" they had read about on the internet sites and never seen before, it was actually one of their highlights. There was only a 15 minute wait for the raft to Tom Sawyers Island which they loved exploring and the Carousel of Progress was open for the first time in all of our visits (really a nice attraction and have no idea why it's not open year round). Don't forget to take a relaxing ride on the Tommorrowland Transit Authority which never has a wait as it seems most people don't even know it's there. The kids also found "secret" rocking chairs on a porch across the street from "Ye Olde Christmas shop" and relaxed and rocked in the shade for about 20 minutes until we made them leave. On the down side, Haunted Mansion had nearly an hour wait in line as did the Tomorrow Land Indy Speedway (not worth the wait unless your kids are pre-teens/teens dreaming of driving, like ours) and the line at the new Stitch's Great Escape was nearly 2 hours long all day with all fast passes already gone by lunch time so we didn't get to see it. Overall a very nice (but tiring) day, would just recommend trying to go when it's not so crowded (if thats possible anymore). Or go 2 days and split up your activities and either leave earlier or arrive later so you don't spend 12 hours there at a time!

I visited the Magic Kingdom in May 2005. It's a very popular park. If you didn't already know, the Magic Kingdom is THE most popular theme park in the entire World, with over 15 million visitors per year. Yes, it is even more popular than Walt Disney's original Disneyland.

The Magic Kingdom's popularity is both a blessing and a burden to a tourist/"guest" like you and I. A blessing in that the park is very rich and can afford spectacular entertainment, insane opening hours (e.g. 8:00am 'til 12:00am) and flawless maintenance. A burden in that the park is packed with people, making it challenging to get on the attractions you want, eat where you want, and sometimes even use the toilet!

Let's look at a few positive things about the park:

- Splash Mountain is an incredibly lavish, detailed flume ride that takes you past colourful scenes from the movie "Song of the South" filled with elaborate animatronics figures. The ride is very long at 10 minutes, and features three mid-sized drops, and one big one (52 ft). You will come off this ride very happy, wet, and having had a lot of fun. This is one of the best Disney rides in the World.

- Mickey's Philharmagic is a simple yet high quality 3D movie. I say simple because the actual themeing in the queue and theatre is minimal, and the film doesn't incorporate any animatronics like MuppetVision or Its Tough To Be A Bug. However, the film itself is beautiful, colourful and high-tech, with everything rendered as 3D CGI. Donald Duck is mistakenly thrust into scenes from Beauty and the Beast, Fantasia, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Peter Pan and Aladdin, with very funny results. As you'd expect, there are lots of Alan Menken songs featured, which are played out through an AMAZING surround sound system.

- Stitch's Great Escape may not be a classic, but it's a very futuristic animatronics show, that just shows how far things have come from Walt Disney's Tiki Room. Seated in a large circular chamber, you will be amazed as a Stitch walks around, spits, and is tracked by two huge robotic cannons. The 3D sound effects are extremely loud and intense, and the tactial effects (yes, tactial) are surprising and unique.

- Wishes is quite simply the mother of theme park fireworks displays. This show, presented in the sky above Cinderella's Castle, is worth the admission fee alone. It's the ultimate Disney experience. A never-ending cascade of huge, BIG amazing fireworks, synchronised perfectly with a beautiful, emotional orchestral score. I don't want to give too much away, but you'll see things done with fireworks that you always thought were impossible.

Ok now let's look at a few negative things about the park:

- Considering that it is the most popular theme park in the World, the Magic Kingdom has some surprisingly dated attractions. Space Mountain, the Carousel of Progress, Pirates of the Carribean, and the Jungle Cruise all seem a bit quaint in the year 2005. Sure, Space Mountain is still a lot of fun, but it is distinctly out-of-date and lacking (music and special effects) compared to the same ride in Paris, Anaheim and Hong Kong. Of course, already being the most popular theme park, the MK doesn't need to make much effort to be modern or cutting-edge. As long as tourists/"guests" keep coming through the turnstiles, everythings ok. The park is clearly financially driven, rather than creatively.

- The maintenance and up-keep of the park is excellent, but the basic themeing in some areas is patchy and doesn't make any sense. Adventureland has an arabian magic carpet ride, right in the middle of a tropical/carribean area. And Tomorrowland has a great metallic sci-fi entrance, but the rest of the land is very bland and sterile, with huge expanses of concrete. Again, the result of greed and a reluctance to invest back into the park to make it truly high-quality.

My family and my extended family all bought tickets for the party on December 7, 2004. One of my biggest reasons for purchasing the tickets was because I thought this would be a more intimate affair, with only so many people allowed to purchase tickets and enter the park. I did not mind paying $37 each for 7 adults for the chance to be in a non-crowded Magic Kingdom. Once we arrived at the park, it was obvious that this was not the case.

Main Street was jammed packed and we could barely move. We went over to Tomorrowland where the line for the complimentary picture was astronomical. We went to go see the “Night Before Christmas” show and it was standing room only for all 3 shows we tried to get into. It was also not worth it to wait 30 minutes in line to get a free hot chocolate (which we tried to get at three different locations-all jammed pack). To see the fireworks, we were roped off in an area in Fantasyland, jammed elbow to elbow with hundreds of other people. It was VERY uncomfortable. The first parade was impossible to see with the amount of people lining the streets. We finally did get to see the second parade, but this was at 11pm at night and our 3 toddlers had fallen asleep. We actually stayed at the park from 7pm to 12 midnight, and the crowd never did let up once. We never got to see any shows, and we all had varying emotions from disappointed to very angry to feeling very ripped off.

That night I talked to many other people at the park who felt exactly as we did. Disney says they only sell a limited amount of tickets, but it is obvious that they limit it to as many as they can possibly sell. The only things we got out of the evening were a parade and fireworks, which we would have gotten on any other regular night that is included in our regular park hopper ticket. And to make it even worse, we paid more money to come to the park when it is most crowded! We paid $259 extra (in addition to what we paid for our park hopper tickets), to come to the park when only supposedly a “certain amount of people would be let in”. This obviously was not the case. It was the most crowded that I have ever seen it in the evening.

The whole evening was an awful experience, and I feel very cheated knowing that I had to pay extra for it. I don’t recommend Disney’s Very Merry Christmas Party to anyone. Go on any other regular night, or go on an E-ticket night. You can have your own hot chocolate when you get back to your room.