Finding Zen in WDW

WDW can be a crazy place - between all the crowds, kids, parades, shows, fireworks, and the sounds of people gnawing on turkey legs - sometimes you need a breather, but you don't necessarily want to go to back to the hotel. Over the years, my family and I have discovered a few spots around the parks that offer a respite from the noise and excitement. I'll share some of my favorites here, and I hope you'll do the same in the comments:

Epcot - Morocco Pavilion: An interesting thing happens in the World Showcase at night. When the sun goes down, the people all take their seats at various restaurants or claim their standing spots by the lagoon, and all of a sudden ... the pavilions are deserted. It's an incredible thing. All the fun of Epcot by day, but without the crowds. My favorite place to experience this is the Morocco pavilion, where the winding paths and hidden shops truly make you feel like you're in a different place. Everything melts away, except for the smells coming from Restaurant Marrakesh and the ambient music. And then, when it's time to return to reality, you walk back out to the main path and see this:

Animal Kingdom - Maharajah Jungle Trek: I admit, you have to hit this at the right time of day, or there's nothing zen about it.  But if you go early in the morning, while everyone else is gobbling up FastPasses for Everest, the pathways are quiet, the animals are active, and all the noise just drops away. It's like taking a peaceful nature walk, but with tigers.

Magic Kingdom - Main Street USA: I hear the whaaaa? in your head. No, I'm not living in Opposite Land, where "quiet" means "noisy" and "Duffy the Disney Bear" means "Great Idea." On our last trip to WDW - and I don't know why we've never done this before - but we stayed around after Wishes was over. The crowds all flooded out in a rush to get to the buses, the stores quietly finished cashing out their last customers, and we just kind of ... loitered. But it meant that we got to see Main Street all lit up, nearly deserted, with the castle just ahead of us. It was sublime, it was gorgeous, it was one of my favorite Disney memories.

Namaste.

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Related Links:
* Better Know a Disney Fan: Interview with Mouse of Zen
* Disney Dining: Restaurants to Avoid
* The Disney Dining Plan, or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying About My Figure and Love My Sweatpants."