Hint's and Tips for WDW--Magic Kingdom
*In Tony's Town Square walk to the back of the resturant, look out the back window for Lady & the Tramp
*In front of City Hall--sit on the bench with Goofy & see if he talks to you
sit next to roy and minnie in town square
*General Store on main street--pick up the wall-mounted telephone next to the cash register
*If there are two lines, and you can't see the loading area from where you are, take the line to the left
*Look and see what is on Walt's right finger on the mickey and Walt statue
*Pick up the phone in tomorrowland under the TTA and listen to the conversation
*Watch the afternoon parade in frontierland
*After the parade--go the opposite way--the rides will be deserted
*The golden camel shoots water randomly--stop and take a video of all the unsuspecting guests
*The big points in Buzz Lightyear's are found leaving the first room. Turn around and shoot the back of the orange robot's arm or the back of the Buzz Saw. 100,000 points! The car turns automatically away from these so if you turn back you score big
*Sit in the outer edge of the Plaza restaurant...basically look at the castle, find the wire that goes from the castle down to the restaurant rooftop on the right, and go get a seat under it. TinkerBell will fly down that wire and right over the top of your heads!
*I haven't seen this one posted, but it was fun for my kids to discover the little mice up in the rafters of the lobby of the castle. Gus and Jacques in the throne room at Cinderellas Royal Table.
*Behind the castle is a fountain with Cinderella. If you bend down and look at the fountain, the crown on the back wall appears to crown Cinderella.
*Stand behind Cinderellas castle during the Cinderella surprise celebration show. Peter pan and Hook have to run from the top of the castle to the stage and they use that area by Tink's treasures. It's really funny too. They will do something silly, and peter will make a comment about the chase!
*his may have already been mentioned, but if you sit on the stone ledge on the side of the castle, you will hear Stitch giggle and tell you to be quiet because he's hiding. The kids got a kick out of that when I told them to sit there for a break.
*If you see a human character, like Mary Poppins, ask them a question about their movie and they go right into character. I had Mary doing supercalifragilistic backwards! Kiss all the female "non-human hands" and watch their reaction.
*During the morning session about 15 min. before Buzz and Woody are scheduled to come out, the Army men come out in their Jeep and do a preshow. They choose 8-9 kids that were there early to line up. They had them shout their names and handed them weapons. Buzz and Woody made their appearance for a group photo with all of them.
*The characters at the Fairy Tale Favorites line at the Toontown Hall of Fame change on the hour, but the Mickey's Friends and Pooh Friends are the same all the time. Go late in the hour, come out, and jump back in line for the top the hour. Some characters might pop out from behind the Judges Tent.
*Eating lunch at The Pinocchio Village Haus and looking out of the window that overlooks the loading/unloading area inside of It's A Small World. Pinocchio's Village Haus is made up of seven themed rooms. They are named Blue Fairy, Cleo, Figaro, Jiminy Cricket, Monstro, Stromboli, and Geppetto's Workshop. Also, one of the chairs has a Mickey head in the craved into the back it.
*2nd ring in the pavement is a "fairy ring" formed by paving stones just beyond the well. This marks the spot where a huge oak tree once stood. It was removed when the fast pass machines were put in. If you stand in the middle of the fairy ring on the night of a full moon and call out "Leota" three times, she will come briefly to one of the upper windows of the mansion with her candle.
*The thatched roof material around Jungle Cruise is actually made of metal not straw (reach up and touch it)
*We found the best place to see characters was the Riverboat in Liberty Square. You can't guarantee who will be on the boat, but it usually includes either Mickey or Minnie. We went twice, and both times there were at least 7-8 characters on board. It's not well advertised, and we had a chance to see them all with little or no waiting. It was only done for part of the day.
*In Liberty Square (?Frontierland), look down at the main walkway (which is also the parade route). Instead of just plain cement, there's also and area a couple feet wide that goes all the way down the walkway and looks like a brownish/yellow gravel. In frontier times, the streets had a urine trough in them for the all of the horse urine. The gravel area represents the urine trough.
*The Lady and the Tramp paws in front Tonys at MK
*There is a shop on Main Street that will do a silhouette of a child's profile. About $5-$7. They don't take credit cards; you could only pay cash or charge it to the room.
*Not sure if it's a "secret" or not but one of my favorite lesser-known attractions is the Expo Hall of Main Street. (a) There's a small theater that shows old Disney cartoons (like the old Main Street Cinema but in color and with seats!), a couple exhibits, some nice photo opportunities, and usually in the late morning I've seen a variety of Disney Princesses there (Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White, Mary Poppins). (b) Most characters come from the Hall to the outside for meet and greets. Every character that came through stopped to say hi or mess with us. It was air-conditioned and no lines to stand in! (c) There is a Mr. Toad ride vehicle behind a curtain in Exposition Hall!!
*Have the whole family go into the Barber Shop for a coloring job! Free of charge and painted little Mickey heads on the back of the kids heads. Barber sprinkled 'Mickey dust' on all of us.
*Be leisurely when leaving the MK. It was so nice to walk around the lands going back from BTMR to Main Street, just looking around and enjoying the empty feeling. Also, get yourself a spot in front of the castle at about 30 minutes after the park closing. You'll be treated to the "kiss goodnight" from the castle...something really cool to see.
*On one of the shelves (CMs can help you locate it), you can see Aladdin's lamp as well as other characters belongings waiting to be picked up at the train station.
*Before the Magic Kingdom opens for the day, the WDW train is perfectly centered in front of the train station for those wishing to take pictures. It is the only time during the day that this occurs.
*When you are in the waiting room of the railroad on Main Street, they have these antique Mutascopes. I thought they were just for display, but when you put a penny in, they actually work! There are 4 or 5 of them, and some of the lightbulbs were burned out so didn't work, but I know at least two of them did, and it only cost a penny to find out. The kids thought they were great. You put in a penny, start turning a crank and a short silent movie plays for you.
*Years ago, a maintenance guy (or Imagineer) named George was killed during the building of the Pirates ride. They say his ghost haunts the ride to this day. The workers have to say "goodnight George" before they shut down the ride each night, or there will be problems with the ride the next day. My 12-year old asked the attendant while we were boarding the boat if he said goodnight to George. He said of course! We don't want the ride to break down! The thread also said that if you yell out George 3 times during the fire scene, something "may" happen. The kids had a blast with this and yelled out even though people were looking at us!
*Ask to ride in the pilot house and receive official riverboat pilots certificates.
*The opening of the top cave of Splash Mountain (the one you exit as you take the final plunge) is a hidden Mickey. It is noticeable from inside the cave and outside. It is profile shaped, not the traditional mouse and ears.
*here is a bridge outside the ride, right in front of the big drop. For every third log boat that hits bottom for the big drop, there is a water cannon that shoots up an extra bit of water and sprays the bridge, soaking everyone who happens to be standing there watching!
*If you want to wake Tink, go DIRECTLY to the store as soon as the park opens. The store is right behind the castle. My DD walked in and went up to the first CM we saw and asked, "Could I please wake up Tink this morning?" Being the first one in there, she was allowed to do so. They had her stand on a little stool, gave her a wand, and her tap the treasure box three times saying loudly, "Wake up Tink." As she did this, the lights and music started to play. They presented her with a certificate that said something along the line of "Had a Magical Moment." If you go into the store and hear the music, you know she has already been waked up. If it is quiet she is still sleeping
*Tom Sawyers IslandBe the first to find the six hidden paintbrushes!
*When you go to Minnie's house, make sure you turn all of the knobs in the kitchen. Hear the popcorn pop, etc.
*Don't miss the scarecrow in Goofy's garden or the bell pepper "clappers" he is growing or the summer squash (some 'er not). Early in the morning you can hear all kinds of fun great sounds--farm animals, crop dusting engines etc., a countryside theme, a farm area. Where else would you expect to find the farmers market? This is the Florida countryside. When you go inside the farmers market, you'll see crates and bags of Florida citrus product.
*If you go to Mickeys Toon Town entrance near the tea cups just before it opens at 10 a.m., you'll get an escort by several Disney characters to take you in.
