Magic Kingdom Tips

We went to the Magic Kingdom Sunday for my birthday. Disney is a great place to spend your birthday. The resort gave me a big button pin that said Happy Birthday. All day cast members wished me a Happy birthday. That was neat. When we got back from the parks I had a happy birthday balloon and an autographed picture of Minnie Mouse waiting for me. My kids really got a kick out of that.

Since we have spent so much time in the parks I've learned a few tips to make the trip more pleasant.

Magic Kingdom Tips
- If you have small kids hike straight to Fantasy Land. That's where you will find Small World, Peter Pan, Snow White, Pooh, etc. On busy days the stand by wait for these rides will be over an hour by the afternoon. They do have fastpass lines that you can take advantage of but if you go straight there in the morning you will be able to move around the area fairly fast. Little kids can ride everything in Fantasy Land too so it's nice to do all those rides while they are rested and happy.
-Now that I've said all that let me also suggest that if you are staying in a resort and the Magic Kingdom is having "magic hours" (late hours for resort guest only) save Fantasy Land for the magic hours. Everything in Fantasy Land will be open during magic hours but only select rides in the other areas will be open. Tomorrow Land also has a lot of rides open during magic hours.
-If you need a cheap snack for the family, buy a package of Mickey Mouse suckers. You can buy them in almost all the shops. They come in packages of 5 for around $4. We buy a pack every trip and they keep our kids happy during long lines and while we are waiting for Daddy to get off rides.
- There are several places throughout the Kingdom that serves hand dipped ice cream. They all are delicious but it's much cheaper to buy ice cream from the street stands. The kids hand dipped cone at the ice cream palor on Main Street cost around $4. A mickey mouse shaped ice cream sandwhich or ice cream bar is $2.50 at the street stands. My kids prefer to have a Mickey Mouse shaped ice cream over a hand dipped cone any day.
-Caseys Corner on Main Street is a great place for kids to eat. They have hot dogs and mini corn dogs with fries. There is limited inside seating but it's great place to eat. The inside seating is on bleachers with old Disney cartoons playing on a big screen. My kids love it! We take our time and they have a break from all the excitement but are still entertained. The bleachers are rather small though. I suggest having one adult go stand in line for the food while another waits for a spot. It's worth it!
-You can brown bag it at Disney World. They don't let you bring coolers in but you can bring food and drinks through the gates. We often pack peanut butter crackers for our kids if we are planning to eat Mexican food while there. If you are brown baggin' and are looking for a place to sit and eat, the Noodle Station in Tomorrow Land is a great spot. It's only open for dinner and even then it's not full. It's a great spot for a picnic or just a break.
-The Laugh Factory has open recently. It's a great show with audience interaction. They pick on both adults and children. Both of my kids have been picked to play along. We've figured out a secret! They like to start the last act of the show by telling a joke about a human kid with 4 ears. If your kids have Mickey or Minnie ears make sure they wear them throughout the show. It will increase their chances to be picked.
-A lot of people know that the Toontown fair is great place to see characters. It really is! A little secret though is behind the tents is a little area that has character meeting most of the day. If you walk to the train station in Toontown and then look up towards the tents you'll see the little area where they stand. It's a great place to see less common characters like King Louie, Cinderella's Mice, Max, etc.

I have a bunch more but I'm tired of typing. I'll have to do a Magic Kingdom tip part two another day.

Check out my other blog- Mickey's Diary- for more tips and pictures of Disney.