While there is some argument, it seems the consensus is that DL’s version is better…so if you don’t like it, you probably shouldn’t bother at MK.
Personally, we do it every time we go. Not because I want to. Because I have to. My wife insists upon it, no matter how hard I try to sneak past it without her noticing! 
ETA: I’ll add, however, that it does offer a nice respite from the heat of Florida. It is long and relaxing. Good for a break.
I may have exaggerated a bit on the “dying” part. I just found it funny that we came from 108-110 degree heat and I was sweating more in 87 degrees than at home! I am hoping to schedule my trip when my DH is on vacation. His shifts are 48 hours, so it would be easier than him having to use his unscheduled holidays.
Duly noted. If desperate, go on it 
we always go on it once per trip, and did so in Florida as well. I can take it or leave it, it’s fun for nostalgia, and at DL a little more history. but it’s important to my wife, so we go.
omg I am so excited for you!! We do DL quite often as well and we just did our first WDW trip in april. It is amazing. You will love it. Stay onsite and get all the extra perks. We never took a bus the whole time we were there, driving was so easy. but now they charge for parking so I could easily scrap the rental car next time.
We stayed at Pop, it was perfect for us.
I have tentatively booked Pop in May. Still need to see when DH’s vacation will be. I told him my plan and he is onboard. He said when it is his pick for vacation, we will sit down together. So this could really happen!
make sure you book a desert party for the fireworks in magic kingdom. so so worth it. It was the best firework show I have ever seen!!
That is on the top of my “must do” list!
So now I am trying to put together a list of “must do” items. The dessert party to watch the fireworks is at the top. As I have indicated before, I love my family dearly, but they are a bunch of party poopers! I rarely get to see the fireworks at DLR because someone aways wants to go back to the hotel! There is also the fact that DLR fireworks can and often do get cancelled due to high winds.
I am not a huge show/parade person, but I LOVE Paint the night Parade and the halloween Parade at the party. So, unless they have any nighttime parades at that time, I will abstain from parades. All the major rides except Soarin are on the must do list. I am open to scheduling a couple of shows, but not really worried about them too much.
I would like to have some nice meals, but I am not planning on centering my trip around food. What is mind blowing that needs to be on my list?
So excited for you! We’re from the Sacramento area (and love DL) and went to WDW for the first time last year. I second the “have fun comparing” suggestion because it will hit you constantly - actually having to get a FP for Pirates, for goodness sake!!! But since I am a total science nerd, I instantly fell in love with Pandora and rope-dropped FoP two days in a row. And, speaking of FoP, the need for FP’s will be readily apparent everywhere - much more so than needing to get the MaxPass at DL (although the Incredicoaster in California Adventure made that thing worth every penny!).
Hope you have as much fun as we did in the planning - half the fun, right? Try to pick some of the shows that aren’t at DL, for sure (Fireworks dessert party was a favorite with us, so I’m glad you’ll be doing it). Even though you aren’t big on shows, you should really try to see Lion King and Rivers of Light, and try to spend some monorail/bus time to visit the amazing resorts. Jiko is worth the trip out to Animal Kingdom Lodge, for sure. And Sanaa, as well, for lunch (window seating is fabulous!).
Epcot was one of our favorites, though, since there’s nothing to compare to at DL. Just slowly wandering through all of the countries, enjoying the sights, popping into a bakery or historical display was all so much fun! Try not to rush past too much - there’s so much to see.
Now you’re making me want to plan another trip out to Florida, darn it. 
To hop or not to hop??? At DLR it is a no brainer for me, but I can hop from one to the other in 5 minutes, so of course I hop maybe 4 to 5 times a day, but at WDW it seems like such a time drain to hop. On the other hand, I like the idea of having that option.
I was told by so many people that I probably wouldn’t need a hopper. But being a DL girl I felt I had to have it. And we totally used it, at least twice we started in one park and ended in another, even if it was just to watch the fireworks. We also rented a car despite the advice not too and loved the flexibility. We were in the parks and parked in about 15 minutes each morning, with the exception of MK.
I tentatively have 6 day hoppers. As I plan this out, that may change. It seems like it would be most useful at MK, HS and Epcot. No rental car for me, I will use lyft while I am there for flexibility.
The other day I saw a picture of WDW IASW’s loading area and I think I may have to do it once after all! It seemed bizarre to me to see it indoors. I am starting to think I will need to utilize some of the Parkolegy strategies to get through everything!
I’m so excited you’re doing this (and definitely jealous)!!
We haven’t been since before Frozen Ever After opened & Rivers of Light/ AK being open at night & which means we also haven’t seen Toy Story Land or Pandora. But we still loved so much (especially at Epcot & Animal Kingdom that are nothing like anything we have in DLR).
In list form, here is what we (mostly me) loved (and are SO excited to get back to see one day):
Moving on to a new list, here are things that weren’t unique to WDW when we went but now are (bc DLR changed or got rid of them) & I hope to get to do next time in WDW:
Then as for nighttime shows, we loved the Star Wars fireworks the most (I think they do a slightly different show now for it, but again, it’s music composed by John Williams so you can’t go wrong with a show that has that). We didn’t really love any other nighttime shows & saw pretty much all that were available (F!, Wishes FWs & Main St Electrical Parade at MK, IllumiNations at EP) but if I were planning a trip now, I would for sure try to see Rivers of Light & Happily Ever After FWs that are there now. Since IllumiNations is going away at the end of next summer, I would maybe see it again, but then again I might rather enjoy some corners of World Showcase during it instead.
As for food, you’re on your own there! JK! I couldn’t believe how many choices & how big a deal they were at WDW. In fact, we had planned to go originally in Jan 2016 but I didn’t start planning anything until Aug 2015 & when I found out that I was already behind on the reservations, we re-looked at our lives & decided to push back to April to properly plan for the 6 months ahead of time. With being solo, you probably don’t need to go to that length, but I would definitely plan some meals as the theming at WDW is fantastic. If you’re interested in sticking to the parks, there’s plenty of options in each park (and it saves a lot of time not having to get to the different resorts). But there’s also SO many choices at the resorts as well. We did equal amounts of reservations at resorts & parks & I found the logistics of transportation to be well worth the effort for what we experienced (Ohana at Polynesian, 1900 Park Faire at Grand Floridian, Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge, Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary). In the parks we had Cinderella’s Royal Tables & Be Our Guest at MK (both in the same day & it was a lot of food!), Garden Grill at Epcot and Tusker House at Animal Kingdom. There were so many more that I wanted to do that we didn’t have time to fit. And of what we did most of it we loved so much that we want to do again our next trip, so I don’t know how I’m going to work in the food next time!
And then lastly, hoppers, we didn’t because I didn’t want to be navigating those hops with kids & busses & whatnot. But being solo, I would say go for it!!
Anyway, I hope you love all of it (including the planning) & hope you keep us updated of your plans & how they go!!!
So not only are you Yoda in DL, but WDW too??? My goodness woman! Thank you so much for your amazing (and never ending) wealth of knowledge. I am looking forward to your vlog/blog (whichever you end up doing) 
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Oh I am most definitely more padowan than Yoda when it comes to WDW. Maybe I was getting close before our family trip in 2016, but I am definitely not current as I haven’t been able to figure out when we’ll ever get to go back!
I had a blog once upon a time, purely about me, but I was a very lazy (infrequent) blogger so I will stick to following along with the other bloggers and of course my favorite Disney internet pastime- Touring plans forums & chat! 