Our Favourite Attractions at the Magic Kingdom | Ep 8

We drop you right into the middle of Magic Kingdom with one impossible question—where are you heading first when time is tight? From there, we spiral into a lively, sister-style debate over our all-time must-do attractions, swapping stories, unexpected opinions, and a few hilarious memories along the way. It’s part strategy, part pure Disney nostalgia, and all about those little moments that make the park feel magical. If you’ve ever tried to plan the “perfect” day (or just love reliving the feeling of being there), this episode will pull you in, keep you guessing, and probably have you rethinking your own must-do list before it’s over.

Transcript

Jenny 0:00

Hey Disney friends, welcome back to our podcast. Okay, whether you're driving, walking, or planning your next trip, I want you to picture yourself right in the middle of Magic Kingdom. You've got time for just a few things. Where are you heading first? Emily, I feel like your answer says a lot. What are you thinking? Where are you going first? Oh, wow. That is a tough question. It kind of depends. It depends on if I'm with the group, because if I'm with my sisters, I just let them lead the way and I follow. But it also depends. Do we have like a rock solid hardcore strategy for rope drop and lightning lane passes? Because then I'm gonna follow that carefully planned strategy. However, if you ask me where am I going first, because what am I most drawn to, and if I'm following my heart, I am just taking in the awe of Main Street USA, and I'm headed straight towards the castle. That does not surprise me, even one little smidgen. Of course, you're going to the castle. I love it. Which is amazing. You can just stand in the castle and listen to it's my happy place. Music. Yeah. Uh-huh. Great. Amazing. Well, I'm going to go to Adventureland first, if I'm just following my heart, I think, because I really love Adventureland. I just love the vibe of that area. I love the soundscape that's playing in the background that you don't even really notice, except that you do, because it makes it part of the experience. I love the tiki kind of culture of it, like the Polynesian kind of feeling. The vibe there is, I don't know how to articulate it. It's adventurous and exciting, and I love it. And so today we're gonna talk a lot more about the Magic Kingdom and get into a lot more than just what land are you starting with. So let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Two sisters of the goal. From our hometown street to the main street.

Jenny 2:33

We are two Canadian sisters who love every Disney adventure from travel with family to running marathons. On today's show, we're tackling the very serious question of our all-time favorite attractions at Magic Kingdom. Okay, Emily. I feel like this is where things could get a little competitive. Are you ready to finally lock in your all-time favorite attractions at Magic Kingdom? You bet I am. Okay. Well, go for it. It's gonna be tough, but let's give it a go. All right. Okay, you want to start? Where do I want to start? So now I'm gonna say just outright, these are not ranked in any kind of order. No, mine's not ranked either. These are just what are some places that if I'm going to Magic Kingdom for the day, what do I really want to get to? These are some of my favorites that I would feel kind of cheated if I didn't get to them. And so one of them would be one of the classics. Talked about this the last time, so since it'll be no surprise, I'm gonna even say it's a small world. I'll just I know that's controversial. Some people are like, Are you kidding me? Not controversial. I mean, maybe it is with some people, but it's on my list too. Yeah, it's just a classic. And because it's a for me, it's it's a must-do because it's it's a classic, but also it's simple. It doesn't take a lot of time to do it because the lineup, even if the lineup is a large, like if it's a really busy day, the lineup moves. That that that attraction moves large numbers of people. Large numbers of people. Yeah, and so often, even on the busiest of days, you can you can go through it and maybe like a 20-minute lineup, something like that. And so that's not a lot considering some of the other big rides, you're gonna be in the lineup for two hours, perhaps, on those really busy days. I've seen longer lines at Small World, but I wouldn't say I've ever seen one longer than 30 minutes. Right? It's usually like 10 or 15. Exactly. So you definitely can get that one at some point during the day. I mean, maybe if you walk by and it is a 30-minute wait, well, maybe skip it at that particular moment. Like you're still looking at what are the wait times on other rides, that could still be one of the shorter ones. So exactly. Exactly. So I feel like, you know, if you're trying to get as many attractions done in a day or whatever, then that is for sure one that I would have to do. And and I love it. I just love it. I have a story to tell about Small World because when you say it's controversial, that it I think that means that some people don't like the ride because maybe they think it's dated or the song is so repetitive that it's annoying. Or I don't know. I'm just speculating on what the controversy is over it, that they don't like it. For and they're, you know, people are allowed to like and not like what they want. But I want to say that my boys who are have an age gap between them, so they're coming from different kinds of perspectives. Both were not crazy about small world. Now, George, I think, likes it more than Charlie. I have to say, no, I can't even say that about George because he's older and he has experienced small world since he was three years old. And so for him, there's the nostalgia piece too. So I think he does just like it. Yeah. But Charlie just was like, I don't want to go on that bunch of dolls, you know, kind of thing. And so I was like, I made him, I dragged him on a small world, and he, you know, he sat through it and whatever. And I'm like, see, it wasn't that bad, was it, Charlie? And he was like, I don't like that ride, blah, blah, blah. And then we went on it. I'm talking about the trip that I did with just George and Charlie a couple of summers ago. So then we went back to it, and I think it might have been during the fireworks or after, I don't remember. There was no lineup. Like, I'm t I'm not exaggerating. Yeah. There was no one. We walked the three of us down the ramp to the boats. There was no one in the boats. Yeah, that happened. We got in a boat, we were the only ones on the ride.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Oh, like nobody in the boat in front of you. No one. Nobody in the boat behind you.

Jenny 6:52

No, and nobody coming down the ramp. And we got off the boat, and there were a few people coming down the ramp. Like, I don't know, maybe there were other people that got on it since we did, but we literally had boats in front and behind us, multiple, so that we felt as we went into each room like we were the only ones on the ride. That's but it was great because I would think that's really cool. It was really cool. And I could also point out to Charlie, I didn't feel bad like talking and pointing and stuff as much. So I could go, hey, look at that over there. Look at this country is this country, and that country is this one. And and Charlie's very interested in countries of the world. He's at this age and stage of his life and education where he loves that kind of stuff and he's learning about it at school. And so when I started pointing out countries, he's odd all all suddenly interested. And we got to the last room of the ride when everything is white and blue and beautiful and all the pastels. Putting all the countries together, and we got off the ride that time, and he had a totally different take on it. So that was kind of magical. Small world is one of them. You can't miss it's like for the nostalgia alone. Like, I almost feel like just to even if it's not your your jam at all, I feel like it's just a one that you have to do in order to honor Walt Disney himself and know like the history and just to get kind of the full Disney experience. And again, because it doesn't take for me, I love it. I just it's nostalgia, but I would still recommend it to somebody else because it's part of the the Disney package. And so, you know, you need to learn, you need to educate yourself on life of Walt Disney World. Kind of along the same lines, but not really. I have on my list Pirates of the Caribbean. That is an absolute I must do. I yes, I I 100% agree with that. I had a feeling you were gonna bring that up because I think that's your favorite is that your favorite? Yeah, if you could name a favorite, would that be it? That would be it's tough, but I Yes. Yeah, yes, and I think it's the smell of the water that edges it out over the haunted mansion for me. That is so funny because it is such a distinct, it's I it doesn't smell like trigger different memories, or you know, you can smell something for sure. Yep. That's a thing people talk about too, is the smell of the pirate water. Yeah, but I don't know what it is, I don't know what's in it. I don't know why it has that smell, and it's not, by the way, a bad smell. It's just a smell. It's just uh yeah, a smell. And it makes odor. We'll call it an odor. Yes, okay, an odor, but an aroma. An arro no, it's not that's a positive way of saying there's a smell to it. It's a nice smell. It's a good it's a good, like makes you think of pirates and yeah stuff. I don't know what it is, but anyways, it's a good smell, love that, and love the attraction, love the story, love the theater of it. Yeah, exactly. It's so like the whole it's a whole storyline, like it's taking you through this, you feel immersed in this storyline from start to finish, and you kind of feel like you're in a movie or you know, you're you're watching a movie play out around you. And by the way, Pirates of the Caribbean existed like since 1973. So, like since way before the movie was made based on the ride. Yeah, it's one of the original John Yes, one of the original. Nope. Pirates was not there at the beginning. Oh, right. Okay, okay. It came soon after, soon after, but it was not there at the beginning. And the Johnny Depp character, the Captain Jack Sparrow character, was added to the attraction after the movies. So that was not part of the original attraction. And the attraction has changed recently. Uh there were scenes in there that well, you know, we live and learn about recently in our lifetime, but not like not in the last few months, but yes. No, but recently in the last few years. Yes. That the scene that's in the uh auction scene used to be the the guy, the pirate, auctioning off the women, and now and the and the men all chasing the women around in circles, and now it's just totally I love that they switched it around that the women are now chasing the men with the weren't they trying to like swap them away or the there used to always be like the men chasing the women and then there was one woman chasing a man. Yeah, she was the mama like she was like the mama bear looking after her her her young girls or her daughters perhaps, I don't even know, the house mom or something. But it was always yeah, anyways, great ride. I love it. One of my favorites, like gotta look for, is the guy that is the pirate that's sitting over the bridge. So when you're going on the boat and he's got the hairy leg and like you know, just swinging back and forth. And weren't you always afraid that his leg was gonna drop on your head? No, it wasn't that wasn't I well, maybe kind of, but the part that scared always scared me. Oh, I'm gonna tell a little story. Dad, the trickster. The part that always kind of scared me was at the beginning, and they have oh, spoilers, if you haven't gone on parts of the Caribbean, maybe fast forward 10 seconds. But there's part where like they have bombs going back and forth with the ships and then they have splashes in the water. And so there was one time that we were that part kind of freaked me out, but it freaked me out more because one time dad took, I think you and Sarah, or maybe it was maybe Jody, or it like Sarah was Sarah and her friend Jody on the to to Magic Kingdom, and they came back and dad had a bit of a cut on his leg, and I'm like, Dad, what happened to your leg? He goes, Oh, one of the bombs from Pirates of the Caribbean got me and it missed. And I believed him, and I thought, what? Like it wasn't like a major cut, it wasn't a major injury or anything, but he had like, you know, probably it drew a little blood. Like it was no not a big deal, but I thought, no way, you can actually those things uh aren't as planned, were they? So I thought after that, after that I was I was little. Uh the part that used to freak me out as when I was little was uh at the end when the guys are trying to get out of the burning cell and they're whistling to the dog that has the keys and they've got the bone. And I know dad loves that part of the ride, but I used to the inside it would like kind of freak me out because the place was burning and they couldn't get out. And I guess worried about everyone. I never registered that. I was just like, I just thought the dog was so cute. I know I was so worried for the lives of those criminals. That shows the difference between your caring heart and mine. Like, save the dog. Did you know that I just saw recently that there's this thing right next to Pirates of the Caribbean, there's this little I won't, it's not a store, it's not a shack, it's just I don't know what it is, space that you can go in and you can get these maps and do a scavenger hunt around Adventureland and around Pirates of the Caribbean. And before COVID, if you completed the whole scavenger hunt, you would get a free, well, it would have been called a fast pass then, but now Lightning Lane. And they've recently brought that back. Ooh. So that's pretty neat. You can go ahead and challenge it. Challenge accepted. Yeah, I know you like your scavenger hunts. Yeah, I like my whatever they are. Yeah, but yeah, that's neat. You just like put it onto your magic band or your card or whatever you're using to get your into the parks and everything. You tap that and then you go and you find the things and you tap your magic band on them, and then something happens. And once you've done them all, I guess it registers in your magic band or your card or whatever. And they have one of those. Actually, I don't know if they still have it, but you get a free lightning link to the There is a version of that at Epcot. Okay, well, good to know. Well, moving from Adventureland, I would like to take us over to Frontierland for another one of my all-time favorites and one that I really would like to do if I'm at Magic Kingdom, and that is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Yep, that's on my list. Yeah, and so Wild is right in the wilderness. I was hoping you were gonna say that. I knew I kind of knew you were gonna say that, but it is, it's so much fun. Like it's a fun little coaster, and it's not a big scary roller coaster where you feel like you know you're a little afraid for your life because of some sort of 90 kilometer per hour drop, 90, like whatever. It's just a fun middle ground coaster. It's uh yeah, it's got that wild out-of-control feeling, and of course, made oh so much more fun. If you put your hands up, you're not supposed to keep all hands and feet and everything inside the coaster at the same time. So we kind of put them up like at ear level at least. Like, look, Ma, no hands. It just makes it really fun. But at the same time, when we went there two years ago now, maybe when we went there just last time with our sister Sarah, of course, we we went on at the and it was during the fireworks. Yeah, you can get that is an amazing time. While everybody else is at the fireworks watching that show, of course, lineups for the rides on various attractions are a lot shorter. Totally recommend going on Big Thunder because you can see the fireworks while you're on the ride. And if you're brave enough to try to get a picture of it, you can get a really cool shot, which I got a really cool little video. And Sarah, I was in the seat in front of her, and Sarah yelling from behind, put your camera away, put your camera away, because she was so worried. I was going to lose it. And fair enough, you're not really supposed to have them because you don't want to, but it was such a fantastic view of these fireworks and Big Thunder Mountain in the background. And anyway, it was it was great. I wonder what would happen if you dropped your phone down into the pit of like whatever is underneath of the like how long would it take for them to let you get it back, you know? You know what? Okay, I can't remember exactly, but I have heard of people losing their things like like that. And I think at the end of the night they go through when like they've closed up to the Yeah, I think so. And then you can go back to like there's a lost and found location, and because there's a lot of mini ears and stuff, Mickey ears on the ground underneath of those rides. Crocs, crocs, and yeah, there's all kinds of things under there. Not crocodiles, crocs, the the footweaves. Yeah. Well that too. There's both. Yeah, and you for you forgot to mention that that fireworks ride we did was also in the rain. Oh yeah. So that made it even less of a lineup. It was that's true. And actually, yeah, we can you can if you can get going in the rain, get your poncho out, man, you can do laps. Just stay on the ride and just keep going. If you don't mind sitting in wet underwear, it's pretty fun. Okay, well, since we're over there in Frontierland, I want to take us a little bit further over to Liberty Square to a favorite ride of mine, which is the Haunted Mansion, which is like right up there with my top ones. Yeah. Oh, it's a f it's a for sure. You need to go, yeah. The go on Haunted Mansion. I need to go on Haunted Mansion. Watching the shows on Disney Plus about how the attractions were made and the theming and the storylines and what went into making them and the imagineering and all that, it's fascinating. It does reveal stuff and it might I don't know. Does it destroy the magic? I don't think so, because I still feel the magic, but I know a lot more about the attraction, which I'm not going to reveal on this podcast. But when I'm in it, I'm like, that's cool. And sometimes I think about it and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I just let myself be immersed in what's happening, and I don't think about what's actually happening. So that's the magical part. And then when I am thinking about it, I'm also going, like, this is cool. The imagineering aspect. Uh-huh. They were so smart and nobody knows what's happening right now. Well, there's so many things to look at on that ride. Like you could focus on a different area, like you go through all of these different rooms, and it is also a storyline to it's not as clear and obvious as say Pirates of the Caribbean, but there is a storyline to it. And once you know the story, it gets even kind of creepier and spookier. Like if you don't notice it the storyline immediately. But there's just so many things. So you're going through different rooms and different parts of Haunted Mansion. And but if you look at like say one corner or focus on one area of the room, and then the next time you can focus on a different area of the room, or just like just keep looking around. You can there's so many different things that so you can ride it so many times and see something, notice something different each time. It's true. There is so much to look at. And I keep and as you're talking about it, I'm like, yeah, I'm kind of imagining myself on the ride and I'm looking at all these things, and I'm looking at it with the eyes of this is so a magic. Like, obviously, it's not you know, it's not scary in that you think it's nothing like, I don't know, those crazy Halloween, yeah, scary things that they do to that. Ellen used to make Ellen Generis used to make her guy Andy go through. You know what I'm talking about? Around Universal. Like they're insanely zombie, da-da-da. It's not, it's no with jump scares and screaming, and I don't I don't personally like those kinds of things. I don't either, and that's not what this is like at all. It's just a nice, it's a nice creepy story. It's creepy, but it's creepy enough that I still feel creepy, you know. Like I know none of it is real and nothing's jumping out at me, but it's creepy, and I get to the end and I still feel kind of like, okay, let's get out of here now. Yeah, you're you're you know, fine's tingling. Yeah, but also like there's okay, so there's so many different things to look at, but there's also like I don't want to give stuff away because but like with the lead up to it before you get on the ride and the kind of the waiting room areas. I mean, Disney is always fantastic for entertaining you while you're in line, but part of that whole experience, and I think one of my favorite parts is that first waiting room with the portraits. Yeah, and that's pretty cool. I really like it. Another thing, like when you're talking about watching on Disney Plus, some of the background information about Haunted Mansion, I haven't been to any of the other parks like outside of out of except for Walt Disney World. Like I haven't been to Disneyland, I haven't been to Japan or whatever. But apparently, like they're all different. All the Haunted Mansions are a little bit different. And so depending on what the culture is of the host country, so like they have it might be Haunted Mansion, but it also might be something like there was Mystic, I can't remember Mystic Manor or something. Like they just have a different storylines. So for Haunted Mansion alone, I really Want to go to the different parks and I want to see how Haunted Mansion is done in the various different countries. Yeah, and just to go back to Small World for that reason, I would love to go to Disneyland because I don't know how many times I've heard on other podcasts and in social media posts that people do that Small World at Disneyland is so much better than Small World at Walt Disney World. And I don't know, like how could it be better? I don't know. That's why I want to go find out. Like what makes it so much better? Okay, well, I don't want to be over so don't tell anyone anymore because Okay, but if anybody's listening to this and has an opinion and thinks the one in California is better, I wouldn't mind knowing why they think it's better. So you don't have to read my comments. I won't read my comments, but do do share. I mean I'm curious. Do share, send us a message. Or or the same along the same lines with Haunted Mansion. And if you've been to some of those other Haunted Mansions, which is better, I guess. Or what did you think of the different storylines? Yeah. Okay, so after Haunted Mansion, where are we headed next? Where do you want to go? Okay, well, I think we needed some we've done the classics, although there's lots and I could talk about, but I think I want a little bit of excitement. Okay. And if it's later in the day, especially the sun has gone down, I need to go to Tron light cycle run because even if you just are looking at it, it's a spectacle with the canopy all lit up. So it's cool during the day, but it's super cool at night. It's just, yeah, the lighting and you can get some really cool pictures just in front of it. However, don't just take pictures, go on this ride because it's really unique. You're on a motorcycle. Well, it's not a motorcycle, it's a light cycle, but it's motorcycle-ish. But if you're not comfortable with getting on a, you know, swinging your leg over a saddle type thing and riding it like a motorcycle, there is the option of sitting. There is like a bench seat version of that you can sit in. Yeah, at the end of one of the cars. Yeah, but it's just so fun. It's like it's a roller coaster and it's fast and it's thrilling. It's short. It is short. Maybe two minutes. Yeah. But it's also a spectacle because the lights, and of course, again, there's a story. It's a whole experience. Yes. So yeah, I would go on it because I do like I do like a good roller coaster. The lights under that canopy at night are pretty neat because they keep changing color too. And sometimes they I think they theme them too. I'm trying to remember the uh Christmas very Merry Christmas party that Charlie and I did. And did they change the colors? I can't remember anymore. But anyway, it looks cool at night. And when you're on the ride, you barely notice it because you're out under that canopy for like seconds. You know, like you're just kind of whizzing around and then you're back inside the building. Yeah. But they have there's like a when celebrities go on it, there's now like this little YouTube thing where if somebody, like a celebrity, goes on it, they'll tell them, okay, you have to, or you're up for the challenge, you have to be expressionalist while riding Tron light cycle. And so it's so funny to see like just the actors with no, like you totally when you go on this ride, you want to go, woohoo, you know, and so to try to be expressionless. I wouldn't want to take that challenge because I would want the full joy to come out while I'm on it. So anyway, I just thought it was funny. Okay, well, now that we're over in Tomorrowland, I have two favorite attractions over there, and I'm gonna pick I like okay, I'm not putting I'm not ranking them, but I have to go on the people mover. Okay. If I'm in if I'm in the Magic Kingdom, that's a must do. So And what is it? Okay, so I didn't put that on my list, but if I'm with you and you're like, let's go on the People Mover, I'm with you. I'm I'm there. I could it's again, it's easy. So people mover is such a what do you like about it? It's a great break from everything if you just need to get off your feet, chill out for 10 minutes or however long you're on the people mover for, just kind of coast around all around the tour around Tomorrowland, the nostalgic kind of retro vibe of it, of one of it's one of the original attractions at Disney World. And so it's got that 19. I guess they would have uh conceived of it in the late 50s, early 60s, because it was also over at Disneyland. And I know it was 1971 when they brought it to Florida, but it still has that kind of mid-century kind of feeling to it because of uh when it was created, I think. So I just love the like chill nature of it. I love the break. I love when you go through the building, I love when you go through Space Mountain, it's dark, and it's one of my favorites. You just feel sort of calm and I love the I don't know, I love the tour through Tomorrowland. And you know, and when the guy, the narrator that's narrating the ride, goes, Mr. Tom Morrow, paging Mr. Tom Morrow. Do you know what I'm talking about? Love a gun pun. I can't say I remember that part particularly, but I'm not good at remembering like I I never know like song lyrics or lines from movies, so that's why I was glad that you said wildest ride in the wilderness. You wouldn't have even remembered that. No, I got I got that, and mostly I would have that because Sarah says it all the time. No, I I just always like, did I get the wording right? But with tomorrow, like I really like when we go through the kind of the back part of the rides, like going through Space Mountain, for example, and you get to see kind of a different like backstage access. You don't really like it's set up for you to see it, but it's just another way to experience that whole thing. And you can hear all the people screaming on the roller coaster as you're going through it. And something else I wanted to say about the people mover is that when I took Charlie to Disney when he was nine months old, I was always looking for places that attractions we could go on or places that I could go where we could sit and I could breastfeed him or just chill out, have a quiet time. And the people mover was great for that because I could sit down and I could just hold him and we could just go on this little train ride, you know, like it you definitely can do Disney with babies. It's a different pace and it's a different motivation or whatever, I guess, for your day. But it's the people mover was really great. In addition to that, and I'm gonna take your turn because I have to link it to my other favorite attraction at Tomorrowland, which is the Carousel of Progress, which is also a great place to take your baby into because it's a solid 20 minutes, air conditioned, sitting down, dark, it's not noisy, it's not flash bangy or anything. It's just a nice show that is so nostalgic. I feel like I'm using that word a lot right now because those are my favorites. It just brings me back to my childhood and all kinds of memories. That is definitely one of my must-dos. And when I said it's a small world is probably controversial. Controversial in the sense of must-do or not must-do, like is it must-do or is it a skip? And so, sure, we would love to hear your opinions on it. Would you do some of the rides that were or attractions that we're suggesting? But I'm with you. I love Carousel of Progress. I love the song. I love I just I just like, well, I love turn of the century. Yeah. And I also love mid-century. Me too. And so it kind of, you know, it obviously touches on those different things. And even though the animatronics, some people are like, it's I can hear a friend of mine saying, like, it hasn't changed in 50 years. But I still think I still think it's so cool. Like, this is a ride that was built 50 years ago or or longer. It was for the World Fair in the 1960s, I think. But it still fascinates me how they do it and just thinking back to the engineers at that point. And I just I like the story. Oh, I know. I love the story. I love the tour through technology over the decades. You know what? It's also a really great napping point. Because if you need to have a little zissor in the part way through the day, totally you it's cool, it's comfortable. You know, no, you don't have to worry about an actor, like a live actor, and being rude because you're you've done a little long blank shut eye. Yeah. So you could take you could take a little nap. I don't think I have ever done that, but I know people who have. Yeah, I think I've probably dozed off a t once or twice, but here we're saying these are like if you're only at Magic Kingdom for a day, what must you do? Go take a nap in the carousel of progress. Well, no, no, no, no. I wouldn't take a nap, but that's how you could sell it to people in your group who might be a little bit more like bah humbugger about it and not want to go on that boring thing. Well, you know what? If you're not gonna, if you don't dig it like I do, great. You know what? Just enjoy the air conditioning and keep quiet. Yeah, that's good advice. What else do you have on your list? Well, now I just keep thinking it's a great big beautiful tomorrow. What else is on my list? Well, let's stick with Tomorrowland. And I really love going on Buzz Lightyear. So it's called Buy Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, is the technical term for it. But that's the the fun, interactive, competitive one where you get to like shoot lasers for points. So it's kind of like you're in an arcade game. I'm not very good. I think you're pretty good at you know the tips and tricks of how to get a high school. I'm terrible at it. I'm terrible, but not great at it, but I don't care. I will keep trying and I'll keep going on it so that you can yeah, get more points. But also, I think it's a really fun, you get a picture at the end of it. It's one of those ones where you can get a photo pass picture. And the photo pass pictures are always really fun because it's also just your two people in one of those little buzzlight year spinny rocket ships or whatever space ranger ships. And so most likely you're if you're traveling with you probably know the other person that's with you sometimes. If you're a solo travel, you might be paired with somebody, but you get a picture of the two of you looking very intense at trying to get all of your laser shots. So it's fun for that reason, but it's also just fun, like it's really interactive, a little competitive. And they've just recently refurbished that ride, and I think it's open again, or if it hasn't opened, it's going to open soon. So you know how the laser guns were attached to the ride vehicle, and you just kind of swiveled them around and you could like lever them up and down, or you could go left and right or whatever, and you could try to shoot things. They're now a free, I mean, they're not free floating, they're attached still, but more like you can pick it up with your hand, it's attached by a cord, and you have a lot more range of motion with it. Oh and they're smaller. And I've seen a few videos of it, but I haven't seen that much. I just know that they've refurbed the ride and the the uh laser, it was like the laser game that you're playing that they've updated and oh cool, improved, I guess. Well, and okay, well, I can't wait to go on it again then. But it's kind of like not not at Magic Kingdom, but over at Hollywood Studios with a Toy Story and the competitive nature of that one. But that one I end up hurting my arm because you gotta fire the little. I do not have enough. It makes me realize I need to do more push-ups or something. You need to train for that one. But Buzz Lightyear, no, you can just get up off the couch on that one and just shoot your laser. Just get your thumbs up. It's fun for everybody because there's fun for young kids, and even even mom and dad were, you know, so you can get the grandparents in on it too. It's fun for everybody. Well, I'm almost at the end of my list, and I mean, I could just talk about every attraction at Magic Kingdom, but I was trying to narrow it down to my some of my favorites. And I'm looking at my list and realizing that they are all attractions that existed since the beginning or near the beginning of Disney World. I didn't choose Tron, I didn't choose a lot of things that are newer, Mickey's Philharmagic, like uh the the uh I want to say honeypot, Mooney the Pooh. It's like any of those newer ones. I'm sad that the one of my favorite rides was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and that's gone. It still exists at Disneyland, but it's not uh at Disney World anymore. Anyways, my list is all these rides that are from the past, those are my favorites. So my last one brings me back to Fantasyland, and it's Peter Pan. Of course. Peter Pan is pretty spectacular, and it's it's one that you would want to get if you were gonna do lightning lanes or or have a rope drop strategy. It's a very popular one, and the lineups can get quite long. But it's they're slow, they're long. The the thing with Peter Pan is that they don't have the capacity to move people as quickly through it as, for example, Small World, where they can I didn't look up the stats, but like a thousand people a minute or it's not that it's not that fast, but it's the numbers are like 1,500 compared to 600 or something. Like it's quite a lot less in terms of the capacity of it. So the line goes very slowly. And they did change the lineup, the queue in the last mm years, past few years. I don't know when they did it, but it used to be a very painful lineup to stand in, and now it kind of goes in and back around behind, and it goes into that sort of more interactive area where you're going into the darling's home and into the children's bedroom. And there's you know what I'm talking about. Yeah. So what is it? Why did it make your list? Like I agree with you. I I'm there with you. If you want to go on Peter Pan's flight, I'm not putting up a fight. But why did you put it in your must-do list? I think Peter Pan in general, not just the Disney ride, but th the story, the play written by JM Berry, the movie that Disney made, the animated movie just brings me to this time of uh uh that I love, this era that I love of Britain and London, I guess, and the homes and the I'm not sure what like the 1800s, I guess. It just I don't know. I just love the era and then the magic of the children's imaginations. So for you, it sounds like for you it's the story of Peter Pan that you're really connected with, and it's not so much necessarily the ride itself, like the fact that you're in a floating sailing. I do love no the floating, yeah, the floating pirate ship. And I do love, and I can remember as a kid, like loving the glow in the dark aspect of it. And now as an adult, I look at it and I look more closely, like especially from a theater perspective, and I'm looking at like how you would build this set to tell this story and the paint that they've used. And I know I go down this it's not losing the magic, but it's like it's looking at it through a different lens. Like I can either just ride the ride and enjoy the story and love the nostalgic feeling I get, or I can also look at it with the how what color of paint did they use and how do they shine that light on this to make it do that? And yeah. That all the different effects. Yeah. No, I agree. Peter Pan's flight is is another classic. And I like when you're just going into the attraction, like once you sat on the um pirate ship, and the bar, that safety bar comes down towards you, and they say, Don't pull on the bar or whatever, and the cast member that's standing at the edge right before you go into the attraction kind of does this sort of back and forth wiggling fingers as if they're sprinkling pixie dust, tinkerbells pixie dust over your the bar of your ride vehicle, and then it closes. I don't know if I've ever noticed anybody do that before. You're just too excited to see. I'm just too excited. Yeah, they do it. So now you're gonna have to watch it. They've always done it. I can't remember them not doing it. See, those are things like sometimes I just I just get in the line and I focus. Like I think I'm just so amazed at the the what you like the ride vehicle, like that. Oh, I got the blue sail pirate ship, or you know, and the artwork and those things that I didn't, I don't think I ever noticed that part of it. That's neat. Well, I kind of you know how you mentioned everything on your list were the classic rides, but and the the ones that were a lot of them were originals. I sprinkled in a few that are are newer rides like Tron and Buzz Lightyear, etc. But those are the ones that lasted. So clearly, clearly we're not alone, you know, because if they weren't popular, they would have been updated, replaced, because some of our favorites have been replaced by newer rides, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I don't know if that was ever a favorite of mine, actually, but it's been replaced. Tiano's Bayou has been, you know, it was a re-reimagined ride. So I think like It's a Small World or Peter Pan or Pirates of the Caribbean. If we were alone in our thoughts of like these are our favorites, we wouldn't alone. We're clearly not alone with those ideas. Okay, well, from big opinions to a little burst of Disney magic, let's get into our magic minute. Okay, so you actually touched on my topic for magic minute already. And it is since we're talking about favorite rides, and this is one of my favorite rides that is no longer at Walt Disney World. My magic minute is about the very fun, chaotic Mr. Toad's Wild ride, which you have mentioned that it was one of the original ones, but at Walt Disney World, it closed down in 1998, and it's still at Disneyland, California Disneyland. You can still ride it's a Mr. Toad's Wild ride. I don't know if it's exactly the same ride as what was at Walt Disney World, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty darn similar, at least the storyline. And so the storyline was about Mr. Toad's Wild ride. It was based on the novel Wind in the Willows. And while Disney had made an animated movie about it, which was actually just learned about this, it was combined with uh The Adventures of Ichabod. It was the move, the movie was called The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, but really they're two separate stories. So we're probably a lot of us are familiar with the adventures of Ichabod because they show that a lot of the time around Halloween time because of the theming of it. But I don't know if they show Mr. Toad. Anyway, so the I guess that's why because people weren't very familiar with Wind and the Willows and the Adventures of Mr. Toad. So it eventually got replaced with the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh. But here's a little fun fact: there's actually a bit of a link. So the rides themselves follow the same track, but the storyline is completely different. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was very chaotic, very dark, probably scary for lots of little kids. I know we loved it when we were kids, and but it was spooky scary, things jumping out at you. And it's replaced with the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh, much calmer, more gentle, young child family ride kind of friendly. But this was a link that I just learned about. The Wind and the Willows, the novel that it's the ride is based on, the characters that it's based on, was actually there was a play adaptation that was done. Well, guess who wrote the play adaptation of The Wind and the Willows? It was A.A. Milne, who is the author of The Winnie But Winnie and the Pooh. Oh, that's an interesting connection. Yeah. So even though, you know, some of us are very sad that Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is no longer at Walt Disney World. Also, another little fun fact: there's an Easter egg you can look for at Haunted Mansion because they've done a tribute to Mr. Toad in the pet cemetery over at Haunted Mansion. So look for that, the Mr. Toad tribute. And that is my magic minute. Okay. Facts about Mr. Toad's wild ride. Love it. Well, my magic minute is about what was the first ride at Disney World. So I did a little research to learn that the first slash oldest ride at Walt Disney World is actually Prince Charming's Regal Carousel. And it was built in 1917. It was it's been at Walt Disney World since opening day, 1971. It was originally named the Liberty Carousel. It was purchased from New Jersey in 1967 and then it was refurbished for Florida. And so because it's its location right behind Cinderella Castle, it is touted as being the oldest ride at or the first ride at Walt Disney Worlds because, or the earliest rides, I guess, because people would have encountered it first as they came into the park on opening day. So it would have been the first one that they would have ridden. And the character. Carousels are symbolic of Disney parks. That Walt Disney himself was inspired by watching carousels with his daughters when he was dreaming up his dreams of Disneyland. And a little bit of nuance about this first ride is that there were other attractions that were there, obviously, on opening day. It wasn't the only one. So Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, it's a small world. We're all open at the same time on opening day. But so there isn't actually an official first ride that was ever built. But the carousel is often cited as the first one that guests rode, and it's a symbolic starting point. Well, that's it for this episode of Rope Drop and Run. Join us next time for a full breakdown of our Star Wars experience at Galaxy's Edge in Hollywood Studios. If you like what you heard, share this episode with a friend and follow us on Instagram at Rope Drop and Run. Please follow, subscribe, leave us a review, and send us all your Disney questions. We can't wait to chat with you next time. We'll see you at the castle or the start line.