Thursday November 9th 2023

I went to see the decorations at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom today. They changed from Halloween to Christmas during the nights of November 1st and 2nd. I waited a week to make sure they were all ready before visiting again. The first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party separate admission special event is tonight, so they better be ready. The party also makes it a good day for low crowds since the park closes early for the party.

It was a few minutes after noon when I arrived at the park. People were starting to line up on Main Street for the first parade of the day. I wandered around town square and looked at the Christmas decor while I waited for the parade. All of the creative scarecrows for Halloween have been replaced by toy soldiers and a huge Christmas tree in the center of the square. Main Street going up toward Cinderella’s castle was lined with Christmas Wreathes, festive garland and ornamental lamps. The whole area is very well decorated.

I remained on Main Street for the Festival of Fantasy Parade. This parade has been around for a number of years and showcases the Disney Princesses, Characters and music. It is a fun parade. The town square area of Main Street is the end of the parade that starts in Frontier Land. You have to wait a minute or two after the parade to navigate up Main Street into the rest of the park.

The rest of my day at the park was filled with a lot of waking around, a couple of rides and a show or two. One ride I had never ridden until today is the Tomorrow Land Speedway. It just isn’t something that an adult that drives a car every day needs to wait in line to do. Today it was only a ten minute wait, so I gave it a try. It was a struggle. I think the car I had was plague with a bent steering mechanism. It really didn’t want to go in the direction I turned the steering wheel. I don’t think I’ll be riding the Speedway again.

I did enjoy the Country Bears show for the umpteenth time. Those talking hillbilly bears can sing a mean song. Even the raccoon that lives in the top hat can carry a tune. I used to enjoy the Christmas version as well, but they don’t do that anymore. It will be interesting to see what the announced update to the show brings.

As I expected for most of the afternoon the crowds were manageable. At four o’clock the people with tickets for the party can enter the park. The crowds start to pick up. Regular day guests, such as myself, have to be out of the park by 6PM. I started to make my way home at 4PM. Rush hour traffic caused me to take a longer route that had less stop and go traffic. It took about three times as long to get home.