We arrived in Orlando on Saturday to a very busy airport. In the past, our trips were usually on off-season times or with later arrival times so we weren’t used to so many people. The line at Dollar was tremendous (greater than 30 people) but once again they came through for us. The wait time was less than 15 minutes. This was our third time that we rented from Dollar and they have given us nothing but exemplary service. They are certainly the least expensive on-airport agency and their vehicles and people are more than adequate. We get the best of both worlds. So, after gathering our luggage and finding our car, we were on the road.
In order to be near the Orange County Convention Center, we stayed at the Best Western International Plaza on International Drive. After checking into our room and freshening up, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. Since we had already planned our October 2000 trip at Boardwalk to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary, we decided it would only make financial sense to purchase Annual Passes. Waiting in line to make our purchase we had never seen so many people in one place at WDW before! There must have been over 500 people just waiting to get through the turnstiles. Luckily MK was open until Midnight that night. Perhaps that was what attracted others as well. At Guest Relations we purchased our first Annual Passes and opted for the Premium Annual passes as we both enjoy the water parks and occasionally visiting Pleasure Island. So, after plunking down a significant amount of saved, hard-earned money, we entered the Magic Kingdom right at the time that everyone was lined up for the Main Street Electrical Parade. We fought our way back through the crowds to Cosmic Ray’s for a Caesar Salad, certainly one of the largest in the `World’.
Afterwards, we ventured over to Fantasyland to see how the wait-time was for "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh". At just over an hour we decided to skip it. One thing that we noticed in Fantasyland were these tall poles with lights on them. At first we were surprised that Disney would put in such tall poles just for lights, it then hit us that these were the upright supports poles for the Skyway between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. What a shame that this ride was dismantled. Granted, it seemed to be shut down more than it seemed to run, but it was still an MK original. It was rather sad to see it taken down.
We then headed towards Liberty Square and walked through the Yankee Trader store and then walked right onto the Haunted Mansion. After leaving the Mansion, we stumbled onto the big crowd waiting for the second performance of The Main Street Electrical Parade and decided to stay. During the parade we took lots of these pictures with the new camera. The parade was really neat for a couple of reasons. This was our first opportunity to see the Parade after it had returned to WDW as well as being the first time that we have seen it and been able to appreciate it as adults. It was also a surprise since we hadn’t even planned to see a parade during this quick-trip. The theme to the parade is timeless although it has been around for so many years. What an incredible display of lights.
After the parade we paid our required trip to the Christmas store and purchased our 2000 Xmas ornaments. After our small purchase, we made our way to Adventureland and debated on going on Pirates of the Caribbean. As it was getting late and Karen did have an early morning on Sunday, we opted to not go. Instead we tried to find a place for desert and stumbled onto this humongous crowd just outside of the Crystal Palace. It was then that we realized that "Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks" were only moments away. So we found a comfortable spot and enjoyed the show. After trying to unsuccessfully fight the crowds for desert, we gave up and made our way out of the park to the car and to our hotel,