Exploring Walt Disney World, Florida “Magic Kingdom”

For many people across the globe, Walt Disney World is a once in a lifetime vacation. The trip requires some planning to make sure you get the most value for your money. A trip to Disney World leaves unforgettable memories with family and friends. As the park saying goes, “Dreams Do Come True”! In our blog, we will give lots of tips and tricks to conquer each park in Disney World, starting with Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is what we consider the most popular park due to Cinderella’s Castle, the amazing “Happily Ever After” firework show and many classic rides that can be found in Disneyland as well. We both grew up going to mostly Disneyland so for us, the Magic Kingdom is a park that we can never skip.’

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Transportation

The Magic Kingdom is the most unique park as far as getting to the actual park. Coming by car, you can’t drive right up to the entrance. There are 2 options for parking: the Heroes or Villains parking. We then chose to walk to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC). This is where we had the option to either catch the Monorail or the Ferry.

We tried both options, the Monorail on the ride to the park and then the ferry back. The Monorail in the morning was a bit faster but the Ferry did offer a lot more room and felt less crowded. Plus it was pretty amazing to sail across the Seven Seas Lagoon while looking at Cinderella’s Castle in the distance.

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Accommodations

• The Disney Contemporary Resort: This hotel is famous for having the Disney Monorail run through it and is the closest hotel to the Magic Kingdom. The rooms are very nice, boasting soft and comfortable beds and a spacious bathroom with a lot of room to get ready.

We highly suggest staying at the Contemporary Resort and make sure to look into the Disney Food Plan. It might save you some money if you plan to stay around a week. Rooms start at $421/night for a Garden Wing-Standard View to $2,190 for a Bay Lake View- 2 Bedroom Suite.

• Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Orange Lake Resort: This resort was very nice and we definitely recommend staying here. Our 2 bedroom villa had all of the great amenities with wifi, a kitchen, and a washer and dryer.

It was also close to Disney World, only within a 15-25 minute drive for any of the parks. Rooms start at $126/night for a one bedroom and go up from there depending on how many rooms you want.

• Maingate Kissimmee Hotel: If you aren’t up for paying for Disney hotels or villas, you can stay at this hotel. We wanted something close to the parks and this one was very close to Epcot, with it only being a 5 mile drive. It was a clean and comfortable stay with an outdoor pool that we didn’t use, but looked nice. We paid $215 for a 3 night stay so we definitely won with the price.

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Main Street USA

As soon as we entered the park, we found ourselves in Main Street USA, with many shops and quick service eateries around us. Since we were celebrating our anniversary, we made sure to make our way over to the City Hall building so we could get the famous Disney button. They have pins for different celebrations, including birthdays, anniversaries, and 1st time visit. A Cast Member even personalized our buttons with our names and the year of our anniversary and many different people congratulated us as we walked around throughout the day, which was super cool!

• Harmony Barber Shop: Something that we saw and thought was really interesting is that Disney World has a barber shop! It’s a cute little barber shop for anyone of any age. Reservations are recommended but they do allow walk-ins. They also offer babies’ 1st haircut and will give a special certificate to remember the experience.
• The Emporium: Main Street USA is also where we ended up doing most of our shopping. This was the biggest store that we found and had pretty much everything that we were looking for in there. We always wait until we exit the park to shop so that way we don’t have to carry around our treasures all day. Thankfully, the shops usually stay open around 1 hour after closing.

Fun Fact: In Main Street USA there are many flags on the rooftops representing the United States. All the flags except the one on the main flag pole next to Main Street Station are not real United States flags and are missing either a star or a stripe and this is so Disney does not have to take down each flag at sunset. They do have a ceremony right before sunset to take down the main flag by Main Street Station. They usually look for a United States Military Veteran to help assist with bringing down the flag, which we thought was pretty cool.

Food

• Casey’s Corner: This quick service dining experience is somewhere that we always stop to eat at in the Magic Kingdom. Serving up special hot dogs and fries, we tend to order the same things every time, the bacon mac & cheese hot dog with chili cheese fries.

Travel Tip: To bypass the line, download the My Disney Experience App and pre-order the food on your phone. This is available at many restaurants and can save a lot of time. We tried this out and loved how easy it was to have our card information saved on our phone, as well as being able to decide and order in advance of arriving to the restaurant.

• Plaza Ice Cream Parlor: This was a great place that we stopped at for some delicious ice cream.

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Adventureland

The first land we explored was Adventureland which is perfect for explorers like us. This land is full of great adventures and experiences.

• Jungle Cruise: This ride is a combination of relaxing, exciting, and funny. We enjoy to take this ride when we want to relax a little and enjoy some hilarious commentary. This ride took us through the Amazon Rain Forest and we saw many animals and indigenous people. The cast member who takes everyone on the cruise does a good job to keep everyone entertained.

• Pirates of the Caribbean: This is also another boat ride, but this one is more adventurous and definitely one of our favorites. Based on the movies, this ride tells the story and brings you into the action of the pirates. There are a couple drops so depending on where we have been seated, we have gotten wet, but it’s certainly no Splash Mountain!

• Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room: Whenever we are looking to take a longer break from the sun and lines, we head to the Tiki room. It is about a 15-20 minute show that everyone should enjoy. Also, right outside the Tiki room, there is Aloha Isle, the place to order the famous Pineapple Dole Whip in a cup or float. This is a must-have for us when we come to the parks so we were happy to find this spot!

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Frontierland

Although it’s one of the smaller lands in Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Frontierland still holds some of the most popular rides in the park. Here lies two of the mountains to conquer in a Disney Park. Have you heard of Splash and Big Thunder Mountain?

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: Since we love rollercoasters, this ride is super fun and each time we go, we have to ride it at least once. This mining train curves and drops around Big Thunder Mountain and is the fastest rollercoaster in the Magic Kingdom!

• Splash Mountain: Each time we go on this ride, we are prepared to get soaked! We personally like this log ride better than Disneyland’s Splash Mountain for a couple of reasons. First of all, this one sits two per row, which makes the ride more comfortable. Also, this version of Splash Mountain has a bigger drop, which makes for even more fun.

Travel Tip: If you were not able to secure a Fast Pass on Splash Mountain make sure to ride right before noon. That way you can still get cooled off without having to wait in line for 90+ minutes after lunch time.

• Tom Sawyer Island: As kids, we remember coming to this island and exploring the many trails they have. It is great if you have kids or have extra time, but not a necessity for us. When we were there, we saw people traveling in a log raft to get to the island, which we thought was pretty neat.

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Liberty Square

This land, themed from the Colonial times of the US, has a lot of different quick service eateries, shops, and shows. We didn’t end up spending that much time in Liberty Square though as we didn’t have multiple days in the Magic Kingdom.

• The Haunted Mansion: Yet another one of our favorite rides, this creepy mansion looms on a hill. Once we were loaded into our doom buggy, we were taken on a tour through the house, with all the hauntings galore. It’s a great ride to get on right after a meal as it doesn’t really move a lot.
• Shows: Some of the popular shows include the Country Bear Jamboree and The Hall of Presidents which are both indoor. We did not chose to do these as we were focused on other rides but if you have extra time or if it’s a priority for you, definitely check it out.

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Fantasyland

Fantasyland is home to the most classic amount of Disney rides and we think, the most magical! Here we found the most similarity between Disneyland and Disneyworld.

• Peter Pan’s Flight: This ride is a fun one and a must! It tells the story of the movie Peter Pan, taking you on a flight through London to Neverland. It’s also great because in Disneyworld we were able to get a fastpass whereas it’s not possible in Disneyland. Make sure to get a fastpass or you will be waiting a while.
• Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid: This ride is another slow one that can probably be missed if the wait is long. However, Sierra’s favorite princess is the Little Mermaid so we just had to go on it! We did wait for the line to be short though since it was not worth a long wait in line.
• “it’s a small world”: If you don’t mind getting the song stuck in your head, this boat ride is a fun one, floating through the different country showcases. It’s also a nice rest from being on your feet all day and a good ride to go on after a meal.

• Prince Charming Regal Carousel: In the middle of Fantasyland, next to Cinderella’s Castle, we saw this cute carousel. This would be a good ride for younger kids or if there is extra time, but we didn’t feel like it was something we needed to ride.
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: This is another ride we saw that would be good for younger kids. Since the wait time was short, we ended up going on this one. But we would only ride it again if the wait time is short as it is not terribly entertaining. If the wait time is longer than 30 minutes and you don’t have any children on the trip with you, just skip it.

• Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train: Now this is one ride to definitely not skip! This was another fun rollercoaster ride that was very popular. The wait time was around 90 minutes so we made sure to get a fastpass for this one. We would say this was definitely the most thrilling ride of Fantasyland.

• Mad Tea Party: Yet another classic ride, the teacups always made our heads spin with delight. The wait time usually isn’t usually too long either.

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Tomorrowland

In the land of Tomorrow, we saw how the future was portrayed when Walt Disney designed the park. We think that Tomorrowland is one of the best lands the Magic Kingdom has to offer.

• Space Mountain: This super fun rollercoaster, the last mountain to conquer in the Magic Kingdom, shot us off into space where we had no idea if we were going up, down, left, or right. This is a very popular ride with long waits so we totally got a fastpass to skip the line!
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin: On this interactive ride, we used blasters to shoot targets and score points. We do however enjoy the Disneyland version better due to the fact that you cannot pick up the blasters and move them freely in this version. This made it harder to score points, but overall, it was still a fun ride.

• Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover: This particular ride brought us back in time to see how the Disney Imagineers thought up the development of Tomorrowland. We wouldn’t call this a must ride but if the wait time is 30 minutes or less, it is worth getting off your feet and seeing the park from above.