My husband and I are going to Florida for our 5th Anniv. We will only be able to spend 2 or 3 days at Disney. This will be my first time at Disney. Any suggestions for the must-go-to parks/rides/shows??
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My husband and I are going to Florida for our 5th Anniv. We will only be able to spend 2 or 3 days at Disney. This will be my first time at Disney. Any suggestions for the must-go-to parks/rides/shows??
What kind of stuff are you into? Big rides? Classic rides?
Park wise - my choices are MK and EPCOT for an adult only trip.
Any other info you need - we may need some more info about you! Do you want rides? Dining? Resorts?
We love to plan!!!
Room/plane/car is already booked. We love the lion king movies so we planned on going to the lion king! We are animal lovers so AK is on the list. We like classic and thrill rides...more thrill nothing upside down.
forgot to ask about restaurants - my husband is a picky eater but I'm not...so any suggestions for places with a wide selection with basic foods like burgers, chix fingers, meatloaf, etc?
Howdy neighbor! DS plays ice hockey in your backyard! lol
I agree Magic Kingdom is a must and Epcot really is more for adults then kids.
Sounds like you've already planned AK but MGM is really a must see too! lol
AK reminded me so much of Phila Zoo that if I only had 3 days that would be the one I would end up skipping.
Do you want to eat in the parks? Or at resorts? Dinner, lunch or breakfast? We all have our favorites that we love to share!
looking for lunch and dinner in or out of park. We're staying at the fountains resort with a full kitchen so we'll eat breakfast there.
DH and I are going alone for a long weekend in early May. We'll have 2 days of park tickets but got the free park-hopper upgrade so are hitting all 4 parks. We love every one of them and I can't imagine skipping any one.
You'll HAVE to do Animal Kingdom for the Festival of the Lion King, and while you're there our favorites to ride are Expedition Everest and Dinosaur. The rest of AK day we'll spend at Magic Kingdom since that's EMH. Then we'll spend much of the next day at Epcot, and move to MGM for the evening to see the late show of Fantasmic and ride Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.
If you have 3 days in the parks, I would go to MK one day, Epcot one day, and do AK the morning and MGM the afternoon/evening of a third day.
My favorite restaurants are Le Cellier in Canada, 'Ohana at the Polynesian, and Yak & Yeti at Animal Kingdom!!
Have fun planning :)
I just don't think I could go to WDW and skip Magic Kingdom. Seeing the castle is what makes the trip real. Outside of that though, my favorite park is Epcot, but I love Fantasmic (the night show) at MGM.
I think if I had 3 days, I would do a day of MK, a day of Epcot, and then split the 3rd day between AK and MGM (if I had to choose between one or the other, I'd choose MGM, but sounds like you'd chose AK)
I've not dined off property, but on property some of my favs are:
Chef Mickey's (for me this is kind of like the castle at MK, a trip to Disney isn't complete without a trip to Chef Mickey's)
Le Cellier
Ohanas
Coral Reef
Hollywood & Vine (with the Fantasmic Pkg)
I'm with Kimberly. 1 full day at MK and 1 full day at Epcot and I'd split animal kingdom and mgm. I'd try to do it on an Extra magic hour for one of the parks so that way you'd have a little more time. Fantasmic is my favorite out of all the fireworks shows and I wouldn't want to miss it though I could probably skip everything else in MGM without shedding a tear.
First of all, welcome to SR! It's so much fun here! LOVE to see you're a fan of the Mouse like us!!
It sounds like you're staying offsite right? If so, the extra magic hours won't apply to you, so I'd for sure get park hopper tickets...did you already mention what kind of tickets you are getting/got? If not, I'd suggest park hoppers since you don't have much time.
Totally agree with the others that I'd do 1 full day MK, 1 full day Epcot & split AK & MGM. Or if AK is really where you want to go/spend time, switch it out w/a 1/2 day at Epcot...but know there is so much to see & do there (especially in the World Showcase).
As far as restaurants...burgers, chick fingers, etc can be found at MANY counter services throughout the parks. There are many very good restaurants in Disney I think. Did you say when you are going? If you're planning on doing sit down restaurants/Table Service, be sure to make your ADRs as soon as you can.
Not to scare you, but depending on the time of year you go, you may not be able to walk up to a sit down restaurant & get a table. There's nothing worse than being on vacation & be disappointed in where you're eating.
But for a very romantic restaurant, I'd suggest California Grill in the Contemporary Resort. It's fabulous! It's rather expensive though, so that's unfortunate...but we really enjoy the food & the view is out of this world...especially if you enjoy Magic Kingdom!!
Have fun planning! We all know how much fun it is to plan!
Based one what you said, I think I would go for 3 days and just skip MGM this time. If you REALLY love Disney, go back another time and hit MGM. There are mostly shows there, a couple rides (one that goes upside down, which you said no to), and yes, Fantasmic is a great nighttime show, so are Wishes at the MK and Illuminations at Epcot.
I would definitely do a full day at MK, a full day at Epcot, and then a day at AK (which often closes at 5 or 6). Since you are staying off property, look at Disney's hours posted on their website- you need to AVOID any of the parks that have the extra magic hour- those parks will be extra crowded. So if MK has the Extra Morning Hour on Wednesday, go to Epcot instead, etc.
All the parks have burger/chicken finger places. :sunshine2:
Just an FYI - if you do choose to do Epcot, the one attraction you CANNOT miss is Soarin. Disney has a neat thing called Fastpass where you insert your park ticket into a machine near the ride's entrance, and it gives you a time where you can come back and wait in just a minimal line. For Soarin, you need to get your Fastpass EARLY, or they will run out. So please, get to this park (and all the parks) at Opening, and secure a fastpass early on for Soarin at Epcot, Expedition Everest or the Safari at AK (and then ride the other early on), and at MK Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan, Pooh, Buzz, and Philharmagic all have Fastpass- use them- they are your FRIEND!
You're absolutely right, if you are an animal lover, you will adore AK. the Lion King show is amazing!
Also at Epcot- a couple of other do not miss attractions are Test Track, the Seas pavilion, Living with the Land boat ride is interesting, and Spaceship Earth. The World Showcase doesn't have as many attractions per se, but lovely architecture, neat shops, fun places to get a bite to eat, cool sidewalk shows, etc. Most people just adore this part of Epcot, esp if you like to eat and shop. :cooldance:
oops didn't read the staying offsite part. So I'd do MK, Epcot, and AK and skip MGM.
As far as "normal" food goes Liberty Tree Tavern is good in MK, Columbia Harbor house (if you want counter service) in MK is good, Epcot -> Garden Grill, AK - not sure. There is a rain forest cafe there.
3 days....hmm.... I would do Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Epcot. If you got 3 day passes, you could get hoppers. I would do AK for a 1/2 day on the last day. Then if you want to hop to another park (whichever one you liked the best OR even MGM) you could.
If you like animals, definitely do the safari. It is one of my favorites.
At Epcot, Soarin is my family favorite, along with Test Track.
Magic Kingdom we love Space Mountain and Splash Mountain (LOVE THAT ONE!). Of course we like all the smaller rides too like Peter Pan (one of my favs) and Pirates of the Carribean.
We just don't like MGM as much as the other parks. But they do have the 2 big rides - Rock n Roller coaster, which I have not been on, but my boys LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and Tower of Terror, which my kids thought it was just okay.
Have fun planning! We are a Disney loving group here, so ask, ask, ask question ALL you want!
Quote:
Originally Posted by linanglab
That's funny that some don't like MGM as much, we as a family felt that park was #2 right behind MK. DH and I really liked it alot but felt we were sort of short changed in Epcot bc the kids were somewhat bored with it, not to many rides. Girls highlight was eating with the princesses. We had 2 extra days to spend and MGM was defintely one of them!
I do want to add though that we went near xmas time and the nighttime osborne light show was just fanastic!!!!!!!!
My kids love MK and MGM best. But we adults seem to like it least.Quote:
Originally Posted by askomsky
AK has a BBQ place called Flame Tree BBQ with chicken, ribs, pork sandwiches that is good- great onion rings! There is also a place in Dinoland that sells McDonald's nuggets, burgers. A great site to review all of the menus in WDW is www.allearsnet.com. Click on dining, and then click on the park you want to visit- prices listed too, so you can mentally budget.