Unique things to do as a Disney World veteran?

trubgerg

Mouseketeer
Joined
Dec 14, 2017
I'm heading to the parks for a week beginning on July 6, and I'm looking for interesting new things to do.

My parents and I are annual passholders, and they have a condo in Kissimmee. We're not rookies. My first visit was when I was 3 years old.

So.... what suggestions do you have to offer for people who are already taking the bus from TTC to Magic Kingdom on busy days?

Thank you in advance, :)
 
The first think I recommend to folks who feel that they've seen and done it all is to get a map of the parks and color in all the attractions. The parts that aren't colored in - that's where they should spend their next vacation. For many, that leads to spending 45 minutes to an hour in The Oasis and another 45 minutes to an hour exploring the Discovery Island trails - time well-spent.
 
I'm really looking forward to the Destinations tour at epcot. I am not as experienced as you but it sounds fun to explore the world showcase a bit.
 
Take your time to observe all the wonderful details. Read everything, like the posters in Frontierland and ads in Africa. Look (and listen) for the gradual transitions between lands. If you know a lot of Disney history/trivia/names of everything at the resort, theres tons of Easter eggs throughout the parks. The imganeering field guide book series are excellent. They’re on amazon. We haven’t done this for years (and now our books are a bit outdated) but we used to take the book in with us, read about the land we were in, and observe what we were reading about. Hidden Mickey hunting is fun too. If you haven’t seen all the streetmosphere acts, try that. The permanent ones in the World Showcase are excellent. If you like games, try Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom or the pirate thing in Adventureland.
 


I think it is lots of fun to go around to all the resorts. You can easily do a monorail tour of the Contemporary, the Poly and the Grand. It is also fun to take a break in the afternoon and ride the boat over to Wilderness Lodge. Kick back have a drink, and check out the amazing theming and then head back into the park after the afternoon madness is over. Epcot never gets old. The merchandise in all world showcase is always changing and you can usually find some interesting low cost items. All the animal trails in Animal Kingdom are often over-looked and they are always interesting and fun. Finally, Disney Springs has so many new restaurants. Be sure to book one that you have not visited before.
 
There was a thread about this a couple of years ago (more or less lol). I remember folks saying that in the MK there's a glassblower - maybe something else like an ironworker (although that seems a bit intense). Also one thing I've never done is ride in one of the Main Street vehicles...still on the list. Taking a guided tour if you have the money would be cool. Perhaps see if you can find that other thread too - I think it got fairly long!
 
Last year my friend and I got a "Disney Historian" award at HS. Stop at the entrance to One Man's Dream (think it's still named that) and tell the CM at the entrance that you want to do that. He/she will give you a paper with some questions on it. All the answers will be found in the different exhibits. When you get to the end/theatre, show your answers to the CM there. He/she will give you a certificate. They used to have pins but did not last year.
 

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I'm really looking forward to the Destinations tour at epcot. I am not as experienced as you but it sounds fun to explore the world showcase a bit.

HI - what is the destinations tour? I don't think i've heard of this one.... thanks in advance!
 
Most of these may not be new to you, but a few spots/things that people may not know about:

Wyland Galleries on the Boardwalk. A Disney art gallery.

Drawing class at Art of Animation.

Gallery of Arts and History at the Moroccan pavilion.

As a PP mentioned, there’s Crystal Arts in MK. If you’ve never been into it, when you first walk in there’s a glass blower in the front making items. Then in one of the side rooms there’s also a person making larger items using a kiln. I’ve always enjoyed taking some time and watching them work.

As other PPs have said, the trails at AK.

Privet surf at Typhoon Lagoon.

Watch the MK fireworks from CR’s 4th floor observation deck.

Take a 90 minute archery class at Fort Wilderness.

The Characters in Flight ballon flight at DS was nice.

AKL’s Culinary Tour..
 
I’m one of these types and I’ve never taken the Backstage Magic tour. Considering it for my November trip. We get 15% off as DVC members. Should we bite the bullet and go for it?
 
HI - what is the destinations tour? I don't think i've heard of this one.... thanks in advance!

It's a guided 3-ish hour tour around the World Showcase plus some time backstage. They tell you all about how they were designed/inspired, point out a ton of details we've never seen before, and lots of information I never knew. We got to see the festival kitchens and talk to the Exec Chef there. It starts before the showcase is opened so you get to see a lot of it before there's anyone there. We did it last month and really enjoyed it.
 
I’m one of these types and I’ve never taken the Backstage Magic tour. Considering it for my November trip. We get 15% off as DVC members. Should we bite the bullet and go for it?

Yes! It was the best tour I have taken at WDW. Worth every penny.
 
As a PP mentioned, there’s Crystal Arts in MK. If you’ve never been into it, when you first walk in there’s a glass blower in the front making items. Then in one of the side rooms there’s also a person making larger items using a kiln. I’ve always enjoyed taking some time and watching them work.

It is a glass sculptor when you first walk in and the glass blower is back at the kiln.
 

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We like to try different things at WDW each trip.

Our own Highway in the Sky. Bars and apps at all of the monorail resorts, ending at the Contemporary Cal Grill with fireworks.

Any tours that sound interesting. Recently we have enjoyed Savor the Savannah tour.

Adding a dessert party each, this year we did the Illuminations dessert party. It was fantastic.
 
Have you ever done a hidden Mickey scavenger hunt? I liked the old guide book, because it didn't have pictures, better than the new guide.. It just gave hints and you really had to spend time searching. I suggest that if you can find one, though some of the old HM might now be gone. The AKL lobby has a bunch: in the entrance art, another in the rockwork, another in the designs in the ceiling lights.

In MK, find all of Pascal's Friends hidden in the garden near the Rapunzel bathroom.
After that, the HM gift shop now has some unique items. If you have not taken time to explore the longer HM queue, it is a bit of fun, especially at night when the lines are short, and you get the area mostly to yourself. Play along with the mysterious ghost writer for a bit.

There's also a game you can play with the little crabs in the LM queue. You help them sort Ariel's thingamabobs from the junk by pointing at them.

The Pixar short films (Epcot) are fun to see, and there are fun water fountains outside the theater. Best of all, you will likely have them to yourselves.

Shopping might not be your thing, but the Disney Springs Marketplace Co-Op is worth some time to see unique items that aren't sold elsewhere.

Have you been to the (relatively) new-ish Trader Sam's tiki bar in the Poly? It is only open certain hours.

Other posters mentioned some of the hidden spots in the World Showcase, but there are more. Japan, Norway, Morocco all have little hidden museums and nooks.

Another person mentioned one thing to do at Ft Wilderness, but not everything. An offbeat thing to do at Ft W is to tour it in December when the folks staying there put up rather elaborate personal decorations, but it is worth exploring year-round.

Like you, we often try to get to MK as quickly as possible, but the WDW shuttle boats, are another way to tour the area at a slower pace. Consider the ones inside Epcot and the MK area boats. For that matter, if you have never rented a WDW watercraft, that can also be fun!

You may well want to visit the new CSR! dining.

Another small way to vary WDW visits is to pay it foreword and see what happens. It can be anything: offer 1st timers your better parade viewing spot or your bus seat. Here in 2019, kindness can sometimes be seen as creepy, so you have to be careful, but even in 2019, it is sometimes possible to offer unexpected kindnesses to strangers. We often buy bottled water for WDW, and at the end of the trip, we give away extras. I'm always amazed at how much strangers appreciate a free bottle of water.


If you haven't explored Universal recently....
 
I was going to suggest, make a list of all the shows, meet and greets and possibly rides that you have never done. That's a good place to start. We have had some great experiences with some of the tours and if there are extras at a festival (we loved doing one of the paid for painting classes last year at Arts Festival. Walk around every nook of World Showcase. Some really fun things can be found there.
Try some new places to eat. Have FUN!!!
 
Do the street entertainment. We love DeVine in AK. World Showcase has a lot of live entertainment. Our favorite is the Voices of Liberty.

We really enjoyed an Imagineer Luncheon. Experience doing a fireworks cruise.

Catch the details like all the windows going down Main Street.
 
It sounds like with your experience you may enjoy Lunch with An Imagineer at Brown Derby. ( Or they also do one at Citricos I think ). I've done this experience a few times and it's always different because it's always a different Imagineer that you dine with. We've always done it at Brown Derby because the like the food and the convenience of being in the park.

The lunch is typically close to 2 hours long with 3 courses. The group of people is small - the most we've had in any luncheon was 15, but it looked like they could hold close to 20. Even at the maximum it is an intimate experience. Our last trip he had 9 in the room plus the Imagineer. He talked about his experience and what led him to Disney and how he became an Imagineer. He talked about his past projects and answered tons of questions about the project and Disney. The only thing they won't discuss is any new projects that have not officially opened to the public. We left it was forth both the time and money to do at least once.
 

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