Top 10 Must Do Walt Disney World Attractions

William:   Welcome to the Orlando Local show, episode number fifteen.

Hi and thank you for joining us on the Orlando Local Show. My name is William Beem.

Lee:         Hi, my name is Lee Beem.

William:   And today we want to talk to you about our top ten must do attractions at Walt Disney World.  These are the ones that, if you’re going to take a trip there – and we’re talking about more than a day trip – you’ve got to do these. These are the ones that you just can’t live without.

And to make it a little bit more confusing, we both have different lists of our top ten.

Lee:         And we haven’t seen each other’s list.

William:   In  the spirit of goodwill and humanity and all that stuff, I’m going to let Lee go first, but before I let her do that I just want to remind you that you can find show notes for this episode at orlandolocal.com/15 and of course we would love it if you would subscribe to us there. Go ahead and check it out. Now onto our show.

See I never get to say “Onto our show.”

Lee:         Well, now we’re onto our show.

William:   It wasn’t nearly as satisfying or fulfilling as I thought it would be.

Lee:         We should try phrasing it differently next time.

William:   Next time. Alright. Your top ten must do, and we’re talking about something that this is for a trip – not just a day trip – because we’re talking about ten attractions in a day and that’s really going to be overkill. It can be done, but if you are going to go through all of Walt Disney World, that means anything in the four parks counts.

Lee:         Yes and we’ve done four parks in a day challenge and really, I think we only managed to do it because we agreed to do a handful of things in each park. I think it was two.  It’s doable, but that is not for a restful day.

William:   Yeah, to me that’s not an enjoyable way to take the parks, but let’s say that you’ve got a week, two weeks or something like that. You’ve got a certain amount of time; you want to hit your favorite ones. So why don’t you go ahead. Let’s stop waiting and start telling me, what are your favorite ones?

Lee:         Alright, these are not in any particular order of preference. I just picked a park, which is Magic Kingdom, to start and I’ve run through the things where .... Put it this way: if we found out that one of them was down for refurbishment during a trip, we would have been pretty bummed about it. So these are my favorites.

For the Magic Kingdom I’ve got Splash Mountain.

William:   I knew Splash Mountain was going to be on the list.

Lee:         I love the attention to detail. I think it’s a beautiful ride. It’s not so much the ride experience or any kind of thrill. I think it’s just the amount of detail that they’ve put into the story.  We rode it I don’t know how many times and we still sometimes see things that we haven’t noticed before. I think that’s what I love about Disney’s attractions. So Splash Mountain – for me that’s kind of a creative, arty thing and that’s why I love it.

Space Mountain took me a while to get into that. That is a favorite of Tové’s, which I guess kind of means it has to be a favorite of mine. I did get into it and I really do think that it’s something that I wouldn’t want to miss. Unlike Tové, I cannot ride it over and over. This is probably an age thing.

William:   Yeah, she’s fourteen and she will go on this like three or four times in a row if she can. If the line is not too long she will just keep going on it.

Lee:         I was able to do that until my late 20’s or early 30’s and then all of sudden my body said, “You know, after the second round I’m going to give you grief about this.”

William:   OK, you brought something up and I want to ask you about this.  We are talking about your must do. Is this must do because of what you want to do, or must do because of what your family wants?

Lee:         I think the two mingle so tightly that it is almost impossible to separate them. If you are going as a family, even if everyone has different things that they must do, you are going to have to merge things together to accommodate everybody.

William:   I think you’re right and I think also at the end of this we will have to give my ten and there are probably going to be some differences from yours. We are going to have to see if we can merge them together and come up with a final ten.

Lee:         Yes. Put it this way, to further answer your question, if I went on my own I would be looking for a slightly different experience as to what I would do as a family.

William:   Alright, so you’ve already put in some compromise to this in the first place?

Lee:         I had, but that is compromise that was in there from our earlier experiences with Disney.  I learned to love the things that we got to do together and that played a big part in them becoming favorites.

William:   Believe it or not, that is going to feature in one of my suggestions too. But alright, go ahead, what is number three?

Lee:         Big Thunder Mountain. I love that.

William:   That one’s under refurbishment.

Lee:         It is. I know. We are lucky this wasn’t a planned trip, but you know that is kind of sentimental to me. I love the theme of the ride. It has got a bit of a comical take on the whole thing. I love the little signs they’ve got there and I’ve used some a few times as a cheeky profile photo.

William:   But even just the ride itself is just a fun ride.

Lee:         It is. And the queue area, if you have time to go through it, it’s actually worth having a look at all the little details in there.

Now that is also kind of sentimental. When Tové was six, after Goofy’s Barnstormer, which was her introduction to rollercoasters after a bad experience in a theme park where she claimed she didn’t like them and would never do them again, this was the first big kids’ coaster that she did. She loved it!

William:   Oh good!

Lee:         I really didn’t see that much of the ride. I just stared at her face. It was absolute delight. And for me, that was a big thing because on that trip she had set out quite opposed to doing anything scary, which included any kind of rollercoasters or anything in the dark and I had accepted that I was going to have to do whatever she was comfortable doing. I had kind of written off the chance to do that. So this is kind of special to me.

The People Mover. We love the People Mover. It’s a relaxing ride. It is a nice way to take time out and also, I think if you’ve got a bigger family, you get to all ride together. If you’ve got a family of two average sized adults and four youngish children or maybe two young kids and two teens, you can probably get into one car without too much trouble. And I like being able to do things together. I think there is always a bit of a need to separate just because of the seating configurations on many of these rides and that is not one of them.

We are now moving onto the Animal Kingdom. Expedition Everest, I love. Tové loves it. She hated it the first time she went on it and said she was never doing it again.

William:   Really? Why did she hate it?

Lee:         You know she was within the height requirement, but my feel when they strapped her in was that she just looked uncomfortable; just the position of the lap bar. She was very securely strapped, but I think sometimes the support in the backrest or the headrest can make you feel a little bit awkward. I know I always have this problem on Thunder Mountain because I’m usually the smallest person in the car and when you’ve got a single lap bar for more than one person I’ve actually slid underneath and got jammed where I just couldn’t move. It makes you feel insecure, so I think that was a frightening feeling if you’re quite new to rollercoasters.

William:   Well, let’s go on the other side. Why do you love it?

Lee:         I love it because it’s the novelty of going backwards. Again, it’s the theme, but it’s a completely different kind of rollercoaster. It’s not your same old up and down the track and all the rest. You get different views in it as well. I love Disney’s attractions because they take you through a story and I love stories.

Everest is something very different to anything that I’ve experienced anywhere else, even in terms of themed stories.

William:   Well, even on the way there you are kind of walking through that little section of Animal Kingdom and it’s almost like you are going through a village before you got up to the mountain.

Lee:         It is.

William:   They’ve got the flags over there and if you go inside one of the shops, they’ve got this big thing made to look kind of like a monument at the beginning.

Lee         Yes. I think the other thing is I love trains. This is a train coaster! Maybe that’s ...

William:   Just like Big Thunder Mountain.

Lee:         Yes, and I’ve always had a thing about trains. I mean as a little kid, my friends were playing with dolls and things like that and I was setting up train sets.

William:  OK, what’s next.

Lee:         Next is a show.  It is the Festival of The Lion King.  I think this is an absolutely outstanding musical. There is so much talent in there. These are live performers. They are extremely talented. They’ve got to be well rehearsed because any mistakes that they make are going to be right there in front of you in the show.

William:   You know what? I saw this for the first time. We went there a couple of weeks ago and that’s the only time I’ve been there, but I agree with you. It really is a nice show. There is a lot of talent on stage. You’ve got the acrobats, you’ve got the four different – I guess it’s like a mother and father and son and daughter – hosting the show.  And they’ve got such powerful voices. Each one brings something a little bit different, but they all present it really very well.

Lee:         Oh, they do!

William:   It’s not just them. You’ve got the other folks who are coming in. What is there? There’s the fire dancer.

Lee:         He is amazing, yes.

William:   Yeah, it’s a really talented show.  Now the only problem I have with that one, for me though, is it depends upon the crowd that goes in there with you.

Last time, I was in there that one time and I had a kid behind me who was kicking me in the back which kind of takes away a little bit.

Lee:         It does and I think that’s a problem with any show.

William:   But the show itself really was great.

Lee:         It is. I don’t like their FastPass seating strategy. I think it’s ridiculous, but anyway, that aside, I will still suck it up because I love the show.

William:   OK where are we at on your list?

Lee:         Right. We’re moving over to Epcot now and Soarin’ is a must do. We’ve done the new one and we think it’s wonderful.

William:   I love that one.

Lee:         I love it. I also loved the old one. I know that the picture quality had kind of gone a bit.

William:   It had degraded and it needed a refurbishment.

Lee:         It needed some TLC.  I think they have done a great job with it. I did love the old one as well.  Again I think those of us who have been going to Disney for a number of years are always going to reminisce with a bit of nostalgia back to things that remind us of our first experiences. Because there is something about the first time you see something and you don’t know what to expect.

William:   Well, there is that and I remember the first time I saw Soarin’ with the old one – the original one – and I wasn’t expecting quite how it was going to feel when the chairs lift you up in the air. You almost ... I’m the person who is afraid of falling so I’m almost thinking I’ll hold onto something just so I don’t slip.

And you’re not going to slip and fall. They’ve got a very good safety system there. I don’t think anyone ... I’ve never heard of anyone falling.  They strap you in, but they give you the feeling. They’ve got little fans and you can feel the breeze going past and the original one was really a tribute to America. It was all about what’s in the United States and all the different places you can go to.

The new one is more worldwide. It’s a little bit more global.

Lee:         I think I did prefer the take on America, rather than the whole world. I do agree, it was time for a change and I’m good with that. I think they’ve done a great job with it. I think if I could pick something and have the other one redone, I would probably have a hard time resisting that request.

William:   I understand. OK, let’s go.

Lee:         Alright, now we’re going to Test Track. Now Test Track, to me this is a must do and I don’t know why. I cannot give you a reason why. It’s a short, cheap thrill. I really enjoy it. Even with no wait it takes you longer to get through the queue than it does to get through the attraction, yet it’s something that we absolutely had to do. And again, Tové loves it.

William:   Does she now?

Lee:         Oh, she loves it.

William:   Well, she likes riding in the car so maybe that’s why.

Lee:         Yes she does!

We’re moving over to Hollywood studios. Now this is a park that in terms of attractions, it doesn’t have a whole lot that I care too much about. I am more into the street entertainment and the atmosphere there.

Rock N Rollercoaster. I have always been a rollercoaster girl. My age has made certain things like the wild rides – Disney doesn’t have any of those – become a little bit more challenging, but Rock N Rollercoaster is something and I like a rollercoaster that is going to flip me.

William:   It is a fun ride, especially because they take off right off the bat.

Lee:         And with music.  I love the music.

William:   I like my Aerosmith.

Lee:         I also like Aerosmith and that was one good thing I passed onto my daughter. She learned to know about Aerosmith when she was very young so she has some kind of class when it comes to music.

And then finally, this is number ten. Again, not last on the list, but it just happens to be the last one on my notes and that is the Tower of Terror.

Again, this is about the theme rather than the thrill. I think that’s going to be the case with most of Disney’s attractions. I love getting taken through the story. I think they do an amazing job from the uniforms of the cast members at the attraction right through to when you go and collect your photos afterwards when you walk through. It feels like a hotel.

William:   It really does. And when you go and you see it is like an older, decrepit hotel, you see the cobwebs and the theme is like this is a rundown place. Why am I here?

Lee:         That’s another one of those where I think because Tové and I had done it so many times, she got very into the Disney trivia. And she started looking for details. She would see something like she’d see a key there and she would try and see if there was a number and see if she could match that up somewhere.

William:   Oh that’s pretty cool.

Lee:         And those were the kinds of things she started doing. She would catch ... there would be a book or diary or something set out and she would see it there and try and pay attention to what it said and see if she could tie it in somewhere else. Disney does do this.

William:   Oh yeah. They will leave something in the lobby and if you’re paying attention you might see it like in the video that’s leading you in when you are waiting for the ride.

Lee:         Again, this is the reason that I enjoy that ride. I think she prefers that to Rock N Rollercoaster. I think that is her favorite ride in that park. Now although it’s not first on mine, she lured me in to love it because she started showing me all these little details and it becomes a challenge to try and find everything.  So I have really enjoyed doing that with her and because we had the luxury of lengthy vacations we had time. And there were times when we would ride something and go back and do it over and over in the same day, just trying to see if we could get to the right place in the line so we could see something to spot a clue.

William:   One of the things about that is I know the version in California, Disneyland, finally shut down now. It’s no longer the Tower of Terror. They are going to turn it into a Guardians of the Galaxy ride.

Lee:         I like Guardians of the Galaxy. But that would infuriate me. I don’t like losing our kind of classics.

William:   That’s why I think a lot of people in California, people who like going to Disneyland, are saying they grew up with it (some people did anyways), why bother changing it? Why not come up with something new and original for Guardians of the Galaxy. I don’t know if Disney really needed to change it or maybe they just didn’t have the room because Disneyland is much smaller than Disney World. Maybe they didn’t have room to expand, but they still wanted to tie in with the new movie that’s coming out.

Lee:         I guess so. I mean there’s a lot of trying to tie in with movies and that’s fine, but it’s also very temporary.

William:   Yeah, and then you start losing childhood memories decades down the road. It’s like, oh I grew up with this. Oh, it’s changed now. I grew up with that.

Lee:         Those are my top ten.

William:   That’s Disneyland, so sorry I got a little off topic there. As far as I know, Tower of Terror in Orlando is staying.

Alright, so those are your top ten. So it’s my turn now, right?

Lee:         Yes, it is!

William:   Alright, so again this is in no order. Except for the first one.  Pirates of the Caribbean.  It’s not necessarily that it’s my favorite ride. I really do love it and this is one of my childhood things that I grew up with and loved, just for that stupid song if nothing else. It’s not a thrill ride. It’s a slow boat ride through a scene. I’ve seen it millions of times, yet I still love it.

Lee:         Yes. I love the pirates. I actually wrestled. I was trying to figure out if that one was going to go onto our list.

William:   I would be happy if every time I went to Magic Kingdom, my first stop was the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Lee:         We can fix that.

William:   It’s just one of those things. Keep in mind, what we do are day trips. It’s not like we are going out there as a visitor who is there for a week or so. We don’t have to do Pirates of the Caribbean every time for a day trip, but honestly, if I go in the Magic Kingdom, I really want to do Pirates.

Lee:         Yes.

William:   OK, next is Haunted Mansion. And I know that is not necessarily one of your favorites.

Lee:         No. I think 2014 was the first time I rode that and it was only because we had gone for 4^th of July and we were there with friends and family for the day to celebrate and there were, I think maybe about twelve of us – and everyone was going to ride it and I was not going to be the spoil sport to sit out and say sorry I’m not joining. These are our friends and I was going to do it.

William:   At the same time it wasn’t your kind of ride.

Lee:         No, it really wasn’t.

William:   I like it just because again, like Pirates of the Caribbean, it is one of those things I grew up with but also, at the very end you’ve got your little Doom Buggy and you see yourself in the mirror and the ghost is there. I like to take my finger and see if I can stick it up the ghost’s nose.

OK I didn’t do these in order of parks, but the next one on my list is Star Tours over at Hollywood Studios, or whatever they are going to change the name to for that park next.

Lee:         Yes. Who knows.

William:   I really love Star Tours and part of it is because I’m a big Star Wars fan. Also, because the ride is different every time you ride it. They’ve got a number of different video clips, I guess, that they show you in part of the ride. So you don’t really know how it’s going to start off – if you’re going to be seeing Darth Vader or seeing something else.  You don’t know what your first planet is you’re going to go to. There’s going to be a message from someone, but you don’t know who exactly it’s going to be. And then you don’t know who you’re going to end up with. So you get different variations on a theme every time you go there.

Lee:         There’s a sense of intrigue.

William:   There is and I know the whole thing is like you’re searching for the Rebel Spy. That’s somebody that’s on your ship. And it’s never been me.

Lee:         Hasn’t it?

William:   No, it’s never been me.

Lee:         I’ve been called out. Not on Star Tours, but I’ve been called out before.

William:   One of the reasons I know they don’t choose somebody who wears glasses and I do wear glasses. But when I get on the ride I take the glasses off just so I’ve got my chance.  And I think you’ve got to be looking towards the camera at just the right moment. Maybe I’m missing out on that. Plus they also like to pick kids if they can.

Lee:         I think they do and that’s really nice.

William:   But anyways, I really like Star Tours and it’s one of my favorite rides.

Alright, here’s one we’ve got in common. Going over to Epcot: Soarin’ and I really do love the new one. I remember when we were watching we were going over the water in Australia and this killer whale jumps up in front of me and I actually pulled my feet up.

And remember when we were going over the Arctic, we saw the Polar Bears. That was really cool.

Lee:         It was. I really enjoyed that.

William:   There were a number of other things in there and if you haven’t been on the new on I don’t want to tell you too many things and spoil it for you. Even though it’s not just limited to United States of America, it really is a very nice ride and I enjoy it.

Lee:         They’ve done it beautifully.

William:   Coming up next and going over to Animal Kingdom – and here’s another one we share – and that is Expedition Everest.

Lee:         Why do you like that?

William:   Well, one, I like the ride and the fact that you are going up to the train tracks that are kind of broken and you kind of pause there looking out over the sky. But I also like the Yeti and you get to that part where you stop and you can see the animation part where he’s just ripping up the tracks and think, oh this isn’t going to be good for anybody!

Lee:         It is pretty cool.

William:   It’s a fun ride. I mean overall you’ve got speed, you’ve got a little bit of adrenaline going with it and you’re going forwards, you’re going backwards and there is entertainment. But also, I like the feel of it.

Lee:         Yes.

William:   Moving on here is another one we have in common. The People Mover.  And I’ve been doing this for years simply because you can get very hectic inside of the Magic Kingdom. This is a great way to just sit down, chill out and watch everybody else getting hectic.

Lee:         Yes. Nice view and it’s also long enough that you can actually let yourself relax.

William:   And there are times where if I need it I just ask if I can go around again and usually they say yes.

Lee:         Oh, do they? We’ve always been told no.

William:   Maybe I’m just ...

Lee:         Special?

William:   More charming.

Lee:         Yes, that’s what it is. You’re charming.

William:   Well, the last time I did it was at the Halloween party and Tové and I did it together and there wasn’t really a big crowd so she easily said yes because there was nobody waiting in line. I think if there are a lot of people waiting in line they are going to say no, you have to go back in line and so forth.

Lee:         I actually think it’s to do with the cast member. We’ve been on countless rides during the Magic Hours, which we always used to use, and there were often no other guests waiting. And if there was nobody waiting at the entrance when we pulled to a stop we would ask or they would sometimes ever offer for us to go again. There were other times, same story, and there would be a cast member who would make everyone get off, walk around and come back in, even though there were maybe three people on the entire ride. So I think it does come down to the cast member.

William:   I think you’re right and that’s the same with Disney in so many things. Whether you’re making reservations, working in a shop or whatever it is, it depends on who the cast member is. You may get a different answer every time.

Lee:         That’s true.

William:   This was not on your list, but it’s on mine. The Jungle Cruise.

Lee:         Yeah.

William:   I know it’s cheesy, but it’s one of those childhood memories again. Especially when you go during December and the Holiday season and it’s the Jingle Cruise.

Lee:         I’ve never done that.

William:   Oh, I’m going to have to take you out there. It’s the same ride, but they’ve got different jokes.

Lee:         I got tired of the same jokes. We’ve just done it so many times.

William:   And you see the Santa Clause hat on some of the folks out there on the ride. It’s old fashioned, it’s a slow ride, but that’s what brings back some of the memories to me.  It’s one of those silly little things that makes me happy.

Lee:         OK. I was there one evening with a friend who has also lived in Orlando all her life. She’s grown up with Disney and always been a regular there and we walked by Jungle Cruise. It was late in the evening and I said to her, “Do you want to do this?”

And she said, “I haven’t done this in ...” I can’t remember how many years, but she was talking about since her adult kids were small.

I said to her, “Are you serious?” and she said “Yes, all I remember is plastic elephants.”

It just made me laugh. So every time someone says Jungle Cruise now, that funny little comment of hers ... I found it ridiculously amusing.

William:   It is amusing. It’s like I like the rhinos with the horn, trying to kick the three guys climbing up the tree and get them in the butt. It’s old school, it’s cheesy and it’s not for everybody, but it’s really one of my favorites and if I’m going to go there for a trip, I’m going to want to do the Jungle Cruise.

Lee:         OK. I’m good with that.

William:   Now let’s imagine the Jungle Cruise is the cartoon movie you grew up with. The next one is the live action version. The Kilimanjaro Safari over at Animal Kingdom. I really do like that.

One, you get something different all the time because you don’t know if the animals are going to be out.  You don’t know and during summer time they are just going to be tired and lounging around. When it gets a little bit cooler you might get a bit more activity.

But sometimes you get something that really surprises you. I’ve got a photo that I took of a couple of the rhinos nuzzling their noses at each other.

Lee:         Aahhh!

William:   I really like that shot. You went on it and you got a baby elephant playing in the water.

Lee:         I did.

William:   I have never got that except for the Jungle Cruise. I got a baby elephant, but he’s plastic! He’ll be there all the time.

Lee:         The funny thing for me with the Kilimanjaro Safari is I’ve had so many times where we’ve gone there and we’ve either got stuck waiting for some White Rhino that have been blocking the road and we’ve maybe missed a FastPass or something or we’ve just seen nothing. Or I’ve been there to try and take photos and people got elbows in the way. But Kilimanjaro Safari became a frustration for me.

It is a wonderful ride. I don’t want to put people off, because I think it is a must do. But I just got to a point where I think my reasons for riding it ...

William:   I know what you mean. I used to ride it to try and take photos and now I just kind of want to watch. I’ve done my time taking photos there. I’ve  enjoyed that, but I just kind of want to watch and see what I see, because we also did that Wild Africa Trek and we got to see a bit of the backside of things that happened there.

Lee:         That ruined us for the safari.

William:   A little bit, but it also made me realize that these animals will do things if you are paying attention to them.  The thing with the Kilimanjaro Safari is you are either there in the moment or you’re not.  But you can go around a few times and get something different each time.

As far as attractions go, I put down the Magic Kingdom fireworks.

Lee:         Ah, is that your favorite fireworks show?

William:   It is. I know there are fireworks at Epcot and they’ve got fireworks over at Hollywood Studios and then they’ve got a different show at Animal Kingdom now with water, because apparently they are afraid to explode things near live animals.

Lee:         Oh yes. Funny thing, that!

William:   I’ve always loved fireworks, watching it over the castle and I don’t care if I’m behind the castle, in front of the castle or to the side of the castle. Even when we’ve been in the Contemporary watching it from there, it is the most spectacular fireworks display that I can imagine. I’ve never seen anything on TV that rivals it.

Most of the fireworks that you see on New Year’s Eve or Independence Day that get broadcast where other cities  there is some music going on. Usually John Philip Sousa music, just random bursts in the air.  And Walt Disney World has a story. There is something to go with every firework.

Lee:         It’s synchronized.

William:   It is synchronized.

Lee:         The colors, the themes, even the shapes sometimes.

William:   But it doesn’t matter if it’s Wishes, or if it’s going to be the Halloween or HalloWishes fireworks show or anything that they come up with. There is a story that goes with it and it really draws you in.  You are surrounded by music, the castle kind of centers you as it were, to look, but even if you are off in another part of the park, the fireworks are still going up and the shapes of the fireworks that they set off are just unique and wonderful. Like I said, a Disney fireworks show will ruin you for anything else.

Lee:         It will. My favorite is Illuminations, but I do love all the Magic Kingdom ones.

William:   Illuminations is a wonderful show, but for me, Magic Kingdom is the one where I say, “I’ve got to do that!”

Illuminations is nice to do, but I’ve got to do the one at Magic Kingdom.

Lee:         I would say especially if you’re a first time visitor, or if you’ve got few days in the park and you are limited for time, I would agree that Magic Kingdom is probably going to be the winner.

William:   OK, for some listening to this it may surprise you, but my last one, number ten on the list, is Under The Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid.

Lee:         Really?

William:   Really!

Lee:         Why?

William:   Because we rode that the night that I proposed to you.

Lee:         Aahh!  I see. I was just thinking about the attractions and didn’t realize you were putting sentiment behind it. That changes everything.

William:   All of these are sentimental to me. Must do is why it means something to you. Now there may be the person listening to us right now who says, “Well that doesn’t mean anything to me.”  First off, just take our little thing aside. It’s a funny little thing.

Lee:         It is a cute little ride. I loved it. I think you caught me off guard because ...

William:   It’s not a manly ride.

Lee:         It’s not the kind of thing that you would have otherwise had. That’s why I asked why, because had there not been some sentiment behind it for you ...

William:   I remember the two of us riding through that together and that was the night that we got engaged.  And I will be happy to ride that ride with you any time we go to the park.

Lee:         And we have done it together.

William:   I would love to go back and do it every time. It’s just one of those things that is stuck in my mind. It brings back a completely different kind of memory than anything else that you see here. It’s not about the movie. That ride is about us.

Lee:         You see I love that. I have to change my list now.

William:   Oh, we’re going to change your list. Because now it’s time to compare. So go ahead and pull out your list. I’m going to take a look here. So there are some that we agreed on. So Soarin’ was on the list, right? Expedition Everest is on your list. People Mover is on your list.

Lee:         I think that was it.

William:   Those are the three where we agree. So we’ve got to whittle this down to seven rides now. You absolutely do not like Haunted Mansion so I’m going to strike that off my list.  And that one is gone.

Lee:         As is Space Mountain, because I know you really don’t like that.

William:   I’ll ride it, but it’s not something that really grabs me.

Lee:         And Rock n Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror I’m going to strike because I know that you could really take or leave them.

William:   I’d say that’s fair.  You like Pirates of the Caribbean enough to be on the list?

Lee:         Yes, I do.

William:   OK, so that brings us up to four.  Is there anything else on my list that you want me to strike off?

Lee:         Let me have a look and see.

William:   Or keep.

Lee:         Well, keep the fireworks. Keep Under The Sea.

William:   I knew I was going to win with that one!

Lee:         Well, yeah!  I was going down a completely different path and wasn’t expecting that. We never discussed sentiment. We just decided to each make our own top ten list and reveal on the show.

William:   OK, so we’ve got six right now.

You’re not into the Jungle Cruise though.

Lee:         I don’t mind it and I’m happy to ride it.

William:   But it’s not a must do.

Lee:         It’s not a must do.

William:   Alright I’m going to take that off, because it’s not a must do for you. Add something to the list here.

Lee:         I’d like to see Splash Mountain on the list.

William:   I can do Splash Mountain. I really can, because I go on that with you frequently and I’m happy to do Splash Mountain.

As a matter of fact, I’m going to give you one more. I like Big Thunder Mountain. I typed in Smash instead of Splash! Well that shows where my mind is!

It’s like Wreck It Ralph! I’m gonna wreck it!

Lee:         Do it!

William:   Alright, so I said I was going to give you Big Thunder Mountain. So we’ve got

Pirates of the Caribbean

Big Thunder Mountain

Soarin’

Expedition Everest

People Mover

Splash Mountain

Magic Kingdom Fireworks

Under the Sea

So that means we’ve got eight. We need two more.

Now I’m going to take off Star Tours because Star Tours, last time we did that, made you a bit dizzy.

Lee:         Yes, it made me sick.

William:   What have you got on there that I could...?

Lee:         Well, could we put Festival of the Lion King on there? Would you be happy to see that one?

William:   Actually, now that I’ve seen it, I would be happy to go back and see it again.  One more and we’ll have it all whittled down. So the question is, the one I’ve got on my list is Kilimanjaro Safari. What have you got on your list that we haven’t looked at yet?

Lee:         I’d leave the safari on there.

William:   Really?

Lee:         I’m thinking from the perspective of somebody who is coming to visit. I guess unless you’re coming from Africa and you’ve got access to this, which even then, probably isn’t for many people.

William:   I don’t think many people in Africa really decide to go out in the jungle all the time to look at the animals. I think that’s people from other countries that want to go there and look at the animals.

Lee:         You’re probably right!  I think it’s a fun thing; I think it’s something where you can take the kids. There’s nothing scary about it. It’s a very different experience.

William:   Alright, then I think we’ve got our list complete!  So this is by no means that we are saying all the other rides suck. These are our must do rides. So for our family, this is what we’ve got to do to make ourselves happy. Except for  Tové, who’s going to be disappointed that Space Mountain is not on the list.

Lee:         She is, but we’ve given you an example of how you can take two different lists and work together. And that is just a reality when there is more than one of you.

William:   Yeah. Everybody gets something they like. They may give up something they like, but that’s for the family or the group as a whole; that’s what you do.

Lee:         Exactly.

William:   And that’s how you say this is the stuff we must do so everybody gets something.

Here is our Top 10 List of Must Do Attractions at Walt Disney World:

Pirates of the Caribbean

Big Thunder Mountain

Festival of the Lion King

Soarin’

Expedition Everest

The People Mover

Splash Mountain

Kilimanjaro Safari

Magic Kingdom Fireworks

Under the Sea – The Journey of The Little Mermaid

Now for someone listening, I can say the last one there you may want to change that, since you didn’t get engaged to go on that ride. But for our family, that is really kind of special in my heart.

Thank you very much for joining us on The Orlando Local Show.  Again, you can find show notes available at orlandolocal.com/15

And we’ll post our list of our Top 10 Must Do Attractions over there for you to review.

You can leave us a comment, if you would.  Tell us what is on your Top 10 List or maybe if you want to take ours and modify it a little bit, I’m just curious to see what everybody would like to do.  What is important to you and more importantly, why is it so important and special to you?

Thank you very much. We hope to see you here again next week.