Disney World: The Other Parks

With smaller kids, the Magic Kingdom is probably where most of your time is going to be spent, but don’t write off the other parks! We had a blast at all of them.

Animal Kingdom:

• This is less ride-oriented and more zoo-like in nature, however still totally worth doing.
• Use a fast pass for the Safari Ride. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a guide who was as awesome as ours was.
• Expedition Everest is hands down my favorite ride of all time now. If you like roller coasters you absolutely must ride this. The six year old was tall enough to go but didn’t like the “spooky” yeti bits (they have a shadow yeti that breaks up the track and hollers, causing you to have to go backward.) Hubby and I both loved it though. On the plus side, if you have kids who aren’t up for it, there is a single rider entrance that makes it MUCH faster to get on (we didn’t have a fast pass for this, so kiddo and I waited in line. When I said how awesome it was, hubby went on the single rider line and zoomed through.)
• Small kids will adore the bone yard. Basically a big playground with digging area. Be prepared to hang out there, but two parents is better than just one as one can wait at the bottom of slides while the other chases from above. Otherwise the smaller set is hard to keep an eye on.
• At the front of the park is a Wilderness Club kiosk. Whether or not you enjoyed the movie Up, stop there and get your booklet! You can earn fun little stickers throughout the park and it has neat activities that help you scan the animal areas (and some of the ride wait areas as well). It’s a great way to keep kids interested when their energy starts to flag.
• Speaking of the movie Up, you can get Dug and Russell’s autographs. They’re adorable character costumes and at least for us the line was practically non-existent. Keep your eyes open for Baloo and King Louie (from the Jungle Book) as well.
• If you’re looking for a character meal, the breakfast buffet at the Tusker House Restaurant is fantastic, plus you’ll get to have autographs with Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy in their safari gear. They do a little participatory parade if your kids are brave, as well.

Hollywood Studios:

• The Tower of Terror is probably my second favorite ride, not only because it’s fun but because of the ambiance and set-up (the Twilight Zone tie in is delightfully handled.) The elder boy was tall enough but ended up chickening out (and after remembering the TZ bits, that probably was smart. He would’ve enjoyed the actual ride, but probably would’ve been spooked by the set up.)
• If you want to do Toy Story Mania, you absolutely have to have a Fast Pass. We never saw it without at least a 75 minute wait. And we weren’t doing that. So we missed out on whatever it is.
• Over in the Pixar area though you can get autographs with Green Army Men (from Toy Story) as well as Woody and Buzz. And the Woody/Buzz area is inside(!) and has fun little places to take pictures in scenes from Toy Story while you wait. The kids enjoyed that a lot.
• The Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area is still fun. Again (as with the Bone Yard) with younger kids, it’s helpful to have both parents – one to follow as they climb, the other to track and capture at the bottom of whatever slide they come down.
• You can get pictures and autographs with Phineas and Ferb (plus they have a Duckie MoMo statue) if you’re so inclined – they’re over near the Pizza Planet restaurant.
• Take the time to stop and watch some of the street performances. We stood for probably thirty minutes watching two Vaudeville-esque street magicians and had a hilarious time. Even the kids were enthralled.
• The Disney Junior show is cute, but be aware it’s puppets of the characters, not the actual characters. So if you were hoping to see Doc McStuffins, you’re out of luck. You just get a puppet of her. Still, it’s cute for the younger set, sitting down (on the floor), and air conditioned. Sometimes that’s all you can hope for!
• Star Tours (the Star Wars-themed magic motion machine) was a big hit for us as well.
• We did a Fantasmic dinner package (ate at Hollywood and Vine) and it was phenomenal. If you want to sit dead center for the show, you have to do the dinner package. If you have a dining plan, you can use that with the dinner packages though, so that’s a bonus. The show gets a tiny bit tense for the under 4 set, but the bursts are short-lived and a quick cuddle was all that our youngest needed to get over it. Then he was back to being entranced by the fireworks etc.

Epcot:

• They’ve made a few changes since the last time I was at Epcot, and I have to say they’re all for the better. It’s much more interesting for all ages now.
• Spaceship Earth (the one in the Epcot golf ball thing) is still fun, but now updated with an interactive touch-screen in the car so at the end, you customize your future and it uses the photo it took at the beginning of the ride to superimpose your face into it. Fun.
• Test Track is amazing. Worth a Fast Pass.
• Mission: Space is fantastic as well. The Orange (more thrilling) line takes longer than the Green (very mild) one, so if you’re in a hurry, go green. But the orange is worth waiting for if you’d like to experience some serious gs.
• We enjoyed seeing Captain EO again. It’s definitely got the nostalgia factor. Not sure the kids appreciated it as much as we did (having no idea who Michael Jackson was or why it was as cutting edge as it was in its time.)
• Figment has been revamped and ends in a new interactive area that the kids played in for probably an hour.
• The Nemo ride (and the whole Seas area) is incredible.
• We had dinner in the revolving garden restaurant. It’s another character experience – Chip, Dale, Pluto and Mickey – and the food is served family style. Be aware with this that if you’re on a dining plan but have an “infant” (e.g. under 3), and he eats, they’ll charge you extra (because the infants can’t be on the dining plan.) Still worthwhile, but better to know ahead of time than to wonder why you’ve been charged.
• To make the world expo area more fun for kids, they’ve incorporated a Perry the Platypus Secret Agent mission. You get a cell phone and go to a specific country where you find certain places and it triggers various little skits etc. It’s VERY fun, for all ages, and you’ll spend way more time in each country where you do a mission than you probably ever would have. Best part? There was no whining about getting back to the rides from the six year old – instead it was, “Can we do a mission in another country?”

We were at Disney for six days. We spent 3 days in the Magic Kingdom and one day each in the other parks. For the age kids we have, that felt about right. We feel like we covered everything we needed to in each of the parks – and really, since a good time was had by all, it was a definite win as far as vacation goes.