Gay Days

DH and I stopped by the MK on the first Saturday of June, as it is the "official" Gay Day gathering during the week long "Gay Day- Orlando" event. This gathering event has been going on for 14 years and is always the same weekend every year. (For more information, go to www.gayday.com .)

We arrived midmorning and had no problems with parking or other transportation. We were able to easily get into the park, aquire last minute PS at Liberty Tree Tavern, and ride most attractions without much of a wait. It seemed that all who converged on the MK early in the day for the gathering event were "socializing" more than taking advantage of the attractions. This made it nice for those of us who were there outside of the "event" to enjoy the park. (Often with large gatherings such as this, the park is crowded on the common areas, restaurants, and attractions.)

The skies became quite gray midafternoon so we left. As we were exiting the park, there were still droves of people coming in for the event (identified by their red shirts, the official color of the weekend).

The event saw a typical Central Florida cloud burst, complete with lightening and thunder, but cleared up later in the day. Rain or shine, it seemed that event goers were flocking to the MK for the "official" Gay Day event.

One special note: though this is an "unofficial" Disney event, there was a SURPRISE PIN that was released. It was not labeled a "Gay Day" pin, but was clearly designed with the event in mind. There were only 1000 made, and only for sale at the stand between Liberty Square and Frontierland. Limit 2 per person.

A few other facts to note:
*We rode the boats to the MK. All 3 were running, and each had a character on board! They allowed photo ops on the top deck of each vessel. (We saw Chip, Dale, and Pluto)
*Security seemed to be tighter. More CM's at the TTC than usual. You had to present a park ticket to even get past the TTC gates to get aboard the monorail or boats.
*The event organizers reported that over 130,000 people attended the event- a 7% increase from last year.

If I can answer any more specific questions, don't hestitate to ask. You can email me at boilerjlj@yahoo.com . Please put MFL in the SUBJECT line.

Updated June 30, 2006