Going to DisneyWorld - stay in the park or outside

alent1234 said:

say the july and august months when school is out. or the other weeks when school is out?

hate to take my kid out of school when i go, but paying all that money to wait 2 hours per ride is not good either

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you can expect long lines in high season.
the fast pass allows you to get reduced lines for 3 attractions per day in one park, although they are tiered in some of the parks so you can't get the 3 most popular. it also applies to shows and parades, not just rides, so you can use the fast pass to have a shorter line and/or get the best seats in some of the shows (e.g phantasmic at hollywood studios).

also, the disney app updates you on the waiting lines on the various attractions, so you can use that to navigate and minimize wait times. (or you can watch here
it pays off if you (and your kids) are early risers: by getting in at opening in the morning, the lines are much much shorter until late morning

also it pays off to do your 'homework' and have minimal plan of what to do and when

maflynn said:

From what I've read about fastpass+ Too many people found ways around the old system, so thy could basically use the system most of the day, where as Disney purportedly wants more people use them which is why they're limiting the number of times you can use it on any given day.

To say it this way, instead of a few people using most of the time slots, they're trying to get more people to use a few of the slots.

I'm not defending them or saying that the Fastpass+ is better, but rather it seems people were using the old one in ways that Disney didn't think was fair.

I agree its more restrictive and doesn't help with the user experience.

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I am not sure if that was a real problem. maybe, but if that was their goal, i think they are going the wrong direction with a system that will create more problems and will be less fair, especially for the casual visitors who are going to go there without knowing much about it and they will find out that they cannot use it for ANY of the best attraction, because all the slots have been already booked up by 'power users'.
i can see that on busy days all the popular attractions will be completely booked up for fast passes several days before the visit date

again, to me i would just eliminate it altogether: no preferential lines, everyone waits the same, but all lines are much faster (and they should be number/timed based, so you don't have to physically stay in line as you wait).

Altenatively, just say on a board how long the fast pass line is, if someone wants to use it, they do. after 3 times, they are done. no bookings and similar silliness.

and i haven't even mention how bad they implemented the actual booking system. that i really hope they change soon (not that i plan to go back for several years, but poorly designed, stupid 'innovations' just irk me to no end).

maflynn said:

I figured I'd update our plans.

I've been doing more research and trying to tighten up my estimates, particularly towards the cost of food.

I had budgeted 200 dollars a day for food, but after coming back from February vacation with the kids, I can see that dollar amount is inadequate. I've seen estimates float around 80 dollars day per person to 60 dollars a day per person.

This does not include the character meals we like to do for the kids. Even at 60 dollars a day per person which comes to a total food allowance of 240 per per day that's just under 2,000 for food for the week

It seems that if you plan on staying for more then 5 days, the cost benefit ratio of onsite vs offsite shifts over to onsite. The Disney Dining plan costs 1,200 for one counter service meal and one sit down meal. Even with paying for breakfast out of pocket (using the meal allowances for the more expensive lunch/dinner time) we're much closer to a break even point. That is the timeshare is costing almost as much as a Disney resort.

No matter how you slice it, a week long Disney vacation is going to cost between 4 to 6 grand, this includes air fare , car rental (If staying offsite), park tickets and food budget. It does not include incidentals and souvenirs that always eat into your budget as well, but you need to expect that with kids.

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You could also use a snack credit for breakfast (croissant, cinnamon roll, etc) instead of paying out of pocket, or taking dessert home from lunch or dinner. I find the dining plan to be ALOT of food and can't eat all of it after a day or two of binge eating.

Also depending on if your vacation time is set in stone, Disney offers free dining plan in the slower seasons to encourage travelers.

I think at some point Disnely will offer additional fast passes for a price. It also gives them the ability to offer additional fast passes as a perk for staying at a more expensive hotel.

With Magic Bands they can monitor traffic flow throughout the park. They can then use that data to offer fast pass locations and times in parts of the park that are less busy, thus helping to distribute the traffic. That part of it seems kind of cool.

My wife and I both preferred the old way. We felt like scheduling everything in advance made our trip feel less spontaneous. And the booking process was a bit of a chore. I can see some people having a LOT of trouble with it. And if you want to have different people in your group riding different rides it was a HUGE pain figuring out who could do what and when. We also felt like we didn't get to use as many fast passes as we had in the past. Used to be once you used one you could go get another one. And you could get it for something you WANTED to use it for. You weren't forced to select fast passes for attractions that never even have a line.

Not a deal breaker, just preferred the old way.

Going in June. Wanted to stay on site at Disneyworld but after doing some price comparisons between hotels and costco travel I opted to stay off site. Figured I can do a lot with the $1000 I'm saving for 7 nights.

maflynn said:

That's an option, I'm also thinking of taking a trip to a local supermarket or something to get some bakery stuff and storing it in the room, i.e., muffins and OJ since the room should have a fridge.


I booked it now, but I'm really hoping as the summer winds down I'll see some sort of incentive for fall/winter trips that I can take advantage. The free free dining plan is high on my list of hoping it will occur

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Note not all rooms will have a fridge in it unless you book the DVC "Villas". You can request a fridge for an extra fee or if needed for medications they will provide it for free

Disney is really good about applying promotions after you book, it's just a pain to have to keep an eye out for it and calling to request the new rate/promotion.

NukeIT said:

Note not all rooms will have a fridge in it unless you book the DVC "Villas". You can request a fridge for an extra fee or if needed for medications they will provide it for free

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Not sure if you're referring to a specific resort or Disney resorts in general but we've gone 4 times in the last 5 years, always stay at the value (cheapest) resorts, and have had a fridge every time.

kilcher said:

Not sure if you're referring to a specific resort or Disney resorts in general but we've gone 4 times in the last 5 years, always stay at the value (cheapest) resorts, and have had a fridge every time.

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I go at least once a year, normally 2-3 times. For the various RunDisney races (marathons, halfs, etc). And have lucked out, where they hadn't removed the fridge from the previous stay... But it isn't a guarantee, unless you book it.

NukeIT said:

I go at least once a year, normally 2-3 times. For the various RunDisney races (marathons, halfs, etc). And have lucked out, where they hadn't removed the fridge from the previous stay... But it isn't a guarantee, unless you book it.

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Now that you mention it we may have requested it. It didn't really occur to me that they'd go around moving those little fridges in and out of rooms.

There is a whole cottage industry around looking for deals at Disney World. I subscribe to MouseSavers. They used to publish scheduled ride closures and refurbishments, but I haven't seen that in the last few newsletters. I usually pick up a copy of one of the WDW guides like Birnbaum's or the Unofficial Guide. Pass it around before the trip so everyone can pick out something that they want to do - something that is "theirs".

Disney hotels offer a lot of extra value, especially if you are flying in and only going to Disney. But if you are driving or planning on seeing the greater Orlando area, off park hotels might be a better option.

A friend of mine told me that when their family took the dining plan, he felt like all they did was eat. Because they had paid for it, they felt obliged to use it. So depending on your family, it may or may not be worth it. My family has enjoyed dinners at a number of Disney's finer establishments. Sure they are a bit pricy, but not as bad as you might think. But we have never gone away hungry and more often than not they have been the highlight of the trip (Whispering Canyon @ Wilderness Lodge!).

We got the base dining plan free- 2 quick service and a snack each day when we went last October. The combination of that with the All Star hotels is great. The rooms aren't fancy, but they are inexpensive, and clean. If you stay at one, it is generally worth the small up charge for a close in room. The dining plan promotion

The upgraded dining plan is too restrictive for our family. We have 2 young kids, and since basically every "sit down" restaurant pretty much requires reservations even in the off season, it was much nicer to just pay for a couple of those out of pocket and enjoy the freedom. There is a lot of stuff available on the quick service plan, and the snacks, well, just use the right. If you have a coffee problem, like we do, it works at the Starbucks inside the parks. For ANY beverage. I had fun trying to see how expensive I could make my Java Chip frappes, since it all cost the same. We also figured out that many of the snacks would also work as breakfast foods, so we ate a lot of breakfasts for pretty much free as well.

make sure to reserve a couple days for Universal/IoA.
depending on the age of your kids and how much you and them are Disney fanatics, it might be the highlight of the trip. In terms of actual rides, they are far better on average (for older kids/adult), but they lack Disney's disneyness

maflynn said:

So far I have two days set for Universal and one day for SeaWorld

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At universal, absolutely buy e express pass. it' expensive, but it allow yous to skip the line once at almost every attraction, totally worth it. They also have an other more expensive option for unlimited express. This i don't think it's worth it, as there more than enough rides to kepp going around, withOut having to go back to the same rides multiple times (that said, we did some of the rides more than once as when the line was short they didn't bother to scan the pass)

Another place in the area that was absolutely great was the kennedy space center at cape canaveral.
I wa surprised by how qgood it was (in a different way than the parks). If you go, plan a full day and get there early, or you won't be able to do all the best stuff. If you are a space buff, then two days can be easily "wasted" there

If you're going during a non-peak time and can move around the park quickly enough to hit all of the rides you want I may spring for the park hopper. I'm usually very against those because it's a blatant money grab but there are great rides at both parks. I'd probably map it out in advance and see what rides you want to hit to make sure you get the most out of the extra cost.

If the park is going to be packed and you don't think you'll have a whole lot of time after fighting the crowds and waiting in line then it might be best to avoid the cost.

We're big on Disney. Our 5 year old has been 4 times already. We went to Universal for the first time earlier this spring and really enjoyed it. Seems more for older kids though. Our 5 year old rode most of the rides but he was pretty scared of them before getting on. And there really wasn't anything our 1 year old could do beyond the carasoul. When we went there were NO lines for anything. Unfortunately now that our oldest is in kindergarten we'll get to start going on vacation when everybody else goes on vacation.

Just read you have two 8 year olds. I would think they'd be ok. A lot of the rides at Universal are like the Star Tours ride at Disney. You sit in something in front of a big screen and it looks and feels like you're moving a lot but you're really not moving that much. Maybe start out on Minion Madness, it's toward the front of the park and most kids love minions, it's a little intense but it's a good way to get them used to that sort of ride. If they do ok on that be sure to hit the Simpsons ride too, it's a lot of fun.

maflynn said:

Here's my question, since most of our itinerary has already been fleshed out (you need to make reservations 6 months in advanced or lose out), we're mostly going to stay on Disney property. We've allotted one day for Universal, I know that's probably not enough, but it was so easy to fill up our itinerary with DW activities that were free or near free, it made more sense. Anyways, since we're only doing one day for Universal Studios, should we get the base ticket or splurge for the park hopper. I can see an argument for both options.

btw, this will be for a family of four, with two girls age 8. They recently just got into roller coasters, though they still don't like anything too intense.

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While we’ve been to Disney recently, we’re more of a fan of Universal and we’re semi-pros ( we go ~2 times a year, about 30+ times total ) In fact, we’re going to Universal in about three weeks

re: Disney, our 6 year old little girl loved the onsite “princess” hotel, and meet-and-greets, the onsite facilities at Disney are pretty outstanding, we stayed at the Port Orleans, it’s a huge, self-contained experience in itself, she loved the pools (lots of slides, activities).

In terms of straight up rides, she definitely enjoys the rides at Universal more, we’re hoping she breaks 48” this trip as that opens up a couple of major new rides for her. She is pretty hardcore when it comes to rides (we’re both coaster enthusiasts), well in general (she’s already surfing ), and I’d say there’s a nice range of rides for various ages, but Disney does have a ton of stuff for very small children.

Universal (Universal = whole property) is definitely more compact, the two parks are next to each other, there’s some solid places to eat outside the two (Hard Rock has a great bar, good food). If you ever go back, stay at the Royal Pacific, it’s a < 10 minute walk into either park beautiful hotel, great pool and good dining at Jakes.

If your kids are into Harry Potter, they’ll lose their minds. Here’s the thing: the new Potter section is in Studios, connected via a magic train to the other Potter section (in Islands of Adventure), and you have to have a two park pass to use the connector. Plus each park has a major Potter ride: Escape from Gringots and Wizarding World.

Just some random points:

- The immersive rides in Universal like Spiderman, Transformers (and apparently Gringots) are WAY more engaging/fun/amazing than the sit-bounce-and-watch-a-movie style of older rides of the same nature like Star Tours that I’d lump more into Minions and Simpsons style.

- There’s a major breakpoint at motion rides and “small” coasters at about 48”, then next jump for the MAJOR coasters is in the mid 50” for Hulk, Dragons, Rockit (amazing coaster).

- The Mummy is the best “themed” coaster we’ve ever ridden (food tip: the Irish pub across from it is pretty good, eat in the bar, and just avoid prime lunch/dinner times)

- There’s some fun shows for a cool down, relaxer like Sinbad

- Also, some ol’ school fun things for all ages, kind of silly fun like ET, Terminator

- If you want to get some exercise, the play area in Jurassic Park is _crazy_, it’s huge, high and lots to explore

- At the entrance of Islands on the right corner of the main intersection is a nice little bar, always cool and quiet

- Plenty of parades, and events, just check the schedule, lots of characters to meet like Spongebob, the Simpsons

- Studios vs. Islands is tough (we always do both, we have season passes):

Major kind of “must do” for each:

STUDIOS
Escape from Gringotts
Transformers
Minion Mayhem
Rip Ride Rockit
Simpsons
Shrek
The Mummy
Men in Black
Woody Woodpecker Coaster


ISLAND OF ADVENTURE

Spider-Man
Hulk Coaster
Doctor Doom Fearfall
Pteranodon Flyers
Flight of the Hippogriff (small coaster, but very intense)
Dragon Challenge
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

[water rides, do last, bilge rats and Dudley will SOAK you ]
Popeye Bilge-Rat Barges
Dudley Do-right Ripsaw Falls
Jurassic Park

Okay, I make way too many trips to WDW to not jump in on this thread. Forget Universal Studios. Save Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Sea World for a trip where you just visit those parks using the pass that works for all of them. Walt Disney World has four parks. Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom. With two 8-year-old girls you need to be doing some planning.

You do not need the park hoppers. Hopping between parks is for experts, who just want to hit the highlights of the parks. It takes time to get between the parks, then there is the line to enter. Total killer of an hour or more of fun.

Pick up some Disney Trading Pins on eBay and a lanyard for each child. Pin trading gets the kids a whole necklace full of inexpensive souvenirs and happy kids. Any cast member wearing a green square pin patch or green pin lanyard only trade with kids, therefore, often have the best pins.

You need the Disney World Magic Guide app on your iPhones/iPad. Yes, I know it's $4.99 but very worth it. It's got the menus for every restaurant on property. The current wait times for every ride. Park maps, etc.

By now, you've got all your Table Service restaurants planned, at least I hope you do, or you may be in trouble. The Quick Service restaurants are the ones you can decide any time between now and then. Remember the kid's meals are not the same as the adult meals at most restaurants. Quick Service suggestions:

Pinocchios Village Haus (Magic Kingdom) - Restaurant serves pizza, which kids love. But the best part is that there are seats that look down into the It's a Small World ride. Passengers wave to the kids in the restaurant windows.

Sunshine Seasons (Epcot) - Best variety, located inside of the Land Pavilion in Future World.

ABC Commissary (Hollywood Studios) - They've got cheeseburgers, turkey sandwich and chicken nuggets on the kid's menus.

Flame Tree Barbecue (Animal Kingdom) - Baked drumstick on the kid's menu.

For table service, I hope you got some good ones. Here are the best ones with little girls:

Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom) - Buffet, so everyone gets what they want. Winnie the Pooh characters.

Akershus Royal Bankquet Hall (Epcot - Norway) - Includes a picture with Belle taken when you enter. Always at least five princesses or leading ladies to interact with the children.

Chef Mickey's (Contemporary Resort) - Buffet with all your favorite characters. Monorail passes right over while you are dining.

Coral Reef (Epcot - Future World) - Excellent food, great view of SHARKS swimming by while you eat.

Remember that you can get a bowl of cereal and a milk for one snack credit. Don't use your snack credits for water or soda. Buy that stuff out of pocket. Use your snack credits for items that cost around $4 to get the best value.

If you have a Chase credit or debit card, there is a private photo shoot with two Disney characters (often Mickey) in Epcot Innovations building by the fire truck. Picture is free. Any cast member will shoot your photo at any time, in any park for free with your camera. Make sure that one member of the party isn't missing from all the pictures.

Remember, you can now do your FastPasses online before arrival. You need one day for Hollywood Studios, one day for Animal Kingdom, two days for Epcot, three for Magic Kingdom. Hollywood Studios you have to plan out very well so that you can make every show. For Fastasmic! sit in the first row not on the water, as close to center as possible. Arrive 45 minutes early. You can relax and eat something while you wait. Best place to watch Animal Kingdom's parade is Tusker House. The parade passes there twice and there is an adult beverage location, with chairs. Chairs become important.

Best viewing of Magic Kingdom's fireworks? Contemporary Resort's observation deck... it's one floor down from the monorail. Music will be on speakers. If you are there for the MNSSHP and want to see that fireworks show without having to shell out for the tickets, that's the place to go watch them. Benches for parents.

Buy and bring rain ponchos that you pick up at the dollar store before you leave. Stop by the Walmart just outside of Disney World for much lower priced souvenirs for those that weren't lucky enough to go with you. That Walmart has a special section of WDW shirts.

Our next trip is 3rd week of October. When I buy annual passes, I abuse them. If done right, you can really avoid the crowds.

maflynn said:

I agree, I think the fairest approach is to let everyone wait the same amount of time.

Our vacation time is written stone, due to the inflexible nature of requesting vacation time that my wife has to live under. We have the clearance to take a week off in December from both our employers so we'll have to live with that.

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I forgot to give you one more really important app to have when you are in the parks. It's the one by Disney themselves, My Disney Experience. It's a free app. Activate it when you go into a park and leave it on. If a character is getting ready to come out you will receive a message. It will also keep track of all your FastPasses.

maflynn said:

Already have the app, and all my reservations were made at the 180 day mark. They fill up fast so I made them as soon as I could.

Once I get closer to my vacation, we'll do the fastpasses, as it stands I'm too far out at the moment.

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Make sure to really plan out your Hollywood Studios day. If you plan it right you will miss no shows. Fantasmic! is a must do... On your restaurants did you get Akershus in Norway? It's a must do for little girls. Quick way to meet five princesses or leading ladies.