Disney Vacations

[Lathum]

He has 1 I believe

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

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.

Yeah, Lathum's right - 1 kid.

He'll be 8 in the fall and, generally, we all have low-ish expectations. Like if he doesn't get to see character X, he'll be ok if we instead see character Y. I suspect that by the time I'm done, I'm going to want to murder the average Disney parent, but not because of him. Similarly, our trips are such that we're all there to have fun - we're not going to do something we hate just because he might want to do it marginally more. We'll go find something we can all do. He's pretty laid back and pretty patient, but that's still on a 7yo scale. He's also got a lot of energy - we've had him hike up to 7 miles at a time with him only getting tired the last mile or two. Heck, he was a trooper and did Koko Head with us last year with minimal fussing, even a thousand steps in. Basically, if he's kept fed and rested, he does pretty well.

Meanwhile, my wife and I are amusement park veterans, just not Disney (want 5 paragraphs on the best way to tackle Cedar Point? I can hook you up). I think the real difference between how we'd do it ourselves (like when we went to Anaheim a few years ago) versus going with him is to have a more leisurely cadence. Whereas we might be cool waiting in back to back hour long lines, especially in the dog days part of the afternoon after lunch - some smaller stuff has to be mixed in there with him as that's asking for a lot of patience, even from a patient 7yo.

My wife and I are also usually more late risers, if given the choice, but I think that's going to not happen this trip. Not if we want to take advantage of early entry. I think we're just going to edge towards early to bed and early to rise even if that's not our natural state. At home or if we stay in something like an Embassy Suites, he's cool playing quietly until we're ready to get up, as late as 9. But with a smaller room, he does get up closer to 7 so I think we're just going to be up at that time. This will be "fun" with my wife as she's not terribly functional without her (too much) leisurely time to drink coffee and then time for it to exit her system.

SI

[CraigSca]

Ah, that helps a lot, thanks!

Our 10 year old is the same way. Patient, laid-back, her favorite park is Epcot, which is not typically considered a kid's park. Having a child like that makes it SO easy!

However...you do have some "unique" sleeping arrangements. I get it. You're basically, by default, looking for a place that sleeps 5 (believe, me have been there done that, with less than 5 people due to the uniqueness of our situation).

If you want to stay on site, I'd say either French Quarter or Caribbean Beach are your best bets for accommodations. However, we've never stayed at the value resorts and I know they may be a viable option, so I also would take flere's advice because of his experience staying at a value resort that caters to larger families.

However, are you hell-bent on staying on site? There are a great many Marriott vacation club options locally that would kill it as far as space/$$$. I recommend a few we've stayed at - but you're not getting the "fun" of being in a Disney hotel. We have stayed on-site many times where I come away with the feeling that because we did so we spent a lot more money than we had to. Do you REALLY have to eat at the resort for breakfast every day, or would you rather toast a bagel in your vacation club 2-bedroom villa? Really, up to you.

Yes, there are some resorts that are worth it if you're splurging. My personal faves are the Polynesian, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom (Savannah view), Beach Club, Boardwalk, etc. However, we've tempered our spending over time and stay at one of the places above for a long weekend but only once a year for the experience. Others, I wouldn't go back to, but I don't want to disparage what may be a great experience for others.

Sorry if I made this as clear as mud

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

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

On property was absolutely 100% worth it. Only did off property once, never again after our first on-property.

Now, early entry was a strategy thing for us. Once we got a couple trips under our belt we used it as a counter. Crowds go to early entry, WE go somewhere else.

We prebooked a meal a day for every trip after the first couple trips. And always did that at the 30/60/90 mark (earliest possible varied in our years IIRC). We had it down cold, a grid that planned our parks & meals was part of the trip process almost forever, it became automatic. Every day we had a plan for Morning Park/Evening Park, and food. Rotated parks, the whole nine yards. Made it work for us, ymmv.

And for as hellish as WDW transportation can be, doing the parks without it seems even worse. Zero interest in dealing with traffic, parking, ingress/egress neither before nor after a park day.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

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.

Yes, yes, yes to this. Times like a thousand.

FQ was consistently easier than any other resort aside from Contemporary (and I don't even wanna think about what Cont. pricing is now)

[JonInMiddleGA]

re: WDW transportation

Quick rule of thumb: the cheaper the resort, the longer the bus ride AND the more stops in between.

Some of the worst vacation experiences (like one off items) of our lives were waiting 30-60 mins for a bus on a full capacity night, THEN having the trip to the resort take another 45-60 minutes.

It can be pretty easy ... but it can also turn into the 4th level of Hell too.

sidenote while I'm posting anyway -- Wilderness Lodge ( inside the Lodge, not the farther flung buildings) was one of the easier to navigate. I completely related to your description of your wife's coffee routine, at one time I could literally tell you every single location in every park that had coffee. I've hiked my ass around Epcot undercaffeinated (during a record cold snap no less), so I know that misery lol.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

We prebooked a meal a day for every trip after the first couple trips. And always did that at the 30/60/90 mark (earliest possible varied in our years IIRC). We had it down cold, a grid that planned our parks & meals was part of the trip process almost forever, it became automatic. Every day we had a plan for Morning Park/Evening Park, and food. Rotated parks, the whole nine yards. Made it work for us, ymmv.

Agree with this. Disney is one of those trips where you can't "overplan" in advance.

And for as hellish as WDW transportation can be, doing the parks without it seems even worse. Zero interest in dealing with traffic, parking, ingress/egress neither before nor after a park day.

Again, wasn't an issue for us, but it's going to boil down to personal preferences.

[Edward64]

If you were going to check it out, better do it soon. Cool concept but would prefer a week long family trip to Hawaii/Asia for the cost.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/18/disn...o-shutter.html

Disney World’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, a two-day hotel experience, is closing and will make its final voyage this September after being open for only more than a year.

The experience blends elements of the company’s resorts, cruise lines and theme parks into a 48-hour romp in space. First teased during Disney’s D23 Expo in 2019, the Galactic Starcruiser, located near the company’s Orlando, Florida-based Disney World Resort opened in March 2022.

The voyage costs around $1,200 per person per day, with family packages reaching closer to $6,000 for the two-day excursion. That can be a hard number to digest, especially considering a typical Disney vacation for a family of four can cost that much for a week-long trip, depending on hotel and restaurant choices.

[Lathum]

The issue with it is that the primary people who would love this and can also afford it are dudes our age but we also have families and can't justify that expense when like you said we could do a week long trip instead.

[bob]

I have admittedly not looked too hard for it, but I haven't seen any reviews from someone that doesn't have a vested interest in being nice to Disney for continued access and free stuff. I'd love to read a review from some middle class guy that loves Star Wars and decided you only live once and splurged on it.

I do wonder if there will be a temporary rise in demand such that they extend the close date to the end of year.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Lathum

The issue with it is that the primary people who would love this and can also afford it are dudes are age but we also have families and can't justify that expense when like you said we could do a week long trip instead.

Spot on. My bro-in-law is the biggest Star Wars fan I know. And he was excited when this was announced. Then he saw the pricing, and it fell into the "maybe one day" bucket.

[Swaggs]

I think the Venn diagram of folks that 1.) love Star Wars, 2.) can afford a $5000-$10,000 experience, and 3.) are extraverted enough to desire a week of an intense role-playing experience is really, really small. And, once you identify them, they probably aren't going to want to do it more than once.

The Chapek era of Disney is going to take years to recover from.

[Edward64]

I really hope they don't close it all down. I get the hotel part but you'd think they could leverage the other props for a "ride/walkthrough/shops" or something.

Wife and I were talking about maybe one last family trip to Disney to see Galaxy's Edge before daughter graduates and possibly find a job in another state.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I think the Venn diagram of folks that 1.) love Star Wars, 2.) can afford a $5000-$10,000 experience, and 3.) are extraverted enough to desire a week of an intense role-playing experience is really, really small. And, once you identify them, they probably aren't going to want to do it more than once.

This is the way.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I really hope they don't close it all down. I get the hotel part but you'd think they could leverage the other props for a "ride/walkthrough/shops" or something.

Wife and I were talking about maybe one last family trip to Disney to see Galaxy's Edge before daughter graduates and possibly find a job in another state.

Galaxys edge is amazing and well worth the trip.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I think the Venn diagram of folks that 1.) love Star Wars, 2.) can afford a $5000-$10,000 experience, and 3.) are extraverted enough to desire a week of an intense role-playing experience is really, really small. And, once you identify them, they probably aren't going to want to do it more than once.

The Chapek era of Disney is going to take years to recover from.

For $10,000 my room had better come with a prostitute dressed as a blue Twi'lek dancer.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

For $10,000 my room had better come with a prostitute dressed as a blue Twi'lek dancer.

10K for a disney vacation isnt terrible. The problem is convincing your wife to spend it on a 2 day trip in a windowless hotel cosplaying star Wars as opposed to a full week at Wilderness Lodge visiting all four parks, meals, souvenirs, vacation package, Genie plus, etc...

[flere-imsaho]

It's a neat idea in theory, but clearly no one actually ran the numbers.

[AnalBumCover]

I booked our next Disney vacation for spring break 2024. Using our DVC points, I got us 4 nights in a preferred deluxe studio at the Riviera Resort on the week of April 1.

The last time we went to Walt Disney World was pre-COVID, when Magical Express and the Fastpass were still a thing. I know a lot has changed since then. What should I expect this time around? We are a pretty simple family (3) of vacationers; our only must-sees this trip are Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT, and Avatar Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom. As an aside, we may consider checking out the Cirque du Soleil show Drawn to Life at Disney Springs.

Anyways, I'm here to gather any tips on how to navigate the new systems they have now, like Genie+ or theme park reservations, dining, and transportation to/fr MCO.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

I booked our next Disney vacation for spring break 2024. Using our DVC points, I got us 4 nights in a preferred deluxe studio at the Riviera Resort on the week of April 1.

The last time we went to Walt Disney World was pre-COVID, when Magical Express and the Fastpass were still a thing. I know a lot has changed since then. What should I expect this time around? We are a pretty simple family (3) of vacationers; our only must-sees this trip are Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT, and Avatar Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom. As an aside, we may consider checking out the Cirque du Soleil show Drawn to Life at Disney Springs.

Anyways, I'm here to gather any tips on how to navigate the new systems they have now, like Genie+ or theme park reservations, dining, and transportation to/fr MCO.

I love Riviera. It has walk up access to the Skyliner, which will get you to Epcot and Hollywood (my two favorite parks). So, if you have DVC and plan to return often, you may want to go heavy on those two parks.

DVC sometimes has Moonlight Magic events, where folks staying in the DVC properties can get after-hours access to a park. They usually release a schedule in January, so if you get lucky and there is one during your stay, I would recommend trying that. You can get to a lot of rides in a relatively short period of time.

We've rented cars the past few times, but Uber still works well and there are plenty of cabs. The Magic Express quit operating, which sucks. Buses from resorts still run, but that area seems a little skimpier than pre-Covid. I'm not sure about trying this during a 4-day stay, but we have had pretty good luck staying at somewhere like Riviera, Boardwalk, or Beach for half the stay to use the Skyliner and hitting Hollywood and Epcot (sometimes Epcot for just the evenings) and then transferring to somewhere like Baylake/Contemporary, Polynesian, or Grand Floridian to use the Monorail to hit Magic Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is kind of a pain to get to, so that is probably a bus or drive to destination.

[GrantDawg]

Half of Disney World is closed right now because there is a bear loose in the park. Now, you might expect a gator to wander into a place in sunny Florida, but a bear?

Edit: They did capture the bear alive and are relocating him to a national forest. There is no truth to the rumors he had a red shirt on and his hand was stuck in a honey jar.

[cuervo72]

I was talking to my mom two days ago and she was saying how Florida was not for her with both gators and bears (my wife added: scorpions). This just backs that up.

[Ghost Econ]

So, who's got next

Disney ride caused serious ‘gynecologic injuries’ for woman after waterslide ‘wedgie’ during 30th birthday celebration: Lawsuit

I had been craving an Arby's roast beef sandwich... but that craving's gone.

[Ghost Econ]

Anyone been to Universal Orlando of late? We're going for the first time over Spring Break. Universal is still expensive, and we can afford Disney, but we just cant bring ourselves to spend that much for Disney anymore. Literally 1/3 of the price and my daughter aged out of most of the Disney experience.

[Lathum]

We went last year. What do you wanna know?

[stevew]

I went to universal. I didn’t really want to go in the first place. Really oppressive heat when we went, which totally screwed up the plans.

[Ghost Econ]

Honestly don't even know what to know. Other than buying an express pass, I assume the best way to ride the better rides is to get there as early as possible or wait

[flere-imsaho]

Buy the express pass. Always. We talk about this at length upthread, but Disney/Universal is a place you just kinda open your wallet and let the experience flow over you.

[Lathum]

We stayed at Cabana Bay. If you stay on property you get early admission and can knock out 2-3 rides before it gets really crazy. I can't give advice on the express pass since I have a son with special needs we get a disability pass. Even the lines for early admission to get into the park get long.

If you all aren't dead set on sitting together several rides have a single rider line and it would be much quicker for you all.

Harry Potter land gets crazy busy, just prep for it. If thats a key for you head there first, Hagrids Motorbike is awesome.

[Ghost Econ]

Universal ended up being pretty easy. We ran out of stuff by the second day we were there. Early admission made Velocicoaster and Hagrid's a breeze to hop on. Even single rider for VC wasn't bad, I don't think Hagrid's ever had one. I think we did everything except the Simpsons Kodos ride, one of the water rides, Seuss land, and ET.

Fast and The Furious and the Jimmy Fallon ride were exceptionally shitty. King Kong was pretty shit too. Minions shooting ride was for people with ADHD. Doctor Doom's Free Fall was the worst drop ride I've ridden. We waited 20 minutes and it literally lasted 2 seconds. I thought there might be multiple rises and falls, but just shoots you up and you gradually bounce down.

If you go, ride the coasters, The Mummy, the Harry Potter 4d rides, Transformers and Spiderman. Depending on how you time it, you could maybe do it all in a day, but probably 2. We just kinda wandered aimlessly the last 2 days to kill time.

Thankfully, Harry Potter world(s) were cool if you have knowledge of it. My daughter thought she had grown out of the fandom but she geeked out the entire time.

Also, the food there and in Universal City Walk is trash. NBC Sports bar, probably the worst food I've ever had in a restaurant.

We also started the trip with a half day at Epcot since we got in early. It was OK, just way too crowded. We did everything but Guardians as the Virtual Queue was full in under a second.i literally had it, clicked join, and it was full. We waited a while for frozen and Remy, but nothing else was terrible. Test Track single rider is the way to go if you don't care about designing a car.

I still think Disney wins mainly from the food, theming and immersion, but Universal didn't feel that far behind. I'm interested to see the new park they open next year with Mario and How to Train Your Dragon.