Fodor's Walt Disney World Fall 2001
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Destination: Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando, and Central FloridaAs dusk falls on Walt Disney World, the sky over Cinderella Castle turns a perfect pink. It is the end of your first day in Never Land, and you've racked up an Indiana Jones-worthy number of accomplishments. Suppressing the urge to squeeze just one more attraction into the day's itinerary, you beckon to your brood, who by now are moving like a trained corps de ballet, and all plunk down onto a bench. Voilà! A flock of doves wheels from the marzipan-like heights of the enchanted castle into the clouds overhead, and you realize that "Once Upon a Time" is happening this very moment.
The key to entering this sweet zone is a combination of canny strategizing and good luck — and this guide is here to get you started.
Walt Disney WorldMany people are surprised to learn that Walt Disney World is not a theme park. Instead, it's a huge complex of assorted diversions, including not one theme park but several, along with resort hotels, shopping and entertainment complexes, golf courses, and water parks — several of each genre.
The Magic Kingdom What most people imagine to be Walt Disney World — the Magic Kingdom — is actually just a small part of it. Similar to California's Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom is the wellspring of Mickeymania and the most popular individual theme park in the United States, welcoming millions of visitors every year.
Epcot: Excellent Edutainment Designed to promote enthusiasm for knowledge, Epcot is packed with multimillion-dollar attractions — rides that are sure to turn on every family's curiosity quotient and ignite every child's Jurassic spark. Epcot covers everything from dinosaurs and energy to the cultures of various nations and is more like a huge world's fair than an amusement park, a subtle blend of the entertaining and the edifying.
Disney-MGM Studios: Reel Life With a cast that reads like the credits of the biggest blockbuster ever made — to Walt's name, add George Lucas, Jim Henson, the Duke, Bogie, and Marilyn — this is Disney's attempt to bring Hollywood to Florida. Here, more than a dozen top attractions marry movies to the latest in Disney ride technology.
Disney's Animal Kingdom Opened in spring 1998, this is the largest of all Disney parks, five times the size of the Magic Kingdom, with thrilling rides, dramatic landscapes, and close encounters with exotic animals. Its centerpiece is the wonderfully detailed 145-ft Tree of Life, which houses a 3-D film,
It's Tough to Be a Bug!Universal OrlandoUniversal Studios Florida-Ride the Movies Far from being a "me-too" version of Disney-MGM Studios, Universal Studios has long been a theme park with plenty of hip originality and a saucy, sassy personality of its own, not to mention
Back to the Future...The Ride, a simulator ride to end all simulator rides.
SeaWorld OrlandoIt's the animals who are the stars here. Sleek dolphins perform like Kerri Strug, and orca whales sail through the air like featherweight Nijinskys. The world's largest zoological park, SeaWorld is entirely devoted to mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles that live in the oceans and their tributaries.
The Space CoastExploration of the last remaining frontier — outer space — first became a reality at the Kennedy Space Center, an hour's drive east of Orlando. It's an hour well spent, as much for the distinctive Florida-scrub scenery en route as for the fascinating experience of the Space Center, at your journey's end.
