Today is America's birthday! She is 236 years young by my calculations. I wanted to write something to commemorate the day but feel a little overwhelmed with picking a topic. I am going to fall back into my safety net and write about a ceremony at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World that feels right for today, the flag retreat ceremony.
Every day at 5pm, since the park opened in 1971, the Magic Kingdom has done a flag retreat ceremony at the flag pole on the end of Main Street near the train station. I had learned about this event a few years ago but had never managed to attend. This past May, during my solo visit, I made it a point to experience the ceremony. I was a little shocked by the small size of the crowd that assembled but happy to be able to get a great vantage point to take pictures. You can not help but get emotional experiencing this ceremony and it is one event at the Magic Kingdom I am going to tell everyone they should not miss.
I wish I could provide more details about the veteran who participated on May 17th, 2012 but I got so caught up in the moment I was barely able to get the pictures I wanted. I also felt I should not be snapping away during the Pledge of Allegiance or the playing of the Star Spangled Banner while the flag was lowered. Maybe the next time I'll pick a different vantage point so I won't feel weird taking pictures while these portions of the event are occurring.
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| The Dapper Dans before the ceremony |
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| Playing America the Beautiful |
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| Just as the flag was to be lowered |
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| The presentation of the flag |
I was very happy I finally attended the flag retreat ceremony. I can see myself making this a must see event every visit to the Magic Kingdom. Here are a few other resources/blogs on the flag retreat, they provide much better coverage and detail than I was able to get.
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