1997: Magic Kingdom - Part 1

Main Street U.S.A.

The Magic Kingdom opened in 1971 and formed the core of Walt Disney World. You enter onto Main Street U.S.A., which is a picturesque street lined with turn-of-the-century styled buildings housing an amazing assortment of Disney memorobilia. As you look straight ahead -- past the crowd -- you see Cinderella's Castle, the Magic Kingdom's signature structure. In the photo below, Main Street U.S.A. is decked out with lively Christmas decorations that immediately put you in the holiday spirit -- even if the weather is kind of soggy!

Main Street U.S.A. on Christmas morning

Main Street U.S.A. is also the site of two of the finest sit-down restaurants in the Magic Kingdom -- Tony's Town Square, a fine Italian restaurant on the right almost at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom, and the Crystal Palace, a San Francisco-style eatery on the left at the far end of Main Street U.S.A. Besides the Main Street Cinema, where you can see some of Mickey's earliest movies, the main attraction on Main Street U.S.A. is the Disney World Railroad, which takes you on a 20-minute ride around the outskirts of the Magic Kingdom, with stops in Frontierland and Mickey's Toontown Country Fair.

Every afternoon, Main Street U.S.A. hosts the Magic Kingdom Parade, which changes "costumes" depending on the time of year and for special events (like the recent WDW 25th Anniversary celebration). If you want to get a good seat along the sidewalk, you MUST get there at least a 1/2 hour before the parade starts -- and even that is cutting it close! But the wait is always worth it when you see all your favorite Disney characters and the many fine singers and dancers come marching down the street.

Mickey and Minnie headline the daily
Magic Kingdom Parade

Adventureland

As you get to the far end of Main Street U.S.A. (just before reaching Cinderella's Castle), take the walkway on the left to enter Adventureland. This section of the Magic Kingdom takes you to exotic locales including the four main attractions. The Swiss Family Treehouse and the Tiki-Tiki Room were both closed for renovation during our visit. So, our first stop in the Magic Kingdom was the ever-popular Jungle Cruise, where you take a boat ride through some of the most famous rivers in the world, passing through an Asian jungle, the Nile valley, an African jungle, and an Amazon rain forest. As I mentioned in a prior section, during our Christmas-time visits to WDW, we were able to walk right onto the Jungle Cruise, as compared with waits of 45 minutes or more during two previous summertime visits.

One of the humorous sights on
the Jungle Cruise

The other very popular attraction in Adventureland is the Pirates of the Caribbean. After entering through a replica of a Spanish dungeon, you board a boat that takes you on a lively ride past a battle at sea and a town under siege from a group of rowdy pirates, all to the tune of "yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me..." By the way, if you would like to take pictures inside any of the attractions at WDW, I strongly suggest using high speed film in your camera. You are not permitted to use flash inside many attractions and, even if you could, the bright flash would destroy the "atmosphere" of many attractions. Kodak's newest type of film, called Max, is an 800 ASA film that works equally well in sunlight and in dimly-lit rooms. For the best low-light pictures, 1000 ASA film is preferred -- but, this film isn't suited for outdoors.

One of the rowdy Pirates of the Caribbean

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003