ORLANDO, Florida: We left New York City just when the weather was getting into 80 degrees. Our host Mr. & Mrs. John and Inda Gage dropped us at the JFK for our Delta Air flight to Orlando, Florida and since it is already summer vacation in the USA, the flights were full. However we got the surprise of our lives when we boarded our plane and were looking for our seats, it turned out that we were upgraded to business class. Thanks Delta!
The purser Raoul was an American Mexican who has been to the Philippines a few times, but never in Cebu. I somehow convinced him that when he visits the Philippines next time he’d fly over to Cebu and try our resorts. Since we had perfect weather and I got a window seat I was able to take great aerial shots of JFK International Airport and the US Coastline.
The last time we were in Orlando was 17 years ago when my children were still very young. This is why for this US trip, my daughter asked me that we should visit Florida, specifically Epcot Center and Magic Kingdom. One would think that a man of my age shouldn’t be visiting Epcot or Magic Kingdom being “kid’s stuff.†But since our hosts, Mr. Bem & Michelle Rosello Diosa have two young children they also wanted to go to Epcot Center and Magic Kingdom because they were also on vacation.
So we drove to Epcot Center and Magic Kingdom last Thursday and stayed there for the entire day. We arrived 8 a.m. and left at 9:30 p.m. Epcot Center is the more famous of the four theme parks built by Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. It opened on Oct.1, 1982 and occupies some 121 hectares in Orange County. Tickets are $94, but it also allows you to go to the Magic Kingdom. These two theme parks occupy two counties in Orlando, Florida and they are the biggest employers in Central Florida.
Entering Epcot Center with thousands of people lining up at the gate early in the morning gives you an idea of the demography of the people who come to America’s epicenter for theme parks. It really is an international group of people visiting Epcot Center… and for a Thursday it was nearly full. At the gate, their ticketing system has been changed. Your ticket now is a magnetic strip and you enter by swiping the card with one finger on a digital reader. It really is fool-proof.
For me, the biggest change in visiting Epcot is that the last time I was here the digital age was only featured in Tomorrow Land. Indeed, my old Nikon camera could only fire 36 shots…and I had to carry a dozen films and we had no idea if the shots we took were good or bad. Today things have become so different. I was using mostly my iPhone as my official camera… and with enough memory, you could shoot all you want and edit it along the way.
Another huge advantage for me is the wi-fi service of Disney World, which is free and with the hundreds of thousands of tourists using their digital cellphones, you’d think that the system would be overloaded. But no, I could immediately download my photos via Facebook in a jiffy because of a very strong and fast connection. I could also use my Viber to contact my friends, because somehow my Globe roaming didn’t connect.
Being away for 17 years allowed me to forget many things that I saw in Epcot Center then. But they do have many shows. My favorite attraction was Soarin’, which allows you to watch a video of California while hanging on your seat, as if you were on a Hang Glider. The other attraction was called “The Land: behind the Seeds.†This was Epcot Center’s way of educating people about the need for the proper use of the land.
Disney World still uses its famous Monorail system, which they started in 1959. Today Monorail trains are on their 3rd generation and they cover both Epcot Center and Magic Kingdom. Combine these two theme parks and it seems larger than the whole of Mandaue City! So we hopped over to Magic Kingdom by mid-afternoon so see what new attractions are there.
Today’s hit that children are lining up for are the characters from the movie “Frozen,†which my grandchildren are so crazy about. Naturally they wanted an Anna and Elsa costumes. But to our surprise, those costumes are on a six-month waiting period. Obviously Disney World failed to predict the success of the characters of that movie. So the grand kids just have to wait.
Looking back to the first time we were in Disney World and seeing what it is today allowed me to ponder and think that the legacy of Walter “Walt†Disney, who created all those Walt Disney cartoons and movies and eventually the Disney Land Theme Parks under the corporate name, The Walt Disney Company which earned $45 billion in 2013 has become an a big part of American culture. What Walt Disney gave the world was pure fantasy and it became a billion dollar earner. Yes, Mickey Mouse is not a real mouse, he is a mere figment of Walt Disney’s mind and it is true Americana.
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