DL vet requesting first WDW trip ride advice.

[arcadiandj]

Please forgive me if I'm asking a question that gets asked all the time. I did some research on this forum, but didn't see a guide. So here is my post.

WDW vets, what are your three must do attractions at each park? My wife and I are trying to do our trip planning for 10/17, and realize we really don't know much about the rides at WDW.

Hence, my post. Thank you in advance WDW vets (you lucky people you!)!

 

[pooh4evr]

Well, since you haven't been to EPCOT, I would say Spaceship Earth of course is a must, as well as Frozen in Norway, and maybe Test Track (since they have Soarin in DL) I'm not sure if anything new will be open in DHS, by then so I guess Great Movie ride (since tower of terror and toy story are in DL) For Animal Kingdom- Everest, the Safari, Lion King show, and anything open in Avartarland (if possible). I've never been to DL, so maybe consider rides that are different in the 2 parks like Pirates?

 

[TinkLoverSam]

If you like ToT at DL it's better at WDW as the drops are random so every ride is different

 

[hiroMYhero]

As a DL vet, my WDW CM friend always chooses to take Cali friends to:
MK: Philharmagic, 7DMT, Enchanted Tales w/Belle

DHS: ToT, RnRC, Fantasmic for the differences and because she's in the show

Epcot: Spaceship Earth, TT to see how it differs from RSR, and Frozen Ever After as that will be open in 2017 for your trip

AK: Safari, Everest, Dinosaur to see how it differs from Indy and the Festival of the Lion King show is a must-do.

 

[DemonLlama]

We're the opposite, DL newbies that've only visited once, but we're closing in on a dozen trips to WDW.

We had a lot of fun riding for comparison on our trip to DL: PoTC, Space, Splash, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Toy Story, Star Tours, Soarin', Tower of Terror, Test Track.

And Fantasmic. Don't do Fantasmic at WDW. Unless you want to laugh.

Our top must-dos at each park:
AK
Expedition Everest
Kilomanjaro Safari
Lion King

Epcot
Spaceship Earth
Illuminations
Frozen Ever After (in theory -- have not ridden, but it's on our top three next trip)
Soarin (but again . . you have this at DL) so if you're going for cannot-do-in-CA, swap for American Adventure

Studios
Rockin Roller Coaster
Star Wars Spectacular fireworks
Tower of Terror
Toy Story

MK
Wishes Fireworks
Space
Splash
Big Thunder
7 Dwarves
Pirates
Pan
Philharmagic
Haunted Mansion

guess which park we love the most? I'm pretty useless narrowing down MK.

 

[hakepb]

If you are a Walt fan, then I would add Carousel of Progress, since it's the only orginal Walt supervised ride at WDW without a DL counterpart
Otherwise the above lists are great.

 

[ConnecticutFlea]

WDW is much larger than DL, where you can walk from park to park in minutes. Plan an hour to travel between parks.

The lists above are good. Dinosaur is the same track as Indy, but it's more in the dark. Small world and POC are better in DL, but it's fun to compare. Same with Fantasmic. Personally I like WDW's better.

 

[Parker Clan]

I'm jealous... I've never been to DL! It's definitely at the top of my bucket list!! My top three at WDW in each park are :

Magic Kingdom -Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion

Epcot- Soarin, Test Track and Spaceship Earth

Hollywood Studios- Tower of Terror, Toy Story and Star Tours

Animal Kingdom - Expedition Everest, Safari and Kali River Rapids

 

[720L]

Tower of Terror is probably the only ride that's better than the DL version. Carousel of Progess is a must since its classic Disney. The Beauty & the Beast show at HS is almost as good as Aladdin was.

 

[hakepb]

Tower of Terror is probably the only ride that's better than the DL version. Carousel of Progess is a must since its classic Disney. The Beauty & the Beast show at HS is almost as good as Aladdin was.

Jungle Cruise is longer at WDW (part wasn't removed for the Indy queue) and it has the Asia scene, Splash has a bigger drop, Haunted Mansion has the staircase room, Pooh is more complete. And WDW has many upgraded queues.

 

[Alice777]

I am not WDW vet but I live less than 30 minutes away from DL and went to DL more than 100 times in my life time and went to WDW for the first time this April. To compare rides, we did most of the rides as we can. I would definitely choose rides we don't have it DL first and then choose rides that DL has to compare. These are my choices:

EPCOT – Test Track
Spaceship Earth (nothing exciting BUT there’s part where they put your face into “cartoon” so it’s fun to
take pictures of that)
Living With the Land (again nothing exciting but loved looking at so many different types of fruit plants,
vegetables, etc.)

Hollywood Studios – Rock & Roll Coaster (if you can take fast rollercoaster – once was enough for me)
HS was the only park we took break to go back to our resort because we couldn't find things
to do all day. Went back at night to watch Star Wars fireworks.
We did have fun taking pictures with Chewbacca and Kylo. Wish we did more of character pics.

Magic Kingdom – Seven Dwarfs Mine train (my number one ride in WDW! LOL!) Loved it so much did it twice.
The Barstormer (cute rollercoaster - it's okay to try it once)
Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor

Animal Kingdom – Kilmanjaro Safaris (did the afternoon ride but if I had choice, I would do it twice, once in the morning
and once at night)
Expedition Everest
Festival of Lion King Show
Dinosaur (broke down when we were there but since we don't have it in DL, I want to try it)

 

[DVCcurious]

If you are a Walt fan, then I would add Carousel of Progress, since it's the only orginal Walt supervised ride at WDW without a DL counterpart
Otherwise the above lists are great.

Walt had the idea of Country Bear Jamboree as the dining room entertainment at a Disney ski resort.
So that is also a WDW-only attraction that had Walt Disney's influence.

Most WDW versions are "longer" rides. The one exception is Pirates of the carribbean. But stuff like Pooh, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Splash, etc are all longer at Magic Kingdom than DL, since MK is like 5 times bigger than DL.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

If you like ToT you've got to do it at HS. We did it at DL and were majorly disappointed. It is WAY better at WDW.

Likewise, you'll be very disappointed in our Pirates ride. You should still do it if you want, just be prepared. It's extremely short compared to yours. When we were in DL, we thought that the Pirates ride was never going to end - it seemed so long! And Dinosaur at AK, though it uses the same ride apparatus as Indy, is nothing like the awesomeness that is the Indiana Jones ride at DL.

 

[720L]

Jungle Cruise is longer at WDW (part wasn't removed for the Indy queue) and it has the Asia scene, Splash has a bigger drop, Haunted Mansion has the staircase room, Pooh is more complete. And WDW has many upgraded queues.

Yes the queues are def better at WDW. I forgot about Jungle Cruise, WDW has the temple you go through.

 

[figment_jii]

Please forgive me if I'm asking a question that gets asked all the time. I did some research on this forum, but didn't see a guide. So here is my post.

HydroGuy does have a guide, but it's not been updated in some time.

WDW vets, what are your three must do attractions at each park? My wife and I are trying to do our trip planning for 10/17, and realize we really don't know much about the rides at WDW.

Not an attraction, but if you do go in October, be sure to check out Epcot's Food & Wine Festival and MK's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Both are a lot of fun!

My favorite attractions...
Magic Kingdom - Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Transit Authority (aka Peoplemover)
Epcot - American Adventure (show), Living with the Land, Journey into Imagination with Figment
DHS - Toy Story Midway Mania, Great Movie Ride, Muppets
AK - Safari, Expedition Everest, Festival of the Lion King (show)

 

[heidijanesmith]

My step father is a DL vet and a WDW newbie. The one thing that he noticed over all of the ride differences is how large WDW is and the planning it takes to be at WDW.

This is a great start, finding the rides that you want to see and make a plan. Get your restaurant ADR's 6mo prior to your trip, this was a major difference in his opinion between WDW and DL. Get your FP+ early, no paper fastpasses at WDW.

Plan extra time for getting around. You can walk to some parks from your hotel, but you will have to use a bus or drive yourself at some point.

 

[CynBeth]

I would also suggest besides rides take time for the animal trails and Flights of Wonder show at AK and at EPCOT make time to walk around the different countries in WS and see the shows/movies/attractions/stores in them.

 

[E-ticket Princess]

As a long time vet and AP of both DL and WDW I agree that the best strategy is to do the attractions that are not offered at DL. However some very similat atractions are better in DL I know this will ruffle some feathers but here goes:

MK: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Mickey's Philharmagic is wonderful if it is your first time. (don't waste a FP+ though as it is usually a walk-in), Enchanted Tales with Belle and use your last FP+ for Splash Mt. It is much better at WDW
side note: Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is a must do just for the special party only parade and fireworks.

Epcot
Frozen Ever After, Mission Space Orange, although it is badly in need of a revamp it's still unique and a lot of fun. Don't bother with Mission Space Green as it is a silly watered down version of the original and not worth the time. I hate the tired phrase "go big or go home" but in this case it applies. and lastly Spaceship Earth, not a thrill but well worth doing.
RSR is so much cooler than TT but TT has a single rider line so check it out to compare if there is time.
Don't miss American Adventure and the pre show singers. It is quite stirring. FP+ not required though.

DS
Definitely Rock'n'Rollercoaster at least twice as it is very cool but very short. Do 1 FP+ and 1 single rider.. Tower of Terror is much better at WDW. The Great Movie ride is unique, not thrilling but still fun. And here is where there may be controversy but I would choose it over Fantasmic because DL's Fantasmic is a little better and I love the way it magically erupts from the river where as WDW's is in a stadium and loses some of the wow factor. The line can be claustrophobic too. Still a good show but not different enough to warrant the wait.

AK
Expedition Everest is unique and a really big thrill. Dinosaur uses the same ride system as Indy but is different, much scarier the first time and lots of fun. Kilimanjaro Safaris is a must at least twice. 3 is better. 1 morning, 1 afternoon and 1 night as the animal's behavior is very different. Grizzly River Run with it's extra high drop is far superior to Kali River Rapids but Kali River's theming is cool if you want to compare.

Food is another BIG! consideration. They book 6 mos. out at WDW and ADRs at the best times are highly sought after and a must. Much more so than in DL. Travel time is a big factor so do your homework and choose the restaurants right away and book asap. Allow at least 90 mins to 2 hours for sit down dinners. Be sure to choose off hours and don't book to close to EMHs. Then plan touring around your meals. It's much easier that way. I highly recommend Be Our Guest, Boma and Ohana just to name a very few of the myriad choices. California Grill with it's 14th floor view of the "Wishes " fireworks show is astounding if you have the budget. Expensive but so worth it. Hard to get too so book mid week about 45 mins. before showtime. The menu reads very boring but it looks and tastes much better than it sounds.
Have fun! and please post a follow up and let us all know what you thought of the differences.

 

[E-ticket Princess]

I did you a grave injustice my friend. I almost forgot by far our family's favorite attraction in any Disney Park is The Festival of The Lion King in AK. Amazing show. One of the best anywhere. Don't miss it.

 

[JulieNMM]

If you are a Walt fan, then I would add Carousel of Progress, since it's the only orginal Walt supervised ride at WDW without a DL counterpart
Otherwise the above lists are great.

I would also add Country Bear Jamboree at MK. I love CBJ and COP and neither are at Disneyland. CBJ used to be there, when I was a kid, which is probably why I am nostalgic for it.

Edited to add: I forgot about People Mover, too. Another ride only at WDW but that used to be at DL that I am nostalgic for.