Botcon Attendee's Guide to Florida: Part 1a: WDW

[rosieknight]

Part 1 - Major Resorts: Walt Disney World


Walt Disney World (WDW) is composed of four theme parks, two golf courses, two waterparks (that I remember off the top of my head), a large shopping district, and a whole lot of hotels. It has something for practically everyone and is an excellent destination for families.

Theme Parks
Magic Kingdom: The park most people think of when hearing "Disney World." It's a great park for families traveling together, as the lands have a wide variety of attractions. Adventureland is home to Pirates of the Caribbean, The Enchanted Tiki Room, and Aladdin's Flying Carpets. In Frontierland, you can find two of the parks three thrill rides: Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Next door in Liberty Square, you can ride the Haunted Mansion or visit the Hall of Presidents in air-conditioned comfort. Fantasyland boasts rides like It's a Small World, Peter Pan, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and the excellent 3D show Philharmagic. The best know attraction in Tomorrowland is Space Mountain, but not the only one there. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin is worth a look, and the People-movers and the Carousel of Progress are enjoyable ways to get off of you feet for a while. Finally, the shops along Main Street are an excellent place to pick up souvenirs of your trip.

EPCOT: The most sedate of WDW's parks, EPCOT is broken into two sections. The closest to the entrance - Future World - consists of Spaceship Earth (the really big ball), Universe of Energy, Test Track, Mission Space (a giant centrifuge ride, seriously), The Living Seas (now with Nemo!), The Land, Imagination (Journey into Imagination and possibly Captain EO), and Innoventions East and West. The second part of EPCOT is the World Showcase Pavilion. Almost every country in this area has a show, and two (Mexico and Norway) have boat rides. Every country offers food and shopping. Japan is currently selling Transformers merchandise in its store.

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Studios is probably the best park for teens. It has three thrill rides (Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours), a pair of stunt shows (Indian Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular and Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt show), Toy Story Mania (shooting game), Muppets 4D (Very funny!), and a host of indoor shows like American Idol Experience and Sounds Dangerous. This is the smallest park in WDW and is possible to do most of the attractions in an afternoon. So if you have park hopper passes, feel free to spend less time here than the other parks.

Animal Kingdom: The newest of the four Disney parks is divided into seven sections: the entrance area, Tree of Life, Camp Minnie Micky (good for kids), Asia, Africa, Rafiki's Planet watch (a bit preachy, but they have live feeds to all of the animals), and Dinoland (another kid friendly spot). Kilimanjaro Safaris is a must see, because of the numerous free roaming animals visible from the tour jeep. Other fun rides are Dinosaur, Kali River Rapids, and Primeval Whirl. It's Tough to be a Bug is a cute show under the Tree of Life. (I suggest going just for the close up view of the Tree and its carvings.)

Golf Courses
Fantasia Gardens: The harder of Disney's two mini-golf courses, Fantasia gardens is located directly across the street from the Swan and Dolphin Hotels. The obstacles are pulled directly from the original Fantasia: dancing mushrooms, ballet dancing hippos, and giant brooms with buckets of water. Unless your group is composed of excellent mini-golfers or people with a lot of patience, I'd suggest skipping this course for the less frustrating Winter Summerland.

Winter Summerland: The second and easier of Disney's mini-golf areas, Winter Summerland is adjacent to Blizzard Beach. There are two sides to Winter Summerland: the Winter course and the Summer course. Each side features obstacles and music related to the course name. The Summer side features surfboards, sandcastles, and Beach Boys Christmas music; the Winter side has hockey sticks, snow sculptures, and traditional Christmas music. Although the overall Christmas theme can get a bit overwhelming, I'd recommend these course for casual mini-golfers and families with younger children.

Water Parks Thanks to lilac_nocturne
Typhoon Lagoon: One of two water parks on WDW property, Typhoon Lagoon is based on the idea of a swimming hole. This means it has fewer and calmer rides than most water parks. The attractions include "the world's largest outdoor wave pool, two saltwater reef pools where you can go snorkeling with sharks (the water in those is extremely cold)" and a lazy river type ride. People who want a water park that is less focused on slides will do well here.

Blizzard Beach: Located adjacent to Winter Summerland golf course, Blizzard Beach is the second and more thrill oriented of Disney's water parks. It has several water slides including, "Summit Plummet - the second tallest and fastest free fall slide in the world, and Slush Gusher, which is one of the few slides in which you can achieve 'air time'." I'd recommend Blizzard Beach to families with older kids and people who like water slides.

Shopping
Downtown Disney: A large shopping and dining area located outside of all of WDW's theme parks, Downtown Disney is divided into three parts. They are Disney Marketplace, Pleasure Island, and West Side. All three areas feature themed restaurants - House of Blues, T.Rex - and stores - Lego Store, Once Upon a Toy. It's a good place to wander and shop if you don't want to go to a park. Just be aware that the stores here can be as expensive as the ones in any park.

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Comments

[synaltern.livejournal.com]

in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room
in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room
all the birds sing words and the flowers bloom
in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room

>.> Ok, ok.

Good guide.

As a note, if you're prone to headaches/migraines, avoid Rock'n'Roller Coaster. Can't say anything beyond that, seeing as I've avoided Disney for a decade.

[rosieknight.livejournal.com]

:D I love that song.

Thanks.

I'll add that to the MGM Studios section in the morning.

[lilac-nocturne.livejournal.com]

Typhoon Lagoon, home to the world's largest outdoor wave pool. It also has two saltwater reef pools where you can go snorkeling with sharks (the water in those is extremely cold). As far as waterparks go, it has a few less slides than you might expect.

Blizzard Beach, home of the second tallest and fastest free fall slide in the world - Summit Plummet. There's also Slush Gusher, which is one of the few slides in which you can achieve 'air time'. There's a bunch of slides at this park, as it's pretty big. I went there when it first opened, so there might be some things that have changed. The water at Blizzard Beach is kept heated year round.

[rosieknight.livejournal.com]

Do you mind if I quote you for Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach? I'm not very familiar with WDW's waterparks.