Magic Kingdom
This is where the road trip ends.
Four weeks of diners, bars, beaches, highways, backroads, storms, and sunsets. Now the theme parks.
Since rolling back into Orlando, we've been staying deep inside the Disney bubble. Magic Kingdom is the epicentre—the start, the heart. Walt's dream, built from brick and fairy dust. The first of four parks inside the Disney bubble, inside the Orlando bubble.
Step off the monorail, the ferry, the car lot, and the outside world fades. Gone. Just music, colour, excitement — engineered happiness. Parades, fireworks, rides that spin and soar. Streets stay clean. Smiles stay on. Music follows you, even the trash cans are themed.
And the thing is, it still gets us.
Still delivers the same hit it did decades ago.
Our kids are grown. Jenny — our youngest, celebrating her 40th. And where better? She first came here aged three. Now it's her children who hold our hands. Who wave at parades. Who chase characters straight out of cartoons and bedtime stories.
Full circle. Nearly forty years of memories. Of magic. Of moments that stick.
Walk through the entrance under the railway station, and it's there — the castle. Blue turrets, golden spires, sunlight catching every detail. Framed perfectly at the top of Main Street. It's not just an entrance—it's an invitation.
You stop. Everyone does. Phones out. Arms around each other. Smiles wide. Selfies. Family shots. Memories being made to carry home — ready for the cold, grey days when you need something warm to hold onto.
We look around, and see them. All the first-timers. Families just starting out, just like we did way back. Parents pointing, kids tugging, jaws dropping, hearts racing.
We know that feeling.
Traditions being born—right here, right now. They don't know it yet, but they'll be back. Again and again. Their children will come with their kids, walking this same street, looking up at that same castle.
Look closer, and you see it the ones who’ve walked these streets before, the parents, grand parents, those who know what’s coming and still feel that spark.
It becomes a marker. A way to measure time. A place to return to.
Just like it has been for us.
And then there's Mickey. He's everywhere. Not just for kids. Grownups in ears, hats, shirts, and smiles. Mickey's more than a character — he's the symbol, the spark, the face that launched an empire. At the heart of it all.
For families like ours, he's shorthand for childhood, for laughter, for the moments that stick.
Four parks. One dream. This is Disney World.
Magic Kingdom. Built by Walt. Run by Mickey.
Where the road ends and the magic begins.
Where our family turns another page and the next chapter of memories begins.
