Disney’s Magic Kingdom

I’ve been slowly sharing our tips for a great Disney World vacation even if you’re unorganized.  Of all the parks over at Disney World Magic Kingdom is the hardest to navigate and get around if you’re disorganized.  It’s the oldest park and not planned out the best.

For ease of thinking for me I’ll break this down by each land within Magic Kingdom.  Each one has its’ own flavor to play with.

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Main Street USA in Magic Kingdom

This is the thoroughfare.  You will be criss-crossing this all day long, and will become fairly familiar with it.  There are several street shows happening on here and you stand a good chance of running into different characters while you’re there.

There aren’t rides here, it’s mainly shops and food, if you want to do shopping here don’t wait until the end of the day.  The stores here are busy, busy, busy at the end of the day as everyone gathers up for the Main Street Electrical Parade and the fireworks.

 

Adventureland in Magic Kingdom

You’ll find Adventureland to your left as you head in.  We walked through here on our way to Frontierland, but we made a point to stop at the Swiss Family Robinson Tree because it wasn’t too crowded.  If you have young kids it’s worth a walk through with them. My kids especially enjoyed it because we’d watched Swiss Family Robinson* a few weeks earlier at home.

Jungle Cruise is worth the wait if you have kids who like animals, and the parents will enjoy the puns and jokes the tour guides make as you ride along.  My daughter found Pirates of the Caribbean to be a little scary (they’ve added in scenes from the movie, and it’s in the dark from time to time).  If you have young kids definitely check out the Magic Carpet ride, it’s similar to the Dumbo ride and isn’t too scary for young kids.

 

If you’re going in the summer and need a break in air conditioning go in the Enchanted Tiki Room for the show, but otherwise there is so much to do there you can safely skip that show.  My kids had zero interest in it.

 

Fanstasyland in Magic Kingdom

This is the gem of the kingdom.  It’s been expanded recently and has doubled in size because of it.  They added in an entire Circus area where Dumbo’s ride has moved to, as well as a few fun themed stores, and a show or two.

There’s all of the classic favorites, “It’s a Small World,” “Peter Pan Ride,” and those will always have a long wait time (especially with the popularity of the Peter and the Starcatchers* series and its reference to the Peter Pan ride).  The boys opted to skip “It’s a Small World,” and so Mom and I rode it with Princess who enjoys the boat rides.  We also got to ride the Tea Cups with her as they went through the line of Space Mountain.

If you can I would fastpass the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, it’s a newer ride and always has lines of over an hour.  If you’re not fastpassing it, I would head there first thing in the morning, we did not and chose not to wait the hour plus to ride in it.

Dumbo’s Ride has been doubled in size and they hit on a brilliant feature while you’re waiting.  They installed a small air-conditioned playground for the kids to play on as they wait.  Their parents are given a beeper and when it’s their turn they just queue up and get on a few minutes later.  My kids were disappointed our wait was short enough they didn’t need to do that (which really cracked me up).  Princess loved the new Barnstormer ride right next to the Dumbo ride, it’s a small roller coaster, perfect for little kids just starting to ride them.

 

They’ve also added a Princess meet and greet station, if you’ve got a princess lover in your house you MUST fast pass this.  Wait times when we went in early February were upwards of an hour, and for Anna or Elsa were consistently 2 hours plus.  This is one of the few things you need to fast pass as early as possible.

 

Liberty Square in Magic Kingdom

Liberty Square does not have many rides in it, but it’s well worth stopping by.  First because it’s got the Liberty Tree from Johnny Tremain (which I found out about AFTER our trip), but secondly because Haunted Mansion is there.  Haunted Mansion is one of my favorite rides in Disney World, and the line is well designed so you are entertained as you wait.

If you have a kid who likes history, I’d also stop by the Hall of Presidents while you’re there.  Batman had a blast watching the different presidents come to life briefly (I’m kind of sad I didn’t make it to see with him, I was off with Princess on our extended tour of Fantasyland).  That’s also why there’s no picture of the Hall of Presidents.  Instead I give you us trying out a sled from the area.

 

Frontierland in Magic Kingdom

This is off in the corner squeezed in between Fantasyland and Adventureland.  You’ll find Big Thunder Mountain Railroad here, and Tom Sawyer’s Island.  We used a fast pass on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and that was a good choice on our part.  It turned out to be Princess’ favorite roller coaster of the entire time.  If you have young kids I would highly recommend taking the ferry over for Tom Sawyer’s Island and having fun running around there for a few minutes.  There’s rarely a line, and your kids will enjoy playing in the fort.

We skipped Splash Mountain because we went in winter, and didn’t relish the thought of being wet for extended periods of time, but I firmly believe in going on the wet rides early in the day to help keep you cool for most of the day.

 

Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom

I think we spent a good portion of our day over in Tomorrowland.  I would highly recommend if you have young kids riding the People Mover, there’s no line and you get a bird’s eye view of the entire area.  My kids enjoyed finding out what they were about to ride, and it helped calm down my daughter who was scared of some of the rides.

If you have older kids you must fast pass Space Mountain, like the other two big roller coasters in Disney World, it will be a long wait otherwise.  My boys used a fast pass for this and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Other rides our family enjoyed: Buzz LIghtyear’s Space Command, Monster Inc. Laugh Track (we went to it twice), Tomorrowland Speedway (also ridden twice no make that three times)

Oh and just to reinforce the whole take them on the Speedway ride, here’s a great set of pictures I got of Batman driving.  I just loved all of the faces he made.  It made riding it so much more fun.

I mean look at that happy face.  I love that look.

Watching the Electrical Parade and the the Fireworks show

 

Disney is known for its parades and its fireworks.  People start lining up for them over an hour before it happens.  We found a spot near the exit to watch the parade.  If this is important to you, you can choose to Fastpass the parade and fireworks.  That can be worth it.  The fireworks show mostly happens on the castle.  I’ll tell you of the different fireworks shows I found this the least impressive because we often could not see with the crowds in front of us.

But my number one tip for both of these.  Put your camera or your cell phone away.  Take one or two pictures to remember it, and then put it away.  I saw so many people watching through their cell phone screen as they video taped it.  As someone who has traveled a lot, you don’t watch the videos.  Maybe once afterwards, but you don’t watch them.  Instead, watch your kids reactions.  Watch the amazing displays of technology.  But put away your phone.

 

For more great series go check out the iHomeschool Network hopscotch.

 

The rest of the Disney World tips series

• Disney World for the Disorganized Mom
• Disney’s Magic Kingdom
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom
• Disney’s Epcot
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Do you have more Magic Kingdom tips to share?