Disney Vacations

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Wine and Food Festival is a must if you're going without kids. It's in October.

That's the plan.

[cougarfreak]

Ok Purdue. If you have a daughter who likes frozen, I'd highly recommend fast passing Anna and Elsa meet and greet at princess fairy tale hall. Only place to buy a lot of the frozen as well. Just so happened the fireworks show was in fantasyland at Belles castle tonight. It was a very good show.

[PurdueBrad]

Thanks for the heads up but just one boy who is begging to see "Mr. Mickey", the Cars guys and Winnie the Pooh.

Thanks for the tip!

[Neon_Chaos]

Headed for Disneyland Cali tomorrow. Crazy crazy US tour we're having. In 4 days, been to the Vegas strip and Universal Studios today. Dead tired. Cant wait for tomorrow.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

Headed for Disneyland Cali tomorrow. Crazy crazy US tour we're having. In 4 days, been to the Vegas strip and Universal Studios today. Dead tired. Cant wait for tomorrow.

Very cool. Enjoy.

[timmae]

Just stumbled upon this thread... My wife and I are headed to WDW in October to run in the Tower of Terror 10 miler. Race starts at 10pm and the park is partially open for racers and their families until 4am. Should be a blast!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by timmae

Just stumbled upon this thread... My wife and I are headed to WDW in October to run in the Tower of Terror 10 miler. Race starts at 10pm and the park is partially open for racers and their families until 4am. Should be a blast!

I was there when they ran that event last year. Pretty crazy.

[timmae]

Originally Posted by Chubby

Has anyone done any of the driving packages at Walt Disney World Speedway? We are looking at maybe going down when Tyler is 4 next fall and this just caught my eye so was wondering on feedback

Exotic Driving Experience | Drive the Exotic Car of Your Dreams

My wife and I both decided to try this... awesome time. When else can you drive 150 MPH on the oval and then make the car jump side to side through the infield track. My wife only drives a few miles every other year or so but she loved it. I think you end up getting 6 laps around the course and there are a few other drivers on the course that you get to pass. Fun stuff!

[timmae]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

Anyone a vacation club member? I'm debating....

Late to the party but my wife and I bought at Animal Kingdom Villas 3 years ago. Later that year we rebought more points there and then 2 years ago we added Grand Floridian Villas. Now we're debating adding more for Polynesian once the cabanas open up. We're caught up in all that is WDW.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by timmae

Late to the party but my wife and I bought at Animal Kingdom Villas 3 years ago. Later that year we rebought more points there and then 2 years ago we added Grand Floridian Villas. Now we're debating adding more for Polynesian once the cabanas open up. We're caught up in all that is WDW.

I listened to the pitch but didn't bite... Seemed like here were too many restrictions in relation to my schedule.

[PurdueBrad]

Just got back from our one week stay last night and I have to say that it was genuinely a great time. Hot, crowded, etc. but watching my 5 year old have fun was awesome. The highlights include:

Art of Animation Cars suite. Looked amazing and while the walls are very thin, we would stay there again. Great pool although we only went twice.

At lunch at Magic Kingdom the Mayor from the park opening show walked in and did a huge presentation and named my son Junior Mayor for the day which allowed him to go to the front of any line in the park. He chose the 7D Mine Train which was one of his faves.

Character meals were solid, particularly at Ohana. Liberty Tree Tavern, Boma, Be Our Guest, Restaurantasaurus, The Plaza and The Sci-Fi Dine In were actually all very good.

My favorite moment though involved Everest. My son is only 5 and my wife gets motion sick so I went one time on it by myself when we first got there and it was excellent. We headed back to Animal Kingdom for a second day during the 1 hour early Magic Hours and rode Dino-Whirl 5 times and I asked my son if he would mind if I jetted off to ride Everest once. He asked to come with and ride it. I didn't think he could but we went over and the height was only 44" (which surprised me) so he got on easily and we rode it with just a 5 minute wait in the Magic Hours.

He rode everything. His faves were Dino-Whirl, Dinosaur and Safari at Animal Kingdom. He loved Mine Train, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pooh and Dumbo at Magic Kingdom. Star Wars and Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios. Living on the Land, Nemo and Earth at Epcot.

Thanks again for all the advice guys!

[Flasch186]

nice!

[timmae]

Awesome stuff... I've yet to ride Everest in my 4 trips... maybe this coming one!

[Easy Mac]

We went in May with our 4.5 year old and it was a blast. Definitely taxing. It was probably as hot as it has been all Summer when we went (mid-90s the entire week). If that was not-crowded (which I was told it was), I would hate to go when it was crowded.

The best decision we made was fast-passing Frozen. We made it through in about 20 minutes, as opposed to the 6 hour line.

I wouldn't bother with Princess breakfast in the castle the next time we go. The food was horrendous, but it was an easy way for the daughter to meet the princesses.

Maybe should have waited a year until she was a couple of inches taller, just to avoid the semi-meltdowns when we'd get close to a ride and she was too short (space mountain, Everest, Rockin Roller Coaster). She loved Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Tower of Terror. They even let her be a bellhop on the Tower of Terror, but for some reason she got freaked out by that. She also LOVED Tomorrowland Racetrack, we probably did that 10 times.

Next time we go, we may just skip Epcot/Animal Kingdom or do 1/2 days there, just not really a lot of rides that any of us enjoyed. Although the ribs at animal kingdom was good. Even Hollywood Studios, probably could have done with 1/2 day or so. It was also just soooo hot.

The best nap spots we found:
Epcot - whatever the little convention center next to Starbuck's is called. Relatively quite corridor/hallway and air conditioned.
Animal Kingdom - There was a little hut with fans near Everest that was shaded, looked like it was a second turnstile for when it was very crowded.
Magic Kingdom - Covered area behind the Sleepy Hollow Inn, or whatever it was called that sold waffle wrapped foods.
Hollywood Studios - Behind the fruit stand on the was to Tower of Terror. The back corner was shaded and had a nice breeze.

[PurdueBrad]

I saw a bit of a discussion earlier in the thread but wanted to bump it up some. What are everyone's thoughts on the Disney Vacation Club? They pitch it as $16,000 over 10 years plus approximately $500 in dues each year. How easy is it to work with, how is availability and how are the resorts? My wife and I are teachers so our real travel time is summer which, I know, is speak season.

[timmae]

My wife and I went to Disney for the first time in April 2012... I had been there as a kid (as an 8 year old in 1983) but she had never been. Our trip was fun but we didn't know about meal reservations, which hotel to stay at, cool things to do outside of the parks, etc so it wasn't an awesome, we need to come back here, type of trip. A few months later we received a flier from Doorway to Dreams which was DVC's hub in Chicago. We scheduled an appointment thinking we'd just pocket the free $50 gift card and call it a day. Needless to say we walked out of there being the proud owners of 100 points at Animal Kingdom Villas. We took a trip in late 2012 using our points and were blown away by how much fun it can be when you stay at DVC, make reservations for meals and find all of the "off the grid" things to do on Disney property. We went once more in early 2013 on our AKV points and then decided to but more points at AKV since we were using them so often. We ended up with 125 more points at AKV. Then we heard about Grand Floridian Villas and checked those out on our trip in late 2013. We bought 100 points at GFV for a total of 325 points altogether. We now split our stay between GFV and AKV on our long (week long) trips. The bags are transferred free by Disney between resorts so we can go to the park and have fun and just go to our next hotel that night. Very cool way to plan trips as we hit MK and Epcot when at GFV and AK and HS when at AKV. The point system really works for us also as we are visiting with friends in January so we can easily reserve a larger suite. The only downfall is that the Grand Floridian is almost too nice to leave. We also love being able to reserve well ahead of everyone else so we can get suites, villas, etc. I am guessing we'll look at the Polynesian Villas which are being built right now when we are there in October. What specific questions do you have?

[timmae]

dola... The villas at AK get reserved very quick as they are on some type of club level. We usually reserve 1 bedrooms and suites which are very available. AK splits their rooms between savannah (animals) view and parking lot. We've always reserved savannah view... there are better savannahs than others so you either get great views or just ok views. DVC has been able to coordinate special packages (Halloween package, Christmas package, etc) for the rooms. The other thing we've done is we have an owners locker that is coordinated by a 3rd party. It lets us keep all of our normal stuff down there and not have to drag it back and forth every trip. Sweatshirts, toiletries, liquor, etc.

[PurdueBrad]

Thanks Timmae for the help, we were pretty impressed and we will likely be heading to the Schaumburg DVC hub depending on what I hear from everything.

[Glengoyne]

On DVC....

How exactly do the points transfer between properties? Being in CA, if we buy in at the Grand Californian, what is the point penalty(?) for going to Florida and staying at the Wilderness Lodge, or doing a Disney cruise? I guess I'm confused that you bought points at 2 and possibly 3 places. Is that $16K per location, or are you just buying additional points and you chose to go to GF instead of AK.

Again... Mrs Glen here.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

On DVC....

How exactly do the points transfer between properties? Being in CA, if we buy in at the Grand Californian, what is the point penalty(?) for going to Florida and staying at the Wilderness Lodge, or doing a Disney cruise? I guess I'm confused that you bought points at 2 and possibly 3 places. Is that $16K per location, or are you just buying additional points and you chose to go to GF instead of AK.

Again... Mrs Glen here.

There's no point penalty, as long as you're in the Disney resorts. You do have a "home" resort, where you get 10 month priority booking. Any other resort, you get 7 month priority (so you are almost guaranteed your home resort unless it's the week of Christmas, and don't get in on the 10 month exact date). If you go out of the Disney resorts (you can use your points at RCI resorts), there is a $95 transaction fee per occurrence. The $$ amount depends on how many points you get. You can bank, and/or borrow points for a year in advance. So, I have 160 points right now at AKL. If I banked a year, the next year I could use 480 if I borrowed for the following year as well. A lot of people will buy in, then if they want to add, buy in a different resort, and only buy 1/2 the points they need. Then they bank at one of their two resorts every year, and can use double the points in the year they are using at that particular resort.

[timmae]

Cougars spot on... The exact cost depends on what the initial selling cost is per point which then goes down as they try to increase sales. I think some go down by $25-$30 while others don't go on discount at all. I want to say we bough in at AK for $175/point and GF for $225/point but I am not certain. AK is selling for $155/point right now. You sign a 50 year lease for all intents and purposes so I'll have the points (plus yearly dues) until I am 87. I figure I'll have around 200 trips to disney in by then, lol..

[Coffee Warlord]

Welp, it's about that time.

Who's got some recommendations on the top notch hotels at Disney World? Specifically, with the 4 year old and a short trip, Magic Kingdom.

edits:

Heh. I don't think I quite realized you need to book hotels like 6 years in advance and plan out shit like nobody's business there nowadays.

So. Think I can pull off a short Disney vacation in 1.5 - 2 months?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Welp, it's about that time.

Who's got some recommendations on the top notch hotels at Disney World? Specifically, with the 4 year old and a short trip, Magic Kingdom.

If MK is the focus, if Contemporary fits the budget then do it. Monorail indoors is probably cool when you're 4 (it was cool in my 40s), you can walk across to MK and bypass transportation headaches altogether.

So. Think I can pull off a short Disney vacation in 1.5 - 2 months?

Tough, but theoretically doable. You're still pre-spring break season mostly.

[timmae]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Welp, it's about that time.

Who's got some recommendations on the top notch hotels at Disney World? Specifically, with the 4 year old and a short trip, Magic Kingdom.

edits:

Heh. I don't think I quite realized you need to book hotels like 6 years in advance and plan out shit like nobody's business there nowadays.

So. Think I can pull off a short Disney vacation in 1.5 - 2 months?

For kids the Contemporary would be a blast. They have Chef Mickeys (or the current reincarnation) that it supposed to be great for kids. The proximity for Magic Kingdom is huge! Polynesian has a great kids arcade which would have been perfect for me as a youngster but they are undergoing a renovation so it is a bit of a mess right now. I would also recommend Animal Kingdom. It is furthest away from all of the parks but the safari with the animals is really cool. The kids will dig it.

My wife and I are staying at the Animal Kingdon next week and we are really looking forward to it.

Yes, you must organize your trip far in advance. We book our rooms 11 months out as we are DVC members so we get the best availability that way. We are already planning our hotel accomodations for our following trip in December. Restauarants book 6 months in advance and we call exactly 6 months to the day to get the best reservation times.

2 months out your best bet is probably AK as they have the most rooms and 1 bedrooms are most likely to be available.

Have fun planning!!

[timmae]

dola: if you stay at any of the resorts you can pool hop at any of the other resorts. That alone can make a ton of fun wit the kiddos.

[Coffee Warlord]

Welp, the good news is, there are villas available at the Bay Lake Tower within our time frame.

So...dinner packages and start figuring out FastPass items be the next logical step?

[Easy Mac]

Honestly, just randomly book 3 fast passes for early in the morning, even if they aren't high on your list. Once they're out of the way, you just find a fast pass kiosk to book another one. We did this and probably had 15-20 fast passes a day, at least.

Also, I found that if you get there when it opens (or more accurately, are in line well before it opens and are within the first few hundred), head left to the Frontierland. It seems that most everyone goes straight or right past the castle. We rode the Frontierland rides multiple times without waiting for the first 45 minutes when we went in the dead of summer. I think we road Big Thunder Mountain 4 times without having to wait or use a fast pass.

Also, if the 4 year old needs a nap, we found that there is a covered area behind the Sleepy Hollow in Liberty square that was shaded and fairly cool. It was pretty quiet, and they serve waffles.

Re-edit, if you haven't already booked and want to save money, you can try The Art of Animation to stay at. It's cheap and not the world's greatest rooms, but we were only there to sleep, so it didn't matter to us. The bus ride wasn't too bad, but the pools were fairly nice.

[timmae]

Yes. My wife and I start with restaurant reservations (Le Cellier and Ohana as well as Kona for breakfast being our favs) and then set up must have fast passes. I think you need to fill in 3 fast passes each day so we sometimes have throwaways if we are not at the park that long that day. Parkhoppers are a must for us as we are always all over the place.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

Re-edit, if you haven't already booked and want to save money, you can try The Art of Animation to stay at. It's cheap and not the world's greatest rooms, but we were only there to sleep, so it didn't matter to us. The bus ride wasn't too bad, but the pools were fairly nice.

Money's not a factor this time around. My folks are taking us there, so we can do it nice.

As for Parkhopping, not a thing this time. We'll have my 4 year old and an almost 1 year old, and we're only staying for 4 days. The park-spanning treks will be on a later trip.

[ColtCrazy]

Well, we are doing Disney the second week of June since it seems to be a bit cheaper than during our Spring Break period. Looking at the hotels at Lake Buena Vista Resort & Spa since they have suites that can get the 4 children in with us. We already have 4 park hopper tickets to Disney from a trip that fell through earlier (as well as a day at Universal) so now we just need to get 2 more.

See lots of comments about Fast Passes so I guess I need to look into those?

[Coffee Warlord]

Judging from earlier posts, it seems securing dinner reservations (and everyone recommends getting one of the dinner packages) is the biggest thing to worry about, and FastPassing is more of a 'pick some stuff you may wanna catch early and pick it, don't fret too much'.

That about right, you Disney experts you?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Judging from earlier posts, it seems securing dinner reservations (and everyone recommends getting one of the dinner packages) is the biggest thing to worry about, and FastPassing is more of a 'pick some stuff you may wanna catch early and pick it, don't fret too much'.

That about right, you Disney experts you?

Yep, reservations are the thing you need to do first. They book up quicker than anything else. Character meals ASAP.

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Judging from earlier posts, it seems securing dinner reservations (and everyone recommends getting one of the dinner packages) is the biggest thing to worry about, and FastPassing is more of a 'pick some stuff you may wanna catch early and pick it, don't fret too much'.

That about right, you Disney experts you?

You can book dining reservations 180 days in advance - if you do not book certain ones 180 days in advance (such as dinner at Be our Guest in the beast's castle in Magic Kingdom) you can pretty much forget about it. At 1.5-2 months out Chef Mickeys and Ohana are more than likely booked up too as well as some of the better places to eat in Hollywood Studios like the 50's Cafe or the Sci Fi Dine In.

The villas at Bay Lake Tower are awesome - a friend of mine let me use his vacation club points there last May. Our room had a view of the MK so we could see the fireworks right from our balcony (or if you don't mind heights go up to the top of the world lounge and watch them from the roof). Being able to walk to MK was really nice. The monorail there is a great feature if you want to explore the Polynesian and Grand Floridian resorts or want to monorail hop to go to EPCOT. The monorail isn't terribly useful for going to the MK because its going to stop at the Polynesian, Grand Floridian and the Transportation center before you get to the MK but coming back from a long day at the parks its the first stop at least

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Judging from earlier posts, it seems securing dinner reservations (and everyone recommends getting one of the dinner packages) is the biggest thing to worry about, and FastPassing is more of a 'pick some stuff you may wanna catch early and pick it, don't fret too much'.

That about right, you Disney experts you?

Yeah, dinner reservations will be the toughest. We booked 6 months in advance and still got stuck around 8:30 on a couple of occasions. Although you're coming from CST, so it may not be as much of an adjustment.

[Coffee Warlord]

It is just so foreign to me people booking fucking breakfasts/dinners 6 months in advance.

I get that it's the character ones, but c'mon people. Be spontaneous!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

c'mon people. Be spontaneous!

Fail to plan, plan to fail.

Spontaneous at WDW is a recipe for disaster. Or at least major disappointment.

There is such a thing as overplanning there, but a certain degree of preparation is pretty much a requirement unless you have zero concern about what you see/do.

edit to add: actually, the months in advance are not all character based. The more popular non-character locations are booked up as well. (Sci-Fi, Boma, Le Cellier are all non-character)

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

It is just so foreign to me people booking fucking breakfasts/dinners 6 months in advance.

I get that it's the character ones, but c'mon people. Be spontaneous!

If you try to be spontaneous, there will be nowhere nice to eat. If you don't mind eating at the general places in the park with chicken nuggets and burgers, you're fine. We did that for about 1/2 the meals. But if you want a nice, sit down dinner/buffet meal, you have to book it. Although I was pretty bored of the buffets by day 2, since they were pretty much all the same.

[Coffee Warlord]

Oh no, I get it. You NEED to plan shit like that out for WDW. It's just a very foreign concept for me for vacations. I'm very much a wing it person on vacations.

[Marmel]

Doesn't anybody stay outside of a WDW resort, rent a car and enjoy everything Orlando has to offer, including some great restaurant that do not need a reservation?

[CraigSca]

We did when we didn't live here. Had a great time at a vacation Marriott located offsite. Once we moved here, we've gone for short stays and just love staying onsite. The rooms aren't as big as offsite, but as far as immersion and experience, you can't beat staying at one of the resorts.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Marmel

Doesn't anybody stay outside of a WDW resort, rent a car and enjoy everything Orlando has to offer, including some great restaurant that do not need a reservation?

Tried off-site a couple of times, felt very little of "the Disney experience" that way.

And there's really nothing of interest to me in Orlando (aside from the parks) I don't have near me already. Why in the hell would I want to go anywhere I can have just as easily at/near home?

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

It is just so foreign to me people booking fucking breakfasts/dinners 6 months in advance.

I get that it's the character ones, but c'mon people. Be spontaneous!

Its not just the meals now - don't forget you can plan three rides a day 2 months in advance with FastPass+

You're right that Disney has killed spontaneity unless you really don't care what you do and where you eat - however given the crowds (even in the not so busy seasons) and the cost of things I find it better to just do the planning. I actually don't mind the planning even - once you've been and you know what the tough places to get in to eat are and which rides have the longest lines that you want to FastPass I think it gives you a leg up on being able to do what you want.

I actually like being able to reserve the rides in advance because it saves me from being the person trekking all over the park for the fastpasses but I totally understand how people look at this as more work than a vacation should require

[CraigSca]

If you come in 2016 they are adding an Arendelle extension to the Norway pavilion at EPCOT. A huge uproar over this as the purists believe the World Showcase was meant as a salute to other cultures, not ones that only exist in fairy tales (more fitting for the Magic Kingdom, perhaps).

Edit: also, Pirates of the Caribbean will be closing in June for a refurb and reopening around the holidays.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

given the crowds (even in the not so busy seasons) and the cost of things I find it better to just do the planning

My kids are probably past the "magic" stage (just shy of 15 and 13), but those things really have us at the point where we'd just rather opt for Hershey or Busch Gardens.

[Eaglesfan27]

Planning on a few days at Disney before our Disney cruise in July. Anyone know if the renovations at the Polynesian will be done by then?

[timmae]

The good thing about dining reservations is that they will usually honor the reservation if you are early or late. I have been as early as 35 minutes early and as late as an hour and they were able to honor the reservations. This doesn't apply for some of the character dinners but otherwise I haven't had any issues whatsoever. This flexibility helps a ton if e are late due to a long wait in line prior to the dinner or if we are running early. It's sometimes amazing what the cast members will do to make sure you have an enjoyable time.

[timmae]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Planning on a few days at Disney before our Disney cruise in July. Anyone know if the renovations at the Polynesian will be done by then?

It's somewhat in flux but the main building and pool is expected to be done sometime in April when the new Villas open up. I am sure there will be construction ongoing but the checkin/lobby area should be done. The parking lot may be a mess yet though so parking could be in short supply.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Just booked a vacation for September. Got in on the Summer Sale. Picked up rooms at the Grand Floridian for $370/night. Normal price was around $530/night. Got a group of ten headed down with four kids total. Going to be there over Grandparents Weekend, which is a pretty slow week normally.

Going to hit two character meals (one breakfast, one lunch). I'm excited about being close to Epcot and Magic Kingdom via monorail as it allows us to take advantage of the late night hours and only be a few minutes away from our hotel room. Also allows me to go to the Beer Garden pretty quickly and not worry about driving home.

[timmae]

Awesome stuff mizzou! Take the group to a luau... Short walk away down to the poly. They have alcohol and BBQ! Love the grand Floridian... You'll have fun!

[AnalBumCover]

Has anyone taken a vacation at Aulani Disney Hawaii Resort?