What movies should I watch?

[SeilerBird]

I am a long time Disney fan. I have a photo of me in my Davy Crockett outfit sitting on top of a horse in 1955 at age 7. My family moved from Illinois to California in 1959. So I have been to Disneyland dozens of times. But I have never been to Disney World and I have not been to Disneyland in 25 years. In a few months I will be spending two weeks camping at Fort Wilderness and I will get me an Annual Pass. I have been reading books about DW and one thing confuses me. I am not familiar with many of the characters I am reading about populating DW. I have not seen a lot of Disney movies in the last 30 years so I am wondering which movies should I rent and watch before I spend two weeks at DW wondering who all these weirdly dressed characters really are.

So here is my question: What movies should I rent and watch before my first trip to DW?

 

[Kristibo42]

There are so many to name. You should start watching all of them. This is a gook website that list them. http://www.disneymovieslist.com/

 

[PrincessP]

I hope you have a magical time at Ft. Wilderness. We have friends who camp their in their RV.....they love it. Enjoy!

I don't know if you have an interest in animated features so I've noted if they are animated. I would recommend:

For Magic Kingdom:
*Toy Story (animated)
*Cinderella (animated)
*The Little Mermaid (animated)
*Pirates of the Caribbean
*Swiss Family Robinson
*Aladdin (animated)
*Winnie the Pooh (animated)
*Beauty and the Beast (animated)
*Peter Pan (animated)

There are others, but that would be a good start.

For Disney's Hollywood Studios:
*Star Wars movies
*Indiana Jones movies
(also a nice sprinkling of Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story here)

Animal Kingdom:
*A Bug's Life (animated)
*Finding Nemo (animated)
*Lion King (animated)

Epcot:

????



If you're enjoying the animated flicks, you could add:

*Sleeping Beauty (animated)
*Dumbo (animated)
*Alice in Wonderland (animated)
*Snow White (animated)
*Cars (animated)

I'm certain there are pleny more....have fun!

 

[SeilerBird]

There are so many to name. You should start watching all of them. This is a gook website that list them. http://www.disneymovieslist.com/

The problem with watching all of them is a question of money and time. It would cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to watch all Disney movies. And then the big problem would be that the vast majority of Disney movies would not be significient to going to DW.

 

[parkhopping]

I agree with PP - just watch them all

A few that come to mind that have a fair amount of representation in the parks:

Films from the Disney Renaissance era - The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King

Pixar - Toy Story 1-3, Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc., Brave

Princess movies (other than what's already been mentioned) - Tangled, The Princess and the Frog

Classics you may have already seen, but would be worth watching again: Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh

Enjoy your filmfest! Now I'm craving popcorn...

 

[married2mm]

I hope you have a magical time at Ft. Wilderness. We have friends who camp their in their RV.....they love it. Enjoy!

I don't know if you have an interest in animated features so I've noted if they are animated. I would recommend:

For Magic Kingdom:
*Toy Story (animated)
*Cinderella (animated)
*The Little Mermaid (animated)
*Pirates of the Caribbean
*Swiss Family Robinson
*Aladdin (animated)
*Winnie the Pooh (animated)
*Beauty and the Beast (animated)
*Peter Pan (animated)

There are others, but that would be a good start.

For Disney's Hollywood Studios:
*Star Wars movies
*Indiana Jones movies
(also a nice sprinkling of Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story here)

Animal Kingdom:
*A Bug's Life (animated)
*Finding Nemo (animated)
*Lion King (animated)

Epcot:

????



If you're enjoying the animated flicks, you could add:

*Sleeping Beauty (animated)
*Dumbo (animated)
*Alice in Wonderland (animated)
*Snow White (animated)
*Cars (animated)

I'm certain there are pleny more....have fun!

i would certainly second this list-many hours of pure heaven-however if limited by both time and cost-my top 5 would be-
toy story,
pirates of the carribean,
beauty and the beast,
a bugs life,
the little mermaid.

enjoy your viewing and your time in wdw

 

[chartle]

The problem with watching all of them is a question of money and time. It would cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to watch all Disney movies. And then the big problem would be that the vast majority of Disney movies would not be significient to going to DW.

You don't need to see them all but maybe if you just read their Wikipedia article and learned the plots of the movies you would enjoy some attractions better.

Like for Monsters, Inc.

WARNING MINI SPOILER ALERT

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It would be helpful to know why at Monsters Inc Laugh Floor they are collecting laugher.

 

[chartle]

i would certainly second this list-many hours of pure heaven-however if limited by both time and cost-my top 5 would be-
toy story,
pirates of the carribean,
beauty and the beast,
a bugs life,
the little mermaid.

enjoy your viewing and your time in wdw

Thats a good list though if you put them in order I would put POTC last since the movie was kind of based on the attraction not the other way around.

We only have two boys so growing up we have never seen LM or Beauty and the Beast and I feel I miss some of the important points in those attractions.

Before we go again, I plan on watching them.

 

[DarthMama]

Just a note for money-saving -- a lot of these movies may be available at your local library!

 

[cmh314]

Just a note for money-saving -- a lot of these movies may be available at your local library!

This is what I was just going to suggest. Before our last trip we rented tons of Disney movies from the library for the kids to watch to get them excited for the trip. I've now learned to borrow them from the library first before buying them because some of the ones I bought in the past, they have no interest in and I could have saved myself the money.

 

[cmh314]

Maybe I it was mentioned and I missed it, but there's also Lilo and Stitch.

 

[GoHerbie]

Don't forget Mary Poppins - you can meet her at the MK, it's on the background music, and she's in the 3pm parade.

And of course - HERBIE THE LOVE BUG! The first one (Love Bug) is definitely the best, 2nd was blah, and 3rd was good. You can visit the Love Bug section at the All Star resort.

We got many of the movies from the library, and check your DVR guide too.

 

[caseyd66]

For my family's upcoming trip we turned to YouTube to watch the few movies that we don't have on DVD. We are dressing up as characters from Pinocchio for mnsshp & I realized that we had never seen the movie! So we watched that, along with Steamboat Willie (dd was outraged when Mickey swung the cat around by it's tail!), a few Oswald the lucky rabbit cartoons & a somewhat grainy Song of the South (which you can't buy).

I've been trying to find the wonderful world of Disney episode called 'disney's greatest villains', narrated by the Magic Mirror, but so far no luck.

I have to say that knowing the movies really does add an extra layer of enjoyment to the attractions and the characters. I even enjoyed watching the cheesy Tower of Terror movie ( with Kirsten Dunst and Steve Guttenburg). The Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion movie not so much.

 

[married2mm]

Thats a good list though if you put them in order I would put POTC last since the movie was kind of based on the attraction not the other way around.

We only have two boys so growing up we have never seen LM or Beauty and the Beast and I feel I miss some of the important points in those attractions.

Before we go again, I plan on watching them.

glad you like my little list-not in any particular order though-just simply how they sprung to mind.

i know what you mean about missing some points-i have never seen all the star wars movies or any indiana jones movies

i am ok for next years visit to the dark side however, as we've all watched the full collection of the harry potter movies

 

[married2mm]

The Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion movie not so much.

i maybe alone on this-but i really like this movie

 

[wishing4PA]

Did anyone mention Pocahontas for AK? No, it's not historically accurate, but it has great music and some of the characters are at AK.

We borrowed a lot of movies from the library before DD4's (first) trip. It made a big difference, especially when she met Mary Poppins at EPCOT, and Mary tried to teach her how to snap her fingers.

Ah, just remembered some more, if not already mentioned (and I think the already mentioned movies are the most important):
-The Aristocats (is Marie still in France?)
-Lady and the Tramp (not that you will see them running around, but they deserve an honorable mention.)
-um um ... the was one more on the tip of my tongue... sigh.

 

[showers2flowers]

Also--Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!

 

[SeilerBird]

The library is a good idea but it won't work for me. I live full time in an RV and move from place to place too frequently to be able to use a library.

I don't have a satellite or a cable so I don't have a DVR or a DVR guide.

Since I live full time in an RV all my Internet connections are wireless which means I can't watch online movies.

I have seen most all of the old classic Disney movies, like Dumbo and Snow White, but that was 60 years ago so I need a refresher by watching those movies again. I own all the Indy Jones and Star Wars movies and I watch them occasionally, so those won't be a problem.

 

[wishing4PA]

The library is a good idea but it won't work for me. I live full time in an RV and move from place to place too frequently to be able to use a library.

It's definitely hit or miss, but I have gotten quite a few VHS versions of the classic Disney movies at a local church's yard/rummage sale. To me, it wouldn't be worth hitting all the individual family yard sales out there, but getting to a big sale like that and making a beeline for the movie shelves paid off for us. I also found one or two at a Goodwill store.

 

[parkhopping]

It's definitely hit or miss, but I have gotten quite a few VHS versions of the classic Disney movies at a local church's yard/rummage sale. To me, it wouldn't be worth hitting all the individual family yard sales out there, but getting to a big sale like that and making a beeline for the movie shelves paid off for us. I also found one or two at a Goodwill store.

I see Disney movies on VHS at thrift stores all the time for $1-2, so that's a good bet.

OP, you may still be able to get a membership at local libraries near where you park your RV. Depends on their policies as to what you put down for an address.