Magic Kingdom Top 3

MouseStation 40 – Magic Kingdom Top 3

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In this week’s feature, Mike and Mark discuss their Top 3 attractions, dining locations and live entertainment at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.

The audio in this week’s show is not as good as usual due to technical difficulties while recording. While audio engineer Steven Ng did his best with what he had to work with, we apologize for the audio quality of today’s show.

This week, we started a new occasional series of Top 3 shows, where we’ll
discuss our picks for the Top 3 attractions, dining locations and live entertainment
options at each of the six domestic theme parks.

Top 3 dining locations

We started with dining. Mike’s number three choice is the Main
Street Bakery. He misses the baguettes, but still thinks it’s a great
place to stop and get a snack. He just wishes that they’d get rid of the specialty
drinks and the delays that they cause. Mark enjoys the Bakery too, especially
for breakfast or a late-night snack.

Mark’s number three is Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale
Inn and Cafe. While Mike (who can’t eat red meat) isn’t excited by the
chicken selections here, Mark loves the burgers and the salad bar … er
… toppings bar.

Mike’s number two dining choice is Tony’s Town
Square Restaurant. It’s a great place for a romantic meal, he loves Italian
food, and he loves the theming.

Mark’s runner-up is the Crystal Palace.
It’s especially good for the character breakfasts when you have a seating
time before the park opens, because you can enter the park and walk down a
deserted Main Street, have a delicious breakfast and interact with characters,
then (if you finish eating in time) get to the Castle before rope drop. Mike
thinks that it reminds him of a cheap cafeteria, though Mark thinks that it
looks like a nice atrium.

Mike’s top choice is Cinderella’s Royal Table.
He’s got a lot of great memories of the restaurant, it’s great for during
fireworks, and it’s great as a single guy to have all that time meeting the
princesses. Mark isn’t a huge fan, especially with the current pricing structure
and princess meals. He actually preferred it when it was King Stefan’s Banquet
Hall.

Mark’s favorite dining establishment is Tony’s Town Square Restaurant. In
addition to Mike’s reasons, Mark also likes to get a reservation about an
hour before SpectroMagic and ask to wait for a table on the patio. If you
time your meal right, you can be starting your dessert just as SpectroMagic
kicks off, and you can watch the parade go by while eating your treats.

Top 3 live entertainment options

Mark’s number three choice for live entertainment is Captain Jack Sparrow’s
Pirate Tutorial. His son had a whole lot of fun learning to be a pirate, including
how to misdirect your foe (“Look! The Governor’s daughter!”), then
flee. It was a lot of fun watching him.

Mike’s number three is the Disney Dreams Come
True Parade. It’s one of his favorite parades on property, and he just
loves the daytime parade.

Mark’s number two choice is SpectroMagic,
even though Mike doesn’t like it any more. While Mark misses the Main Street
Electrical Parade and sometimes finds the Spectromen a little creepy, he still
loves the music and the parade, whether watching it from the street or from
the Main Street Railroad Station.

Mike’s number two choice is Wishes. He
could watch it “a million times.” He loves watching it from any
vantage point, and he knows the soundtrack and firing locations by heart.

Mark’s top entertainment choice is Wishes. He got to see one of the first
public performances back in October 2003, and wrote
a review for MousePlanet at the time. He loves the show, the theme, the
music, and it actually provided Eddie Carroll, the current voice of Jiminy
Cricket, with a Magical Moment.

Mike’s favorite live entertainment is the Main Street Barber Shop. (At that
time, Mark realized that he left the Dapper Dans off his list. They would
have finished second.) Anyway, Mike enjoys getting a haircut at the barber
shop, including the dye job and Mickey glitter.

Top 3 attractions

Mike’s number three attraction is the Enchanted
Tiki Room – Under New Management. Mark had a hard time believing
that the new version could be ranked that high, but Mike still loves it.

Mark’s number three is an attraction that he can keep riding again and again,
the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. It gives
you a great view of Tomorrowland, you can see what’s left of Walt Disney’s
original EPCOT model, you get to ride through inside Space Mountain, and you
get some cheesy jokes. What’s not to like?

Mike’s number two is Pirates of the Caribbean.
While it’s a classic, it didn’t make Mark’s list because it’s still a poor
second to the original version at Disneyland.

So Mark’s number two choice is Big Thunder
Mountain Railroad. Mark loves coasters, and it’s a good coaster –
not too extreme – and (even without the goat trick) it’s just a fun ride.
On one of the last E-Ride nights before they converted to Extra Magic Hours,
Mark rode it several times in a row without getting off.

Mike’s top attraction is the Haunted Mansion.
Oddly enough, it’s the only ranking that Mark and Mike actually agree on.
Mike has some great memories of going on it as a kid, and it’s still a great
attraction. Mark doesn’t get to ride it often on family trips because his
son is still scared of it. However, Mark is glad that it’s finally getting
the refurbishment that it has needed so badly for some time, and is looking
forward to visiting it after it reopens.

So what are your Top 3?. Let us know by sending an email
or calling our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278) and let us know what
your favorites are!

Wrapping up

Send in your suggestions, comments or tips via our email form or via voicemail on our toll-free feedback line (1-866-939-2278). You can also make suggestions by replying to this post.

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Thanks to our audio engineer and sound editor Steven Ng.

Thank you for listening!

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