| When I told 8 year old Debbie that we would be travelling to Walt Disney World for our Father/Daughter weekend, she excitedly said, “Can I do my first Ultimate Tour?” Her older brother and sister are seasoned professionals at Ultimate Touring. They currently hold the record at Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom with me and have completed a total of 5 tours plus various tests. The older kids told her to pick Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios because, “They are easy.” Debbie is an adventurous child and wanted a challenge, so she picked the Magic Kingdom. I tried to disuade her from the choice by informing her it would take over 12 hours to complete, but he was adamant that she wanted to try that park. Initially she merely wanted to complete a core run that would require us seeing 45 attractions. She later asked to add on “all the little shows,” meaning she wanted to see things like the Casey Corner Pianist and the Dapper Dans. I created a new plan the day before we left for our trip. We didn’t see Push, but she saw all the other shows.We chose a day that offered Morning Extra Magic Hours, so we could knock out a lot of the slow-loading attractions before the crowd arrived. We were running a little behind because we had to take the resort monorail and it was running quite slowly, but we arrived a few minutes before Mickey and the gang came out to open the park. Debbie was really excited to make her first attempt.After the Magic Kingdom Welcome show completed, we hustled off for her first ride on the all new Dumbo. She was thrilled with soaring over the water and loved the way it looked. She liked being able to peer into New Fantasyland and asked me several questions about Ariel and Belle’s new castles. We hurried over to Barnstormer to find that the queue line actually runs backwards now. We boarded in the former exit and exited in the former entrance. I liked the theming of the old version of the ride itself better, but like the new queue line much better.It’s off to Neverland! We enjoyed our short trip with Peter Pan and made our way over to Snow White’s Scary Adventures. This would be the last time one of my children would get to ride this classic dark ride in the Magic Kingdom. I remember how terrified Debbie was when she first rode at 2 years old and how noticed how full of excitement she was at 8 years of age. We made our way to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh before knocking out Astro Orbitor early in the day. We met Chip n Dale with no wait and Debbie suggested we take in Buzz Lightyear’s ride, so I listened. She was right, there was no one in line. We were well on our way with 9 attractions in one hour.Debbie asked to ride one of her favorites, it’s a small world, next. I obliged her desire and we sang along, she was all smiles (missing some teeth, of course.) I suggested we get Haunted Mansion over since there was no line. We had fun saying the spiel in the stretching room and startling people with a nice scream at the end. She used to lay her head in my lap and close her eyes and cover her ears on this ride, now she sits up and sings, “Grim, Grinning Ghosts” with me. We saw Davy Crocket Donald and met him quickly before jaunting off to ride a Magic Carpet. She had hoped that Aladdin would ride with her, but he was already meeting guests. We grabbed a Jungle Cruise Fastpass and headed off to Splash Mountain. 14 attractions in just over 2 hours.Being the character schedule guy that I am, I knew that Pooh and Tigger would arrive in a minute or two, so we waited. She had so much fun laughing at and jumping with Tigger. I wish it had been in photos. Tigger was kind of poking with her about how she is shorter than him. Even though we were on a Ultimate Tour, I didn’t want to hurry her time with her characters; they are too real to cheat her of her time. We met Goofy with little wait and he suggested that we ride his attraction, so it’s “a pirate’s life for me.”I didn’t realize that Debbie had never tried the Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade. She didn’t really understand what she was doing, so it took a little time to explain. We used that Jungle Cruise FP before climbing the treehouse and driving the little boats. That was the longest the little boat she was driving had ever lasted. I thought we’d be there driving that boat all day. Since we were in the area we caught Captain Jack’s show.
We meandered the crowd that was becoming much more dense by the moment and we were walking against them by heading toward Main St. Really, who heads to Main St. at 11:40 a.m.? We caught several of the little shows and got in our obligatory and mandatory Main St. Trolley ride. It really helps to plan when you know that the final trolley of the day always arrives about 11:55 a.m. We watched the Trolley Party for 5 minutes, which requires walking back down Main St a little bit before listening to the Casey’s Corner Pianist. He played Zip a dee do dah at Debbie’s request.
We would then head to Fantasyland, Liberty Square, Frontierland and Adventureland. Magic Kingdom Ultimates require a lot of zig-zagging over the park to acquire Fastpasses and catch shows. Debbie really enjoyed playing on the Barrel Bridge and walking through the cave on Tom Sawyer Island. At this point we took the Railroad and chose to exit at Main St because the Princesses reported a 5 minute wait. We waited much longer and the line was moving, so it was back to the train.
Debbie was hungry after completing 37 attractions in under 7 hours so we grabbed one order of chicken nuggets to split and listened to the best intergalactic lounge singer in the Milky Way. It was time for the 3:00 parade! Debbie loves parades and the family in front of us let her watch the parade beside their children. She smiled and waived at each character as they marched by in the hub. We obtained a Fastpass for Space Mountain while visiting several attractions that usually have little or no wait. She always holds my hand when she rides Space Mountain. She usually rides in the front, but for the sake of the necessary photo, I sat in front and reached back to hold her hand. We shot basketball, I won in a rather large margin and we headed out for Debbie’s first ever Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom experience. She did it! She actually defeated the evil Cruella De Vil. Who would have thought??? We watched the always moving Flag Retreat next. I was awed by the manor in which the veteran held the flag. He has such high regard for our country after risking his life for her in the military. It was just after 9 hours down and we had completed 46 attractions.
We watched Dream Along with Mickey with our friend Varsenik, who enjoys Ultimate Touring as well, before heading off to the Frontierland Hoedown. Br’er Bear loved our Splash Mountain shirts, (they were the only ones we could find beforehand in both our sizes), so much that he asked us to pose for a photo with him. He wasn’t allowed to sign an autograph (or couldn’t?) so we didn’t count him in our grand total. We hustled back to the Castle Hub to see the floats for Move It Shake It heading up Main St.
Debbie almost fell asleep in the Hall of Presidents before we met her favorite Princesses and Mickey Mouse. It was now 7:00 p.m. and we had completed 52 attractions. After 11 hours or roaming the park, I thought she would be tired, but she was still skipping as we made out way through out checklist of attractions. We waited a total of 35 minutes for Tinker Bell and only waited a total of 137 minutes all day. We were able to get in 3 additional Sorcerers missions before they turned them off 15 minutes prior to closing that night. We were able to complete out adventure with 64 attractions in 15 hours and 14 minutes and she was still wide awake after the 11:00 parade. I had to explain that the park was no closed, but she had done very well! When I started the car, she went out like a light and I got to carry her to the room that night. |
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Kenny, I’ve never really considered doing an ultimate (for one thing, we don’t get to DW that often and I don’t know of I could fit it in) but this really makes me want to try one with my dd’s. My oldest is 10 and the youngest is 3. So obviously I have a while with the youngest but I will have to get on it with my oldest. Looks like such a special memory. Thanks for sharing it.
You’re very welcome! I hope your character finding is a fun as ours was.
KtP
Kenny, Love the site and following your ultimate tours on twitter and Lines! My daughter (9yo) and I will have one day in the MK before we go on our first cruise in July. I’d love to do an ultimate tour with her. Any tips? How do you think the morning strategy should change now that Dumbo has fastpass?
I would still ride dumbo first, then barnstormer, pan, pooh and astro orbiter. You’ll have no wait vs 10-15 min wait. What date are you looking at?
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thanks for the advice! We are going on July 12th.
This is super special
I love it , thanks for sharing!
Hey Kenny, I was considering doing an ultimate tour at magic kingdom on my next trip and wanted your opinion on which date i should choose. I’m between December 30th, which I know is super crowded, but the park is open from 8am-3am, or January 3rd which would be a bit less crowded, but the park is only open from 8am-10pm. Thoughts? And btw your site is terrific thanks for everything!
I’d go with Jan 3 unless you are hoping to shoot for the record.
KtP
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