Walt Disney World: The VIP Tour

By Michael

We had a VIP tour guide with us for the day and were inside the Magic Kingdom before it opened, all of us in matching Disney VIP shirts with our names on them. We stood for a family photo by the Partners statue with the castle behind us in the early light.

Splash Mountain was first. Later in the morning we rode Buzz Lightyear's ride and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and our guide had us in a reserved area for lunch.

In the early afternoon we moved over to Hollywood Studios, past the Tower of Terror, and rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. By late afternoon we were back at the Lodge, where Lisa swam in the pool and we watched zebras out on the savanna from our room.

We went back into the Magic Kingdom after dark, rode It's a Small World, and watched fireworks over the castle. Back at the Lodge that night we found Peter Pan spelled out in wooden blocks on the turned-down bed.

By Michael

We started the day inside our lodge at Animal Kingdom Lodge, where Thomas stood in the lobby by the carved masks and beaded tribal art before we headed out. The rest of the day was Epcot, and that is where we spent almost all of it.

We came in past Spaceship Earth, where topiary characters and flower beds lined the walkways, including a Donald topiary by the Fresh Epcot market stand. We rode Test Track and Mission Space, and stopped at the Leave a Legacy wall to find our own engraved tile, with Thomas and Lisa making a heart with their hands over it. A butterfly landed on our festival book in the gardens.

We worked our way around World Showcase, from Mexico through Norway, China, Germany, Italy, the American Adventure, and Japan, then on to Morocco, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. We met Daisy Duck together as a family, and later Alice in the UK pavilion, where Lisa also climbed into a red phone booth for a photo.

By evening we stood at the waterfall in Canada, and the day closed by a pond dotted with floating flower arrangements from the garden displays, with Spaceship Earth lit up in the distance. We headed back to the lodge for the night.

Kathy and I had our photo etched onto that tile on our first visit, in January 2003. We found it again with Lisa in 2010 and with both kids in 2014.

By Michael

On our last day we took the bus to Downtown Disney and spent the morning and early afternoon at DisneyQuest, playing arcade games and getting a photo with Wreck-It Ralph. In the afternoon we caught Disney's Magical Express to the airport. We flew from Orlando to Chicago Midway, watching the city lights spread out below us as we came in, and drove home from Midway.