From Denise O.: My family and I are doing one day in the Magic Kingdom this Saturday. None of us have ever been. Kids are 18 and 13 years of age. They will be most interested in fast/roller coaster type rides. What should we NOT miss. We only have the one day. I till take any advise I can get. Thank you in Advance. Hi, Denise. I love this question because I’ve done it myself. It’s exhausting but a lot of fun. So here’s the bad news: The day you’re going is the end of spring break. It’s going to be busy and hot. The good news is you can make the most out of your trip by doing a couple of really simple things. I know from taking to you that you won’t be purchasing park hoppers, so you’ll be spending the entire day in the Magic Kingdom (MK). Saturday’s hours are from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. It’s an extra magic hours morning, which means that resort guests will be allowed to enter the park an hour prior to day guests. This will add to some of the crowding in the MK that day. Hopefully, that also means that at least some resort guests will be exhausted by early afternoon and return to their rooms for a break, giving you a least a little relief from the crowds. With that in mind, here are the basics: Getting There is Half the Fun : Parking on site is $14 a day. Getting to the MK is a little involved; it’s designed to heighten your sense of anticipation by delaying your arrival and then showing you glimpses of the park as you travel either by monorail or by ferry. You’ll park in the MK parking lot. At this point, you’ll have the option of taking a tram to the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) or walking to it. Save your feet and take the tram unless you’re really close. At the TTC, you’ll have a choice of taking the monorail or the ferry. The express monorail goes directly to the MK; while on the express you’ll ride thru the Contemporary Resort, which is kind of an iconic experience. The resort monorail stops at the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian before it gets to the Magic Kingdom. If the line for the express monorail looks long, try the resort monorail, as the lines are almost always shorter. The ferry takes a few minutes longer than either monorail, but it’s a very scenic route and it can also hold many more people, so again, if there’s a long line this can be a good bet. Three ferries run between the MK and the TTC. One important thing: Give yourself at least an hour to get from the TTC to the MK if you want to be there at rope drop (Disney language for when the park opens). Once you’re there, you’ll go thru security and they’ll check your bags. A good way to save time is to not carry a handbag or backback. You’ll be waived thru a special line with no security check. Next, you’ll go to one of many turnstiles, which usually quickly. If you can, avoid lines with lots of strollers. And There It Is: Cinderella Castle . Next, you’ll enter Town Square and beyond that, Main Street and Cinderella Castle (Quick trivia: no apostrophe S). Behind you is the railroad station; there’s a train that goes around the park with stops in Frontierland and Toontown. The Magic Kingdom is easy to get around in and well-designed in a hub and spoke pattern mimicked by other theme parks. The worst bottlenecks are in Tomorrowland and Frontierland. Pathways extend from the hub to the various lands: Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Mickey’s Toontown Fair, Main Street USA, and Adventureland. Touring the Parks . While the Magic Kingdom is the quintessential WDW experience, it lacks thrill rides. In fact, Disney thrill rides are divided among the four parks, so without a park hopper, you won’t experience all of them. Still, there is plenty to do in the MK and your boys won’t be disappointed. There’s actually a whole body of knowledge devoted to touring the parks in a way that maximizes your experience and minimizes your wait times; I’ll talk more about this at the end. Roughly what this entails is getting to the parks when they open, using fastpasses, and visiting the busiest attractions early in the day. In case you’re not aware, a fastpass (FP) is your friend. You’ll go get your FP right when the park opens for the busiest rides. In the MK, these are the “mountains,”, Splash, Big Thunder, and Space as well as attractions like Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and the Haunted Mansion, both of which your boys and you will love. Just take your ticket and put it in a FP machine at the attraction you’re interested in. It will give you a return time a bit later (sometimes a lot later) and you’ll go ride something else while you wait. Notice on the FP that you can get another FP for another attraction an hour or so before your return times. Also, if you don’t make your return time, you’ll still be allowed in. So this is what I would do. When the park opens, head toward Tomorrowland and get a FP for Space Mountain. If the line isn’t too long, ride it, giving you a minimum of two rides on Space Mountain that day (now and when you use your FP). Then head over to Splash Mountain and ride that, …
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