Most Popular Attractions (Fast Pass or Extra Magic Hours)

I will be visiting WDW in October with my wife and my two children (ages 3 and 5). Since I will be staying at a Disney Resort, I have planned my days at the parks and in some cases, I will take advantage of Extra Magic Hours. I would like some help in finding out which are the MOST popular attractions as MK, Epcot, AK, and MGM. I want to plan in which attractions to use Fast Pass and which to save for Extra Magic Hours. Thanks VERY much for your time!

Most Popular Attractions (Fast Pass or Extra Magic Hours)

Since you have quite awhile to plan and research, get an ';Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World';? They%26#39;re sold at bookstores like Borders or Barnes %26amp; Noble or on amazon. You can find them used on eBay but go for a recent edition and watch that the shipping charges aren%26#39;t out of this world. They have touring plans in the back that you can clip out and carry with you. Just put a line through any attraction you are not interested in, get to the parks at least 20 minutes before they open and follow the recommended order. Browse any shops you want to, go to the bathroom when you want to etc. They%26#39;ve invested a lot of time in studying crowd flow and this will help you avoid the crush as much as possible.

Another good option is to subscribe to tourguidemike.com. There are some suggested touring plans that you can print but the site is really designed to help you develope your own touring plans. Some people find this process a bit overwelming at first but it you%26#39;ll get the hang of it. We used this service last June and never waited more than 20 minutes for anything. There is a $3 discount for subscribing through the disboards.com or using the discount code found on mouseforless.com. The forums there are very good too.

Getting to the parks at least a bit before opening is hugely important. YOu%26#39;ll go through a security check before going through the turnstiles to get in.

Do you know about parent swapping. You all go through the lines together and tell the attendant that you need to swap. They%26#39;ll direct one of you and the kids to a waiting area and the other will ride. Then you%26#39;ll switch and the one who waited will get to proceed to the front and ride.

I don%26#39;t really know the best approach when you%26#39;re using the extra magic hours, especially since your kids are too small for the ';headliners';. But I would generally recommend: Epcot - do Soarin%26#39; first if the stand-by line is short, otherwise grab a fast pass and come back. Use this same system for Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom (brand new, the fast passes might all be gone fairly early in the day. Magic Kingdom - Do your kids have their heart is set on riding Dumbo? If so, do that 1st. It is the slowest line in all of Disney World. Do Fantasyland and get out as fast as you can. It is surrounded by concrete and becomes a crowded reflector oven as the day progresses. Use the same technique at MGM - grab a Tower of Terror fast pass as you rush to Rockin%26#39; Rollercoaster. Try to ride Star Tours during one of the Indiana Jones shows. Star Tours gets super busy just before or just after the show.

Most Popular Attractions (Fast Pass or Extra Magic Hours)

Epcot is WONDERFUL for kids your kid%26#39;s ages. Mission Space is probably the only thing too intense. If they’re tall enough; Soarin’ and Test Track should be fine. Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3-D and Maelstrom might be a little scary for some but many do just fine. Spaceship Earth, The Universe of Energy (Dinosaurs %26amp; 45 blessed minutes of air conditioning), and Journey into Your Imagination with Figment are all visually interesting for kids. One of the Innovention pavilions has a lot of things geared for little ones. The Living Seas is great for kids – marine life %26amp; “Turtle Talk with Crush” are fantastic - it is being renamed ';The Seas with Nemo and Friends';. “The Land” has a character meal and there are Princess meals at the Norway Pavillion. There are Character Meet %26amp; Greets all through Epcot. There is some great entertainment too – the Jammitors are a “Stomp” like percussion group and Kristos is a Cirque du Soliel type balancing act.

There are “Kidcot” stations throughout the World Showcase. Your kids can make a cardboard mask (free) at which ever station they stop at first. Then they can add a decoration at each additional station. The boat ride at the Mexico pavilion is similar to “It’s A Small World”. The kids may or may not enjoy the American Adventure or the Circle Vision movies in China %26amp; Canada. If I was going to choose one, I’d go with the China movie. There is a little hedge maze in the UK pavilion that is too short for adults to find challenging but I saw a bunch of kids gleefully running through. I also saw kids intrigued by the model train at the Germany pavilion. My kids loved wandering through the Morocco pavilion. There are Koi fish in the pond in Japan. Norway has a Viking boat play area. There is some fantastic entertainment that kids will enjoy: The “Serveur Amusant” (France) is a comedic balancing act. Japan has three great things for kids – “Matsuriza” is a tradition drum act; “Miyuki” is a very neat candy artist, and there is a Japanese Storyteller “Honobono Minwa” on Wed, Thurs, %26amp; Fri. Sergio (Italy) is a juggler. “OrisiRisi”, he drum circle and African Storytellers (Mon- Fri) in the Outpost get good reviews. Kids always love the Dragon Legend Acrobats (China) because they are children too. Some kids will enjoy “Off Kilter” (Canada) – bagpipe rock and “MoRockin” (Morocco) – Middle Eastern pop sounding band. IllumiNations is the evening fireworks show and it is excellent.

www.disneylinks.com has lots of links to good WDW sites.

Not all of the attractions are open during Extra Magic Hours. Visit Disney%26#39;s website for the list of what will be available during the morning and evening EMH (they are different). It may be that the attraction you most want to see won%26#39;t be open during EMH, so you would need to Fastpass during regular park hours. The restaurants and shopping are also limited during EMH. Fortunately you have plenty of planning time to work out the best way to see it all.

Do either of your children stress out when thrust into new situations? Our youngest does so we bought a used copy of Disney%26#39;s Sing-Along Songs ';Disneyland Fun'; for her to watch. Disneyland is much like the Magic Kingdom and it helped her know what to expect. We got ours very inexpensively on eBay or Amazon - I don%26#39;t remember which. There is another one set in the Animal Kingdom but she didn%26#39;t really like it. Also, we realized that our little one really wasn%26#39;t familiar with the classic Disney characters like Pluto or Donald so we watched some of those cartoons and we got a copy of Mary Poppins because she was going to be at our character meal and the kids hadn%26#39;t seen that movie. Now it is our youngest%26#39;s favorite.

If looking for Disney VHS or DVD%26#39;s on eBay, use the park name like ';Epcot + VHS'; rather than ';Disney World'; because that will bring up every Disney movie ever produced, I think.

Thank you for your comments and postings. I have checked all EMH attractions available. Is Dumbo really the slowest of lines? That%26#39;s amazing. If any of you could tell me the top 5 attractions (meaning the longest waits) in each of the parks, it would be VERY useful. Thanks!

The busiest rides I saw when there last month during spring break were:

Epcot: Soaring (standby line got as high as 150 minutes!! Fast passes all gone by about noon)

MK: Splash Mountain (standby line up to 80 mins)

Animal Kingdom: Safari (standby line 120 mins, fast passes all gone by about noon).

Thanks Zelda Aus... Any additional input like this will be very valuable...