My wife has work in Orlando, and we found reasonably priced plane tickets, so we decided to visit the "Mouse". Since Thursday, my family have hit "Downtown Disney", "The Magic Kingdom", "Epcot" and "The Animal Kingdom". I have some pretty strong opinions.

Downtown Disney is nothing but an expensive racket to sell trinkets to tourists. It is expensive and the merchandise is seems cheaply made and expensive to booth. That was pretty much expected. There are a variety of restaurants--ranging from McDonalds to upscale seafood restaurants. If you are looking for something reasonably priced but not McDonalds, try "The Earl of Sandwich". You can pick up a pretty good grilled sandwich for about $7.

The Magic Kingdom is geared entirely to kids, as expected. We spent quite a bit of time getting signatures from characters and riding kiddie rides. My 7 year old particularly like Barnstormer--a little roller coaster. The flying carpet ride was also well received. My favourite ride was probably the Riverboat--my least favourite was the schmaltzy "Small World" which left me in a saccharine coma.

Epcot--I've been to Epcot before and quite liked it. This trip we hit "Mission Space" a simulated mission to Mars--which I loved but my wife and kiddo really didn't care for. We all agreed that the new ride "Soarin'" is terrific--it simulated flying over large portions of California including an orange grove complete with orange sent in the air. It is a gentle and extremely enjoyable ride. "Mission Earth" has been updated with new animatronics. It is still a bit on the cheesy side, but does give a pretty good idea of the evolution of communication right up to the Internet. The Japanese pavilion has an activity where you choose an oyster and the attendant opens it up for you and extracts a pearl. It is amusing and you walk away with something pretty. If your pearl is large, you get a mini drum performance. My two ladies enjoyed doing that. The sushi restaurant in the Japanese pavilion is more than passable. TIP--If you plan on eating at Epcot, pop over to the Pavilions first thing and make reservations for the evening.

The Animal Kingdom is ok. Don't plan on much more than half a day. It is kind of a Zoo and midway hybrid. The highlight of that park is the Safari ride--which features free wandering animals, although the big cats seem to be in habitats that are separated from prey animals. You do get quite close to many animals and the ride lasts for over 20 minutes which is pretty impressive for our ADHD society of three minute rides. Be warned, it fills up quickly--so you need to either be in the park when it opens OR get a fastpass. TIP--if you are staying at the resort you can get into the Animal Kingdom a half hour earlier than other guests--head straight to the Safari and you will have a short wait. The rapids ride looked pretty fun, but the day was a cold one and none of us really wanted to get soaked. The trails are pretty fun to walk along and the fruit bats are amazing. Mostly, the park left us cold. It wasn't really worth the cost of entry.

All in all, I would say the Epcot offers the best value. All of us left after a very long day pretty happy but tired saying that it was a good day. My daughter fell asleep very quickly after we got back to our hotel but with a smile on her face.

So the tally...

• Downtown Disney-two adult and one kid "so-sos"
• Magic Kingdom-two adult "so-sos" and one kid "thumbs up"
• Epcot-two adult and one kid "thumbs up"
• Animal Kingdom-two adult and one kid "so-sos"