Disney World Advice!

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Hey Kids,

Ok, I'm off to the Magic Kingdom this October for the first time. I have a plan! I don't know if it will go over well, but we shall see.

I hope to get some suggestions from all of you on just about everything. Maybe there's something I missed and NEED to see.

But, my biggest questions evolve around Dinning! I have a plan but wonder if making Priority seating works for party of 1?

So:

Sunday - Animal Kingdom - Restrauntsaurus and Chief Mickey dining.
Monday- Magic Kingdom - Crystal Palace & Liberty Tree or Plaza dining
Tuesday - Magic Kingdom - TOnys & Crystal Palace Dining w/ Mickey's Hallween in the evening.
Weds - Universl / IOA - Mythos!! Lunch - Dinner ??? DTD?
Thurs - Studios - SCi Fi Gril - Hollywood Dine/ Fantasmic seating (part of the trip)
Friday - Epcot - Food & Wine (Should keep me full ) Nine Dragons dinner
Saturday - Boathouse and a random park before flying out at 7pm.

Any thoughts or advice???

[CoasterMatt]

CityWalk in Florida has Margaritaville - excellent place to knock back some booze with good people watching.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

I'm so happy for you!

My thoughts--

1) You probably won't need two days at Magic Kingdom. You'll yearn for Disneyland-- and it ain't it. (And this is coming from someone whose childhood memories are only of WDW.) EPCOT may be more to your liking-- and I'm not sure you've planned enough time for it.

2) Be willing to veer from your plan, and if you have a park-hopper (I suggest it!) do your best to start in one park and end in another (for instance, Animal Kingdom usually closes kind of early, and you could hit another park that night.) A note about that, though-- I don't know your transportation plans, but be sure to leave enough commute time in between. Buses don't always come fast enough.

3) Priority seating will most definitely work with a party of one-- and you've got to do it, because they really book up (even in the off-season.)

4) Yummy food in the parks... There's excellent orange soft-serve outside the (terrible) Tiki Room. Pastries at Epcot. You will LOOOOOVE the Sci Fi Grill.

5)If you have the chance to explore the hotels, there are some pretty neat-o ones. And the restaurants there are often far better than the ones in the parks (except Epcot, of course.) For instance-- if you're willing to try African cuisine, Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge is swell. Also, I remember thinking the "clam bake" (not all seafood, all kins of good stuff) at Cape May Cafe in the Beach Club resort was effin' delicious, and gave us a chance to check out what was, in my opinion, the coolest pool ever. If I remember correctly, Jesse swears by Artist's Point in the Wilderness Lodge. I found allears.net to be extremely helpful in menu/dining planning.

6) Rides-- Mickey's Philharmagic strikes me as something you'd completely love. Try Journey into Imagination in Epcot, though it's different than the one I grew up with, it still has the swell Figment character I so love. Also in Epcot, ride the Norway ride, and Test Track, and the new Mexican one (I haven't been since they updated it, though.) And Mission: Space but do not lift your head off the back of your seat and do NOT look left or right-- just at the screen. MGM, definitely hit Tower-- it's so much better than ours. Splash is better-executed than ours. Pan has fast-pass.

7) Find out which parks are the "early entrance" parks for hotel members, and don't go there in the morning.

8) And... start training now. WDW is a lot wider than DL, and requires much more stamina to get from one end to the other. I did a massive MK-morning/Epcot afternoon/MGM evening once and could hardly stand the next day.

You're going to have such a blast!

[Matterhorn Fan]

There is a serious lack of Boma on that itinerary.

[keith - SuPeR K!]

spiderman at IOA is a must-see!


...and all of LSPoorEeyorick's advise is good advise!

[Prudence]

Yeah, I was going to note the need for Boma. Or, if you have the funds and want something a little quieter (Boma is pretty loud), you might try Jiko, also in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We have a huge soft spot for Liberty Tree Tavern, as well. They have birch beer!

I concur that 2 days is probably more than you need for MK. You might consider splitting one of those days between EPCOT and MK - since you can take the monorail between them. There really is a lot to take in at EPCOT.

Oh, and people always say that Animal Kingdom is a half-day park. And yet, I've always gotten there at opening and not been finished when it closed. I guess it depends on how much time you like to spend looking at animals. I stop and watch just about every critter I see. But do head for Everest first on that day - I love that ride!

The flip side is that I really don't like the studios that much. I go there for Tower, and that's about it. But, they do have some really great streetmosphere characters there. I'd almost go there just for that. So, if you have some downtime, hang out in the Hollywood area up front and watch for the action.

[BarTopDancer]

o'Hana is gross. Skip it.

Also skip nine-dragons. You can get better Chinese food here.

EPCOT is HUGE! We were seriously unprepared for how big that park is. Be prepared to tackle it over a period of days. The Malestrom in Norway is strange. Mission: Space is awesome and so is Test Track. Do single rider in Test Track. The way the cars are, it is quicker to do single rider.

Everst is awesome but AK itself is an 'eh park (in MHO). We went in, rode Everest, left and have no regrets.

Rides I liked better: ToT, Splash, Thunder. Space is our Matterhorn (we totally braced ourselves for our Space turns even knowing it was the Matterhorn. OUCH). The late night Magic hours are the best. The crowds thin out pretty well. But avoid the parks that have the morning magic hours.

Busses are pretty prompt but can be delayed. The monorail is fun and it GOES INSIDE A HOTEL!!!!!!

[Kevy Baby]

I got nuthin' as I have never been

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

I got nuthin' as I have never been

I could use a roommate!!

[BarTopDancer]

Most importantly, TAKE YOUR TIME TO TAKE EVERYTHING IN!

MK is not Disneyland. Our motto became "it's the same, but different!" and we overlooked so many details. So much stuff because it was so similar to DL.