Movie list in preparation for a visit to WDW

Let’s compile a list of movies you need to have seen to get the most from the WDW.

Please list specific movie where there is ambiguity (e.g. Beauty and the Beast) and the specific relevance to Disney World.

Avatar (for Pandora in AK)

Beauty and the Beast (1991, presumably, for Be Our Guest, and the show at DHS)

Inside Out (for meeting Joy and Sadness)

Finding Nemo (for the show at AK)

The Lion King (for the show at AK)

Frozen (for the ride at Epcot)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at MK)

Peter Pan (1953 version?, for the ride at MK)

Indiana Jones (and the Temple of Doom?, for the show at DHS)

Well, that’s a start – I know there’s a bunch more. (Loads of Pixar movies for the Music of Pixar Live show at DHS, for a start!)

Aladdin (Magic carpet ride at MK)
Toy Story 1,2, and/or 3 (Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin at MK and TSMM at DHS)
Monster’s Inc (Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor at MK)
Up! (Wilderness Explorers at AK)
Pirates of the Caribbean (any, PotC at MK)

If you are doing any meet and greets, I would recommend seeing those movies as well- the character interaction is awesome when you can reference their movie in some way. For example, Aladdin and Jasmine have a m&g in Adventureland, Princess Aurora is usually available, Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen, etc. Asking Rapunzel about her frying pan if you meet her can be fun. Just things to think about! I’ve got some movies to watch…

I always include Hercules in my list too and have even more reason now that it’s included in Happily Ever After

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Dumbo for the flying elephants
Bug’s Life for Animal Kingdom
Phineus and Ferb (tv show) for their adventure in Epcot.
Tinker Bell for M&G in MK
Cinderella–MK castle and carousel
Sword in the Stone–MK sword in front of carousel

Ditto for Hunchback

Here is a biggie. It has not been updated in a while. It is from a former liner.

http://forum.touringplans.com/t/mrittys-movie-list/4730

I removed his duplicates and this is the list I came up with:

101 Dalmatians
A Bug’s Life
Aladdin
Alice in Wonderland
Alien
Beauty & The Beast
Brave
Brave Little Tailor
Cars
Casablanca
Cinderella
Dinosaur
Doc McStuffins
Dumbo
Emporer’s New Groove
Fantasia
Finding Nemo
Flubber
Footlight Parade
Frozen
Haunted Mansion
Hercules
Honey I Shrunk the Kids
Jake and the Neverland Pirates
Lilo & Stitch
Lion King
Mary Poppins
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Monster’s Inc
Monster’s University
Mulan
Now You See Him, Now You Don’t
Peter Pan
Pete’s Dragon
Phineas & Ferb
Pinocchio
Pirates of the Carribean (1-4)
Pocahontas
Public Enemy
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Singing in the Rain
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Song of the South
Sophia the First
Star Wars (1-6)
Swiss Family Robinson
Sword in the Stone
Tangled
Tarzan
The Adventures of Tom & Huck (?)
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Country Bears
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
The Princess and the Frog
The Searchers
The Strongest Man in the World
The Three Caballeros
The Wizard of Oz
Tower of Terror
Toy Story (1-3)
Up
Winnie the Pooh

NONE. You don’t need to see any to enjoy the parks.

Epcot - NONE - ok yeah - Frozen / Nemo would be good but you don’t need
HS - OK starwars - but my wife loved startours even though she literally just asked me about “the Enterprise” in a star wars conversations. Toy Story - sure but not necessary. Would you wan to watch all the movies in the montage in The Great Movie Ride - I think not.
Animal Kingdom - NONE.
Magic Kingdom - The ONLY movie that would be of value to see so you know what the heck is going on is SONG OF THE SOUTH for Splash Mountain. However due to political correctness - you are unable to get that movie anymore.

We recently went to Universal (Shhhhhhh) and didn’t purposefully watch any movies in prep. We watched Harry Potter but come on we are conscious and breathing so we had to watch Harry Potter.

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Ditto on song of the south - I made sure my husband looked at all the pictures on the way through the cue. SM is one of my favorite rides in all of WDW but I think it is one that if you know the general plot of the ride going in, it is much more enjoyable

I also agree that you don’t really have to have see anything in advance - Disney does a wonderful job covering the basics in the attraction so that you know what’s going on. I would say maybe the one that doesn’t do this is Frozen Sing Along - but I don’t really think that one pulls a lot of people who haven’t already seen the movie 100K times.

My dd was 12 months old when we started to watch Disney movies together, by the time we took her to Disney on her 2nd Birthday since was so in love with the characters and had so much fun, now we are going back and she’ll be 4 and still a Disney fanatic. It wasn’t like I felt like she had to watch them to enjoy Disney World, but I certainly felt like it made it more magical for her. We actually recently watched Song of the South together and she really liked it, I get that it’s not PC but at her age she isn’t going to pick up on the things that are wrong within the movie.

Excellent idea! I know Alice in Wonderland by heart so I always ask her things about other characters (“Have you seen the White Rabbit? I’m looking for him!”).

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I agree that it is not necessary to watch the movies to enjoy one’s visit to WDW, but doing so can definitely enhance the visit or, in our case, help to build up anticipation for it in the months we are waiting.

I would have added my list of all the movies that are depicted in The Great Movie Ride – movies I might add that we finished watching recently in preparation for our trip in October – but I suppose this list is irrelevant in preparation for a trip to WDW with the announcement at D23 this past weekend.

However, I am going to add the various Muppet movies to the list.

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The loss of the Great Movie Ride, is tragic especially since the ride replacing it is using the current version of the Mickey shorts that air on Disney Channel vs the iconic Mickey that we all know an love. With that said, I think the Great Movie Ride had a lot of “movie rights” issues that they couldn’t fix to provide an updated version of the ride. Personally I had hoped that the ride would have transitioned into a history of some of the truly great Disney live action movies that Disney has done through out the years.

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ehhh the new Mickey Shorts I was initially skeptical of (really really was not a fan of the animation style), but I have since come a full 180 on them and love them even more than the older mickey cartoons. The cameos, comedy, and completely breaking from physics and logic make it surprisingly enjoyable.

But I agree it is a missed opportunity to explore all the great movies Disney has done in the past, both live and animated. I’m hoping one day Disney opens up a legit museum of sorts to all the movies they’ve done, I would love that.

Regarding the movie list, one I’d easily advise is Princess and the Frog (which I see is listed in the “big ol’ list ™” as they are used a lot in shows and parades. And if you’re going to be at the Halloween Party (I forget if you are or not), I’d suggest Hocus Pocus and Nightmare Before Christmas

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Great list! If you’re going to be at HS near Christmas, you might want to watch the ABC TV shows Prep & Landing and Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice so you better understand Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!

I’ve never seen Avatar, so I’m totally lost with the new rides at AK. The river ride seems boring, but FOP looks kind of cool. In fact, I have never seen most of these movies. LOL!

I have not done the rides yet, I go in September. But the rides and the movies are independent of each other. You do not need to know the movie to get the rides.

If anything the movie will bring appreciation of just how well Disney brought Pandora to life.