Part II: Cobra at MCO

[CONTINUED FROM PART I]

So we flew out of Denver to Orlando via a connecting flight at Midway Airport and a one night stay in Chicago. Windy City weather proved exceeding uninviting that December of 2000--grey, snowy, bone-chilling cold--making the contrast with the next day's arrival at Orlando International Airport (MCO) all the more striking.

I'm usually fairly charged to be out on vacation so as the plane touched down, it was no surprise that my senses were suddenly perked. A heightened inner excitement was beginning to bubble up.

As I rode the people mover from concourse to terminal, then strolled out through automated doors to the awaiting Mears bus, I was most suddenly and unexpectedly swooped up in a transcendent wave of warmth, sunshine, palm trees, and public transportation. Even the ordinary somehow seemed extraordinary. Raised hairs vibrated upon the back of the neck as something long subdued was beginning to surface. Like some benevolent invisible cobra gliding upward over my upper vertebrae and then spilling into consciousness, I was feeling a euphoric epiphany of bliss.

I was happy--and surprised--by my escalating enthusiasm to actually experience Walt Disney World. But I had no clue as to what was in store, especially when it came to a ride called Snow White's Scary Adventures.

[MORE IN PART III].