What is something I MUST do at WDW at least once??

[Lady_Gracey999]

I've been to WDW several times now and have a good handle on all the basics. Now I'm trying to make a "bucket list" of sorts of extra-magical things I need to do with each successive trip. I have come up with 2 things so far: 1) Have an early ADR in MK so I can be there before the park opens, and 2) Get pics with every character (I've never taken my pic with any of them so far).

So what are your "once-in-a-lifetime-of-Disney-trips" must dos?

 

[pat fan]

Hmmm...if I could only go once and, armed with the knowledge that I've gained over several trips, here are my choices of what I would do.

MK-
1) Have an 8:00 breakfast at Crystal Palace and hit the park before anyone else.
2) See the Boo To You Halloween parade. Disney does a lot of good ones, but this is above the grade.
3) Carousel of Progress. Maybe a little slow, but it's pure Walt nostalgia. I could see it a million times, and I have!
4) Ride Peter Pan as many times as I can. Why? If I have to tell you, you don't get it.

AK-
1) See Finding Nemo the Musical.

Epcot-
1) See the Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps, Voices of Liberty and the American Adventure. In that order. Yup, lot's of Patriotic schmaltz, but that's ok.

DHS-
1) Watch Fantasmic. Mickey Magic in a nutshell.

Chat with CM's. 99% of them love their job, WDW and the magic of it all. Great folks!
Chat with other guests, you never know what you'll get! Could be someone as child-like and wonder-loving as yourself, or someone that leaves you walking away saying "Glad I'm not in THEIR family!". Either way you get a warm fuzzy or better appreciation for your own family!

 

[Lady_Gracey999]

Hmmm...if I could only go once and, armed with the knowledge that I've gained over several trips, here are my choices of what I would do.

MK-
1) Have an 8:00 breakfast at Crystal Palace and hit the park before anyone else.
2) See the Boo To You Halloween parade. Disney does a lot of good ones, but this is above the grade.
3) Carousel of Progress. Maybe a little slow, but it's pure Walt nostalgia. I could see it a million times, and I have!
4) Ride Peter Pan as many times as I can. Why? If I have to tell you, you don't get it.

AK-
1) See Finding Nemo the Musical.

Epcot-
1) See the Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps, Voices of Liberty and the American Adventure. In that order. Yup, lot's of Patriotic schmaltz, but that's ok.

DHS-
1) Watch Fantasmic. Mickey Magic in a nutshell.

Chat with CM's. 99% of them love their job, WDW and the magic of it all. Great folks!
Chat with other guests, you never know what you'll get! Could be someone as child-like and wonder-loving as yourself, or someone that leaves you walking away saying "Glad I'm not in THEIR family!". Either way you get a warm fuzzy or better appreciation for your own family!

MK
1) Already on the list!
2) Going on the list! I've never been on any kind of holiday.
3) Done and DONE lol. COP is one of my fav chilll rides.
4) I LOVE PPF!

AK
1) Done! Love it!

EPCOT
1) My fav show at EPCOT! Love!

DHS
1) Done! Love this!

As for your other suggestions... how did you know I do this???
Seriously though, I have spent a LOT of alone time in the parks (for various reasons) and talking to other guests and CM is SUCH a great way to pass time! Thanks for your input!

 

[luckyfin]

We try to do something out of the ordinary on every trip. Some of the things that we have done are the horse-drawn carriage ride at Port Orleans Riverside, different tours, parasailing at the Contemporary.

 

[potc]

AK:
Kilimanjaro Safaris & Dinosaur

Epcot:
Soarin', Spaceship Earth, Ellen's Energy Adventure, Living Land, visit all the countries!, Illuminations, we love eating at the Garden Grill, get a Henna tatoo in Morocco!, test track (when not closed)

DHS:
Indiana Jones, Backlot Tour, Beauty & the Beast, Fantasmic!, Star Tours, Rockin Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror (if not afraid of heights like me!), eat at Sci Fi Diner & 50s Prime Time Cafe

MK:
Wishes, space mountain, thunder mountain, haunted mansion, railroad, monsters inc, buzz lightyear, peter pan, winnie the pooh, pirates of the caribbean, emh in the evening (park to yourself almost at the end)

DTD:
Planet Hollywood, Disney Quest

 

[Lori1960]

Go to boadwalk hotel and go to beaches and cream and order the kitchen sink ice cream.If I'am able to go back I would go to AK hotel

 

[Mousemom]

This last trip we made in May we did some things we have never done before.
AKL - spent time at Rafiki Planet watch and the petting zoo, took our time watching the animals, saw the Nemo show
Typhoon Lagoon - spent hours relaxing and floating in the Lazy River, swam with the sharks
Pop Century - Explored the resort
Hollywood Studios - Saw the Little Mermaid show
EPCOT - Spent a lot more time exploring the countries
MAgic Kingdom - Managed to close the park at 2 am one night ( a first for me)
Tried some new restaurants; T-Rex

We will be visiting in September again and my husband and son are doing the EPCOT Segway Tour.

 

[AryaForQueen]

i recommend doing everything at least once

 

[Cdnmom6]

I've never done PeterPan! On my list this year! Also trying to book Pirate and Pal cruise for December, hope they open reservations soon!,,

 

[Lady_Gracey999]

i recommend doing everything at least once

LOL!

I'm loving some of these suggestions! There are SO MANY restaurants I've yet to try. One day I WILL try them all! *maniacal laugh*

I've thought of a couple more on my definitive "To-Do" List:
- Stay at Grand Floridian (someday!!)
- Get over my fear of full-costumed characters and get pics with the fab 5 plus Tigger (my fav character!)

I'm still checking back on this! Any really unusual things I should try?

 

[Geodesic]

I'd put eat at every Signature restaurant and visit every resort on my Disney bucket list.

 

[disneychic2]

Take the Keys to the Kingdom tour or any other tour you would enjoy.

 

[karly05]

If you haven't done this (and even if you have), do the Animation Academy class at DHS! You learn to draw a Disney character; it's really fun, and I was surprised at how good my drawing of Dale turned out.

Must do: eat a Mickey Ice Cream Bar while sitting in front of the castle.

I've met a number of the "silent" characters, including Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale, Pooh & Friends at Crystal Palace, Phineas & Ferb, Handy Manny... (My big hope is that Dug & Russell are still at AK when I get back.) What I've never done is meet any of the Princesses or other human characters; that's where I'm shy. But I'd love to meet Merida if she's still there next time.

 

[PlutoPatrol]

Try and get to the Desert Bar for the fireworks. You can have a reservation but they do take walk ups. It is private, they have great sweets and it is a good view!

 

[KYfriedPanda]

Eventually I would love to stay at every Disney resort! I'd also agree with those who mention eating out at all the Signature restaurants, but of course I'm so addicted to the filet at Le Cellier that I'm not sure I'd be able to pass on that in exchange for eating somewhere new!

 

[waffles77]

Go during December when their Christmas decorations are up and other holiday festivities go on.

Oh! And you must see the fireworks at and around Independence Day!

 

[momto28weeker+1]

but I would love for my kids to be in the Star Wars show. We were in the Family and Friends parade four years ago and my daughter still talks about it. There are a lot of great ideas here that I will add to my list.

 

[Svhadden]

You can go a hundred times and there's still so much to do. Makes going every year a new experience . This year, for the first time, we will:

Spirit of Aloha
Akershus
Take more time in World Showcase pavilions. We love WS, but there's never enough time to see everything.
Country Bear Jamboree. Still haven't done it lol.
Hit Tom Sawyer Island first thing and look for a whitewash brush!

Doing new things is awesome, but we love visiting old favorites. We usually do Hoop Dee Doo on our last night and we absolutely love it. But this year we're doing Spirit of Aloha. We love to plan a dinner/show on our last night rather than stay in our resort packing and being bummed about leaving .

 

[pat fan]

Doing new things is awesome, but we love visiting old favorites.

That is SO true! We have a few MUST do's every trip (Crystal palace breakfast with Pooh is a major one!) but then we try and do at least a couple new things too. We ate at Wolfgang Puck Express our last trip and I couldn't believe it was on the QSDP!

Country Bear Jamboree. Still haven't done it lol.

Really? I'd much rather see that a hundred times than IASW!

 

[sandiegosusie]

Eat at the Castle...it was a fun experience for my girls and one they will never forget!