Magic Kingdom:
- Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor — don’t know about this, we didn’t make it in, but sounds like fun, it is in Tomorrowland. Had a recent report from a friend:“Very funny! Perfect for older kids because they get the humor. Younger kids enjoy the characters, but a great place to laugh and just rest in a seat for 15 minutes.” — Grace
- Space Mountain — Roller coaster in the dark.Thunder Mountain — Railroad roller coaster, is a favorite (of course)
- Haunted Mansion — was updated a few years ago with some nice additions.
- Stitch’s Great Escape! — we didn’t care for this the attraction and have skipped it since the first time we saw it.
- Pirates of the Caribbean — recently updated to include Captain Jack Sparrow
- Peter Pan, Pooh, Snow White and all of those rides around that area of Fantasyland Area, have to be at least ridden once. The BEST of all of them is Peter Pan, and we usually do that one (as well as Small World) multiple times
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic — 3D 12 minutes movie, and a MUST!
- The Hall of the Presidents — of course, recently updated, but I think George Washington now speaks, he didn’t before.
Epcot:
- Soarin’ — We think this is the NUMBER ONE attractions in all of the parks. Get fast passes early and ride it as many times as possible, ha!
- Mission Space — An amazing ride and now there is a “lite” version that is less intense. It can be a little rough, but if you do what they tell you (look at the screen, don’t look around, if you start to feel sick, don’t close your eyes), you shouldn’t get sick.
- Seas /w Nemo and Friends — Great! Newer ride /w Nemo and friends and some neat special effects.
- Test Track — Another ride to get a Fast Past when you get there or at least early.
- SpaceShip earth — have an e-mail address ready, this attractions gives you an option to e-mail yourself something during the ride or at the end of it
- Countries — if you have time, they are fun to walk through and watch the special features (short promo movies). Also there are some great photo opportunities.
- A fun way to tour them is to stop and eat something from each one (snacks). We did this on one trip and had a blast. Ginger Ice cream in China, who would have thought it was so good. France had good Pastries, but Norway’s was even better. We took a day just for the countries (pre-Caden ha! ha!).
- With kids, a fun way to visit the countries is through Kim Possible missions. Stop and ask and you’ll get pointed to the right place on where to start your missions. Once you go on one mission, you can continue to another mission or turn in your “communicator” and go do something else.
- You can try different “versions” of Coke and Coke products from other countries at “Club Cool.”
- AMERICAN ILLUSION (email tip I received): ‘While in the America pavilion at Epcot’s World Showcase, pop on into the American Adventure. They have a painting on the far left front of a war plane in the hangar being worked on. Before approaching the painting, stand by the second column and follow the line in the floor. As you walk the plane will follow you. It is a very cool optical illusion. ‘
- Garden Grill – The restaurant floor spins… very slowly.
- Kid Cot Fun stops for preschoolers in the Showcase (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/entertainment/kidcot-fun-stops/)
Hollywood Studios:
We didn’t go to this park on our last trip because there wasn’t enough stuff for Caden (and we had skipped the Park Hoppers, so that locked us into one park a day). But here is what I remember from previous visits.
- Shows — All the shows, like Indiana Jones (another George Lucas creation) as well as Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast (which may not be there), etc are great.
- Great Movie Ride — We love movies, Jennifer loves OLD ones, so she really likes this attraction.
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Studio Backlot Tour, Tower of Terror — are all great.
- Star Tours — we don’t like at all. We almost felt motion sick afterwards, which pains me to say, because I am a Star Wars fan! There is/was another similar ride called Body Wars, or something like that, where riders went through the body, don’t remember if that is here or not or even exists any longer.
- Toy Story Mania — I’ve heard lots of good stuff about this ride, but since it is new, we have not been on it.
- Fantasmic! — End of the day show. Sometimes you can get free tickets (back door access, instead of waiting in line so you get in early) if you eat somewhere (sit down). We ate at Mama Melrose’s and it was good. Regardless, the show is FREE, but the tickets get you in early so you can be assure a good seat.
- Restaurants: 50’s Prime Time Cafe (note: the staff have been known to be rude to you, because you are family). We’ve heard Hollywood Brown Derby is wonderful also, but we’ve not been. Quick Service: Backlot Express, (lots of room to sit, if I remember right)
- If I didn’t list an attraction here, it is because we probably hadn’t seen it or I don’t recall. The bad ones always stand out, so I usually list those.
Animal Kingdom:
- Overall: Get to this park early so you can see the animals most active. This park also gets pretty hot (during the summer). The paths are a little narrow in parts so the crowds can get pretty congestive.
- Kilimanjaro Safaris — is the best ride in the park to see the animals.
- Expedition Everest — is a great thrill ride! We rode it before it opened to the public (they were doing some test runs the day we were there). It is a neat ride.
- The Trails and Treks are nice. There are different ones that cover different parts of the world. There are Cast members along the way that are very knowledgeable about the animals and how they live and hunt.
- It’s Tough to be a Bug! — 3D movie inside the Tree of Life, is lots of fun, and the tree of life itself is pretty cool on the outside. Be sure to remain sitting down until the movie is over and you are told to stand up.
- Festival of the Loin King — It is a center stage show so people sit 360 degrees around it, not really a bad seat.
- Finding Nemo — The Musical — We have not seen this, but we would recommend it based on how good all the other shows are.
- Restaurants: Food, we’ve heard from a couple of people that Yak and Yeti is really good. Quick Service: Pizzafari was good, but the service was really slow the day we were there.
- There is a lot we have not explored in this park, so feel free to send me tips.
BTW – We are Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Members and love it, more information about it from us is here.