Driving to the airport along the Potomac River we pass more joggers – there are hundreds of them – they must be having a fun run. I'm ready to declare them the World's fittest city. Over the bridge across the Potomac, curving past Arlington Cemetery, and along a tree lined freeway we're soon at Reagan National Airport. Yes, we are searched again – it’s getting real old now. It’s a small crowded airport, the lines for the female toilets stretch down the corridor, and there are even lines inside the male toilets, something you don't often see at an airport, especially in at a Nation's capital, and eating options are likewise limited. Better to have breakfast before coming to this airport, or better yet, catch the train, or drive. Louise and I are in firm agreement that we will never fly domestic in the US again.
Orlando by contrast, is a large airport, so large it has a monorail to convey passengers to the baggage terminal. Around 1pm we have collected our bags and were on a taxi on route to the Hilton Walt Disney World. It’s hot, humid, but the wind is gone, and we can see blue sky. Fortunately, we postponed our flight yesterday, because the taxi driver, said, "they were getting off the plane white as sheets it was so windy." He told us he thinks one in ten people get in his cab furious after losing their bags. He also told us that his wife is having a baby and he had to pay $500 a month for health insurance. In reference to all the beggars, he commented, “In America if you fall down the government won’t help you.” All this time I was thinking he sounds just like Borat. It turns out - yes, he was from the glorious nation of Kazakhstan just like the character, Borat! What’s more he recognized we were Australian and knew where Sydney was, “it’s where Nemo goes in the movie".
After checking in to our room (Pictured above) we were soon on the hotel’s shuttle bus to Magic Kingdom, Disney Land Resort. Disney World Resort really began, because there was no more land to expand Disneyland, so Disney secretly bought up a huge tract of land in Florida. Today it is the largest and most visited resort in the world, and every year 17 million people visit the Magic Kingdom Park alone. Yes, there are actually four theme parks; Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and two water parks. But, don't be confused they are not in Orlando, most are in Lake Buena Vista, about 15 miles away, which is where we are staying. When we exited the bus, the sky was dark, rumbling, and then the rain came in sideways - and hard. Luckily for us, we hadn't bought our tickets yet, so we escaped back to the hotel on the next bus to go another day.
Across the road from our hotel is Downtown Disney (pictured above - viewed from our room) filled with shops, restaurants, and a 24 movie theaters - not cinemas, we asked directions from the Disney information kiosk, "Cinema? Is that an English term?" Like nearly everyone else here, he thought we were English. So far on this trip the only people who recognized we were Australian was a concierge at Las Vegas and a taxi driver from Kazakhstan.
We had dinner at the biggest Planet Hollywood in the world, with three levels inside a giant blue dome symbolizing the planet. It seems everything is bigger and better in America.
After dinner, we watched the new Ben Stiller comedy, Tropic Thunder, that was so good - the audience applauded at the end of the movie. It's even funnier if you have seen the documentary, Heart of Darkness, about the difficulty in making the Vietnam war movie, Apocalypse Now, which the movie partly satirizes - it was notorious in Hollywood due to production difficulties, earning the nickname, "Apocalypse When?"
Outside the theater, Downtown Disney is still busy - the streets are crowded with people, music is playing, bars and restaurants are trading well, and people are still streaming into the place.
Tomorrow we are plan on going to the Magic Kingdom Theme Park, and that will then mean we have finally visited all the Disney Resorts around the world; Paris, Hong Kong, LA, and Orlando. The worst is Paris - the French don't seem to really get the Disney spirit, and besides it was so cold, we were turning blue. Hong Kong is small, but they make up for it with their enthusiasm.
I love Orlando: it's like Vegas, but in a swamp.
