The Magic Kingdom... the best place in the world!

I've made no secret of the fact that I absolutely love the Disney parks in Florida's Walt Disney World. I love them enough to be able to write about ten blog posts on each one, but I thought I'd try to sensible. The Magic Kingdom definitely needs its own post, but I'll try to combine some of the other parks into one post. I'm not promising anything though... be prepared for lots of photos and gushing for the next few posts!

1. The Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom is probably my favourite place in the whole world, which is precisely why Neil decided to propose to me there. You honestly feel as if you've stepped into a different world when you go through those famous gates, and this world represents everything I love about Walt Disney World. The Magic Kingdom is home to fantastic spectacles such as Cinderella's Castle (pictured above) and the Beast's Castle in the impressive New Fantasyland, as well as some of my favourite rides in all of Disney World. Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain make me scream like a child... I genuinely can't stop grinning the whole way around these two rides (apart from when I'm screaming). They're not even proper thrill rides, but they're so much fun. Splash Mountain, It's a Small World, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and Pirates of the Caribbean are also brilliant rides, to name a few.

The shows and the parades at the Magic Kingdom are the best of the lot, in my humble opinion. The Celebrate a Dream Come True parade takes place during the day and is a good chance to see all your favourite characters such as Mickey and Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Woody, Chip and Dale, and Baloo. The accompanying music sounds as if it's come from High School Musical so it definitely gets a thumbs up from me! This parade is guaranteed to put you in a great mood, and it almost makes me want to get up and dance with the characters. Almost. I satisfy myself by bobbing up and down on the spot and tapping my foot enthusiastically.

The Magic Kingdom's night time extravaganza is breathtaking. It starts with the Main Street Electrical Parade, where everyone's favourite characters appear on massively impressive lit-up floats. You can see all the classic characters in this parade such as Cinderella, Snow White and Peter Pan. I dread to think how much these floats cost to maintain and run... so many tiny bright lights!

This magnificent parade is followed by Celebrate the Magic and Wishes... two fantastic things you most definitely don't want to miss. Celebrate the Magic transforms Cinderella's Castle into a piece of living art and honours the tradition of Disney storytelling. Various scenes from films are projected on to the castle and the castle is transformed tens of times just by using these projections. Meanwhile, famous lines from the classic films echo around the park in time with the projections. I can't even explain how amazing it is... you need to see it to believe it! Wishes is an amazing firework display accompanied by classic Disney songs and is the perfect end to a magical evening. I don't even believe in magic and can be a bit of a cynic (believe it or not), but everything about the Magic Kingdom is just magical. There aren't enough superlatives in the world to describe it!

I promise that Disney fans of all ages will love the Magic Kingdom. You probably wouldn't love it if you're not a Disney fan (in fact, you'd positively hate it), but what are you doing in Walt Disney World if you're not a Disney fan? The Magic Kingdom creates the illusion of being in a safe and happy bubble where everyone and everything is lovely and anything is possible. I love being able to escape into this bubble, even it's just for a few hours. Real life is a bit of a struggle sometimes and the world isn't always a nice place, so it's nice to go to a place where things are actually perfect (apart from when it rains). 

Just look at these amazing images... I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be right now!

Does anyone else love the Magic Kingdom as much as I do? Let me know!