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Scapp70's Top 50 Favorite Things To Do In Walt Disney World (20 - 11)Dec 20 '06 (Updated Jul 21 '09) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Four parts down, one to go! 20. Columbia Harbour House is an eatery in the Magic Kingdom located on the fringe of Liberty Square. The decor is nautical/American from the 1800s, the atmosphere is sort of dark due to the dark brown wood of the walls and furniture and the dim chandeliers, but upstairs it's a nice sunny feeling. The food is ordered at the counter and you carry your tray of food to your table. Chicken strips, Mac and cheese, French fries, fried fish and that's pretty much it that's available at this stop. So, it's not for the food that I love it so much, but the location in Liberty Square, and the nostalgic decor makes it a favorite of mine. 19. The World of Disney Store is located in the Marketplace in Downtown Disney. It is, in a word, tremendous. The size is approximately 51,000 square feet and is divided up into a number of different really big rooms with innumerable items for sale. If you have a need for anything Disney, it's likely you'll find it here. This has a lot of the items that you would find at the stores in the parks. Recently, they have added a couple of new features in this store. The more popular of the two is the small salon in The Princess Room called Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. This salon transforms your little girl into a little Disney princess. On my last trip to the Marketplace, I've noticed many little girls looking a little too princess like, and this salon was the reason. The other recent change is in The Adventure Room, where they have made a little space dedicated to Pirates of the Caribbean. There's even an audio-animatronic pirate character named Rusty Blade greeting you at the door. 18. Dinosaur is located in the Animal Kingdom park. The first time you ride, it is surprisingly thrilling and may startle more than just the kids. Children will be frightened by this dark and very loud ride. The attraction tells a story of going back through time to try and bring back a living specimen of a more friendly variety of dinosaur to current times. The time machine is shaped like a jungle jeep and can be quite rough. Riding through the jungle during a meteor shower is very realistic, and the dinosaurs chasing you in the dark allow your imagination to race and scare you the most. In true Disney fashion, they will snap a picture of you in your most vulnerable moment and then sell it to you. 17. Test Track is located in EPCOT. This ride had replaced a true favorite of mine, which was the World of Motion pavilion. Because of this, I didn't give it much of a chance for a few years - but then slowly warmed up to it. Now, as you can see, this is one of my favorites. The theme of this attraction is safety in automobiles and the rigorous testing that cars go through before they hit the dealerships. So when you get in the car, you go through many tests such as rough roads, sharp turns, break systems, bitter cold, high heat and even corrosion. The last test is of course the huge wall you have to crash through, at the last second the wall is gone and you are traveling around 60 mph around the...you got it, the Test Track. It is lots of fun, even the kids love this one and it continues to be one of the longest lines in EPCOT. 16. Space Mountain, located in The Magic Kingdom is a classic. If people were to make a silly list like me, this ride would be most of those lists. Space Mountain has gone through some refurbishments and changes over the years, but has been around since almost the very beginning. This attraction opened first here in Florida's Walt Disney World back in the beginning of 1975. It is an indoor roller coaster, with a dark ambience of outer space. This roller coaster has no steep hills, and you do not go upside down - yet it still has a thrill factor mostly because it is so dark. You can't really see the track, so turns and smaller dips are usually a surprise. The waiting area is really cool too, it resembles a space station and the spacey music adds to the mounting anticipation. 15. The monorail/the ferry is not such great fun in the actual trip across the lake, but the anticipation of the first ride on that first day is exciting, especially for the little ones in your party. I always seemed to choose the monorail over the ferry for many years, not until these last two years have I rode the ferry. The ferry feels new to me, so I sort of prefer it over the monorail right now. 14. The Maelstrom, or as I like to call it, the Norway Ride is located in the Norway Pavilion in EPCOT. Like many of Disney's rides, this also is a boat ride, here the vessel is a Viking boat. You encounter some Norwegian mythological trolls at first as you sail backwards through the attraction. When you come to the edge of a waterfall and teeter for a second you finally move forward, somewhat rapidly surprisingly down a pretty big hill. Now you would pass polar bears and oil rigs in a more recent and realistic time. The boat docks in a really attractive harbor town. If your ride the Maelstrom for the first time, stay and watch the film about Norway. If you've seen it before, you're probably like me and pass through the theater towards the exit. This ride is one of those that is a FAST PASS must. Even when the parks aren't even close to it's peak attendance, the line is usually pretty long. FAST PASS lets you cruise straight to the front, I've never waited longer than 3 minutes with the FAST PASS. 13. The Mexico Pavilion is probably my favorite of all the countries in EPCOT. The atmosphere inside the giant pyramid is an evening outdoors in Mexico. The big fountain, the San Angel restaurant, the colorful merchandise and if you're lucky - a live Mariachi band playing some traditional and contemporary music. Then, there's the boat ride down the ramp, El Rio Del Tiempo. I view this attraction as a Mexico exclusive extension of It's A Small World attraction. There are similar puppet figures and great music. Now some people may be put off by that comparison, but I think it's a plus. Rumors of an upgrade in 2007 to coincide with EPCOT's 25th anniversary are pretty strong. I trust Disney a lot, but I still pray that any refurbishments do not diminish any of the magic of this ride. 12. 50's Prime Time Cafe is a sit down restaurant located at the Disney MGM Studios theme park. Admittedly, aside from the vanilla milk shake, I'm not such a big fan of the food here. Having said that, it's still one of the places I like to go to experience the ambiance of yesteryear. As you wait to be seated, you and your party can sit down and watch some black & white TV shows from the 1950s sitting in your own retro living room. When "mom" calls you to dinner, you'll head on over to the kitchen and sit down and eat. The choices are dishes like fried chicken, meatloaf, pot roast and other home style foods. Each person's taste is different, while I may not enjoy the taste of these foods, my wife loves them. Just remember that there is no smoking and keep your elbows off the table. 11. Spaceship Earth is one of my favorites from EPCOT. It's a relaxing 20 minutes ride through time as you learn about the history of communications from the "cave men" with cave wall illustrations, to Ancient Greek theatre, to the Roman roads, to the early American printing press to the present day and even the future. All of these scenes are illustrated with the Disney Audio-Animatronic technology. Any Disney attraction that features their audio-animatronic characters are among my favorites. Spaceship Earth is located inside the huge sphere as soon as you enter the park, the line is almost always short or non-existent. Even on the peek days when the lines are long, they are constantly moving, because the ride is constantly moving. It's very impressive just to be inside the sphere, but the attraction itself is even more so. ~~~~~~~~~~Some More Disney-Related Epinions From Scapp70~~~~~~~~~~ The Music: Disney’s Music From the Park Disney’s Greatest - Volume One Disney’s Greatest - Volume Two Classic Disney Volume One Classic Disney Volume Two Classic Disney Volume Three Classic Disney Volume Four Classic Disney Volume Five Disney's Christmas Favorites Vol. 1 Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse Disney: The Music Behind the Magic: 50 Songs Celebrating 50 Years of Walt Disney Records The Parks: Soarin’ Haunted Mansion Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Mickey's Backyard BBQ Families First Vacation Homes Scapp70’s 50 Favorite Things To Do In Walt Disney World (part 1) – 50 - 41 Scapp70’s 50 Favorite Things To Do In Walt Disney World (part 2) – 40 - 31 Scapp70’s 50 Favorite Things To Do In Walt Disney World (part 3) – 30 - 21 Scapp70’s 50 Favorite Things To Do In Walt Disney World (part 4) – 20 - 11 Scapp70’s 50 Favorite Things To Do In Walt Disney World (part 5) – 10 - 1 The Books: The Haunted Mansion – From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies Popping Up Around Walt Disney World The Movies Scapp70’s Top 10 Favorite Disney Animated Movies Toy Story (3-Disc Ultimate Toy Box DVD Set  |
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