Tips for 1 Day at MK?

[gemduncan]

We are planning to spend 1 day at MK before getting on our Disney Cruise. We will be at MK on Thurs, Feb 16. We are staying at AoA. Any tips on rides that are must dos? I'm not concerned about seeing characters because we'll see all of them on the cruise ship. Also, I have dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare at 6:35pm, but it looks like we'd have to leave MK park to go to the restaurant. Is that right? If so, any restaurants you'd recommend at MK?

Also, we went to Disneyland this past summer and DD (7 yrs old) had a crash meltdown during fireworks because she was so exhausted! Should we go back to AoA mid-day for a quick 1 hour "chill" period? She doesn't take naps anymore. We are gonna have to wake up early the next morning to head to Cape Canaveral.

 

[Accident]

i would not leave mk with only 1 day to be there for dinner. If you think sitting down for 60-90 minutes to each will help you get through the day then a table service somewhere in the park will do. I personally would probably just deal with counter service that day since it's usually much quicker and you can time it for the nearby one when your actually hungry instead of when you reserved it. If you like good italian, don't reserve tony's.. mixed reviews about that place but it's also all the way in the front of the park so it's not really efficent to get to unless your eating on your way out and again many mixed reviews about that place. a 7 year old girl would probably love seeing be our guest but it can be hard to get in and many call it over rated. but it's unique to WDW so might be good to see if it's not a stuggle to eat there.

Most would call mk a 2 day or more park. compared to disneyland, you are going to find it larger, more spread out (meaning more walking) but with less attractions. there is going to be overlap in name and storyline (to a degree) with some attractions but they are different so don't skip things you enjoyed at disneyland thinking you've already seen them. I don't really have any suggestions for must do. If there is no line, it's probably for a reason so they are good indications of once and done type attractions.

I'll let others get more specific as my daughter is 21 these days so I'm a little out of touch of a 7 year old.

 

[caliope]

Yes, you'd have to leave MK for the ADR at 1900 Park Fare. It's located at the GF. It's an easy monorail or boat ride, though it means leaving MK by 6:00 or a little earlier to be on time. Depending on your DD's energy level, and considering the early morning wake up the next day, perhaps that's okay. You might be ready to go by then if you don't take a midday break. You certainly won't be able to "do everything" but that would be hard to do in only one day anyway.

Getting back to AoA after dinner would require a return to MK and then taking the resort bus (easy enough).

What did your DD enjoy at Disneyland? That may help you identify what your "must do" rides are at MK.

 

[kathy884]

My son (He's 21, though, not 7) and I who have visited the Magic Kingdom many times are doing a day there next month. We are just doing our favorites (skipping the other attractions) -- actually we would do Big Thunder Mountain on top of the list that I'm giving, but it happens to be under refurbishment for our visit).

Anyway, here is our custom one day touring plan, just in case that gives you any ideas. This is just our list of what we think are the best attractions at the Magic Kingdom and only our personal opinions regarding what is most worth doing We can get all this in between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on a moderate crowds day. Then we will leave for four hours and come back for fireworks. I'm sure we are leaving out some people's favorite attractions and are probably doing fewer things and having a shorter day (really just 8 hours) than many people prefer. Like I said, this is just our preference and the kind of day we like.

We weren't able to get a fast pass for 7DMT, but got FPs for Haunted Mansion, Under the Sea, and Space Mountain, our next three longest predicted lines. Touringplans.com if you get a subscription gives great descriptions of all the attractions, gives author rating, and gives ratings by age group if you would like to see other people's thoughts on what they like best. I'm not sure if you need a subscription or not to look at that. I know you can do custom touring plans on the site without a subscription.

Anyway here are our must dos, the order we are doing things in, and our planned lunch and dinner breaks. // Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Splash Mt, 7DMT, Small World, Haunted Mansion, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Under the Sea // lunch at Casey's corner, one hour to shop on Main Street USA, the 3 p.m. parade (Festival of Fantasy), Space Mountain. Next we will take a four hour break -- go over to Wilderness Lodge - do a Counter Service Meal at the Roaring Fork snack bar/cafeteria, relax, walk around the resort. We'll then go back into the park at 8:00 p.m. to be there at 8:30 to see the projection show at 8:45 p.m. and the Wishes fireworks display at 9. If we feel like going back earlier, we can do that.

We put in what we are doing in a custom touring plan on the touringplans.com website that helped up pick our fastpasses and have a good estimate of our timing of things.

We love the Magic Kingdom and I know we will have a Magical day!

 

[glassslippergirl]

A trip to AoA for a one hour "chill" period will take closer to three hours when you factor in transportation, so I would avoid it with a one day trip. It may be better to just go as long as your DD can, then head back to the room, even if it means missing the fireworks again.

Also with a short trip, I wouldn't leave the park for dining. Counter service is much more efficient. Maybe try for a BoG ADR for lunch. Because it is CS at lunch, the meal won't take a lot of time out of your touring, and Beasts castle is great to see.

As for must-dos, they are different for everyone. I like to FP 7DMT, BTMRR, and Splash for one day. I don't like Space Mtn-- too jerky-- but you may love it. We like Mickey's Philharmagic, Monsters Laugh Floor, Peoplemover, IASW, teacups, PP (do at RD), HM, Country Bears, Pirates, and Jungle Boat, but we probably couldn't do them all in one day. Maybe show your DD YouTube videos of rides to see what she prefers, then make a plan based on that. Enjoy!

 

[gemduncan]

Thank you everyone for all the replies! It looks like the day we are visiting MK (Feb 16), the park is only open 9am-8pm which is perfect. (When we went to DL, we were there from ~8am-10pm which is why DD had a meltdown). Based on your comments, we will do a quick service lunch but I will do a sit down dinner at 6:30pm so that DD has a little break and we can watch the fireworks at 8pm. All the character restaurants at MK are sold out for dinner time, so I made reservations at Tony's Town Square. Any opinions on this restaurant? Or should I keep checking for cancellations at BoG and Cinderella's Royal Table?

DD has been watching LOTS of youtube videos on the rides and she cannot wait to do Space Mountain and Splash Mountain (she loved them at DL)

 

[mommy_to_C]

You'd have a few more options with a TS lunch and CS dinner - I took a quick look at your date, and saw openings at BoG and CRT. The lunch menu at BoG is more appealing than the dinner one to us, so that's what we're planning for our next trip!

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

I am shocked that MK closes at 8pm. I agree about doing a sit down (TS) for lunch and do a CS for dinner. I know that BOG is not a TS but it acts like one. It is a nice air conditioned restaurant and they bring the food to you. I also agree that I prefer their lunch better than there dinner but you will not meet the beast for lunch. I will say that if you keep checking you should be able to get BOG. Last February - I was able to get a party of 8 for BOG for dinner a couple of days before.

Tony's is okay - the service is good - not great food but good.

 

[Accident]

I am shocked that MK closes at 8pm.

It was closing fairly early most days in sept. I think 7pm was the earliest I saw. not even enough time to get there after work still better than everyone else that's been closed by 6 though (non-disney).

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

It was closing fairly early most days in sept. I think 7pm was the earliest I saw. not even enough time to get there after work still better than everyone else that's been closed by 6 though (non-disney).

I know this September they had many MNSSHP which made them close the park at 7pm. We went to the first party. We just love MK at night. We made it our night park. Go to one of the other parks during the day and MK at night. We will just have to change that.

 

[Accident]

I know this September they had many MNSSHP which made them close the park at 7pm. We went to the first party. We just love MK at night. We made it our night park. Go to one of the other parks during the day and MK at night. We will just have to change that.

no party but the way they ushered everyone out (an 8pm close night I did make it too) it was more like they had a private event coming in later. there's been a lot of early closes though, much earlier than I would expect for this time of year.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

no party but the way they ushered everyone out (an 8pm close night I did make it too) it was more like they had a private event coming in later. there's been a lot of early closes though, much earlier than I would expect for this time of year.

Wow that is unbelievable. Many nights we show up at MK at 8pm.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

What about Skipper Canteen for dinner? I haven't been yet (will be there in 3 weeks!) but it gets good reviews and should be fairly easy to get a reservation .

 

[Accident]

Wow that is unbelievable. Many nights we show up at MK at 8pm.

I agree, it threw me off as I was expecting an hour on some rides and then hitting some stores and that wasn't an option. I'm wondering if some of these short nights might actually be these new after hour weddings.