What are some not to miss attractions for a first timer?

[kristen58]

I'm going to WDW for the first time in a week! Woot! I've been to Disneyland many times, so I am familiar with a lot of the attractions, shows, etc...but not all obviously. I'm wondering, what are your favorite things in each of the 4 parks that I should check out that I might not know about? The big "E ticket" rides are obvious, but I'm wondering what are some "must do" things in your opinion that I might mistakenly skip if it weren't for you nice people on this forum to help me. If you wanna make me a list of your favorite things in each land in each park, that would be even better! I'm not really needing a list of the obvious such as Space Mountain or BTMRR, but more so hidden jems that I should check out, could be food, shopping, shows, not necessarily just rides.

Thanks!!!!

Oh, and it's just me and my boyfriend, we're two young adults without any kids.

 

[dancemonkey]

I'm a nostalgia buff so I'm a big fan of the carousel of progress! It's all fun. I always ride Dumbo! Make sure you see the Osborne lights in Hollywood studio. The candlelight procession in Epcot! Where are you staying? A tour of the monorail resorts can be fun!

 

[kristen58]

I'm a nostalgia buff so I'm a big fan of the carousel of progress! It's all fun. I always ride Dumbo! Make sure you see the Osborne lights in Hollywood studio. The candlelight procession in Epcot! Where are you staying? A tour of the monorail resorts can be fun!

We're staying at Shades of Green for the first few nights and then Port Orleans for the last few nights. (first hotel didn't have a room available for the whole week is why the change of hotel is happening.)

 

[Sytrace]

MK: Tom Sawyer Island is one of our favorites. Also, Little Mermaid, Goofys Barnstormer and the Tommorowland Speedway. Something about that attraction brings out the 8 year old "want to be a racecar driver when I grow up" in me. Carousel of Progress and of course the WEDWAY peoplemover.
EPCOT: The shows in Canada, France, China and America are favorites for us as well as the Fiesta Grand tour with Donald in Mexico.
HS: Take in the Streetmosphere talent and be sure to check out the renovated Great Movie Ride. It is becoming one of our favorites again after years of boredom. And of course the Osborne Lights are a must see. They are really amazing.
AK: The Gorilla trail (cannot for the life of me remember the real name, but it is right by the Safari attraction) Conservation Station and of course the Marharajah Jungle trek (Tigers and bats are pretty cool)

It goes without saying to hit all the major rides but those are our little favorites that we like to do when we are at the parks.
Have a great visit!

 

[Travis B]

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[karly05]

I love the "Non-Ride" things at AK: Safari (I know, that's a ride), Pangani Forest Trail (that's the gorilla trail), Maharajah Jungle Trek (the tiger trail), Festival of the Lion King (colorful show in the round with song, dance, acrobatics, etc.), Finding Nemo (musical theatre stage version of Nemo with actors and puppets), Flights of Wonder (fun and interesting bird show). I'm looking forward to trying the new Harambe Marketplace QS next year, too. If you are looking for things at WDW not at DLR, AK is a big must.

 

[Canuck16]

Give the People Mover a try as they don't have it at DLR anymore.

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm going to WDW for the first time in a week! Woot! I've been to Disneyland many times, so I am familiar with a lot of the attractions, shows, etc...but not all obviously. I'm wondering, what are your favorite things in each of the 4 parks that I should check out that I might not know about? The big "E ticket" rides are obvious, but I'm wondering what are some "must do" things in your opinion that I might mistakenly skip if it weren't for you nice people on this forum to help me. If you wanna make me a list of your favorite things in each land in each park, that would be even better! I'm not really needing a list of the obvious such as Space Mountain or BTMRR, but more so hidden jems that I should check out, could be food, shopping, shows, not necessarily just rides.

Thanks!!!!
Oh, and it's just me and my boyfriend, we're two young adults without any kids.

Magic Kingdom: honestly, just take time to really stroll through and enjoy it. Find the hidden Mickeys, take it all in. We didn't have time for that and wish we did. We also enjoyed the character meet n greets, so don't skip those just because you don't have kids! We both really enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic and the fireworks.

Epcot: the entire World Showcase, lol. Again, take time to stroll through and enjoy it. We also really enjoyed Test Track, and I would love to ride it again next time we go (the kids will wait with the grandparents). I loved the bakery in France, you must stop there.

Hollywood Studios: Star Tours! We loved this. Also, DH couldn't leave until we had had our photo taken on the Star Wars flying thingy (yeah, the name of it has left me and DH is having too much fun laughing at me to tell me what it's called). We also really enjoyed Fantasmic and the Frozen fireworks. (Disney fireworks are just awesome). The Little Mermaid show was good too.

Animal Kingdom: We really liked most everything here. Loved Kali. The atmosphere. Again, this is a place to really just walk around and take it all in. We really enjoyed the trails, seeing the animals. The Safari was good. Had we been childless, or had older children, we would have done the Adventures tour.

 

[DVCcurious]

Strangely this just came up in our house like two weeks ago. My wife and I went to WDW the first time in 2010 without any kids. We did rides but didn't meet any characters. Now that we have kids we spend time meeting characters.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that when we went in 2010 my wife and I should've met Mickey Mouse just for fun. And she was like "I would've loved to have done that" and I was like "then why didn't you say anything?" and she's like "because I knew you didn't want to". She also said she would've wanted to meet Cinderella.

So I'd say your "can't miss" is to meet Mickey Mouse and consider the princesses, winnie the pooh and tigger, and other characters. I think a lot of adults tend to skip the character meets but my wife wished we could've gone to meet them, she was just embarrassed to talk about wanting to do it.

 

[Accident]

I just wanted to share some general adult trip advice that works really well for me...

1: Look up!!! Slow down and take in where you are and enjoy everything around you. It's not just about attractions.
2: EHM=EVEN MORE CROWDED and you'll do less than a non-ehm day! Head to a different park that day and if you have hoppers and not done when it closes, the EHM park that night will offer a few more hours before you call it a night.
3: Try as much as you can but understand you can't do it all now. There's a massive amount of variety and some things you'll like, some you'll find just ok but you really won't know what you love until you've tried it.
4: Say hi to random people and cast members, they will know of interesting things happening that you may not have heard of.
5: There is a surprising amount of adult only options so aside from your request for what to see in the parks, take some time to check out what's in every resort and disney springs to get an idea where you might want to go to escape the families or have a date night.

Other than that, for me it's all the little things. A new snack being offered, something seasonal happening, random "street performers". I go often enough that was is a do not miss item changes every trip but I've done them to know what sounds fun this time around.

Enjoy! Adult only trips are really fun.

 

[caroline1851]

Stuff we love (I think most are obvious)

AK: Safari, It's tough to be a bug, Kali, EE, Dinosaur (my favorite), Pagani trail (gorillas) and the Mah.....? one. I didn't see that tree person last trip, but that was really neat the trip before.
EP: Bakery in france, the soda place in Future world (forgot the name), Test Track, my son love soarin, the fish/shark tanks, Sum of all Thrills
HS: the street performers, great move ride, RRC, TOT, TSMM, ST, Little Mermaid, Beauty and beast show, Osborne lights
MK: Electrical parade, regular parade, Pirates, Splash, BTMRR,Space, People mover, it's a small world, peter pan, Mickey's Philharmagic, view of the castle at different times of day and from different angles,

 

[5Hfan]

Mickey's Philharmagic and The People Mover and The Carousel of Progress.