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With all the theming, restaurants, shows, fireworks, parades, shops and landscaping, sometimes it's easy to forget Disney World and Universal Studios are at heart amusement parks. In fact, they have taken several ride types and evolved them to their logical extremes. The biggest problem here is that there are so many people waiting to ride you could spend most of your day standing in line. We highly recommend the Fast Pass option. We also recommend being at the front gate for "rope drop," the 9 a.m. opening, immediately boarding the train, and riding it to the Frontiertown station. This puts you off at Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and the Haunted Mansion, three of the park's most popular rides, ahead of the crowds, who will be walking down Main Street and taking 20 minutes to get here. Assuming you have several people in your party, as you get off the train, send one person over to the Mansion and one to Splash Mountain, to claim Fast Pass reservations, then hurry back in time to join you in line at Thunder Mountain. Instruct the two runners to make the Splash Mountain Fast Pass reservation for 10:00, and the Haunted Mansion reservation at 10:30. This should leave you riding at 9:30, 10:00 and 10:30. Then head directly from the Haunted Mansion past the Castle to Tomorrowland and do the same thing, making Fast Pass reservations at Space Mountain at 11:00, Astro Orbiter at 11:30, Speedway at 12:00, and the Teacups at 12:30. You've thus beaten the crowds to the seven most crowded rides in the park.

Magic Kingdom Animal Kingdom Hollywood Studios Epcot Blizzard Beach Typhoon Lagoon Universal Studios Islands of Adventure
Then we suggest you make afternoon Fast Pass reservations at 2:00, 2:30 and 3:00 for Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan and Magic Carpet. That done, have a leisurely lunch in the air conditioning at your restaurant of choice, preferably Liberty Tree or Crystal Palace (remember we recommended you call ahead of time to make dining reservations), before returning to fill your ride reservations. This has been a full day. We recommend going back to your lodging at 3:30 and enjoying a swim and a nap. On Magic Kingdom Day, return that evening for dinner (once again, make that dining reservation well ahead), the Electric Parade and the Fireworks. Obviously, if you have younger kids along, you'll adapt this schedule slightly, probably replacing Splash Mountain, Racetrack, Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain with the Riverboat, Swiss Family Robinson Tree, Dumbo and Stitch. Disney may not offer Fast Pass for every ride, and which rides are excluded varies from month to month.

As a general rule, all Disney and Universal rides are suitable for families. Claustrophobes should obviously avoid Universal's Spiderman and Hollywood Studios' Star Wars, where you spend the five minute ride in a tightly enclosed capsule (right). If you dislike flying upside down you should avoid Universal's Incredible Hulk and Dragon Challenge and Hollywood Studios' Rock n Roller Coaster. The drops at Splash Mountain and Jurassic Park are high and steep. And Epcot's Maelstrom might be scary for preschoolers. Other than these precautions, every ride is accessible.

We highly recommend a belt pack ("buttpack"). You need to carry your camera, sunglasses, keys, and possibly a beverage bottle. You can't take a bookbag or purse on board the rides and fooling with storage lockers at each ride becomes a nuisance. You can wear beltpacks on the rides, even the roller coasters and Harry Potter. Just buy the beltpack at a legitimate outdoor store so it's very strong and comfortable. The ones they sell at amusement park gift shops, even at Disney and Universal, are much too flimsy.

The roller coasters at Disney and Universal tend to be a little less intense than the top 10 models at other parks. These are, after all, family parks. However, the lack of extreme speed or high drops is balanced by the fact that theming, narrative and operation are the best in the world. For a few frantic moments, you believe you are in the Himalayas, in Space, at Hogwarts or wherever else Disney or Universal says you are. Because of the money the parks bring in, they can afford the best engineers, maintenance workers and continual updating. Therefore, the rides tend to be smoother and more comfortable. Because the Disney designers are at heart story tellers rather than engineers, they often design rides with quirks you would never see elsewhere. The train may come to a dead end and be forced to back up. You may be attacked by a beast and stopped. When you board a ride at Disney or Universal, you never know what to expect.

Much more so, on a whole different level, than visiting any other amusement park, you need to come prepared to be lifted out of your comfort zone. In addition to the famous ghost at the Haunted Mansion who comes and sits on your lap, you'll have Spiderman climbing into your car with you, a live dragon breathing fire on you, a spider dripping saliva and the flames from a gasoline tanker scorching you. You're paying a higher price to be here because these are world class, cutting edge, state of the art computer graphics, animation and special effects.

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