over until dinner. Having queued for food and then for just one ride we were
ready to leave the park. Any holiday spirit felt within our fellow visitors and
ourselves had long been lost due to the constant crush we were all being
subjected to.
Before we left we picked up 'fast passes' for two of the more popular
rides. These tickets allow visitors to return to a ride at a designated time to
avoid a big queue. Normally the return time is about an hour later but on this
occasion the passes we got around 11am were to allow a return at about 9pm
- a sign of how busy the place was.
In complete contrast the place where we sought refuge was virtually
empty - the cinema. Again we counted our good fortune that we could leave
the park knowing we could go back in the next day, unlike the poor parents
who had bought their children on a trip of a lifetime and had to go home the
next day. We spent the afternoon watching The Return of the King - having
gotten the taste for it during our hotel stay in the Grand Canyon.
We ventured back into the Magic Kingdom in the early evening and
found it no less crowded. Fine, we thought, we will just do the rides we have
fast passes for, and then go home. Easier said than done. We literally had to
traverse the park walking in step with the hoards of other tourists, only to find
one of the rides we had come back for was indefinitely out of order. Our other
pass was not valid for an hour so we filled our time by queuing for and then
riding the Mickey Mouse tiny little railroad ride. This featured views of the
backs of many of the rides, plus decrepit dioramas of the Grand Canyon and
the Jurassic period.... bizarre.
We retreated back to the hotel and vowed to steer clear of Disney for a