*Saturday Spotlight on Magic Kingdom*

[Hilary]

Welcome to the first Saturday Spotlight! This week we're looking at the Magic Kingdom park (not including food and drink as we hope to cover that another week).

We'll kick off each week's new topic with a few tips, hints and lesser-known facts. Then (hopefully! ) you'll all join in, add your own tips on that topic and maybe learn a few new things along the way. We hope that each week's spotlight will result in a great planning resource which we'll add to a 'sticky' thread at the top of the UK Trip Planning Board so that we can find it again easily.

Saturday Spotlight is aimed at helping you get that little bit extra from your trips to Orlando. We’re not trying to rewrite the guide books and web pages dedicated to the nuts and bolts information, but hope we can add a bit of our own icing on the cake.

So get your thinking caps on... Saturday Spotlight is here and, to make it work well, we need your ideas too!

Magic Kingdom

• Make use of the MK Railroad. It’s a nice way to get a feel for the park’s layout as well as a great way to rest those weary feet traveling between different areas of MK.

• Visit Tinkerbell's Treasures, a shop behind the castle, as soon as it opens. Inside the shop is a very special treasure box where Tinkerbell sleeps! If you are the first guest of the day to enquire, you might be lucky enough to be asked to wake her up. You’ll be told to wave a wand, say "Wake up, Tinkerbell" three times, and then you’ll hear Tink fly around the room. Of course, you probably won't manage to spot her because she's a fairy and flies pretty fast once she’s woken up, but you will see flashing lights and hear bells so you’ll know when she’s awake. You might also be given a certificate and some stickers.

• If you’re trying to move between Liberty Square and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or Splash Mountain, try the boardwalk next to the river – it’s usually much less crowded, especially around parade times.

• Look for the wedding ring embedded in the cement outside of the Haunted Mansion (I’ve never managed to find it!) and the jewels around Aladdin’s Flying Carpet.

• Behind the castle you’ll find Cinderella’s fountain. Bend down to child’s eye level and see how a crown magically appears on Cinderella’s head.

• The Railroad station platform at the park entrance gives a great view of the parades as they come around underneath.

• Above the Main Street shops, on the right hand side as you face the castle, there’s a dance studio. Listen carefully and you’ll hear tap shoes dancing. In the nearby alley you may also be able to hear piano lessons taking place.

• When picking a spot to watch Wishes remember you’ll be looking upwards (that may sees obvious now, but it’s easy to forget when you suddenly spot a gap in the crowds!) so check for any trees that might block your view.

• To avoid the crowds lining Main Street before a parade, or if it’s raining, walk through the shops on the Tomorrowland side of the street – they are all inter-connected.

• Look out for the Mickey shaped manhole covers in Toontown.

Check out the DIS for general information about the Magic Kingdom here!

Who's next with their tip? Please join in and postyour own favourite(s)!

 

[SplashMtn]

A perfect place to view the parades with only a few people around you (no pushing or shoving ) is in front of the "Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe" in Frontierland because of the wooden fence in front of the door which is always in place (not one of the temporary ones used for during parades). Get their reasonably early, make yourself look er big(!) and it's like a private viewing area!


Love the new Saturday Spotlight idea!

 

[Miffy2003]

Hilary, all my tips involve food and drink!

I recommend the Tomorrowland Transit Authority on a hot day. There's never a queue and you get a lovely view of Tommorowland at the same time as a smashing breeze

For parents travelling with small children, head straight for Fantasyland as soon as you can to get the rides here done. Dumbo is a good one to do early as the queues can be long but for some reason small ones always want to ride this.

If your children want to let off a bit of steam there is a little play area in Mickey's Toontown Fair. I'd guess it's aimed at children under 6 or 7?

 

[wils]

Get your hair cut at the Harmony Barbers Shop on Mainstreet.

They do a great 'First Haircut' with a certificate, Mouse ears (with First Haircut on the back), Mickey Confetti wrapped up with the trimmings and enough stickers to um.. (lots of stickers!)

I can't remember how much $$ it was but it seems reasonable for just the haircut! Apparantly once the days supply of ears is gone, it's gone so get there on opening.

Jo

 

[Flo_and_co]

Get to the park before it opens to see all the characters come to open the gates! If you're REALLY lucky you might get chosen to help them open up.

Then as soon as you go in you can get loads of photos, autographs etc.

 

[BeverlyJ]

Take time to enjoy the little things....
- the beautiful window displays along Main St
- the flowers, plants and animals (ducks on the water in front of the Crystal Palace)
- how the music changes between lands without you really noticing it!
- singing bushes and grass......
- the 'hidden' path from Toontown to Tommorowland
- my ABSOLUTE favourite - make sure you stop and see the Barbershop Quartet, what a fabulous job and what great voices - get to know them, they are lovely people, have a chat
- visit the pianist outside Caseys and again, stop and have a chat, he's a nice guy...

I will keep smiling all day now.....

 

[Kevin Stringer]

• When picking a spot to watch Wishes remember you’ll be looking upwards (that may sees obvious now, but it’s easy to forget when you suddenly spot a gap in the crowds!) so check for any trees that might block your view.

This is very true. It also pays not to get too close to the castle as it hides many of the lower level fireworks.
I have often found the bridge to the hub in front of the castle to be about the right distance. You get to see the castle in all of it's lit up glory and perfectly framed by the fireworks.

As well as the TTA, another way to rest weary legs is to take a ride on the Liberty Square Riverboat. I've always enjoyed this less glitzy attraction.

Hilary, great job with the 'Saturday Spotlight'.

Kev

 

[cheryl.UK]

Tom Sawyer's Island is a great place to chill out. There are loads of quiet spots to sit or, if you've got kids, they can wear themselves out in the fort while you rest in the shade.

Aunt Polly's also has lovely snacks.

 

[TartanFan]

Make and early PS for Crystal Palace on a non-EE day. There's nothing quite like walking down the middle of Main Street with hardly anyone else around! (OK I admit it - I SKIPPED down the middle of Main Street, much to DD's embarassment!)

 

[Hilary]

Wow! What a lot of great tips so far

Originally posted by miffy
all my tips involve food and drink!

LOL miffy - your time will come!

 

[Cochise]

Wow! What a lot of great tips so far

LOL miffy - your time will come!

Story of my life

 

[Penny12]

Lot's of nice tips, I didn't know about gettin the 'Ears' for your first haircut...that's so cute!

Ok, how about these then.

On Main Street check out the old style phone in the General Store (on the right side of the street as you're headed in). Pick up the receiver and listen...

On Cinderella's Carousel look for the one horse with a gold ribbon on its tail, that's Cinderella’s horse.

If you are on the first crossing of the day to Tom Sawyer Island, be sure to explore all of the island and caves looking for the paintbrushes hidden there – your reward if you are first to find them are Front of the Line passes for either Splash Mountain or BTMRR.

If eating at Cinderella’s Royal Table look up in the rafters to spot Cinderella’s mice hiding up there.

In the Winnie the Pooh ride, Mr. Toad (the ‘host’ of previous ride at this location) hands off the deed to the ride to Pooh (To see Mr. Toad, look to your left as you enter owl's house. There's a framed picture on the wall, just inside the doors). Also, on the floor of the Pooh ride on the right in Owl's house there is a picture of Pooh and Moley from Mr.Toad

 

[KayleeUK]

WOW this is great - it is a brilliant way to share all of our tips and learn new ones

How about...The Lady and the Tramp paws in front Tony´s Reataurant.

 

[MsPennieLane]

Some wonderful tips and ideas there

Here are a few more:

Check out some of the trees at night in Tomorrowland - they close up.

By the Plaza restaurant, look up to the 2nd floor to find Walt's window.

Anz

 

[vernon]

Originally Posted by Hilary
When picking a spot to watch Wishes remember you’ll be looking upwards (that may sees obvious now, but it’s easy to forget when you suddenly spot a gap in the crowds!) so check for any trees that might block your view.

To build on Hilary's point. There is a great spot to watch the fireworks ( and Tinkerbelle's flight) that is the rose garden area just in front of Cinder's castle. They have cut back a lot of the trees that had grown up in this area and now you can get an excellent view here. I'll try to describe the area, if you were to walk from the park entrance up Main St towards the castle you go past the walkway that leads to Tommorrowland (on your right hand side) there is a little path that leads down to a covered seating area and a little stream. The path loops round in a circle and goes nearer to the castle, but in my experience the better view is to be had from the further away stretch of path. If you stand right up close to the fence surrounding the rose garden you should get an uninterupted (and excellent) view of both the fireworks and Tink's flight (which goes pretty much straight over your head).

 

[KayleeUK]

There are small sensors in the street along the parade route in the MK. They are used to monitor the parade floats.

 

[edinburghlass]

First post, just to say what a great thread and I look forward to reading the others before we leave for WDW in July

I will print them out for our Florida file for planning!

 

[Hilary]

Hi, edinburghlass and welcome to the DIS UK boards!

Glad you like the tips here, and I'm sure there'll be many more on the other topics covered before your trip. Check out the Saturday Spotlight thread 'stuck' at the top of the UK Trip Planning Board where we'll be accumulating all the threads every week - that way they'll all be in one place eventually, and easier for you to print out

When are you going in July? Have you been before? We're going on July 8th - our first trip in the summer months and I'm wondering how well we'll cope with the heat then!

 

[jjpenguin]

Here are a couple I can think of right now, I'm sure more will follow:

Push, the talking trash can can sometimes be found in Tomorrowland, near the Pleakley figure. He is great fun and interacts well with the people around him.

In Tomorrowland there is a huge planetary map on a granite ball, this ball is held up by water. It would take a lot of strong men to lift it, but on the water a child can spin it!

On Big Thunder Mountain, in the day the saloon is quiet and dark, at night there is light and music coming from it!

At the entrance to the Haunted Mansion, wait for while and you will see Madam Leota appear in her tombstone. But by the time you tell someone, she'll be gone!

If you feel like a break and don't want to go back to your (offsite)hotel, a nice thing to do is go to the Contemporary or one of the other hotels for lunch, you can take a monorail or walk and it's usually quite quiet. The burgers at the Concourse steakhouse are huge and you can easily split one! The Kona Café at the Polynesian is also wonderful. It's a bit more restful than eating in the MK itself.

 

[KayleeUK]

Hi edinburghlass Welcome to the Dis