Haydo Potato
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2017
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I made a quick trip to WDW. We decided about six months ago that we were going to stay at a Disney resort for two nights and choose ONE park that we would go to (disclaimer: we would have loved to spend a week but this was a mini-vacation that we tagged onto an already existing extended family vacation). We decided that we were going to be thrifty and economical and not, on this occasion at least, pull out all the stops. We booked our two nights at the All Star Movies Resort (review coming) and made the decision to choose Magic Kingdom as our one theme park. We were at first hesitant because although both of us have been to WDW before, it had been several years and everything that I read told me that there was NO WAY that we would be able to do everything at MK in one day. But we couldn't resist...it's THE Kingdom, right?? What's WDW without Cinderella's Castle?!
We arrived at the hotel late on Sunday night (7/23) around 9:30. We originally planned to get in early that evening and find a spot at one of the MK hotels to watch the fireworks but we ended up being delayed. HOWEVER, the drive through the WDW arches was quite wonderful that late at night -- no cars were around us and we were greeted the entire way in by the fireworks overhead. Instant magic. Check-in at the hotel was quick and easy and the service was fantastic. We actually loved the All Star Movies -- it encapsulates the magic of classic Disney movies and has a fun, vibrant atmosphere through the buildings and grounds. We stayed in the Toy Story building -- hindsight I think I would do Fantasia or 101 Dalmations because Toy Story felt a little separated from the rest of the hotel but nonetheless the walk to the buses was short and sweet. The rooms are simple and outside entry doors are not our first choice but overall the hotel gives a good bang for its buck and we felt like we were in the magic.
That night we perused the hotel gift shop and talked with a cast member about MK, buses, etc. What is interesting is that they (all cast members, because we asked multiple) tell you that for a 9:00 rope drop at MK, the buses don't start running until 8:15. I became anxious because everywhere I read told me to get there 45 minutes to an hour early. After some quick surfing of the forums, I saw that contrary to what they will tell you, buses start running from the hotel at 7:00 (maybe even earlier). So my wife and I showed up the next morning for the 7:15 shuttle, jumped right on, and made our way to the Kingdom.
As soon as we got to the park gates, they start letting people in through the gates. Obviously, this was only for us to walk around Main Street and the Hub since we didn't have a character breakfast but this hour timeframe was our favorite part of the day -- we grabbed a coffee at Starbucks (they take Sbux gift cards) and walked all around the area and took the obligatory Castle picture while nobody else was there. After taking too many pics, we settled around our rope and got ready to head to our first set of rides.
Everywhere that I read told me to go to the Seven Dwarves Mine Train first but I wasn't buying it -- that was our first Fast Pass at 9:45 and we had the desire to do EVERYTHING, not a few things over and over. So at the drop we scooted to Big Thunder Mountain and walked on the first ride there. We then walked to Splash Mountain and walked straight onto the ride, no wait at all. We got off and the area was still barren so we made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean and again walked right onto a boat without a wait. The crowds became a little more dense at that point so we skipped over to the Haunted Mansion and waited abut 10 minutes for that one (incidentally I was a little disappointed in those last two rides...glad we didn't have to wait!). Once we finished that ride it was 9:50 so we used our Mine Train FP (no wait at all) and then walked over to Tomorrowland and walked right onto Peoplemovers to kill time before our Space Mountain FP at 10:50. On that note, I LOVED Peoplemovers. It actually might have been my favorite ride (although Space Mountain is hard to beat). My encouragement -- don't skip out on Peoplemovers! It's not flashy but it's wholesome and a nice little break to see the park.
We finished that, walked right onto Space Mountain using our FP and then had a lot of time to kill before our 12:30 FP to Peter Pan. We decided to go ahead and use that time to wait for Buzz Lightyear. That was our longest wait of the day (abut 35-40 minutes) but we didn't mind because we didn't want to waste our time walking and we knew that wait would only get longer. We wrapped up there in time to go straight to Peter Pan and walk right onto the ride using our last FP. Immediately after scanning our MagicBand, I got in the app and made our next FP reservation for Space Mountain at 9:30 (explanation to come later). After Peter Pan it was 12:45 and we were hungry and needing a break.
We decided to grab some mac & cheese from the Friar's Nook and walk over to Pinnochio's Village Haus to get some french fries (really healthy lunch, let me tell you) and sit on the second floor balcony to get a view of the park. Food was a B- but we did love that view and break! (Quick aside: we never once bought water that entire day -- we walked into counter-service dining anytime that we were thirsty and asked for two cups of water and they happily complied. Another frugal fact!) After a 30 minute break, we walked a few feet to see Mickey's Philharmagic. MY FAVORITE SHOW. We loved it! It was a short wait and mostly indoor. Fantastic show, all of the great Disney classics! After watching that, it was around 2:20ish so we decided to grab a spot for the parade. Our initial plan was to sit at the very front of the parade so that we could immediately run onto Big Thunder Mountain again while everyone watched the parade. However, after it ended (also, INCREDIBLE) and we ran there, it seemed either a) most people skipped the parade or b) everyone had our "brilliant" idea. We decided it wasn't worth the hour wait so we looked on the Disney app and our jaws dropped to the ground when we saw that the wait time to meet Mickey Mouse in the front theater was FIVE MINUTES. We took every shortcut that we could find to make our way there (it wasn't too hard because the beginning of the parade still hadn't gotten to the end yet!) and walked into the queue and straight into the first holding room to meet THE Mouse. After five minutes there, we were in. Such a fun experience! By the time we got out, the wait time was up to 60 minutes. From there we went to the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor for a 10 minute wait. THAT is a great show -- so clever and witty and had no idea that it would be so interactive! We scurried over to the Muppet's Great Moments in American History show after that and that was an entertaining break!
We were needing a break after that so we decided to go to the front of the park and hop on the WDW Railroad to do a lap around the park. It was a much needed break from walking and standing and by this time it was late afternoon/early evening. We got off and did some shopping on Main Street for a picture frame and postcard and looking through more of the fun stores in that area. By that time it was 7:15 so we decided to get a hot dog from Casey's Corner (A++ food and experience!) and eat our meal while posted up at our fireworks position. We sat very close to the Adventureland rope drop spot while still in the central Hub -- fantastic viewing location for the castle and still on the outskirts so that we could (wait for it...) SPRINT to Big Thunder Mountain at the end of Happily Ever After.
Fireworks were immaculate and couldn't have been a better ending to the night. Right at the end we started powerwalking to BTM and walked right onto the ride with absolutely no wait! By the time we got off, the wait was over 30 minutes! At that point we were wiped out and it was about 9:45 so we headed over to our final ride (and FP, don't forget!) at Space Mountain! On our way there, we stopped in the hub for firework show #2 (Kiss Goodnight, I have heard it called?) which was another fun suprise! After about a 10-15 minute wait at Space Mountain, we made our way to the exit and called it a day. It was about 10:35 at that point and the park was closing at 11:00 so we tried to get ahead of the masses (luckily we did because the busses were PACKED).
We made it back to the hotel at 11:20 and 28,000 steps/13.1 miles later (statistics via my wife's GPS watch/step counter) we made it back to our room at All Star Movies and called it a day. It was an incredibly magical experience and there were very few things we didn't do that we wanted to (Jungle Cruise ended up being expendable as the wait was very long, hindsight we could have squeezed it into that morning time period before the crowds arrived).
So, it can be done! You have to think ahead and work the FP's/get there early but in the end it is worth it! In summation, here is a brief timeline of our day (times are estimates to some degree):
7:15 - shuttle to park
7:45 - enter park
9:00 - rope drop/Big Thunder Mountain
9:10 - Splash Mountain
9:25 - Pirates of the Caribbean
9:35 - Haunted Mansion
10:00 - Seven Dwarves Mine Train (FP #1)
10:20 - Peoplemovers
10:55 - Space Mountain (FP #2)
11:20 - Buzz Lightyear
12:30 - Peter Pan
(Lunch)
1:50 - Mickey's Philharmagic
2:20 - Parade spots
3:00 - Parade
3:15-30 - Meet Mickey Mouse
4:00 - Monsters' Inc. Laugh Floor
4:45 - Muppets Present Great Moments in American History
5:00 - WDW Railroad
6:00 - shopping/walking through Main Street
7:15 - Casey's Corner hot dogs at our Firework spot in Hub
9:00 - Happily Ever After Fireworks
9:30 - Big Thunder Mountain
9:45 - Once Upon a Time Fireworks
10:15 - Space Mountain
11:00 - Shuttle back to resort
We arrived at the hotel late on Sunday night (7/23) around 9:30. We originally planned to get in early that evening and find a spot at one of the MK hotels to watch the fireworks but we ended up being delayed. HOWEVER, the drive through the WDW arches was quite wonderful that late at night -- no cars were around us and we were greeted the entire way in by the fireworks overhead. Instant magic. Check-in at the hotel was quick and easy and the service was fantastic. We actually loved the All Star Movies -- it encapsulates the magic of classic Disney movies and has a fun, vibrant atmosphere through the buildings and grounds. We stayed in the Toy Story building -- hindsight I think I would do Fantasia or 101 Dalmations because Toy Story felt a little separated from the rest of the hotel but nonetheless the walk to the buses was short and sweet. The rooms are simple and outside entry doors are not our first choice but overall the hotel gives a good bang for its buck and we felt like we were in the magic.
That night we perused the hotel gift shop and talked with a cast member about MK, buses, etc. What is interesting is that they (all cast members, because we asked multiple) tell you that for a 9:00 rope drop at MK, the buses don't start running until 8:15. I became anxious because everywhere I read told me to get there 45 minutes to an hour early. After some quick surfing of the forums, I saw that contrary to what they will tell you, buses start running from the hotel at 7:00 (maybe even earlier). So my wife and I showed up the next morning for the 7:15 shuttle, jumped right on, and made our way to the Kingdom.
As soon as we got to the park gates, they start letting people in through the gates. Obviously, this was only for us to walk around Main Street and the Hub since we didn't have a character breakfast but this hour timeframe was our favorite part of the day -- we grabbed a coffee at Starbucks (they take Sbux gift cards) and walked all around the area and took the obligatory Castle picture while nobody else was there. After taking too many pics, we settled around our rope and got ready to head to our first set of rides.
Everywhere that I read told me to go to the Seven Dwarves Mine Train first but I wasn't buying it -- that was our first Fast Pass at 9:45 and we had the desire to do EVERYTHING, not a few things over and over. So at the drop we scooted to Big Thunder Mountain and walked on the first ride there. We then walked to Splash Mountain and walked straight onto the ride, no wait at all. We got off and the area was still barren so we made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean and again walked right onto a boat without a wait. The crowds became a little more dense at that point so we skipped over to the Haunted Mansion and waited abut 10 minutes for that one (incidentally I was a little disappointed in those last two rides...glad we didn't have to wait!). Once we finished that ride it was 9:50 so we used our Mine Train FP (no wait at all) and then walked over to Tomorrowland and walked right onto Peoplemovers to kill time before our Space Mountain FP at 10:50. On that note, I LOVED Peoplemovers. It actually might have been my favorite ride (although Space Mountain is hard to beat). My encouragement -- don't skip out on Peoplemovers! It's not flashy but it's wholesome and a nice little break to see the park.
We finished that, walked right onto Space Mountain using our FP and then had a lot of time to kill before our 12:30 FP to Peter Pan. We decided to go ahead and use that time to wait for Buzz Lightyear. That was our longest wait of the day (abut 35-40 minutes) but we didn't mind because we didn't want to waste our time walking and we knew that wait would only get longer. We wrapped up there in time to go straight to Peter Pan and walk right onto the ride using our last FP. Immediately after scanning our MagicBand, I got in the app and made our next FP reservation for Space Mountain at 9:30 (explanation to come later). After Peter Pan it was 12:45 and we were hungry and needing a break.
We decided to grab some mac & cheese from the Friar's Nook and walk over to Pinnochio's Village Haus to get some french fries (really healthy lunch, let me tell you) and sit on the second floor balcony to get a view of the park. Food was a B- but we did love that view and break! (Quick aside: we never once bought water that entire day -- we walked into counter-service dining anytime that we were thirsty and asked for two cups of water and they happily complied. Another frugal fact!) After a 30 minute break, we walked a few feet to see Mickey's Philharmagic. MY FAVORITE SHOW. We loved it! It was a short wait and mostly indoor. Fantastic show, all of the great Disney classics! After watching that, it was around 2:20ish so we decided to grab a spot for the parade. Our initial plan was to sit at the very front of the parade so that we could immediately run onto Big Thunder Mountain again while everyone watched the parade. However, after it ended (also, INCREDIBLE) and we ran there, it seemed either a) most people skipped the parade or b) everyone had our "brilliant" idea. We decided it wasn't worth the hour wait so we looked on the Disney app and our jaws dropped to the ground when we saw that the wait time to meet Mickey Mouse in the front theater was FIVE MINUTES. We took every shortcut that we could find to make our way there (it wasn't too hard because the beginning of the parade still hadn't gotten to the end yet!) and walked into the queue and straight into the first holding room to meet THE Mouse. After five minutes there, we were in. Such a fun experience! By the time we got out, the wait time was up to 60 minutes. From there we went to the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor for a 10 minute wait. THAT is a great show -- so clever and witty and had no idea that it would be so interactive! We scurried over to the Muppet's Great Moments in American History show after that and that was an entertaining break!
We were needing a break after that so we decided to go to the front of the park and hop on the WDW Railroad to do a lap around the park. It was a much needed break from walking and standing and by this time it was late afternoon/early evening. We got off and did some shopping on Main Street for a picture frame and postcard and looking through more of the fun stores in that area. By that time it was 7:15 so we decided to get a hot dog from Casey's Corner (A++ food and experience!) and eat our meal while posted up at our fireworks position. We sat very close to the Adventureland rope drop spot while still in the central Hub -- fantastic viewing location for the castle and still on the outskirts so that we could (wait for it...) SPRINT to Big Thunder Mountain at the end of Happily Ever After.
Fireworks were immaculate and couldn't have been a better ending to the night. Right at the end we started powerwalking to BTM and walked right onto the ride with absolutely no wait! By the time we got off, the wait was over 30 minutes! At that point we were wiped out and it was about 9:45 so we headed over to our final ride (and FP, don't forget!) at Space Mountain! On our way there, we stopped in the hub for firework show #2 (Kiss Goodnight, I have heard it called?) which was another fun suprise! After about a 10-15 minute wait at Space Mountain, we made our way to the exit and called it a day. It was about 10:35 at that point and the park was closing at 11:00 so we tried to get ahead of the masses (luckily we did because the busses were PACKED).
We made it back to the hotel at 11:20 and 28,000 steps/13.1 miles later (statistics via my wife's GPS watch/step counter) we made it back to our room at All Star Movies and called it a day. It was an incredibly magical experience and there were very few things we didn't do that we wanted to (Jungle Cruise ended up being expendable as the wait was very long, hindsight we could have squeezed it into that morning time period before the crowds arrived).
So, it can be done! You have to think ahead and work the FP's/get there early but in the end it is worth it! In summation, here is a brief timeline of our day (times are estimates to some degree):
7:15 - shuttle to park
7:45 - enter park
9:00 - rope drop/Big Thunder Mountain
9:10 - Splash Mountain
9:25 - Pirates of the Caribbean
9:35 - Haunted Mansion
10:00 - Seven Dwarves Mine Train (FP #1)
10:20 - Peoplemovers
10:55 - Space Mountain (FP #2)
11:20 - Buzz Lightyear
12:30 - Peter Pan
(Lunch)
1:50 - Mickey's Philharmagic
2:20 - Parade spots
3:00 - Parade
3:15-30 - Meet Mickey Mouse
4:00 - Monsters' Inc. Laugh Floor
4:45 - Muppets Present Great Moments in American History
5:00 - WDW Railroad
6:00 - shopping/walking through Main Street
7:15 - Casey's Corner hot dogs at our Firework spot in Hub
9:00 - Happily Ever After Fireworks
9:30 - Big Thunder Mountain
9:45 - Once Upon a Time Fireworks
10:15 - Space Mountain
11:00 - Shuttle back to resort
