In September 1997 we flew to Orlando, Florida for 2 weeks at Disney World, Universal Studios, and the Kennedy Space Center. Most of this time was spent at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney-MGM Studios.
We stayed on the Disney property for 10 nights. That’s a lot of Disney. That gave us the chance to really enjoy all aspects of all the parks and take our time. This amount of time doesn’t just mean riding the rides. We used some of that time for seeing shows and taking special tours. This included a really neat behind the scenes guided day tour of The Magic Kingdom. Did you ever wonder what Mickey does on his time off? Since it was the Magic Kingdom’s 25th anniversary, they decorated Cinderalla's castle like a giant birthday cake. That was something to see (and you can, below). Disney really did it up nice. They also had some special events going on because of the anniversary.
Because of the Disney Magic, you almost forget what it’s like to be in the real world. At one point we took a bus to the Disney Village Market Place, the closest point to getting outside of Disney. We walked for a while to get off the Disney property and finally saw our first piece of trash on the ground in a week. Believe me, that was exciting!
When we left Disney, we rented a car and drove to Universal Studios. We were really impressed by how well the park was done and the rides. We especially liked the Terminator2 3-D ride. To attract people they had a special 2nd day free offer. That attracted us for 2 days.
Then we drove to the Kennedy Space Center. They had just built a new visitor center that had a huge display and great tour. We were fortunate enough to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the launch pad. It was getting ready for the 87th shuttle mission which launched on the 25th of September, 1997.
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