The trails part. Yeah. No. We tried to do one of the trails, and found it a waste of time. We have a zoo membership, and so our zoo experience is far better than AK in that regard.
So, not including Pandora, AK primarily was this:
Expedition Everest! (Multiple times, preferably)
Kilimanjaro Safari
Festival of the Lion King
Finding Nemo
Dinosaur
Kali River rapids, if we are in the frame of mind to get wet
We will do other things because we are there and have time, but we don’t really care if we do or not. (The bird show was cool and all, but after seeing it once, we’ve never been back, for example.)
I know we’ll add Pandora/FOP to that list. But it wouldn’t move the park to more than a single day for us.
I more expect HS to be the bigger draw for us now that it has TSL and next year, Galaxy’s Edge. We already love it for Star Tours, ToT, RnRC, and Great Movie Ride (RIP). Used to like the back lot tour until they cut it in half and then eliminated it. Still, since GE will only add two rides, I’m not expecting HS to grow to a two-day park.
Well, I am one of those “other” people. I go every time I am at DL or WDW. For me, it’s connected to a special memory I had as a kid. We’d always go to Tiki Room and my mom would sing that annoying song for hours after. It became a tradition with my kids to make them sit through it with me. LOL Now that my parents are both passed, I couldn’t imagine not going. However, I will only visit it once during our entire trip…that’s more than enough to satisfy my trip down memory lane! HAHA
Mine too! Now it is largely because it’s a happy memory of my grandaddy! He went with us on a spring break trip one time and insisted that we go in the Tiki Room. Now, considering he got my grandmother on Space Mountain on an earlier trip they’d taken and played dumb when she saw it was a roller coaster, we had no idea what to expect. Yes, it’s corny. But it’s happy and fun.
And it will forever remind me of that special time with my grandaddy!
I’m a big fan of the classics. Hey, my favorite ride at any park is Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride so I’m no one to judge. However, some attractions like Tiki never make it to my plans. I consider them to be time-fillers rather than crowd pleasers.
My list of skippable rides is as follows:
Tiki Room
Country Bear Jamboree
Astro Orbiter
Aladdins Magic Carpets
The Hall of Presidents
Liberty Square Riverboat
Swiss Family Tree House
Carrousel of Progress
Tom Sawyer Island
Peter Pan (What?!!! Am I insane? no, but it is simply not worth it. The ride is dated and not as good as the DLR version. My daughter hates it because it is slow. My wife hates it because it is short. And I have to accept that the ride has seen better days. I honestly think there are better uses for a FPP like gasp Tomorrowland Speedway )
I actually see your point. I think the magic of that ride is almost entirely found in the moment you start to fly above the city of London. If you cut that moment out, I think the ride would be entirely ho-hum.
I don’t have credit cards just a Visa debit card. My wife gets paid by an electronic banking card (like a debit card). I paid for the whole Disney trip before we left, which included DDP. I bought gift Disney gift cards to pay for tips and gifts. I set aside money for gas and hotels on the way back. With being on the DDP we had so many snack credits I did not pay for anything and had SC left to buy some candy for on the way home. I let my wife buy whatever she wanted using her card and we both came home with money left over. DD was told to shave money for WDW and she was surprised when I saw a hat that I know she would love and showed it to her but she had already spent most of her money. No problem I just whipped out a gift card and paid for it for her. She was shocked because my normal response is “I don’t have money for that”. Disney is expensive but if you budget correctly and know before you go you should be fine.
I’ve done both and I agree there is value in doing character meals on an off day. This last trip we didn’t really have an off day though. I loved taking basically an in park break by doing a Tusker house brunch. Kept us going later into the afternoon than we would have otherwise done.
The last time we were at MK we had a mother and her two young daughters seated behind us at Splash Mountain. We could tell by their conversation it was their first time. The first drop generated more splash than usual, and the conversation went like this:
All: (excited exclamations)
Youngest Daughter: (excited) I wet my pants!
Mom: (excited) I know, honey! We all did!
YD: (still excited) No, I really wet my pants!
Mom: (deflated) Are you serious?
YD: (proudly) Yes!
That little girl was my hero. She had a blast the entire ride, and you can’t help but have fun when the kids are having fun. I was just as proud of mom for letting it go and enjoying a great experience with her kids. Best Splash Mountain experience ever.
My best tip was already suggested basically: roll with it all. It’s all part of the adventure.
That said, I would also say come up with loose backup plans, even if they don’t work out or you abandon them in the moment. Having a rough idea of what you can do when things start going sideways can give you a nice escape route instead of being paralyzed by indecision.
“Well the rides are being shut down due to lightning, but we had a backup to go tour the Grand Floridian…so that’s what we did.”
It became a tradition with my kids to make them sit through it with me. LOL Now that my parents are both passed, I couldn’t imagine not going. However, I will only visit it once during our entire trip…that’s more than enough to satisfy my trip down memory lane! HAHA
