Since Magic Kingdom has the most rides and the most ground to cover, I decided to use the Touring Plans website to map our a general path through the park. I had never used it before and was really impressed. I input our Fast Passes and lunch reservation times, told it what rides we wanted to ride, and it automatically calculated the best route to take through the park to maximize rides and minimize wait time and walking. We are definitely not the type of family to follow a minute by minute schedule through Disney World, but I liked having a high level strategy. We changed things on the fly based on what we felt like doing in the moment (that had reasonable wait times) but it was nice to know which land to start in and which to head to next.
We started in Tomorrowland and rode Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and also stopped to watch the show at the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. Buzz Lightyear was a big hit – the boys’ favorite ride on our first visit was Toy Story Midway Mania and this ride was very similar (although admittedly not quite as good). I was nervous about Space Mountain both because it was the boys’ first real roller coaster and because it was in the dark. RB loved it and wanted to go again immediately. JB got off and said “That was fun. Where’s the trash can?” Ha ha. He said he liked it but wouldn’t do it again, but we did end up riding it once more on our second visit to Magic Kingdom. And the Monsters Inc. show was really cute. The boys thought it was really funny but were most interested in how the characters on the screen were actually able to interact with the audience.
On our way across to Adventureland, we stopped and watched the show Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire. The boys liked it but it was a little hard to follow from the back of the crowd.
The boys had picked up cards to play Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom on our way into the park and we went to our first portals in Adventureland. I will be the first to admit that I don’t fully understand how the game works, but basically it is an interactive game where you use the characters/powers on your cards to defeat villains in the magic portals around the park. The actual game was not a big hit for us – the boys ended up waiting a good while at the few portals we went to and didn’t seem overly impressed when they did get a chance to play their cards. But the cards themselves were a huge hit. They are really cute and great souvenirs. Over the course of our two days in Magic Kingdom, I think they each got 5 packs of cards and were able to trade between themselves. (It’s a little reminiscent of Pokemon, which my boys also love to trade and collect but not actually play the game with.)
It was time for lunch so we split up at this point. JB and I had character meal #1, and Blair and RB continued on through Adventureland for rides and lunch. I had originally booked the “Buffet with Character” at the Crystal Palace for all 4 of us. Since RB wasn’t especially interested in characters, Blair wasn’t especially interested in buffets, and we were going to be short a few dining credits, we decided to change the reservation to 2.
JB was excited to see the characters from Winnie the Pooh. The building itself was pretty – a giant Victorian greenhouse filled with plants and topiaries and tons of light. There are two huge dining rooms and 4 characters making the rounds. When they sat us they warned us that it could take a long time for the characters to get to us and that because we were part of a circle of tables, they would actually be starting next to us and going around in the opposite direction. So we were not seated in an ideal position and to make matters worse, several of the characters inadvertently skipped us, starting at the table to our right and ending at the table to our left. The picture to the right is the face of a frustrated (but silly) boy when Tigger skipped our table for the second time.
Eventually we did get to see all the characters and JB had fun joining in the parade and dancing behind Eeyore. But the whole experience did take a super long time and the food was nothing to write home about. From what I hear this is the only place to see Piglet in Disney World so if you are a big Piglet fan, this buffet will be worth it to you. Otherwise, I’d skip it.
We met back up at Splash Mountain, my favorite ride from when I was a kid. It was just as great as I remembered it and the boys loved it too. It’s a little different riding it in the winter. While it was warm enough to enjoy the splash, I definitely noticed that wet shorts don’t dry in January as quickly as they do in August. Next we rode Big Thunder Mountain, grabbed some Mickey Bars, and headed over to find a spot to watch the parade.
The parade was something we missed on our last visit. The timing just didn’t work out. I was excited to see it this time. We found a spot in Frontierland near the beginning of the route and then the boys ducked into the Frontier Trading Post to do some pin trading. We had done a day trip to DisneyLand when we visited LA two years ago and the boys got a lanyard and their first pins then. On the cruise they had their first trading experience, and they were excited to do some more trading in Disney World. Before both the cruise and this trip, I bought a bag of pins on eBay for trading. I let them buy one pin in each park to keep and they were allowed to trade as many of their eBay pins as they wanted. There was a good trading selection in the shop and they were happy when they rejoined us just before the parade started.
The parade was amazing! I’m so glad we stayed for it (there had been a few grumbles at having to wait). The Festival of Fantasy parade focuses on the stories that are represented in Fantasyland and the characters and floats were spectacular. The boys loved spotting the next characters as they came around the corner. They were amazed by the floats and fascinated by the fire breathing dragon and the elaborately costumed performers walking down the street on stilts. It was a great way to take a little break and enjoy some entertainment.
Disney is so well-run in so many ways. It was amazing to fall into step behind the parade and watch as they picked up behind them as they went along. The parade was still going on ahead of us but just a few steps behind us it was as if it had never happened.
Because we were trailing behind the parade, it took a little while to make our way over to Fantasyland. We stopped at It’s a Small World and Blair and I marveled over how it looked exactly as it did when we were kids but was still in perfect condition as if it had just opened yesterday.
Our final FastPass of the day was for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This ride was still under construction in 2013 on our first visit and we were so excited to go on Disney’s first new roller coaster in years. The regular line was about 90 minutes long but with our FastPasses we waited less than 10 minutes. I have to admit that the ride was a major disappointment. It was all I had heard about for years and it did not live up to the hype for us. The coaster was fun but nothing special. The way it stopped mid-ride for the indoor mining scene with the dwarfs was awkward. The ride is similar to Big Thunder Mountain. In a head to head comparison I’d say it has better theming and animatronics but the ride itself is not as fun. The boys enjoyed it but we all agreed that we would have been seriously disappointed if we had waited on a 90 minute line for it. In fact, two of our FastPasses weren’t showing as used which means two of use could have ridden it again but nobody wanted to.
After that we decided to head back to the hotel for dinner and some relaxation before the fireworks. We stayed at the Polynesian, which made for an easy trip back on the monorail. We grabbed dinner at their quick service restaurant and the boys went in the pool. This proved to be a fatal mistake to the maintaining of the master schedule. Once the boys got in the pool, they did not want to get out. So I watched Wishes by myself from the beach of the Polynesian. It was a neat perspective but nothing like seeing it from the park. I was disappointed but it turned out to be the only night warm enough for the pool so I’m glad they got to enjoy it.
We went back to Magic Kingdom on the morning of our third day to repeat a few rides and hit up a couple that we had missed. Our FastPasses were for a different park that day but we got there early enough that we didn’t have to wait long for any of the rides. The longest wait was for Peter Pan, even though we headed there as soon as the park opened. But with the new interactive queue, the boys didn’t seem to mind. They loved the shadow effects where their own shadow was displayed on the wall and they could interact with the fluttering butterfly shadows or ring the shadow bells to make actual noise. Tinker Bell (or at least her trail of pixie dust) also flies around the room, knocking things over and lighting things up. It was well worth the time in line to get to enjoy the awesome effects. (Note that I am saying that after a 30-ish minute wait. I’m not sure I would find the effects so amazing for 90-120 minutes. Shadow butterflies can only entertain you for so long.)
While it would take days or even weeks to experience all that Magic Kingdom has to offer, we were able to hit almost everything on our list in one and a half days. The Fireworks was the one big thing we missed, but I’d say that was a pretty good success rate.
Magic Kingdom Tips and Take-aways
- Stop at the Main Street Firehouse to get cards for the Sorcerer’s of Magic Kingdom game. Even if you don’t end up playing the game, they are a cool collectible to take home with you.
- Bring pins to trade. There are a lot of great trading spots and most Cast Members have some pins on their lanyard that they can trade as well.
- Skip the Crystal Palace Buffet with Character unless you really want to see Piglet.
- Don’t miss the parade! We liked watching it near the beginning – it seemed less crowded and made for an earlier getaway to hop on some rides while others were still watching it further down the line.
- The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is worth a FastPass to experience it once but would not have been worth a 60-120 minute wait for us.
- The Peter Pan interactive queue is worth going through if you can get there early.
