My Parents Gave US the World! A Poly Dream PTR - April 2012**UPDATE 4/10/12 pg 10**

[204charity]

Well, now the "magic" begins! I am so excited for this day. I am sure that throughout the week, we will pop into MK with our park-hoppers just to look around and stuff, but this is our first full day there, (we also plan on going back on Friday) the very first time my daughter will get to be there, and I am so thrilled to see her face when she sees this :

in person!

So, our list of "must-see's" at Magic Kingdom are:

1. Splash Mountain

2. The Haunted Mansion

3. Peter Pan's Flight

4. Mickey's Philharmagic

5. Monster's Inc Laugh Floor


Our MAYBE'S for Magic Kingdom are:

1. Pirates of the Carribean (my Dad has never seen this and would LOVE to)

2. Swiss Family Treehouse (I would LOVE to see this, as it was closed when I went as a kid)

3. It's a Small World (My Mom would like to see this, since it was her favorite at DL as a teenager)

4. Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh

5. Prince Charming Regal Carrousel

IF OPEN:

1. Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid

2. The Great Goofini

Again, we have all of Friday planned as our second day back to MK, so I am not sure if we should hit up our "can't miss" attractions today, and then try and see as many of the others when we are back there on Friday? Or should I divide our attractions up by "lands" and see things that way?

We do not know where we can/should eat at the MK.....any suggestions?

To be honest, our two Magic Kingdom days leave me feeling a bit overwhelmed. I am not sure what to see when and/or where anything is.....ugh......I just want to throw my plans out the window these two days, but I know that's probably not a wise decision. So if anyone wants to help me do a REAL plan for these two days I would really appreciate it.

Anyways, that's it for now. DD is home sick today from school, and I too am feeling a bit today, so I will just be hanging out on the computer and resting......will catch up with you all later!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Again, we have all of Friday planned as our second day back to MK, so I am not sure if we should hit up our "can't miss" attractions today, and then try and see as many of the others when we are back there on Friday? Or should I divide our attractions up by "lands" and see things that way?

We do not know where we can/should eat at the MK.....any suggestions?

To be honest, our two Magic Kingdom days leave me feeling a bit overwhelmed. I am not sure what to see when and/or where anything is.....ugh......I just want to throw my plans out the window these two days, but I know that's probably not a wise decision. So if anyone wants to help me do a REAL plan for these two days I would really appreciate it.

Anyways, that's it for now. DD is home sick today from school, and I too am feeling a bit today, so I will just be hanging out on the computer and resting......will catch up with you all later!

Yea! MK day! I always envy those who are visiting MK for the first time because you can never again experience that feeling again of stepping onto Main St and seeing the Castle for the very very first time.

As far as your touring plans, this day will be far less crowded than Friday so I would plan on hitting the more popular attractions on this day and save the more leisurely attractions for Friday. You probably will have enough time to repeat some attractions on Friday as well. Among your list of musts and maybes, Peter Pan and Splash Mountain will have the longest lines and Winnie the Pooh will be third. I would head towards PP first - if you can make RD, then you can get on this one with very little to no wait on stand-by. Then you can head to Pooh and the stand-by wait time shouldn't be that bad - plus they have an interactive queue that will help any waittime you may have. Or if the line's long, you can get a fastpass and do some of the other FL rides while waiting for return time. I would take the morning to finish out FL - keep in mind you can see a LOT of attractions between 9-11am becuase wait times are very low compared to rest of the day. After FL, I would go through the lands counterclock wise through Liberty Sq, then Frontierland etc. especially since you only have one attraction in Tomorrowland that you want to see.

Along the way I would definitely FP Splash. With BTMR being closed, I'm going to guess the waittimes for Splash will be increased.

Our favorite QS restaurants in MK are Columbia Harbor House in Liberty Square (try to get a table on the second floor - more room and less crowded) and Peco Bills in Frontier/Adventureland. Here's a good place to look at the menu: http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm#mk

Here are a few more attractions you may want to consider:

Jungle Cruise: Yes, the animals are all fake . But it has sort of a nostalgic dorky and corny feel that I like. Nothing scary that I remember and it's a very laid back gentle boat ride.

Tom Sawyer's Island: (probably should save this for your second day) Provides a nice "get-away" from the afternoon crowds. Grab a rocking-chair near Aunt Polly's and take a shaded break!

Wishes: We LOVE this - and even though you'll have a chance to see this from the Poly beach, there's no substitute for watching it in front of the castle, IMO. Plus you get to see Tink fly across!

Buzz Lightyear: I actually prefer this one over TSM (I know I'm in the minority).

Having read about your DD's preferences, I would avoid Stitch's ride at ALL costs Goes completely dark for periods of time during the "show" with a few sensory surpises.

 

[Venomhatch]

Hey I have an off the wall question for you. Are the poly "key to the world" Cards any different than say the blue ones I am used to at POR? Are they yellow like in the pics at the beginning of the POLY thread?

 

[204charity]

Yea! MK day! I always envy those who are visiting MK for the first time because you can never again experience that feeling again of stepping onto Main St and seeing the Castle for the very very first time.

As far as your touring plans, this day will be far less crowded than Friday so I would plan on hitting the more popular attractions on this day and save the more leisurely attractions for Friday. You probably will have enough time to repeat some attractions on Friday as well. Among your list of musts and maybes, Peter Pan and Splash Mountain will have the longest lines and Winnie the Pooh will be third. I would head towards PP first - if you can make RD, then you can get on this one with very little to no wait on stand-by. Then you can head to Pooh and the stand-by wait time shouldn't be that bad - plus they have an interactive queue that will help any waittime you may have. Or if the line's long, you can get a fastpass and do some of the other FL rides while waiting for return time. I would take the morning to finish out FL - keep in mind you can see a LOT of attractions between 9-11am becuase wait times are very low compared to rest of the day. After FL, I would go through the lands counterclock wise through Liberty Sq, then Frontierland etc. especially since you only have one attraction in Tomorrowland that you want to see.

Along the way I would definitely FP Splash. With BTMR being closed, I'm going to guess the waittimes for Splash will be increased.

Our favorite QS restaurants in MK are Columbia Harbor House in Liberty Square (try to get a table on the second floor - more room and less crowded) and Peco Bills in Frontier/Adventureland. Here's a good place to look at the menu: http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm#mk

Here are a few more attractions you may want to consider:

Jungle Cruise: Yes, the animals are all fake . But it has sort of a nostalgic dorky and corny feel that I like. Nothing scary that I remember and it's a very laid back gentle boat ride.

Tom Sawyer's Island: (probably should save this for your second day) Provides a nice "get-away" from the afternoon crowds. Grab a rocking-chair near Aunt Polly's and take a shaded break!

Wishes: We LOVE this - and even though you'll have a chance to see this from the Poly beach, there's no substitute for watching it in front of the castle, IMO. Plus you get to see Tink fly across!

Buzz Lightyear: I actually prefer this one over TSM (I know I'm in the minority).

Having read about your DD's preferences, I would avoid Stitch's ride at ALL costs Goes completely dark for periods of time during the "show" with a few sensory surpises.

First of all, thank you for your very enthusiastic response! I got so excited just reading it! So, for starters - when you say "rope drop" what time is that? 9:00 am?

If we agree it's 9:00 am, then right at nine, we will go straight up Main Street USA to Cinderella's Castle, take the "ceremonial photos" and maybe tear up a bit because I am overcome with joy for my beautiful daughter. We will walk THROUGH the castle, because every little girl wants to say they've been IN the castle. Then; when we are on the other side, basically we are stepping into Fantasyland right? When we are there, we will go straight to Peter Pan's Flight and ride stand-by (I'm assuming that means just waiting to go on it right away) Now I have another question for you, can you grab FP anyways, even if you are riding right away? Just to save for later in the day to re-ride? Or is that frowned upon?

After we are done Peter Pan's Flight this is where I get confused....when should we grab fastpasses for Splash Mountain? I am worried if we wait til later in the morning they will run out. Does that happen or no?

If we can wait and get FP later for Splash Mountain, then right after Peter Pan's Flight is done, we will do Winnie-The-Pooh, Mickey's Philharmagic and then head over to the Haunted Mansion. After that, we will go to Splash Mountain and then at the very least we have all of our must-see's done right away! (Except of coarse, Monsters Inc Laugh Factory) Then I guess we can take our time doing whatever else was on our maybe list and then the rest we can see on Friday!

I have also heard good things about Peco Bills. I'll check out the menus and go from there.

Thank you so much for helping us with our scheduling with suggestions and such. These Magic Kingdom days have me feeling a tad stressed out I'm afraid. after looking at how much walking we will be doing during our magic kingdom days, I am thinking of maybe switching Thursday and Monday around. Doing World Showcase on Monday and doing Futureworld/Blizzard Beach on Thursday. Or maybe not. At least on World Showcase day we can "sleep in", aacckk! I don't know what to do. Suggestions anyone?

 

[204charity]

Hey I have an off the wall question for you. Are the poly "key to the world" Cards any different than say the blue ones I am used to at POR? Are they yellow like in the pics at the beginning of the POLY thread?

I'm not sure! This is my 1st time at Disney since I was a kid! Sorry.

 

[Venomhatch]

I'm not sure! This is my 1st time at Disney since I was a kid! Sorry.

Yeah I just answered my own question just now, digging on google. Yellow cards are Club Level I just found that out.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

So, for starters - when you say "rope drop" what time is that? 9:00 am?

If we agree it's 9:00 am, then right at nine, we will go straight up Main Street USA to Cinderella's Castle, take the "ceremonial photos" and maybe tear up a bit because I am overcome with joy for my beautiful daughter. We will walk THROUGH the castle, because every little girl wants to say they've been IN the castle. Then; when we are on the other side, basically we are stepping into Fantasyland right? When we are there, we will go straight to Peter Pan's Flight and ride stand-by (I'm assuming that means just waiting to go on it right away) Now I have another question for you, can you grab FP anyways, even if you are riding right away? Just to save for later in the day to re-ride? Or is that frowned upon?

After we are done Peter Pan's Flight this is where I get confused....when should we grab fastpasses for Splash Mountain? I am worried if we wait til later in the morning they will run out. Does that happen or no?

Park is scheduled to open at 9:00am this day. One thing I forgot to mention - MK is currently the only park that actually does a small show at park opening with the Mayor of Main Street, Disney Characters, and Family of the Day. I absolutely love this show and think it's a great way to start off a MK day - DW thinks I'm nuts and doesn't quite understand my enthusiasm There are plenty of youtube videos that you can search for if you want to get an idea but I think you just have to be in front of the train station by 8:40-8:45am to catch it. I think your DD will enjoy it.

Splash FPs typically don't run out until the evening hours during this time of year, and return times usually average about 1 to 1 1/2 hours from the time you obtain the FP. As I said though, I have no idea how the closure of BTMR is going to affect this. So far it hasn't but we're in a very low crowd season right now so hard to judge. I think we'll get a better sense in March when spring break peaks but my guess is that I don't think even then the FPs will run out that fast and you should be okay. I would check Josh's blog at easywdw in March - pretty sure he'll do a walkthrough of MK at that time.

 

[204charity]

Park is scheduled to open at 9:00am this day. One thing I forgot to mention - MK is currently the only park that actually does a small show at park opening with the Mayor of Main Street, Disney Characters, and Family of the Day. I absolutely love this show and think it's a great way to start off a MK day - DW thinks I'm nuts and doesn't quite understand my enthusiasm There are plenty of youtube videos that you can search for if you want to get an idea but I think you just have to be in front of the train station by 8:40-8:45am to catch it. I think your DD will enjoy it.

Splash FPs typically don't run out until the evening hours during this time of year, and return times usually average about 1 to 1 1/2 hours from the time you obtain the FP. As I said though, I have no idea how the closure of BTMR is going to affect this. So far it hasn't but we're in a very low crowd season right now so hard to judge. I think we'll get a better sense in March when spring break peaks but my guess is that I don't think even then the FPs will run out that fast and you should be okay. I would check Josh's blog at easywdw in March - pretty sure he'll do a walkthrough of MK at that time.

Oh, I have seen pictures of the opening show and just from those it looks completely magical! I definitely do not want to miss this, so thanks for the heads up on when to arrive to catch it!

 

[auprincess]

touringplans has a few free magic kingdom touring plans ~ check them out...they might be helpful! I would definitely go ahead and do everything that you want to do in Fantasyland first. And DD has to do Small World ~ at least once (even though the song will be stuck in your head all day). If you want to do Peter Pan twice, get a fastpass before/afer you ride it stand by. Worse case, you or someone else from your party can run get splash fastpasses while the rest are doing some of the other rides in fantasyland (the carousel or something).

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

If you are planning on sleeping in on your world showcase day then I don't think it's going to make a huge difference switching between Monday and Thursday. World showcase in itself leads to a lot of walking but you'll be rested up with a later day start.

 

[204charity]

touringplans has a few free magic kingdom touring plans ~ check them out...they might be helpful! I would definitely go ahead and do everything that you want to do in Fantasyland first. And DD has to do Small World ~ at least once (even though the song will be stuck in your head all day). If you want to do Peter Pan twice, get a fastpass before/afer you ride it stand by. Worse case, you or someone else from your party can run get splash fastpasses while the rest are doing some of the other rides in fantasyland (the carousel or something).

Thanks for the tip! As always, I appreciate any and all suggestions to make our trip better! So let me see if I have this right, your suggestion is not to do all of our favorites in each land, but to just do Fantasyland first and then if we want, do some of the other lands after this and also on day 2 correct? I am thinking this may be the best way to do things too. If we get tired mid-day, we can head back to the Poly for some quiet time. We can nap, swim, rest whatever and then go back to MK after supper for shopping, rides and WISHES!!

If you are planning on sleeping in on your world showcase day then I don't think it's going to make a huge difference switching between Monday and Thursday. World showcase in itself leads to a lot of walking but you'll be rested up with a later day start.

And you are probably right Dave. At least I know now with looking at the full week of park days - these two days are interchangeable. We can decide when we wake up on Monday if we want to do World Showcase or FutureWorld/Blizzard Beach!

 

[auprincess]

Thanks for the tip! As always, I appreciate any and all suggestions to make our trip better! So let me see if I have this right, your suggestion is not to do all of our favorites in each land, but to just do Fantasyland first and then if we want, do some of the other lands after this and also on day 2 correct? I am thinking this may be the best way to do things too. If we get tired mid-day, we can head back to the Poly for some quiet time. We can nap, swim, rest whatever and then go back to MK after supper for shopping, rides and WISHES!!

That is what I would do...not sure what others would think. It would just be a lot of walking to go do your top 5 ~ they are pretty spread out! When we go to MK, I am planning on doing Fantasyland first, and then going counterclockwise as well. I hope we can finish Fantasyland and Frontierland before heading back for a mid-afternoon break. And I'll keep my fingers crossed that we can do a Adventureland, too. Then we'll start at Tomorrowland when we get back (or Adventureland, depending on how much we still have left to do).

 

[204charity]

That is what I would do...not sure what others would think. It would just be a lot of walking to go do your top 5 ~ they are pretty spread out! When we go to MK, I am planning on doing Fantasyland first, and then going counterclockwise as well. I hope we can finish Fantasyland and Frontierland before heading back for a mid-afternoon break. And I'll keep my fingers crossed that we can do a Adventureland, too. Then we'll start at Tomorrowland when we get back (or Adventureland, depending on how much we still have left to do).

Ok, I get it!

 

[Venomhatch]

Ok, I get it!

Just checking in, catching up. Having fun I see.

 

[204charity]

Yea! MK day! I always envy those who are visiting MK for the first time because you can never again experience that feeling again of stepping onto Main St and seeing the Castle for the very very first time.

As far as your touring plans, this day will be far less crowded than Friday so I would plan on hitting the more popular attractions on this day and save the more leisurely attractions for Friday. You probably will have enough time to repeat some attractions on Friday as well. Among your list of musts and maybes, Peter Pan and Splash Mountain will have the longest lines and Winnie the Pooh will be third. I would head towards PP first - if you can make RD, then you can get on this one with very little to no wait on stand-by. Then you can head to Pooh and the stand-by wait time shouldn't be that bad - plus they have an interactive queue that will help any waittime you may have. Or if the line's long, you can get a fastpass and do some of the other FL rides while waiting for return time. I would take the morning to finish out FL - keep in mind you can see a LOT of attractions between 9-11am becuase wait times are very low compared to rest of the day. After FL, I would go through the lands counterclock wise through Liberty Sq, then Frontierland etc. especially since you only have one attraction in Tomorrowland that you want to see.

Along the way I would definitely FP Splash. With BTMR being closed, I'm going to guess the waittimes for Splash will be increased.

Our favorite QS restaurants in MK are Columbia Harbor House in Liberty Square (try to get a table on the second floor - more room and less crowded) and Peco Bills in Frontier/Adventureland. Here's a good place to look at the menu: http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm#mk

Here are a few more attractions you may want to consider:

Jungle Cruise: Yes, the animals are all fake . But it has sort of a nostalgic dorky and corny feel that I like. Nothing scary that I remember and it's a very laid back gentle boat ride.

Tom Sawyer's Island: (probably should save this for your second day) Provides a nice "get-away" from the afternoon crowds. Grab a rocking-chair near Aunt Polly's and take a shaded break!

Wishes: We LOVE this - and even though you'll have a chance to see this from the Poly beach, there's no substitute for watching it in front of the castle, IMO. Plus you get to see Tink fly across!

Buzz Lightyear: I actually prefer this one over TSM (I know I'm in the minority).

Having read about your DD's preferences, I would avoid Stitch's ride at ALL costs Goes completely dark for periods of time during the "show" with a few sensory surpises.

Thanks so much for your pointers! I wsa considering Tom Sawyer's Island too! And I wasn't sure about the Jungle Cruise, but it may be good. Notaligia is always a good thing. (At least for us oldies anyways)

What I have done is a rough plan to hit up our favs at Fantasyland then, head counterclockwise through the park until we are beat. Then take a mid-day break for some Poly Pool time and then we can come back after dinner for more rides and catch Wishes from the park! Then on Friday we will start with Monsters Inc and go through the whole park counter-clockwise again! Not sure if we will start at RD this day though, we may just sleep in and go later and stay later since it would be our last night in DW. SIZE]

 

[Venomhatch]

Thanks so much for your pointers! I wsa considering Tom Sawyer's Island too! And I wasn't sure about the Jungle Cruise, but it may be good. Notaligia is always a good thing. (At least for us oldies anyways)

What I have done is a rough plan to hit up our favs at Fantasyland then, head counterclockwise through the park until we are beat. Then take a mid-day break for some Poly Pool time and then we can come back after dinner for more rides and catch Wishes from the park! Then on Friday we will start with Monsters Inc and go through the whole park counter-clockwise again! Not sure if we will start at RD this day though, we may just sleep in and go later and stay later since it would be our last night in DW. SIZE]

Hey is the river boat down for renovations? I heard something about that. I have never done it, was thinking of giving it a try this time.

 

[HalloweenNut]

Another option is to divide the MK into lands and do 2 each day to minimize some walking and backtracking. Here's what we're planning on for our 2 days in MK (of course it can and will change between now and April as I continue to refine and second-guess myself! )


MK Day 1: Fantasyland and Frontierland

- Peter Pan's Flight FASTPASS
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- New Great Goofini Roller Coaster.
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Mad Tea Party
- Splash Mountain FASTPASS
- Country Bear Jamboree
- Tom Sawyer Island
- Splash Mountain
- Lunch: The Crystal Palace
- Mickey's PhilharMagic
- Snow White's Scary Adventures (if it's still open)
- Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
- Peter Pan's Flight
- it's a small world
- The Haunted Mansion
- Jungle Cruise FASTPASS (just in case we come back to the park in the evening and want something to ride before the parade)
- take the WDW Railroad from Frontierland Station back to Main Entrance and exit the park for afternoon nap/swim back at Poly
- dinner at Poly or WL
- watch Wishes from beach at Poly or re-enter MK to watch parade and Wishes from park

MK Day 2: Tomorrowland and Adventureland

- Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin FASTPASS
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Astro Orbiter
- see PUSH, The Talking Trashcan
- Stitch's Great Escape? (even though we've heard it can be scary our daughter loves Stitch and should be ok)
- Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
- Jungle Cruise FASTPASS
- The Pirate's League
- Lunch: Liberty Tree Tavern
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial
- Enchanted Tiki Room
- Frontierland Shootin' Arcade
- Swiss Family Treehouse
- Jungle Cruise
- exit the park for afternoon nap/swim back at Poly
- no specific evening plans this night

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Thanks so much for your pointers! I wsa considering Tom Sawyer's Island too! And I wasn't sure about the Jungle Cruise, but it may be good. Notaligia is always a good thing. (At least for us oldies anyways)

What I have done is a rough plan to hit up our favs at Fantasyland then, head counterclockwise through the park until we are beat. Then take a mid-day break for some Poly Pool time and then we can come back after dinner for more rides and catch Wishes from the park! Then on Friday we will start with Monsters Inc and go through the whole park counter-clockwise again! Not sure if we will start at RD this day though, we may just sleep in and go later and stay later since it would be our last night in DW.

Sounds like a good plan! I don't know why, but I love the ambiance of Tom Sawyer's Island. It's so relaxing and such a change of pace of the hustle and bustle just across the "river".

I think starting later on Friday is the way to go (Gasp, did I just tell someone not to make RD?? ). That's the beauty of having a second day at MK. You can take a more "see as we go" approach on the second bonus day. Friday is our second MK day too, and we were planning on starting later in the morning, but our DD made a request that she wanted to eat inside Cinderella's Castle. So I made an ADR at 8:05am before park opening at CRT.

 

[auprincess]

Sounds like a good plan! I don't know why, but I love the ambiance of Tom Sawyer's Island. It's so relaxing and such a change of pace of the hustle and bustle just across the "river".

I think starting later on Friday is the way to go (Gasp, did I just tell someone not to make RD?? ). That's the beauty of having a second day at MK. You can take a more "see as we go" approach on the second bonus day. Friday is our second MK day too, and we were planning on starting later in the morning, but our DD made a request that she wanted to eat inside Cinderella's Castle. So I made an ADR at 8:05am before park opening at CRT.

We will have our second day at MK on Friday, too! CRT on Sunday, though. Not to take over Charity's thread, but Dave, do you mind telling me how old your DD is? Will she be wearing a princess dress to CRT? I have 3 DDs, (6, 3, 13 mos at time of trip) ~ I really don't feel like dragging the princess dresses with us on this trip! WE've only eaten CRT one other time, when we just had my oldest DD and she was 2.5. I know lots of little girls will be dressed up, so I don't want mine to feel left out. I am planning on making tutus for them to wear as well as a princess minnie shirt (minnie head with princess hat).

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

We will have our second day at MK on Friday, too! CRT on Sunday, though. Not to take over Charity's thread, but Dave, do you mind telling me how old your DD is? Will she be wearing a princess dress to CRT? I have 3 DDs, (6, 3, 13 mos at time of trip) ~ I really don't feel like dragging the princess dresses with us on this trip! WE've only eaten CRT one other time, when we just had my oldest DD and she was 2.5. I know lots of little girls will be dressed up, so I don't want mine to feel left out. I am planning on making tutus for them to wear as well as a princess minnie shirt (minnie head with princess hat).

DD is 5. When we were at Disney almost exactly a year ago, we did Akershus and CRT and she wanted to be dressed up in her Rapunzel dress when she met the princesses. We had her princess outfit in our bags, and we would put in on her over the clothes she was wearing for the day during the meals, then took it off when we hit the parks again. For this trip, she is telling us that she wants to dress up so that's the plan for now. If she changes her mind, we'll go with that too!

That being said, if I remember right, there were many girls who were not wearing their princess gears/outfits at both places.