Are you visiting Walt Disney World for the first time one day soon? Are you already there? Have you failed to plan or research your vacation a satisfactory amount? Don’t worry; this happens much more often than you might think. Over the years, I’ve offered a lot of advice on the best ways for a rookie to approach a park visit. What follows is a breakdown of the simplest strategies to have a great time at the four gates of Walt Disney World.
Okay, you’re at Walt Disney World. Now what?
First off, your type of ticket matters. Did you buy the Park Hopper option? If yes, you’ll have many more choices than if you’re exclusive to one park during the day. I recommend Park Hopper as a rule, but you don’t need it if this is your first visit. Epcot and Magic Kingdom can fill an entire day, and you’ll find enough to do at Disney’s Animal Kingdom if you can survive the heat and humidity there. The only park where you’ll regret not having the Park Hopper is Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which is in a state of flux.
The one thing I want you to keep in mind as we discuss park options and tactics is that you’ll be walking. A lot. In fact, you may walk more than you’ve ever walked before in your life. Also, Walt Disney World is in Florida, and Florida is hot. It basically stays hot all the time. You want to take care of yourself and your loved ones. Otherwise, you’ll feel hot and tired all the time. And you’ll fight.
Tips for Hollywood Studios
Keeping the above in mind, each park at Walt Disney World has its own eccentricities and specific tactics. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is in transition and will remain that way until the Star Wars Land and Pixar Place themed lands open in 2019. Until then, it’s the easiest park to navigate since they only have a handful of attractions that will interest most theme park tourists. No matter when you visit, your strategy should be the same.
Pick a side to start, whether it’s the Star Tours portion left of the entrance or the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror/Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith to the right. Take a straight line across the park, and you’ll discover virtually every major attraction. Remember to pay attention to your FastPass schedule so that you don’t accidentally miss a ride, though. If you get tired, several shows are available where you can rest for a while. This tip crosses all the parks and will become more important for the other three.
You should always know places where you can rest for a while even as you technically enjoy an attraction. The best one at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is The Great Movie Ride, which rarely has a long wait-time (I consider a half-hour or less an acceptable time for an attraction). Better yet, the ride takes 22 minutes. You’ll feel completely rejuvenated when you exit. It’s also conveniently located in the middle of the park, so you’re never far away. Of course, everything here is relatively close, as it’s currently the most condensed park at Walt Disney World.
Tips for Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Animal lovers and parents of small children will love Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Still, you should keep a couple of things in mind. First of all, it’s the most spread out of all the Disney parks. Also, it’s the hottest by quite a bit. You need to approach a day at this park a bit more tactically. What I find works best is walking all the way to the back of the park, the Africa section, at the start of the day when I have the most energy. Then, I cross over to Asia and work my way to nearby Dinoland U.S.A. on the way out. Once Pandora – The World of Avatar opens, it’ll be the last thing I do before I leave.
What I like about this plan is that I can start the day with my favorite attraction, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and then my family enjoys the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail when we’re in the mood. Similarly, we’ve seen Festival of the Lion King enough that we don’t need to do it each visit, but you absolutely should since it’s your first time. It also doubles as a great way to get off your feet when you’re tired. The same is actually true of Kilimanjaro Safaris, which takes at least 20 minutes.
After I’m done in Africa, I head over to the best thrill ride at the park, Expedition Everest. I’m not a huge fan of Kali River Rapids, which is the laziest attraction at all of Walt Disney World in my opinion, but it’s great when you need to cool off. That’s also why the lines frequently reach an hour or more on hot days. Make sure to get a FastPass for it if you plan to spend an extended period of time at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Finally, Dinoland U.S.A. is notoriously circus-like and un-Disney, but I still ride Dinosaur, a woefully underrated attraction.
All of these plans should work for you, too. The only question is how much you want to interact with the animals. There’s also one other attraction that will provide a respite from the heat and walking. It’s Tough to Be a Bug is entertaining, especially the first time a person watches it, and it takes about 15 minutes to get seated plus watch the show.
Tips for Epcot
The smartest plan for Epcot partially depends on where you enter the park. Most folks will start at the front gates, visiting Future World first. Guests staying at a couple of Disney hotels nearby or riding boat transportation into the park will start at the back. That entrance is off to the side of the France Pavilion in the World Showcase. Should you arrive on that end of the park, the best tactic is to explore the World Showcase first. Otherwise, you’ll want to follow the herd entering Future World. That doesn’t mean that you have to act like everyone else, though.
The first thing you’ll see when you enter Epcot’s front gate is Spaceship Earth, the giant golf ball that grabs the eye. Lots of unexperienced guests will get in line for this attraction since it’s the first thing they see. That’s a rookie mistake that you don’t want to make. Due to its massive size and rider throughput, Spaceship Earth WILL have short lines at some point during the day. Wait to ride it during one of those instances. Alternately, make a FastPass for it later in the day. You’ll basically walk onto the ride that way, and it’s one of the easiest FastPasses to get anywhere at Walt Disney World.
When you enter Future World, walk right past Spaceship Earth and head either left or right once you reach the giant Fountain of Nations watery thing. Then, either go left toward Mission: Space and Test Track or right toward The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Imagination!, and The Land. While it’s spread out a bit, Epcot is easy to navigate. At the front of the park, only two rides will have extended wait-times throughout the day. Those are Soarin’ Around the World and Test Track. Everything else should be something you can wait in line to ride at some point.
One tip for Test Track is that if you don’t mind missing the ride-building portion, it has a Single Rider line. This can dramatically reduce the wait-time for the actual ride portion. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith at Disney’s Hollywood Studios also offers it, as do some other attractions across the four parks. These are the two rides where it’s most valuable, though.
When you’re tired, Epcot has a plethora of great options to rest while technically doing something. Living with the Land takes 20 minutes and will either open your mind to emerging technologies or provide you with a wonderful nap. Ellen’s Energy Adventure takes 45 minutes, and unless you’re on the ultimate caffeine high, you likely will fall asleep at some point since it has prolonged bouts of minimal light. Journey into Imagination with Figment is also more than 10 minutes long.
How you approach World Showcase depends on you and your travel party. Some groups find the walk around the 11 pavilions a bit grueling. On hot days in particular, they blow off a lot of what’s great about the back half of the park. Personally, I love it and try to spend an hour exploring an entire pavilion whenever I can. Since your time is at a premium during your first trip to Walt Disney World, you may not have that luxury.
Here’s what you need to know about this section. The Norway Pavilion is where the action is. Frozen Ever After is currently the most popular attraction at Walt Disney World in terms of wait-times and FastPass sellouts. If you can’t get a FastPass, expect to wait at least an hour in line. Thankfully, a lot of it is indoors.
Otherwise, the only pure ride in the World Showcase is at the Mexico Pavilion. While I find it incredibly charming, Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros is more of an attraction used to get off your feet. In fact, I’ve heard angry guests complain when the wait-time for it was more than 10 minutes. I think of it as a hidden gem. You should think of it as an escape when you’re tired. Plus, the interior of the Mexico Pavilion is absolutely spectacular.
Tips for Magic Kingdom
Okay, assuming that you’re like most theme park tourists, you’ll spend most of your time here. It’s the most trafficked theme park in the world and had 8.7 million more visits than Epcot, the second most popular park at Walt Disney World. In other words, adding the current attendance of Universal Studios Islands of Adventure to Epcot almost exactly matches the standalone total for Magic Kingdom. It’s that popular. It’s also that crowded.
Keeping this in mind, you’re going to feel like you’re in the mouth of madness at times. Some sites like Touring Plans estimate park traffic for given days, using a ten-point scale. Due to the discrepancy in crowd size, a five at Magic Kingdom can feel like an eight at one of the other parks. If you get claustrophobic at times, don’t panic or feel like you’re doing anything wrong. Your first visit to Magic Kingdom may seem overwhelming, but there are some things you can understand to make the situation more manageable.
First, you should understand that Magic Kingdom utilizes the same hub-and-spokes design as Disneyland. It’s the structure that Walt Disney himself preferred, and his Imagineers honored that vision in building the East Coast answer to Disneyland. When you get lost or confused about the best path to take, Magic Kingdom’s hub and spokes will save you.
To visualize the design, think of Cinderella Castle as the center of Magic Kingdom. Not coincidentally, all roads lead to this spot. All of the themed lands have paths that will eventually return a lost guest to the castle. Conversely, when you’re at the castle, you can follow the signs to reach any attraction. Over time, you’ll learn better paths, and the My Disney Experience app’s mapping features will also guide you. Still, a good rule of thumb at Magic Kingdom is that when you’re lost, find the castle landmark and figure it out from there.
In terms of specific plans, Magic Kingdom is so wide open that no one strategy exists. Plus, your FastPass times and locations will drive your decision making more than at any other park. If it’s not too late to choose, the best FastPasses options are Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight. If you’re already at the parks, you’re probably too late to grab the first one and may not want the second one.
Peter Pan’s Flight is something that you won’t want to stand in line to ride, even though its line queue is divine. You’ll wait at least 45 minutes for an attraction that takes about three minutes and somehow feels shorter since there’s no delay in boarding the vessel. While this is a wonderful legacy ride from the opening day of Disneyland, you may feel disappointed by waiting a long time to enjoy it. If you can’t get a FastPass, strongly consider skipping it unless you’re a Peter Pan/Tinkerbell fanatic. As for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, I think it’s in the conversation for best attraction at Magic Kingdom, but some folks find it a bit silly and dull. If you can grab a FastPass, you should definitely ride it. Otherwise, you’ll waste too much of your valuable park time standing in line here.
The beauty of Magic Kingdom as opposed to the other three parks is that you can churn FastPasses like crazy. Always have your phone in hand as you stand in line for your next attraction or sit down for a meal. Several of the best rides at Disney will have a FastPass available most of the day. Always pick the one closest to the current time. That way, you can do more. You’ll get the hang of this strategy quickly, and you’ll soon discover that you can ride and re-ride your favorite attractions often as long as you’re flexible. That’s the key to a Magic Kingdom visit. Go with the flow!
As far as highlights, plan your day around a couple of key events. At 3 p.m. each day, the Festival of Fantasy parade takes place in the streets of Magic Kingdom. Around 2:30, you should either start planning where you’d like to watch it or head to the recesses of the park where you’ll avoid the crowds. Tomorrowland is my preferred destination, but a lot of options are good. Just DO NOT head to Main Street U.S.A. or the surrounding area.
At night, the same logic applies to what is currently the Wishes fireworks display but will soon switch to Happily Ever After. These shows have a tendency to clog up the main spokes of the themed lands. Once the fireworks end, most people head to the front gate to leave for the evening. You’ll want to plan around these tendencies if you intend to stay late, which brings us to the most important point.
The key difference with Magic Kingdom is that it’s a full day park in the truest sense. Unlike the other three gates at Walt Disney World, you can easily spend multiple days here without running out of things to do. Attractions like Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and Carousel of Progress can consume a lot of your free time without your realizing it. Similarly, Jungle Cruise and It’s a Small World both take more than 10 minutes, and first-time guests should also attend Country Bear Jamboree and Hall of Presidents at least once. That’s three hours of attractions right there, and we’re not even talking about the best stuff at Magic Kingdom.
These rides and shows also double as wonderful breathers when you’re tired, already the park’s grand champion in this category is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. You can use anything in these two paragraphs as a break, but all of them are also fun attractions, something that’s not necessarily true of a couple of other slow rides listed above.
As far as navigating the park, what I’d suggest is staying in a single themed land until you’ve seen everything that interests you. Magic Kingdom’s design is immaculate, with a masterful combination of quality attractions, random shows, and huge merchandise stores. When you slow down and take everything in, you won’t tire quickly from all the walking, and you’ll also enjoy a fuller appreciation of Disney’s most popular park.
Finally, while you’re at Magic Kingdom, you should try two foods that have attained legendary status over the years. The first is the ginormous turkey leg, which you’ll know when you see it. While the rustic turkey flavor is exactly what you’d expect, the photo ops of your holding it are why you’ll want to buy one. The other delicacy is the Pineapple Dole Whip, which you can find at Aloha Isle (or Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort). It’s an inimitable dessert that matches and even surpasses its decades-old hype.
So, there you have it. That’s all the advice you should need to have a wonderful time at the Most Magical Place on Earth. Have a great vacation, my fellow theme park tourists!
