DLR & WDW, which rides are a must and which can be skipped?

[Aisling]

We're going to WDW for the first time next week and are wondering what rides we absolutely must ride and which ones are similar enough to DLR that we can skip them?

I've heard Toy Story Mania is exactly the same, so that's skippable, but Tower of Terror is slightly different.

Which rides do you think we can bypass to save time?

We're AP holders and go to Disneyland all the time. The sheer size of WDW has me a little freaked out - Disneyland is so tiny!

Thanks for your help!

[Joannelet]

You won't have to ride pirates or soarin. DL's pirates are better. We have only a portion of that ride in wdw. Go on carousel of progress, spaceship earth. Fantasmic is diff than the one in CA. I believe all the shows at both parks including the fireworks are different so check those out. The hall of presidents, test track, kilamanjaro safari, everest, chinese theater at dhs, our nemo isn't underywater so it is definitely different. A lot of the rides at magic kingdom are the same as magic kingdom in dl but the haunted mansions are different in architecture etc. So you shouldn't skip those.

[BrerGnat]

You can actually skip quite a bit.

In general, since you will be there during such a busy time, knock out the WDW specific attractions first.

Then...

The following are better at WDW:
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Tower of Terror

The following are different enough at WDW to warrant a ride through:
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
Astro Orbiter

You can skip the following entirely (the attractions themselves are IDENTICAL at both properties)

-Soarin'
-Muppets 3D
-A Bug's Life 3D movie
-Toy Story Midway Mania

You can skip the following because they are inferior to DL's version (In my opionion):

-Fantasmic!
-Wishes (although, see the Magic, Memories, and You preshow on the castle...I'd honestly ditch on the fireworks part if you've seen the DL fireworks in the past couple years. Wishes is lame! You'll get a jump on the exiting crowds)
-Dumbo
-Peter Pan's Flight
-Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
-WDW Railroad
-Tiki Room

Almost everything at Animal Kingdom is worth trying. However, if you've ridden Grizzly River Run, you'll find Kali River Rapids very disappointing, so I'd skip that one unless it's a walk on.

And, finally, GO TO THE WATERPARKS! This is sorely missing in CA, and the waterparks are amazing!

[Totodog]

I would throw in WDW Space Mountain as being inferior to the DL version.

[BrerGnat]

I would throw in WDW Space Mountain as being inferior to the DL version.

Ah yes! How could I forget that?

VERY true. Although, it's still worth a ride through because the queue is cool, and it's basically a different attraction, to include different ride vehicles.

[Fangorn]

The sheer size of WDW has me a little freaked out - Disneyland is so tiny!

Here's a tidbit that will add a dimension to the size issue:

Virtually all of Disneyland inside the berm (inside the RR track) would fit in the World Showcase Lagoon at Epcot. They are both roughtly 40 acres.

Steve

[Aisling]

Thanks so much for your input! I knew MK was pretty similar to DL and you all confirmed that.

BrerGnat, we're hitting the water parks at least two times, if not more - that was the condition my husband insisted on!

We bought the Premier passes for California & Florida parks, so we're also going to DisneyQuest (husband and son are HUGE video game freaks).

We'll be there almost two weeks, so we have loads of time to cruise around.

We're seeing all the fireworks shows just because I love me some good fireworks. That, and we're staying at the Contemporary, so we have to do the grill show/thing at least once.

If you think of anything else, let me know! We leave Saturday...

[mjm12000]

Be sure to try things outside the parks as well like renting the water mice at your Resort to go for a spin around Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon, it is tons of fun. There is also La Nouba at Downtown Disney if you are into Cirque Du Soleil shows. And if you have time and are a big Disney fan any of the tours are great to do as well, my personal favorite is the Backstage Magic tour.

[Aisling]

mjm, yep, we're doing all those things as well. I've got rest days planned into the schedule so we can play around the resort. And we're seeing Cirque on one of those days so I can shop in DTD.

What about Winnie the Pooh? Must ride? Skip? Is it different from DL?

Thanks again!

[BrerGnat]

mjm, yep, we're doing all those things as well. I've got rest days planned into the schedule so we can play around the resort. And we're seeing Cirque on one of those days so I can shop in DTD.

What about Winnie the Pooh? Must ride? Skip? Is it different from DL?

Thanks again!

It's different. Ride it if you can get a FP. Otherwise, skip it.

[LVT]

I like the Segway tour at Fort Wilderness. There are no gators by the water at DL.

[mouseketeer mom]

Even though some of the rides are "better" at DL, like Pirates for example, I think the sheer fun of comparing rides is a hoot. We loved doing this, we kept a tally, Pirates is better at DL, IASW better at DL, Splash better at WDW...and so on!! I would try to hit some of the familiar, just to compare, its an awful lot of fun!!

[kemps@wdw]

If you're a regular @ DL, then you'll find some of the attractions differ somewhat. I can only recommend what I do for others. Get the planning dvd and google as many "Walt Disney World Attraction Videos" as possible. Alot of the "must-dos" will depend on the ages of your kids. The older our DD gets, the more her must-dos, and ours, changes.