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Magic Kingdom Tips & Tricks Tuesday
For the first ever Tips & Tricks Tuesday on Making The Madness Magical, we will be focusing on.......the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World!! The Magic Kingdom is synonymous with Disney. Whether it be Disney Word, Disneyland or any of the other Disney Parks around the world. So today I'm going to be sharing some of the tips and tricks my family and I have picked up over the years!
Main Street, U.S.A Tips & Tricks
The Magic Kingdom Park is separated into seven lands, Main Street U.S.A, Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, Now one unique thing is that the layout of the park is like a wheel, so the castle acts like the wheel and the pathways to the different lands are the "spokes". Okay let's start off with Main Street first, because that is the first land you will come to upon entering the Magic Kingdom. Le's get started!
Our first tip is plan to do your shopping during a parade or in the early afternoon as opposed to at the day’s end. Why? Because the shops are less crowded and you won’t have to fight the crowds at the end of the day. Trust me the Main Street shops at night when everyone is making their way out is horrendous and not worth the stress! Also another little tidbit that you should know, is that if you are staying at a resort on Disney property, you have the option to send whatever you buy back to your resort and just pick it up at the gift shop when you get back. That way you aren't lugging heavy bags around the park all day. Just make sure that it IS NOT your last day there.
One of my favorite things about the Magic Kingdom, is the Walt Disney World Railroad! The railroad has three stops and they are: Frontierland, Fantasyland and you guessed it Main Street. This is a great way to get acquainted with the Magic Kingdom if you’ve never been before, but it’s also a fantastic way to relax and you get a nice breeze on those hot Florida days. Beware though, the railroad doesn’t run during firework presentations so plan accordingly!
Another way to get from one end of Main Street to the other, is by taking one of the Main Street vehicles. These vehicles include a Horse-Drawn Street Car, a Jitney, which is an early automobile without a roof, a Fire Engine, a replica of the very first fire truck and an Omnibus, a gas-powered, open-air 2-story bus. Now keep in mind that this is a one-way trips so once you get to where the vehicle stops you will be asked to hop off. That is all of the helpful tips I can think of for Main Street, U.S.A, so if you have any let me know!! Next up will be Adventureland!
Frontierland Tips & Tricks
Frontierland takes you all the way back to the American move out west during the 1700s and the 1800s. From the beautiful mountain ranges, raging waters, unexplored caves and abandon forts there is no shortage of fun to be had here by all.
The first tip I have is for one of the most popular rides in Frontierland and that is Splash Mountain. AS most of you know there is a fifty percent chance that you will get DRENCHED on this ride. Well if you’re not a fan of walking around in wet clothes fear no more, I got you covered! The first thing you can do is put an extra set of clothes in a couple of plastic bag (or one of the big Disney merchandise bags work wonderfully) and then change after you get off the ride…OR you could just sit on the left side of the log. What? Sitting of the left side of the ride? Yup if you sit on the left side you’ll still get a bit wet, but you won’t get as wet as what you would if you sat on the right.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is another extremely popular attraction in Frontierland and because of that the line tends to be very long. If this attraction is one of your must dos then my suggestion would be to hit this ride during the Festival of Fantasy parade! I’m telling you to do during the parade because most families will be watching that, which means you will have little to no waiting and it is magical!!
The Country Bear Jamboree is one of the less popular attractions, but if you’ve never been on it before check it out! One thing though is that if you do decide to watch it, just know that this attraction opens at 10 a.m. everyday even though the rest of the park opens earlier in the day.
Magic Kingdom Fun Fact Friday
The Magic Kingdom is full of hidden gems and fun little secrets to discover. Through the day I will be posting and talking about all the different tidbits about the different lands in the Magic Kingdom. Now hopefully these will be fun facts that you don't/didn't know already, so lets get started!
Main Street, U.S.A Fun Fact
You may or may not have noticed, that the entire length of main Street, U.S.A is bordered by red pavement, almost as if the red carpet had been rolled out for you. Well it has been, when creating Main Street, Disney consulted Kodak and they determined that one particular shade of red would enhance guest photographs. So thank you Disney and Kodak for making sure our vacation photos look fantastic!!
Storybook Circus Fun Fact
As I mentioned in my last post. Disney is very good at paying attention to detail. Whether you notice it or not, the details are there. This next fun fact is in Storybook Circus at Barnstormer and is a hidden nod to what was previously there beforehand. Just after you enter the queue for Barnstormer, all you need to do to find this, is turn around and look up at the back of the attraction’s sign. You might notice that it looks pretty chopped up. That is because it was previously the original sign for Wiseacre Farm when Storybook Circus was still called Mickey’s Toontown.
Neverland Beanie Whosits and Whatsits
If you love Peter Pan as much as I do, then you will love this item I got from Whosits and Whatsits!! This is the Neverland Beanie and it is my go to when I'm having a bad hair day or if I want to do a Peter Pan inspired Disney Bound for the day.
Okay so on my last visit to Walt Disney World I wore this to the Magic Kingdom and I got so many compliments on it! The best thing that happened that day was when I was sat on the curb watching Festival of Fantasy Parade and the float that carried Peter, Wendy, Smee, Hook and Tink went by. Wendy instantly noticed me wearing the Neverland beanie and started waving and attempted to get Peter's attention to show him, but she had no luck. While Peter might not have notice my hat Captain Hook sure did and honestly it's true, actions do speak louder than words because he took one look at me saw the beanie and slid his hook across his throat, then pointed to me......YIKES, but I wasn't afraid of him so I gave him a look and did it right back to him! Needless to say, that was one of my favorite character interactions I had on my entire trip!! Even though I couldn't interact more with him, it was still a highlight and something I'll never forget. So thank you whositswhatsits for creating a magical experience!
Baloo & King Louis
This is totally going to seem like an odd pick, but these two have one of the best meet and greets EVER!! I kid you not, I had the best interaction and experience with them. This happened in December of 2014 it was our first day on property, because we had flown in that day and decided to go to Animal Kingdom because for us that is a half day park. Well we get there and in all the years we have been going to WDW we hadn’t meet King Louis and it had been ages since we had seen Baloo so my mom and I hopped in line (dad sat this one out) mostly because it was sort and we had some time to kill before our fastpass. Anyway it was finally our turn and Baloo and King Louis were hysterical! They were dancing around so I thought “ya know what I’m gonna have fun and dance with them!” see I’m not one who puts myself out there or likes having the attention on me so this was a bit of a big step for me. Any who we were having a blast just dancing around and at one I was dancing with King Louis and Baloo interrupted by coming between us and Louis got “upset”. After we got done dancing I said hello to Baloo and then I turned to Louis and said “Hello King Louis.” and did a little curtsy as well and he loved it!! I can honestly say that those two were absolutely fantastic and that was one of the best character interactions I’ve had to date and that’s saying something. Definitely looking forward to making another trip to Animal Kingdom to see those two again!
Minnie Mouse
Okay so now we are throwing it all the way back to the year 2000 which just so happened to be the year my parents and I took our first WDW trip. The place Liberty Tree Tavern, the character the leading lady herself Minnie Mouse. Now obviously this was back when dinner at Liberty Tree was a character meal and sadly it no longer is, bummer. We have the setting and the character so let’s get to the story, so my parents and I we eating and like most five year old, I was not a fan of the nasty cooked carrots! I was NOT going to eat them at least that’s what I thought and boy oh boy was I sadly mistaken. Now Chip, Dale and Goofy had already stopped by our table and here came Minnie and she was amazing!! We were having a grand time and then she noticed the one thing left on my plate........yup the cooked carrots asked why I hadn’t eaten any of them and I told her I didn’t like them and she wasn’t having any of that, so what did she do? She grabbed my fork put a few carrots on it, did the little choo choo train motion and I ate those suckers because when Minnie feeds you a food you don’t like you just agree and eat them!! That experience happened over fifteen years ago and I will never forget it as long as I live.
Buzz Lightyear
Buzz usually has a somewhat long line, so when I seen that it was fairly short I jumped at the chance to meet him! The last time I seen him I was five so I was dying to see and talk to him again. This happened this past December as well and now that I think about it, this past trip gave us some of the best character interactions we’ve had in a long time! Okay so what happened was it was my turn to meet him and I got up there and this trip I wanted to actually talk with the character, not just get a picture and leave, so I asked him which “button” on his space suite put him into Spanish mode and he pointed to so I then asked him if I could press it and he let me!! I was so thrilled, because I read where people have done this and they had a blast. So I pressed the button and he went into his Spanish mode, stared by doing a little salsa dance and had me grab his had so he could spin and twirl me around and it was seriously so much fun!! So if you have a buzz fan or want to meet him I highly recommend that you ask him about his Spanish mode button!!!
LADY AND THE TRAMP (Dir: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske, 1955).
The first half of the 1950s was a fairly prolific time for Disney animation. Although production of shorts was dwindling, 1955’s Lady and the Tramp was the fourth feature film released that decade.
The movie draws upon Walt Disney’s love of turn of the century small town America (Disneyland’s loving recreation of the era, Main Street USA, opened the same year) and after Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, 1941) is the only other Walt-era animated movie to feature an (almost) contemporary US setting.
The tale of pampered Cocker Spaniel Lady (voiced by Disney regular Barbara Luddy) and street mutt Tramp (Larry Roberts) who fall in love over a plate of spaghetti is a fairly conventional one. However, the novel use of canine protagonists, witty dialogue and inventive scenes, such as the famed pasta-fuelled kiss, lift the familiar story above the mundane.
The artists’ extensive research of real life dogs neatly captures the movement and personality of our furry friends, displaying the most realistic animation in a Disney movie since Bambi (David Hand, 1942).
The first animated feature produced in the new widescreen CinemaScope format, this provided some problems for the artists. With less opportunities for character close-ups and the need to fill otherwise empty space with scenery, the Disney artists created a beautifully detailed, idealised recreation of late Victorian era America. Viewed entirely from a dog’s perspective, the elegant backgrounds and superior character animation combine to make Lady and the Tramp one of Walt Disney’s most visually attractive feature films.
Equally a treat for the ears are a handful of songs co-written by Peggy Lee and Sonny Burke. Lee adds her considerable vocal talent to showstoppers He’s a Tramp and The Siamese Cat Song in one of the greatest Disney musical scores.
Lady and the Tramp is a warm-hearted, intelligent romance with first rate animation, vocal performances and music; a lovely and lovingly crafted jaunt into America’s (idealised) past.
Read the full-length version of this review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.