3 hour lunch
Footballguy
Talk to customer service either while there or send an email when you get back. Might be able to be compensated for the rash of bad luck you’ve had. Years ago we got 4 tickets to come back in a similar situation….
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.
Disney Vacation (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter DOVCommish
- Start date
Talk to customer service either while there or send an email when you get back. Might be able to be compensated for the rash of bad luck you’ve had. Years ago we got 4 tickets to come back in a similar situation….
Shula-holic
Footballguy
Holy crap man, we were on that ride when it was evacuated yesterday when you posted this. We were the last car that was underway when it got shutdown. Did Epcot today and MK tomorrow. Been here since Sunday. Way too long and Mickey has worn my pocketbook out.
As far as the railway ride, they ended up giving us back a lightning lane for any ride including that one to use for the rest of the day. We ended up going back about 90 min or so later.
Last edited:
Shula-holic
Footballguy
We are staying there just for that convenience. Also got extended park hours. My oldest daughter crammed in 10 MK rides last night from 11pm-1am
Dan Lambskin
Footballguy
Yeah we could have waited around but we were exhausted from 2 days at universal and full day at MK so we had already committed to an early night
We did Epcot today and then AK tomorrow for a half day and start our drive home (stopping south of Atlanta and drive the rest Saturday)
Spent way more than I expected on food and souvenirs this trip. Also did not originally plan for LL almost seems like a necessity
Anyway it’s been an overall enjoyable trip, I’ll probably do a full writeup next week
Shula-holic
Footballguy
We did LL at HS yesterday and are at MK tomorrow just bc it’s the last day for us. We did the Epcot extended hours Monday night I think it was so we worked in some of the tougher lines then to avoid buying it for that park. We were also in Epcot today. We’ve been using park hoppers to eat at night there or HS because we just like the food options better in those parks.
Dan Lambskin
Footballguy
You guys won’t believe this, but Dinosaur just went down before we went to ride it and of course we were planning to leave right after that to head home
Im cursed apparently
Im cursed apparently
Dan Lambskin
Footballguy
Officially walking out and heading home. You should be safe
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
400 people at Disney is a rounding error.
glvsav37
Footballguy
oh for fudge sake. I know this is the vacation thread, but I'm losing a lot of my excitement for Disney everyday b/c of stuff like this.
'Little Mermaid' Live-Action Songs Will Be Updated to Show Prince Eric Wouldn't 'Force Himself' on Ariel
'Little Mermaid' Live-Action Songs Will Be Updated to Show Prince Eric Wouldn't 'Force Himself' on Ariel
fruity pebbles
Footballguy
Force himself lol. She was the aggressor.
The Commish
Footballguy
Gotta make sure there abide by the laws.... kinda sad
glvsav37
Footballguy
Got an email from DVC this am, seems annual passes are coming back, with early sales to DVC starting on 4/13 and sales to the general public starting on 4/20
Here is the AP info page
The downside is that the DVC-eligible passes are close to $1k each. I remember getting them for about $500-600/pp pre-pandemic.
With their history though, I have concerns that they may stop selling them at any moment once they feel that they have sold enough to where it's impacting their attendance projections. So if you want one...get it quick.
Here is the AP info page
The downside is that the DVC-eligible passes are close to $1k each. I remember getting them for about $500-600/pp pre-pandemic.
With their history though, I have concerns that they may stop selling them at any moment once they feel that they have sold enough to where it's impacting their attendance projections. So if you want one...get it quick.
jb1020
Footballguy
I got excited too cause we have still not settled on exactly what we want to do with our upcoming trip. Our trip is 7 nights and we're ranging from just 4 days at the parks and maybe a water park, to blowing it out and getting a pass for everything and there's like an $800 difference. I think the top ticket is maybe $4100.
I thought if these are $800 or so I might jump on them. I can't justify a return trip inside of 12 months though. Absolutely not, can't even consider it.... NOPE! Won't discuss this at all.
Gawain
Footballguy
There you see her
Sitting there non-verbally
You don’t have consent plurally
But there's non-verbal gestures
And you don't know why
But you've got a release
Packed in your valise
Yes, you want her
to sign before you have some fun
Possible she wants you too
There is one way to ask her
It don't take a word
But to save you from fear
Have her initial here (and here and here and here)
Sitting there non-verbally
You don’t have consent plurally
But there's non-verbal gestures
And you don't know why
But you've got a release
Packed in your valise
Yes, you want her
to sign before you have some fun
Possible she wants you too
There is one way to ask her
It don't take a word
But to save you from fear
Have her initial here (and here and here and here)
glvsav37
Footballguy
sucks b/c the price point is just out of reach from making sense for the average out of state guest (which is most of DVC).
To make it "worth it" you need to go 10 times ($100'sh for a single-day ticket x 10 = $1K AP price). However, nobody vacations there from out of state for a single day and if you buy is succession, those 10 days take you down to $60/av per ticket. That makes it now 17 days before you technically break even.
I could still technically make it work, b/c back in the day, we would "leap frog" trips, buying our AP in August, visiting for 10+ days, and then returning the following July before it expired. But then, at $500/AP for a family of 4, the $2K out of pocket is a lot more tolerable than the $4K would be today. So my real only option is to now stay with day tickets for each trip......but what Disney is losing out on (For me at least) w/o that "need" to return the following summer before my AP expires.....now I'm going somewhere else. I don't have that "use it or lose it mentality" anymore.
rockaction
Footballguy
Oh my word. Did you make this up?
glvsav37
Footballguy
Let's do that affiliate dance!
So DVC just came out with a referral program. So for anyone who might be interested, check out DVC using my affiliate link (not gonna be shy about it) and you can save $500 on membership and I get a little back rub from them for sending you there.
go...now...buy some timeshare points!!
So DVC just came out with a referral program. So for anyone who might be interested, check out DVC using my affiliate link (not gonna be shy about it) and you can save $500 on membership and I get a little back rub from them for sending you there.
go...now...buy some timeshare points!!
glvsav37
Footballguy
@Osaurus
awesome. there is a little spot just outside the contemporary to watch them. Exit the main concourse toward bay lake tower and make a hard left. Right under the monorail beam is a place with seats facing the castle. THey even have a speaker to play the music. The seats might be taken by the time you get there, but you can def see them standing as well.
awesome. there is a little spot just outside the contemporary to watch them. Exit the main concourse toward bay lake tower and make a hard left. Right under the monorail beam is a place with seats facing the castle. THey even have a speaker to play the music. The seats might be taken by the time you get there, but you can def see them standing as well.
Last edited:
AAABatteries
Footballguy
I’m a total sucker
- you can easily find me saying a few pages back that my Disney days are maybe behind me and maybe I’m being priced out.New AP holder here!
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Honestly - it will “pay for itself”. I’ll save a couple hundred this trip and my wife was already planning to bring my son for winter break his senior year. We’ll probably do at least two other long weekends so it’s worth it but damn that was pricey.
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
My daughter and I will be landing in Orlando about this time next week. Just doing Studios and Epcot, but I'm looking forward to it. She's going to college this year, so I won't get too many more opportunities to have Dad/daughter time.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Give me some lounge/bars recommendations- really going to try and be relaxed this trip. Lots of drinking 
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
Trader Sams is my favorite.Give me some lounge/bars recommendations- really going to try and be relaxed this trip. Lots of drinking
The tequila bar in the Mexican pavilion is awesome.
The moonshine drinks at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin is an underrated one.
Sitting at the bar to watch the dancers at Raglan Road is pretty cool as well.
The Commish
Footballguy
If I'm reading the pricing correctly, it'd cost us $5K for the year to have the passes we had in 2017-2019. And then we have to have a reservation on top of that? Can't just pick up and go on a day we have free?
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
There have been rumors that they are relaxing the reservation situation for AP holders, but who knows. I don't think the reservation system is going away.
The Commish
Footballguy
unfortunate.....the biggest reason we did APs was that we could go on a whim for the day.
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
It's probably the biggest reason my wife, daughter and I didn't get one this past week.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
You can show up after 2:00 without a reservation. Exception is MK on weekend.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
We got up super early and drove down yesterday morning. So early that we decided to do parks and got the Genie+ for $15 per person. I’m totally sold on it. Rode the following without any wait:
Soarin, TT, Ratatouille, Nemo, Spaceship Earth. Did all that and hit food kiosks at Flower and Garden. I’m about 3 hours. Got in Guardians queue, went to resort, swam and rested for a little while. Went back, rode Guardians and then hopped to MK. Rode Space Mtn, Buzz, Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Big Thunder. All before 9:00 - almost no wait at all. Take all my money for Genie+ if it works that great all the time.
Soarin, TT, Ratatouille, Nemo, Spaceship Earth. Did all that and hit food kiosks at Flower and Garden. I’m about 3 hours. Got in Guardians queue, went to resort, swam and rested for a little while. Went back, rode Guardians and then hopped to MK. Rode Space Mtn, Buzz, Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Big Thunder. All before 9:00 - almost no wait at all. Take all my money for Genie+ if it works that great all the time.
glvsav37
Footballguy
I hate to admit it but I agree...the system is pretty solid if you know how to use it and dont mind the cash. Unfortunately, both are the problem. It is very hard to use for casual or older/technology-challenged guests, and you could ve spending the price of an additional ticket per day depending on the family size. Add in the variable price makes it hard to really budget.
Enjoy the trip
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Trader Sams is my favorite.Give me some lounge/bars recommendations- really going to try and be relaxed this trip. Lots of drinking
The tequila bar in the Mexican pavilion is awesome.
The moonshine drinks at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin is an underrated one.
Sitting at the bar to watch the dancers at Raglan Road is pretty cool as well.
Got a Zombie at Trader Sams Tiki Terrace before ‘Ohana last night. Wait time in the bar was 2.5 hours
‘Ohana - still really good and if you can put away food it can be worth it. I think I ate an entire pan of the shrimp and about 15 potstickers. Steak is meh but I really enjoyed the new chicken. I know they did it for cost cutting but thigh are so much better and they do a nice job with it. I’m still full this morning
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Yeah, like I always say, it’s a tough sell for folks coming just once and don’t want to research and are on a tight budget - I get it. But man, it feels like I’m back to gaming the system with a ton of paper FP. We rode everything at HS yesterday, took a break from the park from 1-7 and got to ride Slinky, Smugglers and Rise of Resistance twice with basically no wait. The SW stuff was at the end of the night. So cool - our first time getting to do Galaxy’s Edge.
glvsav37
Footballguy
how are the crowds?
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
The day of the Super Bowl, the wait was over 4 hours. That was with me putting my name in 20 minutes after it opened. Insanity.Trader Sams is my favorite.Give me some lounge/bars recommendations- really going to try and be relaxed this trip. Lots of drinking
The tequila bar in the Mexican pavilion is awesome.
The moonshine drinks at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin is an underrated one.
Sitting at the bar to watch the dancers at Raglan Road is pretty cool as well.
Got a Zombie at Trader Sams Tiki Terrace before ‘Ohana last night. Wait time in the bar was 2.5 hours
‘Ohana - still really good and if you can put away food it can be worth it. I think I ate an entire pan of the shrimp and about 15 potstickers. Steak is meh but I really enjoyed the new chicken. I know they did it for cost cutting but thigh are so much better and they do a nice job with it. I’m still full this morning
AAABatteries
Footballguy
I’m always a bad gauge - crowds don’t bother me so I don’t notice it as much. Seems about moderate. With Genie it’s been great. We skipped on Genie today and put that money to LL Guardians. Fantastic ride - it’s maybe my favorite ride in all the parks now.
New Binky the Doormat
Footballguy
wait, paper Fast Passes exit?
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Existed back in the day, yes.
New Binky the Doormat
Footballguy
sorry, I thought you meant now.
Gold Fox
Footballguy
You might consider asking for Walter as your waiter. He’s great.
Snotbubbles
Footballguy
Trader Sams is my favorite.Give me some lounge/bars recommendations- really going to try and be relaxed this trip. Lots of drinking
The tequila bar in the Mexican pavilion is awesome.
The moonshine drinks at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin is an underrated one.
Sitting at the bar to watch the dancers at Raglan Road is pretty cool as well.
Got a Zombie at Trader Sams Tiki Terrace before ‘Ohana last night. Wait time in the bar was 2.5 hours
‘Ohana - still really good and if you can put away food it can be worth it. I think I ate an entire pan of the shrimp and about 15 potstickers. Steak is meh but I really enjoyed the new chicken. I know they did it for cost cutting but thigh are so much better and they do a nice job with it. I’m still full this morning
How did you get reservations at Ohana. Every time I try they don't have them.
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
Check every morning. I usually get to the job site pretty early. I'll check as I'm waiting and can usually get a reservation at a reasonable time within a week or so of trying.Trader Sams is my favorite.Give me some lounge/bars recommendations- really going to try and be relaxed this trip. Lots of drinking
The tequila bar in the Mexican pavilion is awesome.
The moonshine drinks at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin is an underrated one.
Sitting at the bar to watch the dancers at Raglan Road is pretty cool as well.
Got a Zombie at Trader Sams Tiki Terrace before ‘Ohana last night. Wait time in the bar was 2.5 hours
‘Ohana - still really good and if you can put away food it can be worth it. I think I ate an entire pan of the shrimp and about 15 potstickers. Steak is meh but I really enjoyed the new chicken. I know they did it for cost cutting but thigh are so much better and they do a nice job with it. I’m still full this morning
How did you get reservations at Ohana. Every time I try they don't have them.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Trader Sams is my favorite.Give me some lounge/bars recommendations- really going to try and be relaxed this trip. Lots of drinking
The tequila bar in the Mexican pavilion is awesome.
The moonshine drinks at Chef Art Smiths Homecomin is an underrated one.
Sitting at the bar to watch the dancers at Raglan Road is pretty cool as well.
Got a Zombie at Trader Sams Tiki Terrace before ‘Ohana last night. Wait time in the bar was 2.5 hours
‘Ohana - still really good and if you can put away food it can be worth it. I think I ate an entire pan of the shrimp and about 15 potstickers. Steak is meh but I really enjoyed the new chicken. I know they did it for cost cutting but thigh are so much better and they do a nice job with it. I’m still full this morning
How did you get reservations at Ohana. Every time I try they don't have them.
Could t find anything until I was on property and then pretty much every day there’s been some pop up. There’s also a wait list you can try for if you get desperate.
ETA - waitlist you must be there or close by - not sure how close
Gawain
Footballguy
First day of the first trip for my kids.
Hit the parks about 9 and kids were raring to go.
Teacups, carousel, Cinderella Meet, Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh, Monsters Laugh Floor, Peter Pan, Under the Sea were all knocked out by lunch at Crystal Palace.
Then, the two boys fell asleep on the walk to the Magic Carpets. So my wife and the daughter did those, then managed to knock out Mine train. Daughter came off the ride in tears, so called it a day at 5.
The one thing I take away is that Disney through Genie + really is stratifying the haves and the have nots. Heard someone giving the women holding the lightning line sign grief, "Do you know how much I spent..." like she controls the park attendance for the day. Warm day and a lot of 60 minute + standbys on the second tier rides. Proudly rocked my St Louis Bob Cat jockey shirt.
ETA: Not doing Animal Kingdom, so booked dinner last night at Sana'a. Great view of the animals, giraffes and zebras galloping by. Much better meal than Crystal Palace for quite a bit less as well.
Hit the parks about 9 and kids were raring to go.
Teacups, carousel, Cinderella Meet, Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Pooh, Monsters Laugh Floor, Peter Pan, Under the Sea were all knocked out by lunch at Crystal Palace.
Then, the two boys fell asleep on the walk to the Magic Carpets. So my wife and the daughter did those, then managed to knock out Mine train. Daughter came off the ride in tears, so called it a day at 5.
The one thing I take away is that Disney through Genie + really is stratifying the haves and the have nots. Heard someone giving the women holding the lightning line sign grief, "Do you know how much I spent..." like she controls the park attendance for the day. Warm day and a lot of 60 minute + standbys on the second tier rides. Proudly rocked my St Louis Bob Cat jockey shirt.
ETA: Not doing Animal Kingdom, so booked dinner last night at Sana'a. Great view of the animals, giraffes and zebras galloping by. Much better meal than Crystal Palace for quite a bit less as well.
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
Worst souvenir at the Disney parks and why is it those stupid bubble wands?
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
My daughter and I extended our trip and are actually staying at Kidani now.
But, yeah, Magic Kingdom was nuts yesterday. The fireworks were a **** show. People just ignoring the cast members and daring them to do something about it.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Super long debrief but I wanted to get all my thoughts down and then share here in case it's helpful to folks.
I haven't been to Disney since May 2019 so basically 4 years. Lots of changes at the parks, including adding several great new rides. I wasn't even planning to go but my daughter had a cheerleading competition at ESPN Wide World of Sports and my wife convinced me to go which then turned in to me and my oldest son (21) going. Several changes to the plan and we ended up with me, my wife, my son and my nephew going for a 5 days before my cheer daughter came down. Bittersweet that my other two kids couldn't go but the logistics with them in college and taking AP exams just meant it wouldn't work.
We stayed on property and did a split stay trip. First half was at All-Star Music and second half was at Port Orleans - Riverside. We live in Atlanta area so almost always drive down. It's a 6.5-7 hour drive so unless it's just 1 or 2 of us it's much more cost effective to drive and it's a pretty easy drive (especially on the way down). Original plan was to leave sometime morning of 23rd, take our time and do an ADR Sunday night. We had 7-day park hoppers and didn't want to "waste" a day with only a few hours. But, as fate would have it, Disney released the new Annual Passes and after much discussion my wife and I decided to get passes for ourselves. She turns 50 this year so we already have trips planned for her birthday, probably our Anniversary and hopefully to take the kids later in the year or early next year. With the annual pass we can get some relatively cheap rooms around $100/night at value locations so it's a not too expensive trip down.
Back to this trip - my son also bought a pass as he and his friends are planning to go and his schedule to do long weekends is pretty flexible. So, my son put in to go down early on Sunday. Which was fine with me. We left at 4am and they slept while I drove. We were at EPCOT by 10:45, Genie+ purchased and Soarin' and Remy LL booked. Great start to the trip - will talk more about Genie+ later.
Will expound on some different topics:
Virtual Queues - love/hate the virtual queue concept. Waking up at 7am to get in the queue isn't ideal but I'm already up and that's also when you have to do Genie+ so it works out fine. We never got locked out but we also never really got an early time. And the timing is the biggest issue. We got in the virtual queue for TRON and got in group 87. We wanted to park hop that day and try to be at EPCOT by 2pm but we didn't get on the ride until 3pm. They do a decent job of with the estimation but it really becomes tricky to plan your day around it. Now that I've ridden both the VQ rides I'll book it and then decided whether to keep it or give it up based on what I already had planned.
Genie+ - already said it but I was very skeptical on how this would work. Coming in I was planning to use early morning EMH to knock out the main rides and then just see how the lines would be. Wife convinced me to try it and see how it went. It was fantastic - the combination of on property, parking hopper and Genie+ made for just great days, low stress, really low wait times and allows you to get everything done in a day if you want. I recognize not everyone or not even a lot of people can afford to do that - you are paying a premium for on property, park hopping and Genie+ but if you can afford it, it's kind of a no-brainer if your plan is to ride as much as possible across the parks on a given day. You can realistically knock out most of the main rides in 2-3 parks. Here's a theoretical day that seems imminently doable:
Start at MK - TRON VG, rope drop, hopefully early access and go ride Seven Dwarves, LL Space Mtn - you should be able to get a really early time. Ride Space Mtn. Immediately get Buzz, ride Buzz and get Haunted Mansion LL, can go ride Ariel/Small World/Winnie the Pooh, ride Haunted Mansion as soon as you can, get Big Thunder LL, if you must ride Jungle Cruise go ride stand-by as the LL usually is after lunch time quick, ride Big Thunger, LL Pirates, ride it and hope that your group is called for TRON. You can do this all by 11-12 with Genie+. After Pirates, grab Remy if you can get it for 2:00. NOTE - you can get EPCT LL while still at MK. Eat lunch at Casey's! Take the monorail to EPCOT and plan to be there at 2:00. If you are lucky you can get in the Guardians VQ - we were able to do that one day while park hopping or pay $14 and ride it LL. Ride whatever you can prior to getting on Remy or head straight there - trick is to hit your LL at the earliest time possible to get the next one. You should be able to get Soarin' and Mission Space LL - test Track will most likely be gone so will need to ride it single rider. Keep an eye on the wait times and you can maybe skip the LL for Soarin' and Mission Space and start booking them for Hollywood. You should be able to get Star Tours, maybe Smuggles Run, TSM, maybe lucky with ToT. Slinky will most likely be gone but if you wait until the last hour you can knock out Rise of the Resistance and Slinky.
Point is - you can do a ton if you use Genie+ and hopper. Instead of above I'd probably say start at Hollywood as the LL go faster there but there's no VQ there so you will miss out on either Guardians or TRON unless you pay for LL. You can also start at AK to start your day earlier but if you can afford it, do Genie+ and hopper. If your family doesn't like to park hop then don't bother to buy Genie+ when you go to EPCOT or Animal Kingdom. Note - I don't know if I would ever bother to try and do 3 parks like above - too exhausting but for the crazies it will work.
I haven't been to Disney since May 2019 so basically 4 years. Lots of changes at the parks, including adding several great new rides. I wasn't even planning to go but my daughter had a cheerleading competition at ESPN Wide World of Sports and my wife convinced me to go which then turned in to me and my oldest son (21) going. Several changes to the plan and we ended up with me, my wife, my son and my nephew going for a 5 days before my cheer daughter came down. Bittersweet that my other two kids couldn't go but the logistics with them in college and taking AP exams just meant it wouldn't work.
We stayed on property and did a split stay trip. First half was at All-Star Music and second half was at Port Orleans - Riverside. We live in Atlanta area so almost always drive down. It's a 6.5-7 hour drive so unless it's just 1 or 2 of us it's much more cost effective to drive and it's a pretty easy drive (especially on the way down). Original plan was to leave sometime morning of 23rd, take our time and do an ADR Sunday night. We had 7-day park hoppers and didn't want to "waste" a day with only a few hours. But, as fate would have it, Disney released the new Annual Passes and after much discussion my wife and I decided to get passes for ourselves. She turns 50 this year so we already have trips planned for her birthday, probably our Anniversary and hopefully to take the kids later in the year or early next year. With the annual pass we can get some relatively cheap rooms around $100/night at value locations so it's a not too expensive trip down.
Back to this trip - my son also bought a pass as he and his friends are planning to go and his schedule to do long weekends is pretty flexible. So, my son put in to go down early on Sunday. Which was fine with me. We left at 4am and they slept while I drove. We were at EPCOT by 10:45, Genie+ purchased and Soarin' and Remy LL booked. Great start to the trip - will talk more about Genie+ later.
Will expound on some different topics:
Virtual Queues - love/hate the virtual queue concept. Waking up at 7am to get in the queue isn't ideal but I'm already up and that's also when you have to do Genie+ so it works out fine. We never got locked out but we also never really got an early time. And the timing is the biggest issue. We got in the virtual queue for TRON and got in group 87. We wanted to park hop that day and try to be at EPCOT by 2pm but we didn't get on the ride until 3pm. They do a decent job of with the estimation but it really becomes tricky to plan your day around it. Now that I've ridden both the VQ rides I'll book it and then decided whether to keep it or give it up based on what I already had planned.
Genie+ - already said it but I was very skeptical on how this would work. Coming in I was planning to use early morning EMH to knock out the main rides and then just see how the lines would be. Wife convinced me to try it and see how it went. It was fantastic - the combination of on property, parking hopper and Genie+ made for just great days, low stress, really low wait times and allows you to get everything done in a day if you want. I recognize not everyone or not even a lot of people can afford to do that - you are paying a premium for on property, park hopping and Genie+ but if you can afford it, it's kind of a no-brainer if your plan is to ride as much as possible across the parks on a given day. You can realistically knock out most of the main rides in 2-3 parks. Here's a theoretical day that seems imminently doable:
Start at MK - TRON VG, rope drop, hopefully early access and go ride Seven Dwarves, LL Space Mtn - you should be able to get a really early time. Ride Space Mtn. Immediately get Buzz, ride Buzz and get Haunted Mansion LL, can go ride Ariel/Small World/Winnie the Pooh, ride Haunted Mansion as soon as you can, get Big Thunder LL, if you must ride Jungle Cruise go ride stand-by as the LL usually is after lunch time quick, ride Big Thunger, LL Pirates, ride it and hope that your group is called for TRON. You can do this all by 11-12 with Genie+. After Pirates, grab Remy if you can get it for 2:00. NOTE - you can get EPCT LL while still at MK. Eat lunch at Casey's! Take the monorail to EPCOT and plan to be there at 2:00. If you are lucky you can get in the Guardians VQ - we were able to do that one day while park hopping or pay $14 and ride it LL. Ride whatever you can prior to getting on Remy or head straight there - trick is to hit your LL at the earliest time possible to get the next one. You should be able to get Soarin' and Mission Space LL - test Track will most likely be gone so will need to ride it single rider. Keep an eye on the wait times and you can maybe skip the LL for Soarin' and Mission Space and start booking them for Hollywood. You should be able to get Star Tours, maybe Smuggles Run, TSM, maybe lucky with ToT. Slinky will most likely be gone but if you wait until the last hour you can knock out Rise of the Resistance and Slinky.
Point is - you can do a ton if you use Genie+ and hopper. Instead of above I'd probably say start at Hollywood as the LL go faster there but there's no VQ there so you will miss out on either Guardians or TRON unless you pay for LL. You can also start at AK to start your day earlier but if you can afford it, do Genie+ and hopper. If your family doesn't like to park hop then don't bother to buy Genie+ when you go to EPCOT or Animal Kingdom. Note - I don't know if I would ever bother to try and do 3 parks like above - too exhausting but for the crazies it will work.
Deranged Hermit
Not cool & Pissed
My daughter and I came home last night from a split stay.
First three days were at Old Key West. Nothing terrible about the resort per se, but not our speed. This must be where old Dis-ers go to die.
As for the actual hotel, we were in the boon-docks as far as our room, but it was a easy walk to the main building. I really only had two problems with the hotel:
1. Terrible water pressure in the shower. Seriously, someone spitting water on me with a straw would be as effective.
2. The quick serve is almost non-existent. Just a little hole in the wall next to the main pool.
Next two days were Kidani. Absolutely beautiful. My daughter and I loved everything about it except that, if you wanted a quick serve breakfast before the parks, you had to go to Jambo House.
Kidani is highly underrated in my opinion.
We arrived on Friday and just went to Disney Springs for dinner since it was late and we knew we wanted dinner at Polite Pig. As usual, it didn't disappoint.
Saturday was supposed to be our Epcot day, but we changed it earlier in the week when the weather report said it was supposed to rain all day (turned out it was all night). We went back to Disney Springs for lunch at Blaze Pizza (it was ok), and Dinner at Paddlefish with my daughter getting stuff for her friends in between.
I'm now about to go on a rant about Paddlefish. Now, I've heard some pretty great things about this restaurant, so perhaps they had an off night, but this was not good. The calamari was rubbery, my shrimp dish was bland and flavorless and the dessert was very dry inside. The only highlight was my daughter's shrimp etouffee.
Epcot the next day was nice. Reasonable crowds and a nice dinner at the Mexican pavilion restaurant. I will say that I was not properly prepared for the Guardians ride. I'm honestly not sure what I expected, but that wasn't it. I'm shocked I didn't puke.
Monday we went to Kidani and than to MK. In between we hit up Ohana for breakfast. It was good as usual, but way too damn expensive for what you get. Plus, Stitch never came out, just Lilo, mickey and Pluto. Bummer.
MK was a mad house. Shoulder to shoulder people everywhere. Everything was 10-15 minutes less than their posted wait times, so that's telling me they are inflating numbers to sell more Genie apps. Dinner at Casey's is pretty much a given when its just me and my daughter.
Fireworks was crazy. Beautiful as usual, but also mobbed. Lots of idiots out there who will try to jump in front of you or, worse bully a kid out of the way. Me and this old lady verbally beat down a Karen who tried to steal a spot when a father took one kid to the bathroom while the older sister watched their spot. They knew what they were doing, they were hawking out spots for a while and tried to take advantage of a teenager. Anyway, they left.
Last full day was Hollywood studios. I was surprised it was as light as it was. We had a very short wait for everything we went on but Runaway Railroad. Very relaxing day topped off with a great dinner at Mama Melrose.
Last day......not so great. I have epilepsy and had a seizure right after I got dressed in the morning. I was in the bathroom and slammed chest first into the sink. Didn't know it at the time, but i separated cartilidge in my rib cage when i went to the doc today. Freaked my daughter out, but she's used to it (as well as you can be) the big problem was our flight wasn't until 6:00 and we had to check out at 11. My wife and the school secretary was calling Disney trying to get a number for Kidani, so they could hopefully give us later check out time, but, as usual, Disney customer service is the 7th circle of hell. They were trying to charge $500, to stay in the room until 2:30, which was when our shuttle got there. We politely declined and I made sure to sit front and center of the lobby and told everyone who asked what happened (I had a small cut on my head, but you know how head wounds can bleed).
Anyway, my daughter and I had a great time otherwise. She graduates HS next month, so I'm taking every minute I can to be with her.
First three days were at Old Key West. Nothing terrible about the resort per se, but not our speed. This must be where old Dis-ers go to die.
As for the actual hotel, we were in the boon-docks as far as our room, but it was a easy walk to the main building. I really only had two problems with the hotel:
1. Terrible water pressure in the shower. Seriously, someone spitting water on me with a straw would be as effective.
2. The quick serve is almost non-existent. Just a little hole in the wall next to the main pool.
Next two days were Kidani. Absolutely beautiful. My daughter and I loved everything about it except that, if you wanted a quick serve breakfast before the parks, you had to go to Jambo House.
Kidani is highly underrated in my opinion.
We arrived on Friday and just went to Disney Springs for dinner since it was late and we knew we wanted dinner at Polite Pig. As usual, it didn't disappoint.
Saturday was supposed to be our Epcot day, but we changed it earlier in the week when the weather report said it was supposed to rain all day (turned out it was all night). We went back to Disney Springs for lunch at Blaze Pizza (it was ok), and Dinner at Paddlefish with my daughter getting stuff for her friends in between.
I'm now about to go on a rant about Paddlefish. Now, I've heard some pretty great things about this restaurant, so perhaps they had an off night, but this was not good. The calamari was rubbery, my shrimp dish was bland and flavorless and the dessert was very dry inside. The only highlight was my daughter's shrimp etouffee.
Epcot the next day was nice. Reasonable crowds and a nice dinner at the Mexican pavilion restaurant. I will say that I was not properly prepared for the Guardians ride. I'm honestly not sure what I expected, but that wasn't it. I'm shocked I didn't puke.
Monday we went to Kidani and than to MK. In between we hit up Ohana for breakfast. It was good as usual, but way too damn expensive for what you get. Plus, Stitch never came out, just Lilo, mickey and Pluto. Bummer.
MK was a mad house. Shoulder to shoulder people everywhere. Everything was 10-15 minutes less than their posted wait times, so that's telling me they are inflating numbers to sell more Genie apps. Dinner at Casey's is pretty much a given when its just me and my daughter.
Fireworks was crazy. Beautiful as usual, but also mobbed. Lots of idiots out there who will try to jump in front of you or, worse bully a kid out of the way. Me and this old lady verbally beat down a Karen who tried to steal a spot when a father took one kid to the bathroom while the older sister watched their spot. They knew what they were doing, they were hawking out spots for a while and tried to take advantage of a teenager. Anyway, they left.
Last full day was Hollywood studios. I was surprised it was as light as it was. We had a very short wait for everything we went on but Runaway Railroad. Very relaxing day topped off with a great dinner at Mama Melrose.
Last day......not so great. I have epilepsy and had a seizure right after I got dressed in the morning. I was in the bathroom and slammed chest first into the sink. Didn't know it at the time, but i separated cartilidge in my rib cage when i went to the doc today. Freaked my daughter out, but she's used to it (as well as you can be) the big problem was our flight wasn't until 6:00 and we had to check out at 11. My wife and the school secretary was calling Disney trying to get a number for Kidani, so they could hopefully give us later check out time, but, as usual, Disney customer service is the 7th circle of hell. They were trying to charge $500, to stay in the room until 2:30, which was when our shuttle got there. We politely declined and I made sure to sit front and center of the lobby and told everyone who asked what happened (I had a small cut on my head, but you know how head wounds can bleed).
Anyway, my daughter and I had a great time otherwise. She graduates HS next month, so I'm taking every minute I can to be with her.
Similar threads
