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Going Orlando!

The tour bus sent us to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. We were finally on our own, free and easy with hotel stay and transfers which were included in the tour package, plus 2-day tickets to Disneyland theme parks and 1-day tickets to Universal Studios theme parks. Read More »

Universal Studios Orlando – Islands of Adventure

It was freaking hot and we didn’t bring any shades for the summer tour. We managed to buy two caps for ourselves at the nearby 24-hour shop. Warren reminded us that there would be security at the park entrance and we need to queue up for security check if we brought along any bags. So, we tried to bring as few items as possible for hassle-free security check.

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There were already many tourists when we reached the park entrance. We passed the security quickly but some tourists with big bags took a longer time for security check.

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Our 1-day pass allowed us to visit two theme parks: Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We were lucky to be there in July as during summer, the theme parks open longer and close at 10pm daily. We visited Islands of Adventure first as we thought since it has newer rides, more tourists would go there first, so we better beat the queues!

Islands of Adventure

In Islands of Adventure, there are five themed islands: The Lost Continent, Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, Marvel Super Hero Island and Seuss Landing. It was not possible for us to join the long queues for all rides, so we selectively chose to take certain rides only.

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Flower Fairy walking on stilts.

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Seuss Landing

This is where the beloved books of Dr. Seuss spring to life. It’s a very colourful playground with whimsical rides, a themed area with mainly kid attractions.

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“Think left and think right; think low and think high. Oh the thinks you can think up if only you try! Bye-Bye!” – for tourists like us who gave up the playground too soon!

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The Lost Continent

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We entered Poseidon’s Fury. In the ancient temple, an actor dressed up like Indiana Jones and interacted with us while “battling” with “demons”. We were like trapped far beneath the sea as huge fireballs, lasers and explosions of water erupted all around us. Some even got wet. It was a movie that came alive.

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Next, we “challenged” The Dueling Dragons – the world’s first high-speed, inverted roller coasters. It is actually two separate and intertwined roller coasters. Each track is a different layout. Our arms and legs were hanging free throughout the ride, “narrowly” missing the other oncoming coaster. Immediately after the first ride, we took the second ride of the other coaster. We felt nausea after the second ride and eventually, we lost each other in the crowd!

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Every ride had a long queue; so, we went for those popular rides first. However, for most rides, there was a queue for single rider. Both of us split up as single riders to avoid the long lines. Fortunately, most of the time, we managed to take the rides together. We should have bought the Express Plus passes to skip the regular lines and join the express lines to save time.

Jurassic Park

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We took a river raft ride at Jurassic Park River Adventure which displays dinosaurs in their natural habitats and has the longest water descent in the theme park. It wasn’t an intense ride and the only climax of the adventure was taking an 85-foot plunge under the jaws of a huge T-Rex into total darkness.

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Long long queue for the water ride. Fortunately, we went for the single rider queue and got on the ride within half an hour.

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Jurassic Park Discovery Center: we learnt all about dinosaurs, watched raptor eggs hatching and the “researchers” pretending to be busy in the labs…

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Toon Lagoon

We got very wet after the Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls! During the wacky water ride, we sat in the log-like conveyance and splashed through the panels of cartoons and comic strips of Toon Lagoon. This is the first flume ride to send riders plummeting below the water level.

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We walked into the colourful comic world with full of comic strips and cartoon characters. Everything’s so cartoon!island30.jpgisland31.jpg

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We felt so cooling to get soaked in summer after the water rides when the weather was freaking hot! Our Hershey’s chocolates even melted in the pouch. We were always thirsty and drank a lot of water. There are many water coolers in the park and even showers in the open space. We would spray mist on our face to cool ourselves under the hot sun and apply sunscreen regularly.

Marvel Super Hero Island

One of my favourite thrill rides was The Amazing Adventures of Spider Man. We put on 3-D glasses for an eye-popping, pulse-pounding, 3-D Spiderman thrill ride. We were virtually riding through the streets while Spider Man was jumping and swinging around us, fighting with the enemy. Fire balls were seen and we could actually feel the actions with winds and warm air.

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A young boy told Jacky that the real Spider Man would be coming in a minute!island41.jpgisland40.jpg

The Incredible Hulk Coaster – a very popular ride with a super long queue, so long that we didn’t even bother to waste time there.

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We skipped some thrill rides as the queues were really long and we ran out of time for the day; we still had to visit Universal Studios.

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More at Universal Studios Orlando!!

Universal Studios Orlando

We had tons of fun in Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure!

Universal Studios is separated into six different areas: San Francisco/Amity, New York, Production Central, Hollywood, Kidzone and World Expo.
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Hollywood

We watched Terminator 2, a 3-D interactive experience in stationary seating. The real terminator literally rode on a Harley Davidson; live-action stunts, special effects, and amazing 3-D film came together in this Terminator adventure. But I find that the theatre setting was rather old.
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World Expo

We bypassed Kidzone and proceed to World Expo for an interactive ride based on the hit movie – Men in Black. We became agent trainees in the ride to zap aliens as we spun and careened through the streets of New York, scoring points if a target was hit. I find it kind of a childish ride but also quite entertaining.
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New York

We accidentally got into the Express line for Twister…Ride It Out – a live action simulation, and we decided to stick to the line!
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First, we were ushered to watch Twister on TV in a shaken house. Then we stepped out of the house and it was like a theatre show without seats. We felt what it’s like to be a storm chaser, looking a tornado right in the eye: wind blew at full force; rain hit hard at the ground and lightning struck a lamp post which fell onto the roof of a house nearby; and it was quite funny to see a fake cow being blown away right in front of us! Explosions were everywhere, accompanied with the piercing sound system of the Twister. Basically after the show, we were wet. It’s a good stage show and we definitely would not want to watch it live!
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At first, we thought we got to miss another thrill ride – Revenge of The Mummy. Fortunately, the technical issue at the site was resolved before the ride was closed for the day.
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This was like another Indiana Jones ride. We plunged into total darkness as we saw fireballs, scarab beetles, and an army of warrior mummies. It’s awesome.
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San Francisco/Amity

We adjourned to Disaster – my favourite ride! It is a major motion picture ride. We boarded a moving subway train and set into the explosive finale scene of a disaster film: a spectacular 8.0 earthquake. During the earthquake, an oncoming train derailed, ceilings and pillars collapsed, water pipes burst and there were explosions. Then the road above the subway tunnel collapsed and a bus slid down and nearly hit our train. The ride created all of the visual effects of an earthquake. We learnt the secrets of disaster films and experienced special effects demonstrations. Approximately 65,000 gallons of water are released and recycled every six minutes.
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Fear Factor “Live” – we gave it a miss as I thought I have watched enough of Fear Factor on TV!studio17.jpg

Jaws! Any bad breath spray?
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Cardboard buildings.
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Production Central

We didn’t take any rides at Production Central, as we were already exhausted and tired of queues!
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Jacky has two Oscar’s Awards.
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Universal CityWalk

We strolled along the citywalk – a bustling entertainment complex with live music, casual and fine dining, shopping, movies and more.
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Leaving Universal Orlando before 8pm to catch the shuttle bus back to Clarion Hotel.
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We had supper at MacDonald’s near our hotel. Warren was right; it was really an exhaustive day!! And thinking about waking up early the next day to catch the shuttle bus to Disneyland at 7.30am… to be there the earliest to beat the queues… zzz…

See post on Universal Studios – Islands of Adventure ! My favourite theme park!

Next day: Walt Disney World – Animal Kingdom!

Walt Disney World – Animal Kingdom

Our Disneyland Passes allowed us to enter four theme parks: Magical Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studio (It was called MGM Studio when we were there.) and Animal Kingdom. We had two days to tour around four theme parks.

We visited Animal Kingdom, followed by Epcot in the afternoon as there would be a round of spectacular firework display throughout the night.
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To go Disneyland, we need to take designated buses to the theme parks as the hotel shuttle bus would only stop at the theme park bus terminal. We were impressed to see that the buses could be lowered or “kneeled” by the bus operator and were equipped with a wheelchair ramp for the disables.
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My first thought of Animal Kingdom was just another zoo, but it’s definitely more than a zoo! We were already there queuing up before 9am to beat the lines for the rides.ak1.jpg

Finally, we entered the park and were ushered to a big open space where Mini, Goofy and Pluto greeted us and introduced the icon of Animal Kingdom – Tree of Life, a 14-storey and 50-foot wide tree with the swirling tapestry of 325 animal carvings.
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In Animal Kingdom, there are six attractions: Africa, Rafiki’s Planet Watch, Asia, Dinoland U.S.A, Oasis, Camp Minnie-Mickey and Discovery Island.

Dinoland U.S.A

Our first stop was Dinoland U.S.A. It is like another Jurassic Park, where there are dinosaurs and big dinosaur bones hanging around.
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We took Dinosaur – just another kiddy ride; but children might enjoy it if they don’t cry! There is a camera attached at a certain point where the climax takes place to take the facial expression of the riders. Photos are sold at the counter.
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Saw this antique at the exit of the ride.
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Asia

We were totally immersed in the settings of Himalayas – the scenery, the colours, the building structures and even the smell!
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Our first ride for the day was Expedition Everest. It was a high-speed train ride toward the peak of Everest and then, the best part was we rolled backward at a fast speed. The mountain’s full of surprises and there is a big Yeti at the mountain too.
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We “challenged” the Kali River Rapid and rafted down the so-called turbulent waters but only got ourselves all wet, not thrilling at all! That’s it. We were soaked for the day after the second ride and I had to wring out the water from my clothes in the restroom.
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Apparently, this extraordinary tall “creature” was from the grape vineyard.
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Africa

We were greeted by a group of colourful and friendly performers. They were beating the drums, singing and tribal dancing with the tourists. An African man tried to pull me into their tribal dance and I insisted to turn down the invitation as I thought we had no time to dance yet (plus, I was shy)! We still had got so many rides to go.
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We queued up for Kilimanjaro Safaris and while in the line, we were reading signboards that prepared us for the safari ride. I had been to the Night Safari in Singapore, but never had a daytime safari yet.
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We climbed aboard an open-sided safari vehicle for the exciting expedition.
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The driver was a lady who narrated the tour. We watched animals roaming freely across the savannah, rivers and rocky hills. Sometimes we wondered if some animals in the far, the uprooted trees and termite hills were real or just a back lot.
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The lady-driver was a good actress too. She pretended that the vehicle was stuck in the mud while crossing the puddle; and she communicated with her co-actor on the speaker about poachers in the Harambe wildlife reserve hunting rhinoceros for their tusks and how they were later caught by the park rangers. It was a joy ride in the “wild”.

The Poachers’ campsite and a van full of rhino tusks.
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After the safari ride, we made our way to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail in search of gorillas. Along the way, it was a nature walk filled with Nile hippos, birds and fish. We entered an exotic bird aviary, an underwater hippo viewing area, a savannah overlook, and had an intimate up-close encounter with a magnificent troop of gorillas.
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I can always remember the name of this African animal vividly. It’s called Okapi. It resembles the giraffe, but smaller and with a much shorter neck; it has distinctive stripes on its four limbs.
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These gorillas are huge with very big faces!
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Rafiki’s Planet Watch

The endangered cotton-top tamarin primates at Habitat Habit!ak39.jpgak46.jpgAt the Rafiki’s Planet Watch, we boarded the Wildife Express Train and travelled the savannah for a behind-the-scenes journey through several animal housing and care areas of the park and to the core of the park’s conservation center. We went to the Conservation Station where Disney promotes wildlife conservation awareness.
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The “researcher” in the lab, observing the gorillla in the monitor screen boringly.
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A team of “researchers” were performing a surgery on a deer laying motionlessly on the operation table in the room while two “researchers” were standing next to us, “seriously” discussing about the sick deer.
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And finally, the Star of the Planet Watch – Rafiki, the endangered mandrill with a blue butt. Mandrill means “Man-Ape”, the world largest species of monkey.
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Discovery Island

We watched a 3-D show – It’s Tough to be a Bug! It was a stage show dazzled with amusing insects starring the show. At one part, we were like the housefly being hit by a housewife and we were even sprayed by white smoke (supposed to be DDT). Once we were even stung by a bee – we were actually being poked by a stick at the back-rest of our chair! Our legs were also being brushed by something that simulated insects running around us. It was an experience with full of surprises!

Leaving Animal Kingdom…
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We walked back to Disney’s bus terminal and took the designated bus to Disney Epcot.

Walt Disney World – Epcot

We embarked on another exciting journey for the day. Epcot has a lot of attractions, rides and a World Showcase.
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We were hungry and couldn’t really find anything bigger and cheaper than the soft and chewy pretzel to fill up our stomachs!
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Inside Disney’s Store.
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Lively and colourful Disney characters posters and paintings.
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We didn’t take many photos in Epcot as we kept our camera in the locker. It would be a hindrance to bring valuables along for the thrill rides.

We had a good meal at The Land Pavilion, delectable and quite cheap.
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There is something really COOL in Epcot – FREE Drinks! Located in Innoventions, Club Cool has free samples of Coca-Cola soft drinks from different countries around the world.
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Unlimited samplings: the tasting area has self-serve soda dispensers, dispensing Coca-Cola products for any thirsty visitors in the torrid afternoon. Some are really nice, but some just taste weird.
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Our next Mission: SPACE. There were two teams for this ride – one was more intense than the other. We were “macho” enough to join the more intense ride and spent two hours queuing up with some rowdy school kids behind us. When we were nearer to the entrance of the ride, the wall became an interactive playground where all of us could literally wave our arms to create images and even compete among ourselves by hitting ball images virtually.
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When we were about to take the Space ride, I nearly chicken-out when I read the notice warning us that we would experience G-force and might feel dizzy after the ride. I hate dizziness! That could make me vomit! But after two hours of queuing up, how could I just give up?

After the long wait, we finally entered the zone where we were grouped into a team of four, each of us being assigned an on-board role – Engineer, Navigator, Pilot or Commander. We were given two tasks each to perform the mission by pressing a specific button in the simulator when told.
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We boarded the simulator, plucking up the courage to set off to “space”. I was quite blur with the buttons on the dashboard and anyhow pressed them. We were like astronauts, experiencing the G-force of blastoff. Our capsule simulated the illusion of speed by spinning and tilting the capsule during the four-minute mission. I was a little dizzy inside, so scared that I might vomit after that! We had a bad feeling inside us after the mission.

Next, we embarked on a free-flying adventure – Soaring. This was a very relaxing ride as compared to our previous space mission. Again, we queued for another two hours for this very popular ride. We should have bought Fast Pass for the express queue, though the express queue was also very long but shorter waiting time.

Soaring is a simulated hang glider tour flying over beautiful sceneries in different cities around the world. We were restrained with seat belts in the carriage under a wing-like canopy, with our feet dangling free. The carriage was lifted into a huge IMAX dome movie screen and as the carriage was moved forward into the dome, we could only see the images projected on the screen and were given the sensation of flight. Movements of our seats were synchronized to the film.
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As we “soared” over the orange field scene, we could even smell the scent of orange blossoms. The mountain scenes were accompanied by the aroma of evergreen. The ride also featured river rafting, hot air ballooning and other action-packed adventures. We were virtually soaring over different cities in the world, with wind in our hair and our feet hanging in the air, letting our imagination run wild. The actual show lasted for about five minutes.

We spent the whole afternoon queuing up just for two thrill rides but it was well-worth the wait.

Our next ride was a kiddy ride at The Seas with Nemo and Friends. The queue wasn’t long as most kids could have already taken the ride in the morning. Inside the ride, we “sailed” in a cup-alike and watched Nemo and friends in a long movie screen.

Outside the ride is The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion. There were big aquariums with marine creatures as seen in the movie of Finding Nemo.
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The “real” Nemo and his father gliding through the coral.
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“I’m Dory.”
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“Fish are not food, they are our friends.” Bruce, the great white shark.
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We watched a 3-D show – Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. In the show, we were like being “shrunk” as the 3-D images were enormous, every objects in the movie were amplified. The show is quite old but entertaining.
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So much for the rides, we walked to the World Showcase where it contains pavilions representing eleven countries: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, U.S, Japan, Morocco, France, U.K, Canada. Each of these contains representative shops and restaurants and is staffed by citizens of these countries.
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I was dog-tired at the World Showcase and was literally dragging my feet along the World Showcase Lagoon – a man-made lake. I nearly dozed off despite having a cup of coffee in my hand! Everyone was waiting at the lagoon for the firework display – IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth would take place in the lagoon for thirteen minutes.

Soon, awe-inspiring fireworks filled the sky with stunning illuminations and not only that, an extraordinary Earth Globe floated across the lagoon. It was the centrepiece of the show and projected images of people and places on its curved LED screens. The show also featured lasers, fire and water fountains timed to the musical score.

After the end of the fireworks display, we called it a day and took quite a long walk back to the bus terminal to catch the last shuttle bus back to our hotel.
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We missed out a lot of rides due to the lack of time. We missed Test Track – another popular speed ride – as it would take us more than two hours just for the ride. Nonetheless, we enjoyed all the 3-D shows that we watched for the day!

For supper, we ordered a set meal with sausages and wedges at Denny’s restaurant adjacent to our hotel. We thought we could just pack and go back early to rest, but end up we waited for more than half an hour. A gentleman couldn’t wait anymore and told the waitress he was leaving but would pay for the food. How kind! I never see such an act before except customers complaining.

Next day: Walt Disney World -  Magical Kingdom!

Walt Disney World – Magic Kingdom

We boarded the hotel shuttle bus around 7:50am and took the designated bus at Disney terminal to Magic Kingdom first as we thought it would draw more crowds later in the day due to firework display at night.

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When the park opened, we were greeted by Disney’s songs and characters dancing on the stage. It was a storybook fantasy came to live. We didn’t stay on to watch the performance, but we scurried off to the Railway to take the monorail to transport us to our first attraction – Frontierland.
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Frontierland

Our first thrill ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was a mild ride on a “runaway train” in which we careened through an abandoned mine complex.
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Next, we “conquered” the Splash Mountain. The theme of this ride is about Brer Rabbit’s mischievous escapades as he tries to flee the clutches of Brer Fox and Brer Bear. We were seated in a log flume during the ride. The climax of this ride was when we plummeted from 5-storey high, with a big splash! We were not as wet as the first row riders though.
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Fantasyland

A touch of fantasy here, with the typical Disney cartoon-like houses, castles, towers… Many kiddy rides in this land but we didn’t take any.
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The World’s famous Cinderella Castle.
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Different views of the castle.
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Tomorrowland

We “reported for duty as security recruits in the Galactic Federation Prisoner Teleport Center” in Stitch’s Great Escape! We were restrained in our seats during the “training” with Stitch, who wreaked havocs in the Center. At one point, Stitch burped and our seats released the smell of Maggie Mee! Very gross!mk12.jpg
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Look like a racing track, but with slow racing cars…
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Mickey’s Toontown Fair

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Minnie’s House is a lavender and baby pink lovely bungalow decorated with hearts and flowers.
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In the living room, resting on Minnie’s sofa.
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Minnie’s prize-winning painting of Donald Duck and sewing machine in the craft room.
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Minnie’s tea set.
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Baking cake in Minnie’s kitchen.
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By touching a button on the oven, the popcorns inside the microwave would pop up noisily.
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Minnie’s fridge, with plenty of cheesy dairy products!
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Done with the kitchen, wash hand first!
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Checking out what Minnie is reading.
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Minnie’s work area.
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The mail box is just so “Minnie”.
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Donald’s boat.
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Mickey’s House is just next to Minnie’s House.
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The mail box is also very “Mickey”!
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Mickey’s bedroom. He keeps many white gloves in the drawer of the cupboard!
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The mess could be created by Donald Duck as webbed foot prints are seen here.
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Mickey’s recreation corner. I didn’t know that he plays table tennis too!
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Mickey’s backyard.
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Pluto’s kennel. It is not in.
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At the Judge’s Tent.
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Cactuses of Goofy, Mickey and Donald.
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Mickey’s workshop.

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Walter Elias Disney, the co-founder (together with his brother) of Disney Productions, with Disney’s alter ego – Mickey Mouse.
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Taking photos with the Disney’s cartoon characters would take up time to queue up; so we just snapped some photos from a distance.
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Adventureland

Captain Jack Sparrow and the don’t-know-who acting in front of the crowd. They looked very much like the real actors who casted Pirates of the Caribbean.
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We took a water ride at Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a slow ride along the “canal” and the movie characters were on either side of the banks. Err… quite disappointing.

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
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Swiss Family Treehouse: The walk-through attraction is centred around a giant artificial treehouse where you can hear and see various scenes based on the Disney movie – Swiss Family Robinson. Err… nothing fanciful at the Treehouse.

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Mainstreet, U.S.A

The Disney’s family were preparing for the parade. We tried taking photos of the cute cartoon characters but they would coldly turn away from us when they saw our camera aiming at them, even though we were standing at some distance away.
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Princess dresses, Princess dolls.
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Getting friendly with the Mainstreet Fireman.
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To MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios) in the afternoon …[more]

Back to Magic Kingdom in the evening for firework display.

At the end of the day, we returned to Magic Kingdom to catch Wishes Nighttime Spectacular, the biggest, brightest fireworks extravaganza in Walt Disney World.

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Dreamy lights emanating from the Cinderalla Castle.
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Just before the firework display started, lights in the theme parks were either switched off or dimmed. The magical moment began when the theme song “Wishes” was played and very soon, the sky was dazzled with the awesome display of fireworks emanated from the Cinderella Castle, accompanied by voices of the beloved Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Peter Pan and Pinocchio. The lights and brilliant firework display synchronizing to the Disney songs had touched every childlike heart . Toward the end of the show, “Tinker Bell” “flew” across the sky. It was the most breathtaking moment of the 3-day theme park tour and the best firework display we have ever seen.

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After the firework show, we had a hard time moving through the crowd. So, we made our way to the shops first, trying to be funny with cartoon head designs.
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Next day: Leaving for Virginia!

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