Photos: Almost At the Magic Kingdom
I’m calling our recent trip to Florida our “Non-Disney Disney Trip.” Sounds confusing, doesn’t it? That name comes from the fact that we were right there at Walt Disney World, but we didn’t actually go to any of the parks. For most people, the theme parks ARE Walt Disney World, but for us, there is so much more than just the parks.
However, we did get close to one of the parks, specifically the Magic Kingdom. If you read the previous Walk Around the World post, you know that we went for some walks between the Contemporary Resort and the Magic Kingdom. Which of course put us right in front of the Magic Kingdom entrance at times.
On one of those occasions, Jaylin was needing to make a visit to the restroom when we were near the Magic Kingdom. It was a long walk back to the Contemporary, and riding the Monorail over wouldn’t have gotten us there any more quickly, either.
So I did something I don’t think I have ever done before: I went through the “Guests Without Bags” line.
If you aren’t aware, the Disney parks added Bag Check areas at the entrances to all of their theme parks shortly after September 11, 2001, for obvious reasons. And I always have a camera bag of some sort with me. I suppose I could just carry my camera without putting it in a bag, but I like to have some sort of protection for it just in case it starts to rain. And you know kt rains all the time in Florida, often rather unexpectedly. So I always suck it up and go through the bag check line, letting them see all the fun contents of my camera bag: Camera, extra lenses, memory cards, writing pens (because you just never know), sunscreen (I forgot to put some on one time and had to buy the way-overpriced Disney sunscreen), rain jacket (yes, it fits in my camera bag), lens cleaning cloth, and whatever other odds and ends I have stuck in there over time.
There is a restroom at Guest Services at the Magic Kingdom, which is located outside of the park turnstiles. However, that area is inside the bag check areas. So in order to get there more quickly, I left my camera bag and camera with Laura, and Jaylin and I just walked in through the “Guests Without Bags” entrance and over to the restroom.
I must admit, walking in without a bag felt a bit liberating. But then, as soon as we got in there, I thought, “That would make a nice photo,” and I immediately realized why I always have a bag with me. So I suppose that the trip through the no bag entrance was probably a one time thing for me. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
And as you can see from these photos, it was a lovely evening out, with the sunset really lighting up the sky. So we continued on our walk past Space Mountain and on to the Contemporary. I was snapping photos as we went and thankful for my camera bag. Even if it does mean that it takes me a few more minutes to get into the parks when we do happen to go.
About the photos:
Multiple exposures, processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Read more about the photo software and gear I use at the camera gear page.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus 14-42mm IIR
