The Magic Kingdom. Best. Visit. Ever.

My wife and I have been Disney fans for years. As corny as it may sound, we honeymooned at Disney World in Orlando, and we had a great time. We typically go at least once a year, and as we had kids it gained another level of enjoyment. I've never had a bad time in any Disney park or property, but last weekend was possibly the best ever.

We headed down to my folks on Friday afternoon, after picking my son up from school. My parents live about an hour from Disney, so we were planning on staying with them, and then all of us would go to the Magic Kingdom on Saturday. We were starting the day with breakfast at Cinderella's castle, which my daughter had been looking forward to for three months.

We got to the park very early; in fact we were the first car in the parking lot. Literally. As I was getting the stroller out of the back of the minivan, and thinking that wearing shorts was a bonehead move (it was about 55 degrees at the time), another family pulled up. A girl got out of the van and asked if there was better parking. Looking at the Transportaion and Ticket Center only 50 yards away, I chuckled and replied that this was as good as you are ever going to get. In your whole life. Trust me.

Breakfast was awesome, complete with live Princesses, which of course made my daughter's decade. She's three and completely entranced with all the Disney Princesses and getting to meet the 'real' Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle was a real treat. My son probably couldn't have cared less, but they gave him a plastic sword. To keep. Boredom issue solved.

When we got out of breakfast, the park had just opened, and we were already in the middle of it. We enjoyed a couple of hours of almost no crowds, and it was wonderful. We walked onto to Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear (twice) and the Indy Speedway with almost no wait. It was great.

Space Mountain was a great moment.

My son has never shown any interest in roller coasters. He's five (and a half) and decided this time that he wanted to try it. I held my breath (not the whole time, I would have passed out) and took him. He, my wife, my Dad, and myself walked into Space Mountain, through the empty queues, and onto the ride. He didn't have time to change his mind, which was probably a good thing.

I'd like to take a minute to say that Disney has restored the glorious *darkness* of Space Mountain. When I was younger, riding Space Mountain was like riding a roller coaster blindfolded. Part of the thrill, hell, most of the thrill, was the fact the you had no idea what was coming next. At some point, Disney screwed the pooch and lightened up the ride. You could see the track in front of you, and you had an inkling where it was going. Since the ride itself is tame compared to other coasters, it spoiled the effect some.

So, when we finished the initial climb last Saturday and hurtled into comparative blackness, the realization that they had restored the ride to inky darkness again made me laugh with glee... until I remembered that my five year old in the seat in front of me has occasional issues with the dark.

Shit.

Oh well, nothing to be done now, right? I reached over his seat back and grabbed his shoulder, and tried to listen for his screams of terror over the laughter and bedlam that is a typical roller coaster ride. About halfway through, I realized he was laughing and screaming, in other words, he was having fun.

When we got off, I asked him how he liked it.

"Awesome!"

"Do you want to ride it again?" After all, opportunities to walk onto Space Mountain are rare, and the Disney veteran in me was screaming to get back in line.

"Uh. No."

So we moved on. No harm done and I was secretly proud that he had taken it so well. I was also thrilled that Disney came to its senses all these years later and returned Space Mountain to it's proper lighting level.

Later in the day, we worked our way around the park to Tom Sawyer's Island. This place bores my wife to death, but my son has realized its huge un-politically correct potential (forts, caves, guns, and cannon!) and was thoroughly enjoying running around unfettered and armed (remember the plastic sword?). We got to the fort, and as we were standing in the ramparts, shooting fake rifles (complete with great sound effects) at real trees, we see the Thunder Mountain Railroad sweep by across the river.

"What was that train, Daddy?"

"That's the Thunder Mountain Railroad. It's a roller coaster."

"Can we ride that?"

That's my boy. "You bet we can."

A trip to the Fastpass machine, and a Mickey Ice Cream Bar later, and we were climbing into Thunder Mountain. Three minutes later, my son was hooked.

"That was awesome! Can we ride it again? Please!"

Thanks to his grandmother not wanting to ride, and his sister being too short, we had two more Fastpasses. That enabled he and his mother to virtually walk straight back on and ride it again. I think he enjoyed it even more the second time. In fact, I think he would have ridden all afternoon had we been able to. He had to settle for two more rides that evening once we got more Fastpasses.

So my son loved Thunder Mountain, and at least enjoyed Space Mountain. I couldn't get him on Splash Mountain - he didn't want to get wet. My daughter got to meet Princesses and ride all her rides and by the time we left the park twelve hours after arriving, they were both dead tired. But I could tell it was that I-had-the-best-day-evar! kind of tired.

Which just made my wife and I smile all the more.