What are the "Can't Miss" things to do during a very short trip?

[KelsBleep]

What are some things I absolutely have to try and hit during a short trip in July? I'll be in the parks for probably two full days and two half days. I'm a Disneyland vet and have only been to WDW once before in 2012, and I know A LOT has been changed/added since then. Tell me what my MUST DOs should be!

 

[loves to dive]

Hard question, my must dos and your must dos and some other persons must dos are going to be totally different things. I would say, since you are a Disneyland vet, maybe push MK down low on the priority list. Are you going to have PHs or single park tickets? Either way, you can hit all four parks easy, like I said I'd put MK on one of the half days since you know Disneyland (frankly if I had that short of a time I might skip MK but like I said different strokes).

So knowing it's all subjective here goes if no PHs:
One full day at Epcot - book your FPs for morning if possible, hit future land or world or whatever it's called, first since WS doesn't open until 11. You should be able to get almost all the rides done pretty early. Head over to WS and grab lunch at one of the QS locations, we like them all but Morocco is our favorite. Go into all the shops in WS, grab a refreshing adult beverage and take your time watching all the street performers. Book an evening ADR at one of the WS restaurants or walk over to one of the resorts for a meal, there are some great options at Dolphin.

Day 2 of the all day is a tough one since we love both HS and AK but if they are still doing boarding passes at RoTR and since Mickey and Minnie's runaway train will be open then, you could easily spend all day at HS, especially if you are a Star Wars fan. The QS options aren't great there but the one in the Star Wars land isn't bad. Book you an ADR at one of the restaurants there, we love HBD but that's a lunch at the outside lounge thing for us or again, you could walk over to the resorts.

Half day you didn't say if it was morning or afternoon but if it's morning AK is great in the morning. The animals on the Safari are very active. We love to walk the two trails as well. Grab a FP for FOP if possible, if not it's worth waiting in standby for.

I really don't think you can go wrong with any way you decide to do it. You are going to be told that FOP, RoTR, Slinky Dog Dash, MFR and Seven Dwarves are must dos. They are all good rides but last time were there (just two weeks ago) we didn't do SDD or FOP, just walked through Pandora and didn't feel like we missed anything but we have done them. Remember, you can't miss what you've never had and it's a vacation so don't try to pack everything in, you can't.

 

[sponica]

I did two-day park hoppers on my honeymoon.

Our must dos are always space/splash and pirates, but since you have those, it's probably not making them your must dos.

Epcot, drink/snack around the world showcase.

DHS- Rock N Roller Coaster.

AK- Pandora, safari and expedition everest

 

[cgattis]

it's a vacation so don't try to pack everything in, you can't.

Sure he can!! He can sleep when he’s dead!!

Totally agree with the above plan except I’d never say skip MK. But if you’ve done it once, I’d say just focus on your favorites and the things DL doesn’t have. And get great pics in front of the HUGE castle LOL. Mine Train is cute. Carousel of Progress and Tiki Room are musts. I also think you should still do Pirates IF you have time. Recommend a meal in Be Our Guest just for the sights but recommend Skipper Canteen as a great alternative (with better food).

Have fun! I’ve only done one day at DL and without my kids, so still trying to get back there one of these days.

 

[cgattis]

Oh one other note....highly recommend staying on-site to maximize time in a short trip like this!

 

[KelsBleep]

Hard question, my must dos and your must dos and some other persons must dos are going to be totally different things. I would say, since you are a Disneyland vet, maybe push MK down low on the priority list. Are you going to have PHs or single park tickets? Either way, you can hit all four parks easy, like I said I'd put MK on one of the half days since you know Disneyland (frankly if I had that short of a time I might skip MK but like I said different strokes).

So knowing it's all subjective here goes if no PHs:
One full day at Epcot - book your FPs for morning if possible, hit future land or world or whatever it's called, first since WS doesn't open until 11. You should be able to get almost all the rides done pretty early. Head over to WS and grab lunch at one of the QS locations, we like them all but Morocco is our favorite. Go into all the shops in WS, grab a refreshing adult beverage and take your time watching all the street performers. Book an evening ADR at one of the WS restaurants or walk over to one of the resorts for a meal, there are some great options at Dolphin.

Day 2 of the all day is a tough one since we love both HS and AK but if they are still doing boarding passes at RoTR and since Mickey and Minnie's runaway train will be open then, you could easily spend all day at HS, especially if you are a Star Wars fan. The QS options aren't great there but the one in the Star Wars land isn't bad. Book you an ADR at one of the restaurants there, we love HBD but that's a lunch at the outside lounge thing for us or again, you could walk over to the resorts.

Half day you didn't say if it was morning or afternoon but if it's morning AK is great in the morning. The animals on the Safari are very active. We love to walk the two trails as well. Grab a FP for FOP if possible, if not it's worth waiting in standby for.

I really don't think you can go wrong with any way you decide to do it. You are going to be told that FOP, RoTR, Slinky Dog Dash, MFR and Seven Dwarves are must dos. They are all good rides but last time were there (just two weeks ago) we didn't do SDD or FOP, just walked through Pandora and didn't feel like we missed anything but we have done them. Remember, you can't miss what you've never had and it's a vacation so don't try to pack everything in, you can't.

Thank you for all of this!! Just a little more info, I will be doing PH and my half days will be late afternoon/evening. What are your thoughts on AK later in the day?

Oh one other note....highly recommend staying on-site to maximize time in a short trip like this!

I'll be staying at the Dolphin!

A couple more general questions:

Are the hours that are posted right now set in stone? I'm so used to DLR where at least one park is open till midnight most nights during the Summer. I checked the hours and they are mostly showing closing around 9-10pm. I'm hoping to make the most of my half days, and ending the day by 10pm just seems so early!!

I've been planning an ADR for Be Our Guest, but is it really worth it? I love Beauty and the Beast, and it felt like something I just HAD to do, but I've heard really mixed reviews. Thoughts?

 

[sponica]

I'd do Be our Guest for Lunch, you get to see the inside of the castle.

The hours can change anytime between now and then.

 

[jabrabu]

My first priority is to do any attraction that's new since the last time I was there. I'm going to FL for work in a couple of weeks and will spend a day or 2 at the parks. I hope to get a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance, and I have FP+ for RnR coaster and Slinky Dog. I will hop over to EPCOT to check out the new Canada movie, new movie in The Land, and Beauty and Beast Sing-Along. I will also sample some food from the Festival of the Arts kiosks.

Otherwise, in EPCOT, must get the jambon buerre sandwich in the France Boulangerie - best sandwich ever! Get a dessert and cappuccino to go with it.
In the Mexico pavilion, do the boat ride. Usually very little wait and it's worth doing.

It's easy to hop between EPCOT and DHS. You have Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland, so at DHS you might want to prioritize Toy Story Land and Mickey and Minnie's Railway.

I went to Disneyland a few years ago after I hadn't been there since the 70's. It was fun to compare Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and Space Mountain to the ones in the MK. However, Pirates and Space Mountain are better at Disneyland, so you might not want to bother with the ones at MK. You should ride the PeopleMover, though.

In your case, I would schedule AK over MK. AK has lots of unique things to do and see, and I love the general atmosphere. Get FP+ for Flights of Passage and Navi River if you can. Festival of the Lion King is an awesome Broadway-style show. Finding Nemo is also a really nice show. And for thrill rides you have Expedition Everest and Dinosaur. I even like Primeval Whirl. And then there are the animals you can see on the safari and walking the exploration trails.
I also love sitting outside at the Nomad Lounge and enjoying an appetizer and cocktail.

 

[shermanpar]

1. Dole whip
2. People Mover
3. Repeat

I'm a simple man.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Happily Ever After

Flight of Passage

PeopleMover

 

[GBRforWDW]

I was going to ask if any of your half days were on the same days as any of the Disney After Hours events, but the only July After Hours so far are for Disney Villain After Hours - https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/magic-kingdom/disney-villains-after-hours/

• Monday, July 6, 2020
• Friday, July 10, 2020

If one of those dates works for you, I'd schedule that, rather than buy a park ticket for that day. Since you're doing 4 days, you don't get much discount on the tickets anyway, and the limited passes to the After Hours events helps keep lines small, you could get a lot done in just the few hours you'll have rather than being in a crowded park, plus the sun will be down, so might make it more comfortable in July to have a day in the park like that!

Tom Bricker of DisneyTouristBlog.com posted a review of the most recent event and stated he rode 18-20 rides in the short time they had - https://www.disneytouristblog.com/villains-after-hours-magic-kingdom-review/.

 

[cgattis]

Staying at the Dolphin lets you walk to bith Studios and Epcot—great choice!

Be Our Guest food is fine, but if you love the movie, it’s a must. It’s like Blue Bayou—and let’s face it, like lots of theme park dining—you’re there for the atmosphere.

Animal Kingdom is awesome at night, but getting on FOP might be tough. Fingers crossed you get a FP If you choose that as your half day park. (I personally actually enjoy AK much more than Epcot, so I’d swap those BUT if you’ve never been to Epcot, you really can’t do it in a half day, so.....)

 

[loves to dive]

Love Dolphin, it's pretty much our go to for the past 4 or 5 years. So easy to walk between Epcot and HS. AK is good later in the day but in the summer the animals tend to be laying around instead of up and moving and the two walking trails close around 5 or 6. I've never done the night time safari so I'm not sure about that. Pandora is nice at night and you can probably get everything done with a half day there. The hours are pretty fluid. They tend to not take any away but do add. It all depends on if they are doing any special parties or events as to when they tend to close. PHs makes the whole thing a lot easier. As far as BOG, I've eaten breakfast and lunch but not supper there. We did it just to say we did and it isn't a repeat for us since there are just so many great places to eat. But, if you are doing MK on one of your half days at night, there aren't a lot of places to eat there so why not. We love Skippers Canteen but the food is not for everyone.

 

[Wild4Walt]

Here's our list of Must Do's:

• MK - PotC, HM, Peoplemover, Buzz Lightyear, grab a Dole Whip, catch the fireworks, shop @ Emporium ( Ok that's more me than my husband but it's on the list because I create the list )
• EP - Spaceship Earth, Journey into Imagination, Living with the Land, Soarin', snacks around the world.
• HS - Galaxy Edge ( I haven't seen yet ), TSMM, ToT, RNRC
• AK - Pandora, Kilamanjaro Safari, Lion King Festival, the tigers and the apes

 

[MomOTwins]

I would add character meals to the must do. My favorites are the Trattoria al Forno breakfast, 1900 Park Fare Dinner, and Hollywood & Vine lunch or dinner. Character meals at WDW are much more of a thing than at DL.

 

[Revan46]

Here's my suggestions based on NUMEROUS Disney trips and even doing a four-park single day lol. Please note Day One/Day two can be swapped if you want HS or AK the first day lol.

Day One: Hollywood Studios: Galaxy's Edge. Go early and get a boarding group if possible for RotR, then rope drop either MFSR or SDD. If you're able to get a FP for one of the two then rope drop the other. If you are interested, feel free to build a lightsaber or droid but completely depends if you're into that sort of thing. But if big Star Wars fan, at least reserve a spot at Oga's Cantina. After that, head to ToT/tSMM/RNRC Also try and get in Star Tours if you're able to. Other than that, feel free to see any of the other rides/shows that aren't often as crowded (MuppetVision, Frozen Sing-a-Long, etc).

Day Two: Animal Kingdom. Rope drop Flight of Passage (however don't need to do this if you're lucky enough to get a FP but FoP is probably one of the toughest to get I've found). You'll likely be off FoP if you rope drop barely minutes after the park officially opens - though please note do NOT go a morning Extra Magic Hour day at AK. This pretty much from my own experience seems to screw up rope drop (I was there early, I got in, five hour wait for the ride cause of EMH). After that, head to Na'vi River Journey as it gets a big line later in the day but 5-10 minutes in morning. Then head over to Kilimanjaro Safari which is quite cool though you could also save this for later when more animals are awake, I'd suggest booking a fast pass for this if that's the case. Then hit Expedition Everest (again, a good choice for FP) and Dinosaur. After that you can sort of just do what you'd like, Tough to Be a Bug, see some of the characters, and do the Maharajah Jungle Trek where you can see more cool animals.

Day Three (half): Here's where I'd do Epcot and if you can, either rope drop or get a Soarin' FP if you can as it often is the most popular ride at the park next to Frozen Ever After (which is in WS). To be honest, I'd suggest rope drop Soarin over in The Land (go to the right after passing the giant golf ball as i call it lol) cause then you can save your FP for Ever After. The other two FP I'd suggest maybe Mission Space and Spaceship Earth only because I've found they get very busy when it's summertime and you said you're going in July. The others (Living with the Land, Turtle Talk, Seas with Nemo and Gran Fiesta Tour) are often super short waits, with most of the rides being pretty much walk-ons. So if you get the "big four" done early, you pretty much could finish Epcot really just after 12 or 1. Then you can do Disney characters if that's your thing before heading home.

Final Day (half): Here's where I'd go to Magic Kingdom and absolutely either do a FP or rope drop for SDMT. It's always the most ridiculous wait so best to RD, and then save FP for things like Peter Pan's Flight and some of the mountains.

Now this is based on my experience BUT others who do multi-days with FP might be able to help give better suggestions, but if I recall you can do FP for multiple days as long as it's just one park per day.

 

[juuuliebeth]

Since you know Disneyland, I'd say your two big priorities should be Epcot and Animal Kingdom. You'd need a full day for Epcot. So much to see around the World Showcase, depending on how much you saw back in 2012. Animal Kingdom depends on how many of the trails and so forth you want to explore. I'm good with a half day there, but if you haven't been much, you could easily fill a whole day. Then your two half days in Magic Kingdom (since Happily Ever After is one of my few "musts") and Hollywood Studios. Toy Story Land is better after dark anyway. No sun beating down on you, and the lights are amazing.