Day Two - July 13, 2003

By the time our alarm went off at 7 a.m., Kathy and I were both awake and getting ready for our first day at the parks.

Since the Magic Kingdom opened an hour early, we decided that we'd take advantage and head there first. After getting dressed and putting on sunblock, we made our way to the docks to take a boat to the entrance. We had heard about the boat from online resources and had seen Samantha Brown take one in her special on the Wilderness Lodge, so we were kind of jazzed about getting there that way. There were a few people already waiting when we arrived at the dock.

Though the morning wasn't foggy, the lens of my camera was.

I decided to take a picture of a bird on a lamppost not far from where we were standing. When I took off the lens cap, the lens completely fogged. I wiped it with my shirt only to have it fog up again almost immediately. I was a bit panicked. I didn't expect the humidity to be so bad that I wouldn't be able to take pictures with my new camera. I didn't bring any anti-fog wipes with me. Luckily, as the camera warmed from the air-conditioned temperature of the room to the already warm and humid Florida morning, I was able to de-fog the lens and keep it de-fogged. Whew!

The best way to travel from the Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom was via boat.

When our boat arrived, it wasn't the cute little boat that we had seen on the Travel Channel special. This one was big and burly. We figured maybe that they had this one in service because they were expecting big crowds. The boat had come from the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds, so there were already people onboard. We made our way to the back of the boat and stood by the rear railing. We didn't care so much if we were standing or sitting; we were at Walt Disney World and getting ready to go to the Magic Kingdom.

The boat ride over was very cool and was clearly the best way to get from the Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom's entrance. In the morning, the boat would travel from the Magic Kingdom to Fort Wilderness, then to the Wilderness Lodge and back to the Magic Kingdom. In the afternoons, after about 3 p.m., they would reverse the route and the boat would go from the Magic Kingdom to the Wilderness Lodge, before continuing to Fort Wilderness and back to the main entrance of the Magic Kingdom. The system confused some people, as they couldn't figure out why it wasn't a direct route between their resort's dock and the Magic Kingdom. And then some people didn't understand that this boat didn't take them to the Ticket and Transportation Center in order to return to their cars. Regardless, it was still a cool way to travel.

The anticipation of arriving at the Magic Kingdom was heightened by cruising the waterways to the entrance of the park.

I was really in awe that Kathy and I were at Walt Disney World. It was great traveling the waterways, past the Contemporary Hotel, with landmarks such as Space Mountain and Cinderella's Castle in the background. Words can't really describe the anticipation of seeing the Magic Kingdom waiting for us to dock and get up to its turnstiles.

Upon departing the boat, we had to go through security, showing our bags and packs before being able to get to the entrance turnstiles. I think it was a much better way of doing the security checkpoint than the system employed at Disneyland. It was always a minor nuisance zipping all of the compartments of my backpack back up after inspection but it was never too bad of a process.

We got through the turnstiles and into the Magic Kingdom. Too cool. It felt comfortable because I had been before -- familiar. But it was still exciting because it was an experience that I hadn't had too much of a chance to do before, being only my second vacation to Walt Disney World. I made my way to the top of the train station's stairs to take a few pictures from the platform. Even though it was early, it was pretty busy. And the character meet-and-greets they had set up made it seem even more so.

We headed to the Harmony Barber Shop to check it out. It wouldn't be opened for about an hour. I had planned to get my hair cut there, even timing the growth of my hair since my last haircut in order to do so. But I figured we'd have plenty of chances later. Kathy and I went through the Emporium, which had been extended through most of Main Street with a recent expansion. Kathy bought a sun visor while I took some more pictures. We were in no hurry to get deeper into the park, though it appeared that lots of other people were.

Cinderella's Castle always makes a great photographic subject.

We eventually made it down Main Street where I tried to take some pictures of Cinderella's Castle. It really is an impressive structure. We'd eventually stroll into Tomorrowland, hopping on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. The PeopleMover at Disneyland has been gone for awhile so a trip on the TTA was a nice experience. We'd hit up Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, my favorite attraction, where we did pretty good getting our scores up from our last trip.

After checking out the Tomorrowland area a bit, which had already become pretty crowded, I discovered that I hadn't charged either of my two batteries for my camera. I couldn't believe it. After getting something to drink and taking a couple more shots of Cinderella's Castle, we and the camera were low on energy, so we decided to head back to the hotel and re-charge at least one battery before heading out again.

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