Conquered the Magic Kingdom in 1 Day: Thoughts and Advice

[mirak]

Just finished our brief trip to Disney World with two nights at Wilderness Lodge and one full day at Magic Kingdom. We crushed it if I do say so myself. Here are my thoughts and advice...

1. "Magic Express will magically wisk you and your baggage to and from the resort"? Hahahahah. Nothing express about it, and the only magic was managing to make our bags disappear for six friggin hours. Unless the inconvenience of schlepping your bags outweighs being without them for several hours after check in, skip it.

2. FAT people. Lotta them at Disney. Our healthcare system is in serious(er) trouble.

3. CMs are extremely friendly and generally helpful. And there's a bazillion of them.

4. Arrived 30 minutes prior to rope drop on a level 5 early EMH day. Already about 100 people clustered in front of us at the right tunnel entrance. Rope drops a few minutes prior to 8. We walked at a brisk pace but walked, using the the sidewalk to pass the congestion in the street. Had a 9:10 FP for mine train, so our plan was Peter Pan first. However, we took the mine train bridge (second on the right) and we chose to start with mine train based on almost zero line. There were maybe 100 people in front of us and it only took 5 minutes. Rode it again on the FP after hitting Peter Pan and Speedway.

5. Mine Train is ok, but not as good as Space, Splash, or Big Thunder. Not worth standing in line more than 30 minutes and the line was at least 45 minutes pretty much all day. Also, cars are REALLY tight.

More to come...

 

[mirak]

6. Haunted Mansion still awesome after all these years. And short lines most of the day too. Rode several times.

7. Pirates working great. No big splashes in our boats (rode several times).

8. Saved money by packing lunches. Ate them on secluded picnic table at Tom Sawyer Island. Instead of pidgeons, it was ibises circling for crumbs. Perfect lunch setting away from crowds.

9. Pirates League. Kids loved it, I thought it was pretty meh. Felt rushed, crowded, and the makeup artists had no real character. Oh well, kids enjoyed it.

10. Dole Whips. Ok, they were yummy, but I'm not sure what the rage is. We're not splitting the atom here - it's an ice cream float with pineapple juice.

More to come...

 

[mirak]

11. Philharmagic was a fun break. Enchanted Tiki Room... not so much. Nostalgia aside, it's time to put the parrots out to pasture.

12. Parade viewing tip: Frontier Land near the raised porch by Liberty Tree Tavern is where to be. A natural grandstand for good viewing. And CMs are happy to assist kids with getting places at the front row - just ask them! You'll notice there are crosswalks marked off where people aren't allowed to stand. But once the parade closes a crosswalk - kids can fill these areas in. So no need to stake out an early spot.

13. Strategy of burning FPs early worked well during level 5 day. We got 6 FPs in all and had time to ride everything we wanted, often more than once.

14. Liberty Tree Tavern is awesome. It's an all you can eat Thanksgiving Dinner.

15. Be Our Guest was seriously underwhelming. Pure hype, little substance. Get a lunch FP or go late at night for dessert if you really want to see it. We went for dessert at 9pm and the place was half empty.

More to come...

 

[mirak]

16. Princesses. By around 7pm, the crowd diminishes by at least 50%. A lot of people, and especially families with young kids, are headed home. If your kids have the stamina - evening is the time for princesses. We were just killing time by 8:30, so we walked right in to Ariel in her grotto. Next we swung by Anna & Elsa. Took us 25 minutes. We finished just in time to catch most of Wishes. Worked out perfect.

17. Spent all day in the park, hit a good 20 or so rides, dressed the kids up as pirates, had a Dole Whip, rode Mine Train twice, hit LTT for dinner and BOG for dessert, met Anna & Elsa, I'd call it a success.

Ps. Saw not one single kid on a leash or rude incident all day. Bravo everyone!

 

[alvernon90]

11. Philharmagic was a fun break. Enchanted Tiki Room... not so much. Nostalgia aside, it's time to put the parrots out to pasture.

Or turn it into a real tiki bar. That place would be great if it were a bar like Trader Sam's with the birds singing 4-6 times per hour for a couple minutes each.

 

[Angel Ariel]

15. Be Our Guest was seriously underwhelming. Pure hype, little substance. Get a lunch FP or go late at night for dessert if you really want to see it. We went for dessert at 9pm and the place was half empty.

Just a note here - it was announced last week that as of Feb. 25th, BOG is taking ADRs for lunch. It's still a counter service lunch, but the reservations are ADRs as of Feb. 25th, instead of FP+.

 

[siskaren]

1. "Magic Express will magically wisk you and your baggage to and from the resort"? Hahahahah. Nothing express about it, and the only magic was managing to make our bags disappear for six friggin hours. Unless the inconvenience of schlepping your bags outweighs being without them for several hours after check in, skip it.

They don't claim that your luggage is supposed to get to the resort at the same time you do. It's supposed to get there 3-4 hours after you check in. Just plan ahead and pack what you'll need for the first few hours in your carry on.

 

[SplashMo]

Which transportation did you take from WL to MK and back?

 

[coolbrook]

2. FAT people. Lotta them at Disney. Our healthcare system is in serious(er) trouble.

Saw not one single kid on a leash

Bravo everyone!

Lose the judgement and people may be interested in your touring success.

 

[bear_mom]

1. "Magic Express will magically wisk you and your baggage to and from the resort"? Hahahahah. Nothing express about it, and the only magic was managing to make our bags disappear for six friggin hours. Unless the inconvenience of schlepping your bags outweighs being without them for several hours after check in, skip it.

Not sure what you expected, ME never claims to have your luggage to you Right away. Plus you don't know ME delayed your luggage. The airline could have delayed them and ME took care of everything for you.

Like anytime we fly, we bring what we need for the first 24 hours in our carry ons so when we get to Disney we leave our bags in our room or with bell services and go on our way. When we get back, our bags are in our room.

Dh once had his bag taken from him as he walked on the plane, the FA told him they needed to gate check it, and it was lost for 3 days......

 

[disfanforlife]

Great summary! Overall, sounds like you had a terrific day!

 

[krismom345]

Thanks for the tips and glad your trip was a success!

 

[ArwenMarie]

It's too bad you had to stick a dig at fat people in a thread that actually had a lot of good tips.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Wow! A fat people slam.

Bless your heart.

I am fat right now in my 9th month of pregnancy. I hope I wasn't there when you visited and ruin your trip.

Bless your heart!

 

[mirak]

Just a note here - it was announced last week that as of Feb. 25th, BOG is taking ADRs for lunch. It's still a counter service lunch, but the reservations are ADRs as of Feb. 25th, instead of FP+.

Thanks for the update! If you can't get an ADR and you want to see it, I'd recommend walking up an hour before close for a late night dessert. As I said, the place was half empty and they still had plenty of tables set for service.

 

[mirak]

Not sure what you expected, ME never claims to have your luggage to you Right away. Plus you don't know ME delayed your luggage. The airline could have delayed them and ME took care of everything for you.

Like anytime we fly, we bring what we need for the first 24 hours in our carry ons so when we get to Disney we leave our bags in our room or with bell services and go on our way. When we get back, our bags are in our room.

Dh once had his bag taken from him as he walked on the plane, the FA told him they needed to gate check it, and it was lost for 3 days......

Good point. We packed emergency bags too - a must - so we had the swim trunks for the kids, but we packed all our toiletries in our luggage to avoid the liquid restrictions. I'm just reminding people that it can take a LONG time for bags to arrive. If we do it again, I'll just carry our own bags. Way easier than waiting.

 

[mirak]

Which transportation did you take from WL to MK and back?

We took the bus in the morning because the ferry wasn't running that early. Worked well.

As for the return, we made a stupid mistake! We hopped on the big "Ferry" that took us to the MK parking lot. So we had to circle back to MK by monorail just to get on the correct boat - called a "Resort Launch." Remember when leaving park - "Ferry" = parking lot. "Resort Launch" = resorts.

 

[siskaren]

10. Dole Whips. Ok, they were yummy, but I'm not sure what the rage is. We're not splitting the atom here - it's an ice cream float with pineapple juice.

Actually, that's a Dole Whip float. For me at least (and I would assume for most people), the "rage" is that it's pineapple (or pineapple/vanilla swirl) soft serve, which as far as I know, you can't get anywhere else, plus of course I like pineapple. (I've seen posts from people who decided to try one after reading about them here, but didn't like them, and it turned out they don't like pineapple.)

 

[PrincessDaisyDuck]

I'm glad you had a great time and while there were some great tips your comment about "fat" people and "kids on a leash" are super judgmental and rude.