Disney Vacations

[Edward64]

Sorry to hear.

With the booster, the theory is your symptoms won't be as bad. Let us know if that turns out to be true.

[Lathum]

Just hit the 60 day window for booking my Disney Dining

Our itinerary is such-

Arrive on a Saturday- made reservations for Terralina at Disney Springs. Wanted T-Rex cafe but nothing until 9PM. Going to keep looking and hoping something opens up.

Sunday- Magic Kingdom. Leaving the park to do an early dinner at Wilderness Lodge. It is called Storybook Dining at artists point. It is a dinner with Snow White, The Evil Queen, and a couple dwarves. A friend did it and loved it. It is also super bowl Sunday so maybe the park won't be as busy.

Monday- Animal Kingdom and Yak and Yeti. This is our only repeat as we loved it last time.

Tuesday- Pool Day- gonna do quick serve

Wednesday- Hollywood Studios- Doing the Hollywood Brown Derby. Nothing else really jumped out menu wise and we have done the character buffet.

Thursday- Head to universal. Going to do the Lilo and Stitch breakfast at O'Hana before we uber up to Universal for a few days up there.

[Kodos]

The T-rex Cafe was cool and the food was good. And I'm a vegetarian.

[Butter]

No EPCOT?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Butter

No EPCOT?

Nope. Since we’re doing universal also and building in a pool day at each we had to eliminate one park. Kids picked Epcot. I’ve been there twice the last three years without them so it’s ok with me.

[flere-imsaho]

Good itinerary, IMO. Have fun!

[Lathum]

T-minus six days. Getting excited. Added Paddlefish at Disney springs to the itinerary. Weather looks to be all over. May need to rent a locker for coats as morning and evening could dip into the low 50s.

We’re all pumped. Did the DAS pass for my son. Was really easy. Daughter has already announced she is doing tower of terror.

[flere-imsaho]

Nice!

[Lathum]

I just asked Chatgpt to plan a day for me a Disneyworld and it did a pretty good job.

[sterlingice]

I guess it's time for me to start looking at this thread. Our school district is going to have a full 1 week break in October next year so we figured that was a decent time to try Disney World since our kid will be 8 and starting to age out of this stuff soon and we were going to go in 2020 but, lolcovid.

SI

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I guess it's time for me to start looking at this thread. Our school district is going to have a full 1 week break in October next year so we figured that was a decent time to try Disney World since our kid will be 8 and starting to age out of this stuff soon and we were going to go in 2020 but, lolcovid.

SI

Have you ever been?

[sterlingice]

Nope, only Disneyland. And that was without the kid

SI

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Nope, only Disneyland. And that was without the kid

SI

I would recommend using a travel agent that specializes in Disney. It can be very overwhelming.

[sterlingice]

Really? I mean, from my novice view, it's a lot of pre-packaged stuff and I'm fairly adept at trip planning. I'm not saying you're wrong - there's probably complexity I don't understand. It seems like the simple version is you get the few day park hopper trip, decide on which level of hotel to stay at (Disney hotel or other, nicer or more budget, early access), and then add on reservations for any dining and special events you want to do. What am I missing?

EDIT: Though if they have access to discounts I don't which offset the costs of paying them, that might be worth it. Or some other value added?

SI

[Lathum]

They have the genie plus system now. Magic bands, transportation, etc... There are also so many options it can get overwhelming. I was glad we used one for our first time and now know how to set it all up.

[Racer]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I guess it's time for me to start looking at this thread. Our school district is going to have a full 1 week break in October next year so we figured that was a decent time to try Disney World since our kid will be 8 and starting to age out of this stuff soon and we were going to go in 2020 but, lolcovid.

SI

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Really? I mean, from my novice view, it's a lot of pre-packaged stuff and I'm fairly adept at trip planning. I'm not saying you're wrong - there's probably complexity I don't understand. It seems like the simple version is you get the few day park hopper trip, decide on which level of hotel to stay at (Disney hotel or other, nicer or more budget, early access), and then add on reservations for any dining and special events you want to do. What am I missing?

EDIT: Though if they have access to discounts I don't which offset the costs of paying them, that might be worth it. Or some other value added?

SI

Originally Posted by Lathum

They have the genie plus system now. Magic bands, transportation, etc... There are also so many options it can get overwhelming. I was glad we used one for our first time and now know how to set it all up.

I don't think you need a travel agent personally. The thing that probably takes most time becoming comfortable with is Genie+ and that's something you can't even purchase until 7 am ET the day you are at the park. I'm not sure how a travel agent is going to help you with that.

I had success both when I went to Disney World in February-March 2020 and again to both Disney World and Universal Orlando in November-December. That being said, I only had to worry about myself and don't like eat anything more then quick service while I was there. I spent most of the time in the parks and really only used the hotel to sleep most days.

I think watching YouTube From AllEars.net, Mammoth Club, and DFBGuide is worthwhile. In particular, I recommend watching videos with Molly in them. She used to be at AllEars but started her own company, Mammoth Club. Watching Molly made me much more comfortable planning out my trip this past winter.

Here are key things that seem to be stressed.

-Book your hotel reservation way ahead of time. You can always modify it if you need to cancel or a better deal comes along. I think you have to cancel by a certain time period to get a full refund though. If google is correct, that appears to be 5 days.

-Book any dinner reservations you want 60 days ahead of your first hotel day. If you want to do Savi's workshop I think that's the same. I forget when this goes live (something like 5 am ET maybe) but popular places I think get fully booked quickly.

-Have a plan for what each person's must do ride or experience is and then after that what each person would really like to do. Prioritize what's most important to you.

-If you want to park hop you need to know that you have to wait until 2 pm to do it now.

-Disney World now has a park reservation system. That means you'll need to purchase you park tickets probably a month or two ahead of time to make sure you get to start the day at the parks you want to go to. You then need to select which park you're going to start a day. At least when I went in November-December 2022, I could have modified this if I wanted. Park Tickets are not refundable. However, if you have to cancel your trip you can credit them to a future visit.

-Disney World now has Genie+ instead of FastPass+. The recommendation seems to definitely get this at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios if you can afford it. You can start booking these at 7 am ET if you are a resort guess. You can book a Genie+ reservation at most rides once with the exception of FancyRides (which must be purchased separately) or random rides like Astro Orbiter. The catch is that you can only book a reservation once you have checked into your previous Genie+ or two hours has elapsed since you last made a Genie+ reservation. The two hour cooldown period doesn't start until the park opens so if the park doesn't open until 9 am and your first Genie+ reservation isn't until 11 am ET you can't book a second one until you check in at 11 am ET even if you booked your first one at 7 am ET. The cost of Genie+ varies from like $15 to $30 per person per day. Note if you park hop you can use this at each park you visit in a day. If you could somehow manage it, you could use Genie+ on a ton of rides in a day.

-Certain rides get much longer lines then you might expect like Peter Pan at Magic Kingdom. It has an unusually low rider capacity and allows a decent amount of Genie+ riders. If you want to ride this particular ride I recommend riding it first thing or just using Genie+ if you get Genie+. It's not worth waiting in line for. There are better rides I would prioritize for myself at Magic Kingdom like Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Mine Train (if you like Roller Coasters). I'm sure there other rides like this. I think low rider capacity is less of an issue at Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. I don't think Disney made rides in the 1970s at Magic Kingdom with high enough capacities to handle 2020s crowds.

-Fancy rides I believe are as follows: Rise of the Resistance, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avatar: Flight of Passage. These rides cost like $10 to $20 I think per person I think if you want to avoid standing in the main line. I don't remember the exact range as I didn't purchase any Fancy Ride passes when I went in 2022. You do not have to purchase Genie+ in order to purchase a fancy ride.

-If your family is up to it I recommend rope dropping a popular ride, maybe taking a nap during the middle of the day if need be, and hopping in the line for another ride just before the park closes if you've already seen the night time show or fireworks that day.

-Rise of the Resistance and TestTrack break down a lot. I don't recommend waiting until the end of night to jump in line for either one of these rides as your only time riding because then you might not get to ride them.

-I don't recommend buying the Universal equivalent of FastPass+ unless the park looks really busy. I was able to do like 25 things my first day there. Granted, I packed my own meals, walked quickly, didn't go on Hagrid's VelociCoaster because I didn't want to, and stayed there from rope drop to park close but still. The only wait I had that was over 10 minutes the whole day was Minions.

[Racer]

For reference, this is what I was able to accomplish in 4 days with a bit of planning this past November-December 2022.

I did two days at Disney World and two days at Universal Orlando. I purchased park hopper at Disney World and the 3 park-to-park option at Universal.

I will say I think it would be hard to accomplish this much though unless you're going by yourself, going at a slower time of year, and willing to go balls to walls for like 3 out of 4 days.

Spoiler

* - New Experience
+3 – road it at least 3 times but possibly 4 or 5 times.
Food
1. Butterbeer *
2. Dole Whip Simba *
3. Harbour House *
4. Regal Eagle Smokehouse *
5. Ronto Roasters *
Rides
6. Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man x 3+*
7. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
8. Carousel of Progress
9. Caro-Seuss-el *
10. Cat and the Hat Ride *
11. Descpicable Me Minions Mayhem*
12. Dinosaur
13. Escape from Gringotts x3 *
14. E.T. Adventure x3+ *
15. Fast and Furious *
16. Forbidden Journey *
17. Grand Fiesta x2
18. Haunted Mansion
19. High in the Sky Seus Trolley Train *
20. Hogwarts Express x3 *
21. Jingle Cruise (Christmas themed Jungle Cruise)
22. Kilimajaro Safari
23. Mad Tea Party
24. Men in the Black Alien Attack x 2 *
25. Mickey's and Minnie's Runaway Railway
26. Millenium Falcon Smugglers Run
27. Mission Space Green
28. Na'vi River Journey
29. Nemo and Friends *
30. One Fish Two Fish Blue Fish Red Fish x3 *
31. People Mover
32. Peter Pan's Flight
33. Pirates of the Carribean
34. Popeye and the Bluto's Bilge-rat Barges *
35. Race Through New York Starting Jimmy Fallon
36. Remy's Ratatouille Adventure *
37. Rise of the Resistance x2
38. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train *
39. Skull Island: Reign of Kong x2 *
40. Soarin' x2
41. It's a Small World
42. Spaceship Earth x2
43. Star Tours x2 or 3
44. Test Track *
45. Toy Story Mania
46. Transformeres 4D: The Ride*
47. Under the Sea Little Mermaid *
48. Woody Woodpecker Nuthouse Coater*
Shows
49. Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage *
50. Bourne Stuntacular *
51. Fantasmic
52. Festival of the Lion King *
53. Grinchmas *
54. Harmonious Fireworks
55. Hogwarts Castle Holiday Night Lightshow *
56. Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
57. Magic Kingdom Parade *
58. Poseidon's Fury *
59. Muppet Vison 3D
60. Tough to Be a Bug *
Other Experiences
61. Bought Ivy Wand as Souvenir and attempted magic
62. Ollivanders *
63. Kopikowoi Winding River x2 *
64. Met Mickey Mouse *
65. Monorail *
66. Skyliner
67. Star Wars: Launch Bay – looked at stuff
68. Punga Racers x1 *
69. Raki and Tonga Taniwha Tubes x8 to 10
70. TeAwa the Fearless River *

and what I missed on my to do list
1. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - was down from rope drop to when I parked hopped to Animal Kingdom
2. eating at ABC Commissary or Leaky Cauldron - I had a set number of packed lunches and decided I would do ABC Commissary instead of Leaky Cauldron because I wanted to try the BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese at QBC Commissary. Problem is that the Harbour House was far more filling then I expected and I simply was not hungry for dinner my final day.

[Lathum]

Jesus, my kids are fired up maniacs this morning. Totally fired up.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Having spent over 90 days of my life at WDW, I feel reasonably safe in saying that a travel agent is not necessary ... as long as you pay attention to tips that veterans pass along and most importantly, apply those tips as they fit your priorities.

We got it down to somewhere between a science and an art form, but that does you only as much good as the similarities allow.

My own pro tips fwiw, as I feel like these are general enough that they apply even in the new much more restrictive landscape at Disney.

1) Have a plan. You will can get overwhelmed really quickly if you don't have some notion of what you want to accomplish.

1b) tip #1 goes for both the visit overall as well as daily. Have an overall priority list in terms of rides vs dining vs quality/quantity. Let those put together your basics. Then have a plan of attack for each day (each park? however you're structuring things).

2) figure out your dining. If it's high priority for you then start there & work your way through the other stuff. Lots of sit down meals? Only one sit down & the rest counterserve on the fly? Whatever your preference, don't get caught having eating turn into more stress than is required. Yes, a thousand times yes, to the advice up the thread about making your sit down reservation the first day you're allowed to do so (60 days out? 90 days out? I've lost track of the specifics). If counterserve if how you roll that's fine, but try to have a rough idea at least. Know what park you'll be in at meal times, look at any ride reservations you have around meal times, see what the heck fits that rough schedule. If you hate burgers & fries, know what other options exist. You don't have to lock down every single bite, just learn the landscape a little beforehand.

3) Also echoing the suggestion that you learn what you can from the various Disney YT channels and websites. Their list of tips will be more exhaustive than anything we could do here. They aren't etched in stone tablets, pick & choose the tidbits, tricks, and tips that fit what you value most. A few from one place, a couple from another, a great one from another, suddenly you're elevating your experience like an old(er) hand.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Racer

-If your family is up to it I recommend rope dropping a popular ride, maybe taking a nap during the middle of the day if need be, and hopping in the line for another ride just before the park closes if you've already seen the night time show or fireworks that day.

You just described our primary strategy over a crazy amount of trips.

[Lathum]

We are role dropping 7 dwarves tomorrow.

[Lathum]

Dola- 2 people have now said you don’t need an agent while listing a bunch of things an agent can assist you with.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Dola- 2 people have now said you don’t need an agent while listing a bunch of things an agent can assist you with.

I just can't understand giving someone else that level of control over something as important as Disney vacations generally are, nor having anywhere near the required level of trust in them to a) not fuck shit up and b) make the right either/or decision when one has to be made.

I'd stay home before I'd cede either of those things.

YMMV.

[Lathum]

When we used one we made all the decisions based off her guidance. Couldn’t have gone better.

[Racer]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Dola- 2 people have now said you don’t need an agent while listing a bunch of things an agent can assist you with.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I just can't understand giving someone else that level of control over something as important as Disney vacations generally are, nor having anywhere near the required level of trust in them to a) not fuck shit up and b) make the right either/or decision when one has to be made.

I'd stay home before I'd cede either of those things.

YMMV.

Both of these are good points. I guess consider getting a travel agent if you don't want to have to worry about booking stuff. However, if you're anxious like me and don't want to put your vacation in the hands of a stranger then it's fully doable to plan yourself.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by molson

You have to make the choice whether to be annoyed by all that, which woul be entirely reasonable, or to just give in to the Disney overlords, pay whatever they want, and go on as much shit as you can.

.

I feel seen! We are still here and it’s been amazing. I’ll do a full trip recap at the end. We originally were gonna skip Epcot. My kids decided they want to do guardians of the galaxy. Major breakthrough as my son has major anxiety about most rides but loves the movies. We were at animal kingdom so I upgraded to park hopper and we headed that way. We aren’t doing genie since my son has a DAS pass we do t need it, but guardians isn’t part of that so we paid $60 to get in the virtual queue. So basically cost $400 to go on that ride. Was worth every penny, they loved it so much we left Hollywood studios to go back and go on again today, for the tune of another $60. Lol.

[sterlingice]

Lathum, have you posted your post-trip recap somewhere I haven't seen yet? We're getting into the planning stages and I'm starting to digest stuff. The hotel choice seems to easily be the most important thing and from there, the decision tree is a lot easier.



SI

[Lathum]

You know I have not. I need to get around to it. Life got very hectic after I got back.

[Lathum]

dola- are you looking at a few different hotels or some specifics surrounding what you want from a hotel?

[sterlingice]

Right now, I'm just starting to triage hotels - getting my bearings of what tier to stay at. Like the 500+ per night stuff is right out the window. The plan is to sleep at the hotel at night and then go to the park the whole day - the place where I lay my head is less important. We're not going to do some nonsense where we shuttle back and forth to the hotel all day.

Or, for instance, someone on our local FB group said "if you can stay in the so-and-so room in Animal Kingdom and wake up with giraffes and elephants outside your room, do it". And I was like "that sounds pretty cool". And then I saw it was $900 a night and I was like "eff that".

Honestly, I'd love to have a site that outlines the pros and cons of each but, nope, everyone wants to monetize the crap out of this information and I just don't have time for that. No, I'm not watching your shitty youtube video with pointless anecdotes about your annoying family to pad the runtime so you can get youtube and you that extra sweet, sweet ad revenue at my expense. At least with shitty recipe websites, I can usually skip through the part where you tell me that made up story about how your mom, dying of leprosy, learned this recipe while backpacking with you through the Himalayas. It's cool to read about people's experiences here, for instance, where I can pick and choose them and they're people I care about. With some random, faceless stranger on the internet, where I'm just trying to gather information to make a decision - I just don't have time for that.

Heck, there are only a couple of pros and cons I probably care a lot about: how's the transportation to and from the park (walking/bus/monorail/etc), do I get any bonus perks for staying at the hotel (early entry, free food, etc), and is there anything I should be wary of staying at a particular hotel (this is the party hotel so stay away if you want sleep, the elevator is really slow so you'll spend all your time waiting for it and miss the rides, etc). I'm kindof limiting it to Disney hotels because I figure the ground transportation is better, but maybe I'm wrong about that. The prices for non-Disney hotels are better and if the Disney transportation is mediocre or, say, the Marriott's is good, then I don't need to stay at a Disney hotel.

With regards to the travel agent debate above - I sent out feelers to one of the people in our subdivision who is a travel agent and basically asked "what's the benefits of using you over planning the trip myself with the discounts from Undercover Tourist". I'm hoping she can get better hotel rates and then I'd totally use her for that. Heck, if she wants to wake up at 5:30am and get my food reservations, I'm good with that too

In the end, this is one of the least stressful trips I've planned, honestly. It's so pre-packaged and I don't have too many "must see" items. My kid is pretty easygoing and there's no "I MUST SEE THE PRINCESSES OR I'LL SCREAM" or "MUST GO TO AVATAR RIDE". Heck, my wife and I only have 2 things that are really on our todo list. We both really want to go see Galaxy's Edge and we both want to do Peter Pan because we missed it in LA. Beyond that, we figure we'll probably just take it like we did in LA, only spread out across 4 parks in 5 days - aim for something decent to line drop, then use the app to game the waits: if you see a larger ride with a shorter wait, go for it. It worked pretty well in Anaheim and we started to get a cadence: do a long line and then short or no line events for an hour or so until you see another line opportunity open up so you feel like you're not waiting in lines all day. The expectation is not that we'll go to every ride or see every thing. I think just a bit more reading and I can be mostly prepped for this - we're not Disney veterans and the park is filled with those who know best. But we've done a lot of amusement parks and we have done Disneyland, so we generally know what we're looking at. The food reservation thing adds another dimension as it's "part of the show" - but, again, should just take more reading, I think.

We're probably flying in Saturday and flying out Saturday. That means we have 6 days so I'm thinking 5 day pass with one day to just relax, wake up late, explore Disney Springs, etc. I think we'll probably do Genie at Magic Kingdom but I'm not sure if we'll do it anywhere else. I'm still trying to decide if the park hopper is worth it - would we actually spend time going from park to park or are we just handing Disney (more) money. Like I could see us doing 1 day at each park and then a final day to do a half and half at the two parks there are still things we want to do/revisit. The little details are only things like: how badly am I going to get burned by ground transportation for dinner reservations? Like if I want to go to one of the in demand food choices, am I going to have to leave the park an hour and a half ahead of time to make sure we make it and don't lose our spot? Should I choose a particular restaurant that's near where we are on a particular day, etc.

Finally, we'll have to see how our 8yo handles things. We have marathon traveled with him before but this is a different type of stimulation than dragging him all over a National Park or Oahu for the entire day. We're not going to know that until we get there. Oh, and weather - I can't wait until we plan all this and a hurricane comes along. Last time we started planning this, a pandemic happened (we were supposed to go in May 2020).

SI

[Racer]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Heck, there are only a couple of pros and cons I probably care a lot about: how's the transportation to and from the park (walking/bus/monorail/etc), do I get any bonus perks for staying at the hotel (early entry, free food, etc), and is there anything I should be wary of staying at a particular hotel (this is the party hotel so stay away if you want sleep, the elevator is really slow so you'll spend all your time waiting for it and miss the rides, etc). I'm kindof limiting it to Disney hotels because I figure the ground transportation is better, but maybe I'm wrong about that. The prices for non-Disney hotels are better and if the Disney transportation is mediocre or, say, the Marriott's is good, then I don't need to stay at a Disney hotel.

SI

If you mainly care about transportation and early entry (all on-site Disney hotels get 30 minutes early I think) and plan to spend most of the day in the parks then I'd look at Pop Century and Art of Animation. Pop Century's cheap rooms at least tend to get book several months in advance though.

These two hotels are the only "value" resorts that are on the Skyliner line which goes between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. You'll still have to get on a bus for Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom but that's true for for most of the non expensive hotels.

There is also the All-Star resorts which are cheaper and have a similar rooms I think. However, large sports teams are more likely to stay there (so more likely to be loud) and have bus transportation only. I had a good experience at All-Star Sports back in 2020 in respect to noise but I don't think that's the case for everyone.

[sterlingice]

I guess it's not that I "only" care about those things, but I'm not sure what else I am getting if I pay more. Like I'm already paying a minimum of $500 a day for us to go to sleep at night and go the park - so I want to get my money's worth out of doing those things. I'm not sure that, I'm going to get much out of, say, paying an extra $300 a night for the hotel - will I just be sitting there going "I should be in the park not just staying here at the hotel"?



SI

[Lathum]

OK. I can address some of your questions with my own recent experiences. We have stayed at Animal Kingdom and woke up to giraffes. It was incredible, but I wouldn't spring for it again.

Last visit we stayed at Art of Animation in a family suite. IT was great, didn't feel like a "budget" resort. There are 4 themes. Nemo, Lion King, Cars,, and little mermaid. We did cars. The suite was a 1 bedroom. There was a trundle bed that pulled down onto the kitchen table. The pools were fine. Disney isnt really known for pools. The definite pro is as Racer mentioned the skyline. You can take it to Epcot or Hollywood studios. Super easy. Staying on property also gives you early access to the parks. So you can rope drop a big ride early in the day. Transportation to the other 2 parks and Disney springs by bus was also super easy.

The resort is a bit lacking in food options. There is basically a pool bar andd a cafeteria style eatery. Which was fine, but we got a bit sick of breakfasts by the end.

Definitely build in an off day. We spent that day at the pool, disney springs, and riding the sky ride to explore other resorts, the boardwalk, etc...

Regarding dinner reservations there is a lot to it. Are you planning on doing sit down dinners every meal, lunches, or just a few? One thing to remember, the reservation window opens 60 days in advance FOR THE WHOLE VISIT! So For example, 60 days bfore the saturday you arrive you can make reservations for your entire visit, not just the exact day 60 days out. We like to do sit downs every day for dinner, breaks up the day. The obvious thing to do is make a reservation at or near the park you will be at, but it isn't really hard to get between most parks, Animal Kingdom being the exception as it is further away from the others. Highly recommend Yak and Yeti there. It is excellent.

PArk Hopper- the important thing to know about park hoppers are that you can not go into the second park until 2:00 PM. This may effect your thought process. We did one, but only because we were goingto skip epcot but the kids wanted to do Guardian of the Galaxy. I was glad we did and it was less expensive than I thought.

This is personal, but if your kid has a disability you can do a Disability Access Pass. It is a gamechanger. You can DM me on facebook if you want more info on that.

We did dinner the saturday we arrived at Disney Springs. Was nice to walk around and stretch our legs after the flight, etc...

any other questions or recos let me know. Happy to share our experiences.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I guess it's not that I "only" care about those things, but I'm not sure what else I am getting if I pay more. Like I'm already paying a minimum of $500 a day for us to go to sleep at night and go the park - so I want to get my money's worth out of doing those things. I'm not sure that, I'm going to get much out of, say, paying an extra $300 a night for the hotel - will I just be sitting there going "I should be in the park not just staying here at the hotel"?

Pre-pandemic I could have answered a whole lot of questions with confidence, now I'm super hesitant about most things WDW cause so much has changed, in terms of policy, pricing, etc.

I will say that our stays ran the gamut from the bottom rung to the upper mid rung, with a few high rung stays. The biggest difference to me was probably "the vibe". All-Stars for example is a chaotic scramble vibe. Grand Floridian is pretty darned chill. Swan & Dolphin was like staying at any business class hotel, but with Disney Transportation included (was then, no clue if it's still the same)

Pro tip: the smaller the resort (on property that is), the easier it'll be to manage tings like making it to buses/transportation. I think I walked a half day's worth of in park just to get around Cornado Springs, haaaaated it. Port Orleans was probably the easiest to navigate in good time aside from Contemporary.

Park-related benefits were all the same regardless of resort, you're either "at a Disney property" or you're not was the deal, check fine print & details to make sure that's still the case tho.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I guess it's not that I "only" care about those things, but I'm not sure what else I am getting if I pay more. Like I'm already paying a minimum of $500 a day for us to go to sleep at night and go the park - so I want to get my money's worth out of doing those things. I'm not sure that, I'm going to get much out of, say, paying an extra $300 a night for the hotel - will I just be sitting there going "I should be in the park not just staying here at the hotel"?



SI

I think it just depends on what you want. Some of the resorts are definitely a cool experience. If this is your only time you plan on doing
Disney you may want to do a nice resort. They each have their own benefits. If ease of getting to parks is a priority I would not stay at Animal Kingdom. Contemporary is super close the MK. The only non Disney property where you get benefits is Swan and Dolphin. They are nice and depending on your kid walkable to HS and Epcot. I would double check to make sure you still get early access if you stay there.

[sterlingice]

Will be answering the other stuff in a second, but, for some reason, Swan and Dolphin are prohibitively expensive during the time we're looking at. My wife stayed at one for a conference she had about 5 years ago and it was usual conference rate of like $200. I'm in the Marriott ecosystem (RIP Starwood) so I have some points and a free night sitting around and was like "maybe this is a good option". However, for the week we're there, it's $900(!!!) a night. So that's out.

SI

[Lathum]

Hmm, something is going on there for sure. That is weird

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Pre-pandemic I could have answered a whole lot of questions with confidence, now I'm super hesitant about most things WDW cause so much has changed, in terms of policy, pricing, etc.

Not holding any of you guys to this - just trying to pick brains for general details. I'm grateful for all the help. It's not like I'm going to get there on Thursday and of the week we're there and scream "Joonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" to the heavens because something is just a little off.

I will say that our stays ran the gamut from the bottom rung to the upper mid rung, with a few high rung stays. The biggest difference to me was probably "the vibe". All-Stars for example is a chaotic scramble vibe. Grand Floridian is pretty darned chill. Swan & Dolphin was like staying at any business class hotel, but with Disney Transportation included (was then, no clue if it's still the same)

Pro tip: the smaller the resort (on property that is), the easier it'll be to manage tings like making it to buses/transportation. I think I walked a half day's worth of in park just to get around Cornado Springs, haaaaated it. Port Orleans was probably the easiest to navigate in good time aside from Contemporary.

Park-related benefits were all the same regardless of resort, you're either "at a Disney property" or you're not was the deal, check fine print & details to make sure that's still the case tho.

Near as I can tell, these are the benefits of staying at a Disney resort:
* Transportation system and location (big plus: saves time and money)
* Reservation for food for your whole trip, not just the first day (useful, I guess)
* Early entry - probably helpful, but we'll see how much of early risers we are and how much we want to rip out the crowd machete to stand in the entry line


Like with early entry - did you feel that was really worth it? I mean, you get your line drop ride without too much hassle, right?



SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Lathum

OK. I can address some of your questions with my own recent experiences. We have stayed at Animal Kingdom and woke up to giraffes. It was incredible, but I wouldn't spring for it again.

Last visit we stayed at Art of Animation in a family suite. IT was great, didn't feel like a "budget" resort. There are 4 themes. Nemo, Lion King, Cars,, and little mermaid. We did cars. The suite was a 1 bedroom. There was a trundle bed that pulled down onto the kitchen table. The pools were fine. Disney isnt really known for pools. The definite pro is as Racer mentioned the skyline. You can take it to Epcot or Hollywood studios. Super easy. Staying on property also gives you early access to the parks. So you can rope drop a big ride early in the day. Transportation to the other 2 parks and Disney springs by bus was also super easy.

What's the layout for those suites? Is there a door between the living room and the bedroom or just an open area. And how do you access the bathroom? The pictures don't really spell it out.

The resort is a bit lacking in food options. There is basically a pool bar andd a cafeteria style eatery. Which was fine, but we got a bit sick of breakfasts by the end.


Regarding dinner reservations there is a lot to it. Are you planning on doing sit down dinners every meal, lunches, or just a few? One thing to remember, the reservation window opens 60 days in advance FOR THE WHOLE VISIT! So For example, 60 days bfore the saturday you arrive you can make reservations for your entire visit, not just the exact day 60 days out. We like to do sit downs every day for dinner, breaks up the day. The obvious thing to do is make a reservation at or near the park you will be at, but it isn't really hard to get between most parks, Animal Kingdom being the exception as it is further away from the others. Highly recommend Yak and Yeti there. It is excellent.

I figure the resort we stay at is basically for breakfast only. Lunch will be near whatever park we're in and mostly on the go, but maybe it'll be a good time to sit down and take a break for some of the days. Dinner seemed more like a good time to make a destination and make an "event" of it, when you're done for the day. And the lunch day when we're not doing one of the parks. This is going to take some investigation as I don't know which ones are worth going to, but there seem to be people and websites that have ideas about these things and I've got more than 3 months until we're 60 days out

Definitely build in an off day. We spent that day at the pool, disney springs, and riding the sky ride to explore other resorts, the boardwalk, etc...

PArk Hopper- the important thing to know about park hoppers are that you can not go into the second park until 2:00 PM. This may effect your thought process. We did one, but only because we were goingto skip epcot but the kids wanted to do Guardian of the Galaxy. I was glad we did and it was less expensive than I thought.

This is personal, but if your kid has a disability you can do a Disability Access Pass. It is a gamechanger. You can DM me on facebook if you want more info on that.

We did dinner the saturday we arrived at Disney Springs. Was nice to walk around and stretch our legs after the flight, etc...

any other questions or recos let me know. Happy to share our experiences.

The DAP doesn't apply for us. Cool that they have the option, tho.



The rest of this jives with what I'm thinking. The park hopper would add about $200 total, which may or may not be worth it. I don't think we'll know if there's something else we will want to do until we get on the ground there and, by then, it's too late. We'll probably just do it to have the option. Honestly, the 2pm thing makes sense to us. You can't hit the park at like 7am so we'll get there at 9 and then do stuff until lunch and then it's time to cross parks. Like I don't see the logic in going to one of the parks for 2 hours and then going to the next one.


SI

[sterlingice]

Just to give an idea, for our days, here's what 7 nights and an 8-day ticket runs for the following. Days are somewhat squishy - right now I've got Sat-Sat, though we could fly in Fri night if we really wanted to. Sat return seems mostly in stone, though, as Sun adds another $60 to the flight so it's another $200. If we stuck with the Sat-Sat, we'd be there 6 days and crank this back to a 5-day ticket (plus 1 non-ticket day for exploring) and then have to decide about park hopper. But just wanted to do an apples-to-apples comparison with their defaults so I didn't have to change the ticket options every time for a quick compare.

Notes:
All-Star Sports is ruled out as it's double beds only and I'm too old and tall for that nonsense. Prefer king over queen and there's not a lot of that - my wife moves a lot at night so if we're on a queen, I get squeezed and don't get as much good sleep so there's some real value there for us. I'm not opposed to 2 queens, but then there needs to be space for him to sleep on another couch, bed, for air mattress, as we don't do the "sleep with the kid in our bed" thing.

Leading-ish candidates:
Caribbean Beach Resort: 4817 (2 queens and smaller bed, skyliner)
Port Orleans Riverside: 4739 (2 queens with pulldown sleeper, boat?)
Art of Animation: 4231 (king possible but lacking space for him if 2 queens, skyliner )
Pop Century Standard: 3903 (1 king/queen and 1 table bed, again - possible issue if 2 queens, skyliner)
Pop Century Preferred: 4066 (claims to be closer to dining and transportation)
All-Star Music: 3599 (2 queens only, but the budget option if necessary)
All-Star Movies Preferred: 3835 (Standard sold out, king possible)
The Cabins at Fort Wilderness: 6169 (1 queen and 1 sofa, separate bedroom, boat, getting into the pricier tier now)

Ruled Out-ish
All-Star Sports: 3593 (double beds only)
Coronado Springs: 4529 (2 queen - lacking a spot for him to sleep)
Port Orleans French Quarter: 4801 (2 queens, boat, but not really a good spot for him to sleep)
Art of Animation Suites: 6500ish (but only queen beds)
Animal Kingdom Lodge and other animal Kingdom spots: 6116 (2 queens)

Anything far in excess of 6000 or unavailable:
Bay Lake Tower at Contemporary
Boulder Ridge at Disney Wilderness
Copper Creek at Wilderness
Beach Club Resort and Villas
Boardwalk Inn and Villas
Contemporary
Grand Floridian and Villas
Old Key West: 7544 (bedroom villa with king and a second room)
Polynesian Village and Villas
Riviera
Saratoga Springs: 6208 (1 queen)
Wilderness Lodge
Yacht Club
Swan and Dolphin

Ok, another question: boat is listed for transportation from Port Orleans and Fort Wilderness. What? Looking at the maps, I can't think a boat gets you very far. You're still using busses to get around


SI

[cougarfreak]

i’d highly recommend you look at Dave’s DVC rentals. put in your dates. it’ll tell you the rates at some of the higher tier resorts. $900 is crazy. a lot if the DVC resorts are way cheaper than that through Dave’s.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lathum]

So a couple things- You can actually upgrade to a park hopper once there. We did it when we were actually already in Animal Kingdom. Not sure if it would be more as opposed to doing it in advance.

The layout was great. Door between bedroom/living area. 2 bathrooms, on in bedroom one in living area. We have 2 kids so the 2 bathrooms was great, especially because there is a door between vanity and shower area.

I found the early entry worth it. You can easily knock out 2-3 rides before the park actually opens. Also they do a lot of fun character breakfasts. The one at Ohana is great if your kid likes Lilo and Stich.

[Lathum]

Ok, another question: boat is listed for transportation from Port Orleans and Fort Wilderness. What? Looking at the maps, I can't think a boat gets you very far. You're still using busses to get around

The boat from Ft Wilderness takes you to MK. You can also get busses from those resorts.

[flere-imsaho]

We've been several times and stayed at All-Star as well as Swan & Dolphin (like Jon, and I echo his thoughts on both). However, the last time we stayed at an AirBnb that was like 10 minutes away for ~250/night and honestly it was great.

I went and looked it up and here's the listing: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2081790...7B4PDK79p5SNIF

Private pool, a whole bunch of nice bedrooms, have your own breakfast stuff and crucially your own coffee before hitting up the resort, and I didn't feel we missed a lot of the Disney Experience by not staying on-resort. Plus, for the day off we had a private pool, which was great, and both the day off and the evenings (after having dinner on-resort) were just a lot more chill than when we stayed on-property.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Ok, another question: boat is listed for transportation from Port Orleans and Fort Wilderness. What? Looking at the maps, I can't think a boat gets you very far. You're still using busses to get around
SI

Port Orleans boat can take you to Disney Springs and back. It's actually a great option if you're looking to hit Disney Springs (which you should). I would recommend Port Orleans French Quarter over Riverside. Riverside is a much larger resort and you might hit a lot of walking to get where you want to go. French Quarter is much smaller and EVERYHTHING is within easy walking distance. The last time we stayed there the boar to Disney Springs was 20 feet from our door. Caribbean Beach is good because it has transportation via the Skyliner which can take you direct to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. However, it is also a large resort and you need to make sure you're close to the transportation. Look for the "preferred" rooms on the Disney site.

We've lived here for 12+ years and have been AP holders the entire time. Frankly, the buses drive me crazy. Yes, they are free. But, depending on the time you go, they can be full, slow, etc. Personally, even when staying at a resort, we don't take them and get an Uber instead if where we want to go is not a monorail or Skyliner away (certainly depends if that's a viable option for you and your family).

Also - look at the Fort Wilderness maps. Admittedly, the cabins have always looks great (we've never stayed there), but they look a far way from the boat option to MK.

When are you looking to go?

[sterlingice]

Mid-October. Kid's school has a week-long fall break this year so seemed like the time to go, especially when we were planning on going in 2020 and weren't able to make it.



SI

[Lathum]

Other than staying at AK, which is far from the other resorts, with my MIL who had a scooter (legit, she had a heart transplant) so there are limited slots, I have never had an issue with the busses.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Other than staying at AK, which is far from the other resorts, with my MIL who had a scooter (legit, she had a heart transplant) so there are limited slots, I have never had an issue with the busses.

"Issue" may vary. I mean, they're great. You just have to know that you may have up to a 20 min wait and, depending on the size of the resort, you might by the 3-4th stop on the list. After a while, it just made more sense to pay the $15-20 and get a direct drop off at our stay. I can see when traveling in a group or larger family that may not be an option.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Mid-October. Kid's school has a week-long fall break this year so seemed like the time to go, especially when we were planning on going in 2020 and weren't able to make it.



SI

Hmm - maybe a convention of some sort then? We've stayed at both the Dolphin and Swan multiple times, but I agree that $900 is not worth it. October is a pretty good time to go as it's just about the time when things start cooling off (theoretically and the Food and Wine festival is still going on at Epcot.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Mid-October. Kid's school has a week-long fall break this year so seemed like the time to go, especially when we were planning on going in 2020 and weren't able to make it.



SI

Another question - how many kids? Reason I ask - our family dynamic has changed over the years we've went to Disney, so I want to make sure I'm giving you advice that's not for me, but for you. Early on we had two young kids. They're in their early 20s now, but we do have a 10 year old. So, over that time, our tastes and needs have changed. I just don't want to give you the adult view when it's obvious YOU want to have fun but this trip is mostly for the kids.