The Ref
Footballguy
I went to the hip for the $5 for "the magic guide" a few years back. I got my moneies worth out of that app.
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Disney Vacation (8 Viewers)
- Thread starter DOVCommish
- Start date
Otis
Footballguy
Dear MickeyNerds,
Need advise for DisneyWorld/Land (The Florida one). I have a 4yo and 1 yo, wife decided we should take the 4yo in around early April for the whole princess shabang. When's a good or bad time to go around the first week of April? I guess we want to avoid school breaks and spring breaks and the like.
We're going to travel and stay on Starwood points, I've got a few hundred thousand. We'll stay in that Starwood hotel, the dolphin or whatever it is, on campus there.
TIA
Need advise for DisneyWorld/Land (The Florida one). I have a 4yo and 1 yo, wife decided we should take the 4yo in around early April for the whole princess shabang. When's a good or bad time to go around the first week of April? I guess we want to avoid school breaks and spring breaks and the like.
We're going to travel and stay on Starwood points, I've got a few hundred thousand. We'll stay in that Starwood hotel, the dolphin or whatever it is, on campus there.
TIA
Otis
Footballguy
parasaurolophus
Footballguy
parasaurolophus
Footballguy
Really? This makes no sense to me. The grand floridian is ridiculously expensive. I realize Otis makes FBG money, but why spend 500 bucks a night on a hotel room?
glvsav37
Footballguy
With 2 kids that young, I HIGHLY recommend staying on the monorail loop. If princesses is your (or their) thing, you will be at the Magic Kingdom most of your trip. Also, most likely have 2 strollers, and all the baby commando gear (diapers, bottles, extra clothes, etc). On any of the buses you will need to fold up the strollers, a ##### when you are holding kids, and bags, and coffee, and snacks, and all that crap.
Staying on the monorail line (or resort boat), you can just wheel the kids in and go. Likewise on the way back when they are passed out, you don't need to take them out.
You can also hit Epcot (and in a way Disney Studios) from the monorail as well.
Then the GF has a great character meal right at the resort. 1900 Park Fare has breakfast (mad hatter, Alice, Tigger and Pooh) and dinner (Cinderella, Prince Charming and the stepsisters) as well as a very cool Mid-day tea that your wife and 4 year old can do together.
Polly is still under construction, so I'm not sure what stage it will be in when you go.
We stay at the Contemporary/Bay Lake tower and its the best b/c we can literally walk to the park...eliminating any forms of transportation.
Also, depending on your room, you can watch the nightly fireworks right from your room or resort. Great for when Main St is a zoo and you don't want to be in the exit stampede.
The other BIG benefit of moving away from the Swan/Dolphin is that you have a head start on making your FastPass+ Reservations at 60 days vs 30 days out.
If you need any special princess type stuff to do, let me know. there is a ton of little girl stuff.
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RBM
Footballguy
Premier
Footballguy
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Disco Stu said:
Appalachian???Bruce Dickinson
Footballguy
Given the ages of the kids and the time of year you want to travel... you should go to Disneyland.
Given your income level, you should stay at the Grand Californian Hotel attached to Disneyland California Adventure.
If you insist on using Starwood points... there's a Sheraton Park Hotel a couple minutes from the gates.
That's what you should do. Disneyland and DCA are a lot easier to manage with little kids, the weather will be a lot more reliable, park crowd levels will be a lot lower. If your goal is to have a great vacation with your family, that's what you should do.
If your goal is to entertain us with travel horror stories, you should go to WDW and stay at one of the Starwood properties on the WDW grounds.
glvsav37
Footballguy
No...for our maximum enjoyment, stay at an All Star resort and live blog your trip!
Bruce Dickinson
Footballguy
Good call. I was going to suggest staying off-site at a timeshare resort on a Star Wars Weekend, but the shtick potential of Otis sharing shuttle bus rides with All-Star guests is greater.
parasaurolophus
Footballguy
Is this all schtick because we know Otis won't listen to anything we tell him anyway?
Bruce Dickinson
Footballguy
My Anaheim suggestion was sincere. I know he won't listen to that.Beyond that, I'm not going to too far out of my way to help someone who comes into this thread making fun of people for knowing a lot about a topic. Any detail stuff he needs can be found from earlier posts in this thread or at other resources referenced here.
Redwes25
Footballguy
My two cents for Otis is that the high-end disney hotels are just average but their locations are great and make up for it. If you are used to staying at top hotels you will be disappointed in accommodations and service even at the Grand Floridian which is their top of the line hotel, which is way below top hotels otherwise (Ritz, Peninsula, Mandarin, etc...). Benefit of disney hotels of course is being on park, which has a lot of perks and is the reason for the premium pricing. I would actually suggest the Wilderness lodge for you as you are on a boat to the magic kingdom. Other suggestion would be Yacht club where you can walk to Epcot and the pool is awesome for the kids. Poly would probably be the best option but it is undergoing renovations as mentioned. I personally don't like the Grand Floridian as it tries to be a really top level hotel but doesn't cut it. Better to stay at a more themed resort like Wilderness/Poly and get into the Disney experience.
Don't stay at the Dolphin, Swan thingy. They suck. A collegue of mine swears by the Ritz in Orlando for disney to get the top hotel experience and at the same time hiring a personal guide to take them through the parks, etc.. for the real high end experience. I can live without that as I get enough of the top hotels with traveling for work when those places are free for me and paid for by my clients.
Don't stay at the Dolphin, Swan thingy. They suck. A collegue of mine swears by the Ritz in Orlando for disney to get the top hotel experience and at the same time hiring a personal guide to take them through the parks, etc.. for the real high end experience. I can live without that as I get enough of the top hotels with traveling for work when those places are free for me and paid for by my clients.
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
Be there this weekend. Already drooling for Ohana and Belle. Maybe not in that order.
Bruce Dickinson
Footballguy
My flight is in 11 days. Starting at Loews Universal for a few to hang with the Hogwarts gang (plus a night at MVMCP), then a few night at Riverside (tradition) as the Disney portion ramps up, then over to Wilderness Lodge to splurge on something Christmas-y. And ketchup.
I'm sure I'll be checking in here from time to time while waiting out lines. A little anxious about crowd levels already exceeding expectations, and the effect of FP+ neutralizing my O.G. FP ninja skills. But mostly looking forward to celebrating with the family.
I'm sure I'll be checking in here from time to time while waiting out lines. A little anxious about crowd levels already exceeding expectations, and the effect of FP+ neutralizing my O.G. FP ninja skills. But mostly looking forward to celebrating with the family.
Bruce Dickinson
Footballguy
I was flipping through my photos of my last Disneyland trip the other day. Fairly standard photo pacing until of the parades, where it appears my camera malfunctioned and accidentally took a bunch of extra pics of Ariel. Not sure what happened there. Not that I'm into redheads or anything like that...
Whenever meet-and-greet Anna and Elsa, I'm going to wear an Olaf T-shirt that says "I LIKE WARM HUGS". I'm that shameless.
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
It's uncanny the girls they get to wear those costumes. I'm beginning to wonder if Disney just creates them in a lab somewhere.
AcerFC
Footballguy
+100000 on staying on a monorail line hotel with a 4 and a 1 year old. I.prefer the Polynesian over GF but either one is awesome.
I must not be good at this internet thing. I am searching for a little die cast disney cruise ship to give the kids for the holidays. Im coming up with nothing but bigger models. If anyone is there now, and you are in a store, let me know if you see one.
Thanks
I must not be good at this internet thing. I am searching for a little die cast disney cruise ship to give the kids for the holidays. Im coming up with nothing but bigger models. If anyone is there now, and you are in a store, let me know if you see one.
Thanks
Premier
Footballguy
I mentioned a few weeks ago how my family from North Carolina wanted to come to MK on Black Friday and how I was terrified that we would be elbow to elbow in traffic.
There's hardly anybody here. It's crazy. I've been here on random Sundays where there were 3 times the people. Unreal. My nephew just said "I thought this was supposed to be packed."
There's hardly anybody here. It's crazy. I've been here on random Sundays where there were 3 times the people. Unreal. My nephew just said "I thought this was supposed to be packed."
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Phil Elliott
Footballguy
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
Mk was empty? EPCOT was packed. Shortest wait time was 45 minutes.
Eh. It's Disney. I'm good.
Eh. It's Disney. I'm good.
Anarchy99
Footballguy
Just got back after a week at DW. Wife thought it would be great to go for Thanksgiving. What a blunder that turned out to be. A total mob scene. Standby wait times were consistently 90-120 minutes on the popular rides. For the really popular rides got up to 180 minutes.
Haven't read up on the thread, ao this may have been covered already. Their new (in the past year) fast pass system has to go. You really can't get fast passes in the park anymore. You have to book them electronically up to 6 months in advance. And they have them tiered these days. So if they have any left, you can pick one from the top tier (for example Test Track OR Soarin' but not both). Of course they don't describe it that way, but you basically get a fast pass for a Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 attraction.
You can book three fast passes for each day you are there. Only after you use all three do they let you book more at a kiosk in the same park, but what they don't tell you is they already gave out all the fast passes for the day so you won't get any beyond the three you signed up for.
And mind you that the fast passses that are available could either be almost at the same time and run into each other or spaced out all throughout the day (morning, afternoon, evening).
We basically went and used our fast passes and maybe one or two other rides (with wait times of 45-60 minutes).
Also ran in to similar issued with the meal plan. Even booking 3 months ago, had trouble finding anywhere that had any openings. So we had to settle for full sit down service for lunch instead of dinner since the dinners were all booked. My wife got peeved at a couple of places as she wanted things on the dinner menu that were not offered on the lunch menu.
We've gone probably 15 times total, and this by far was the trip with the most issues.
Haven't read up on the thread, ao this may have been covered already. Their new (in the past year) fast pass system has to go. You really can't get fast passes in the park anymore. You have to book them electronically up to 6 months in advance. And they have them tiered these days. So if they have any left, you can pick one from the top tier (for example Test Track OR Soarin' but not both). Of course they don't describe it that way, but you basically get a fast pass for a Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 attraction.
You can book three fast passes for each day you are there. Only after you use all three do they let you book more at a kiosk in the same park, but what they don't tell you is they already gave out all the fast passes for the day so you won't get any beyond the three you signed up for.
And mind you that the fast passses that are available could either be almost at the same time and run into each other or spaced out all throughout the day (morning, afternoon, evening).
We basically went and used our fast passes and maybe one or two other rides (with wait times of 45-60 minutes).
Also ran in to similar issued with the meal plan. Even booking 3 months ago, had trouble finding anywhere that had any openings. So we had to settle for full sit down service for lunch instead of dinner since the dinners were all booked. My wife got peeved at a couple of places as she wanted things on the dinner menu that were not offered on the lunch menu.
We've gone probably 15 times total, and this by far was the trip with the most issues.
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
Sounds like one of my worst nightmares about Disney. We haven't been in 5 years because I gotta go when the lines aren't as bad (during school) and we chose not to take my son out of school as he got older (past 7th grade). That lack of flexibility for the passes, not being able to really use the meal plan you purchased, waiting an hour or more for rides ...gives me the willies just thinking about it.
We love the place, but that just sounds horrible.
STEADYMOBBIN 22
Footballguy
Wait... So the meal plan is for food being sold to everyone else at Disney? I assumed you got your own area or something.
We passed on the plan and ate breakfast lunch and dinner at our hotel and brought water and snacks 90% of our trip. The two times we tried lunch at the park was a complete disaster.
We passed on the plan and ate breakfast lunch and dinner at our hotel and brought water and snacks 90% of our trip. The two times we tried lunch at the park was a complete disaster.
Premier
Footballguy
harryhood
Footballguy
Arriving Saturday the 13th and staying at Wilderness Logde Villas. Thanks to all those that helped out with the information in this thread and via PM. MK > Epcot > MK > Hollywood Studios > Animal Kingdom with a last meal at O'hana the night before we leave.
Certainly wouldn't have been as organized and wouldn't have gotten the reservations we did if if wasn't for all of the information in this thread.
Certainly wouldn't have been as organized and wouldn't have gotten the reservations we did if if wasn't for all of the information in this thread.
Frank Drebin
Footballguy
Use a Disney authorized travel agent. They don't cost anything extra and will handle all your bookings for rooms, meals, everything.Otis said:
Quez
Footballguy
Start training for Disney by carrying around a 50 lbs bag of sand in 3-4 hour increments. Pro tip: rotate 25% left arm, 25% right arm, 50% shoulders. Start doing neck exercises to prepare for the shoulder riding.
Quez
Footballguy
Is the Polynesian still all torn up? They are adding new DVC villas or something, so the beach was all torn up last time I rode by on the monorail.
The Ref
Footballguy
IMHO you do the Poly because its on the monorail loop for the MK and so close to the EPCOT Monorail. I mean if it looks like Kabul I guess maybe I'd look at the GF, but that would really have to be the case if the price is equal. GF for small kids is a bit stuffy as well... in fact I'd probably go contemporary.
The Ref
Footballguy
It's not.... but us Mouse nerds do a good job of making it sound complicated. There are a lot of little facts that can make a trip to Disney all the better and we try and make sure our fellow FBG know them all. It turns out we all have different thoughts and opinions and like different stuff.Otis said:
That said one thing we almost all agree on is having dinner at Ohana.... go hungry leave stuffed.
The Ref
Footballguy
Have a lot of fun.... the Wilderness lodge is wonderful this time of year. If the WL was on the monorail loop it would probably be location #1 in my book.
avoiding injuries
Footballguy
I felt the same way last year before our trip. I had it all figured out by the 2nd day. You're basically booking a hotel, buying park tickets and eating food.Otis said:
3 options for hotel...monorail, bus, off site and drive. (We did the bus at Port Orleans Riverside and will do it again)
We got tickets for everyday, but with two small ones you might want to take a day off. The hopper is used to go to 2 parks in the same day. You won't be doing that.
I decided the meal plan wasn't a good value for us. We shipped a box full of breakfast items and snacks to our hotel about a week before we left. Ended up spending way less than the meal plan and we ate whatever and whenever we wanted. If we had the meal plan, I think I would have spent more time eating, and making sure we took advantage of the food services rather than doing what we wanted.
Lots of food recommendations in this thread.
avoiding injuries
Footballguy
I started looking at rates for next May. We stayed at Riverside last year and we were more than pleased. Thought about going to Poly next time, but it's $300 more a night. Wtf. I get that it has the monorail and beach, but ####.
Osaurus
Footballguy
AcerFC
Footballguy
and worth every outrageous pennySigned guy who has stayed at poly, all star sports and movies, carribean beach and offsite
PIK95
Footballguy
I didn't realize it wasn't finished yet. I also would go Contemporary over Floridian. That GF place is whiter than (insert comparison) IMO.
I would stay on monorail especially with small children if you can afford it. Watching people struggle with strollers on and off and the time it takes to travel to and from parks is worth the extra money. I have 4 kids 11 and under and have stayed Contemporary 3 times and being able to walk for 5 minutes going to park or leaving after fireworks is just so nice. The lines of traffic getting on buses or the monorail are usually crazy. I usually go during food and wine at end Sept/early October. IMO that is the best time to go. You get smaller park crowd, Food and wine at Epcot and free meal plan or 30% off. I would also recommend the Disney Visa card. You can earn points toward your trip, get special privileges, 6 month interest free etc for the trip. Once my kids get older I am sure we will go off site or farther out. For now my feeling is my time is more valuable. FYI if you go a little bigger get the concierge room. Special floor with Food and drinks (including alcohol starting at 5 until 11) all day and watch the fireworks from the balcony. We would have our breakfast in the morning, grab some drinks and head off to the parks. Even when the nights when the park closed early for the Not So Scary party we just hung out and watched and listened (they pump in the music).
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parasaurolophus
Footballguy
I simply cannot understand the love for the monorail resorts.I guess if you only go to MK and you like to pay 3X the cost for things in life I get it, but I actually find the monorail resorts to be a huge pain in the rear for the other parks which is seldom talked about.
You share a bus for AK and DHS with other monorail resorts or Wilderness Lodge. The commute to epcot is not really any faster since you have to take a monorail to the TTC and then to epcot.
If you compare your total transportation time when staying at boardwalk compared to your total transportation time when staying at Polynesian I would imagine you would have to go to MK more than all of the other parks combined. You could rent DVC points and stay in a one bedroom villa for far less money than what you pay for a pretty small room at GF. Hmmmmmm..... Have sex or avoid folding up a stroller 2 less times.
We always rent a car now though to bypass almost all disney transportation and have access to groceries and liquor off site. We also only go to MK once or twice per trip anyway. We just stayed at OKW and I gotta say there are few resorts with a better location. Easy drive to everywhere if you know your way around or have a GPS that doesnt use google maps.
You share a bus for AK and DHS with other monorail resorts or Wilderness Lodge. The commute to epcot is not really any faster since you have to take a monorail to the TTC and then to epcot.
If you compare your total transportation time when staying at boardwalk compared to your total transportation time when staying at Polynesian I would imagine you would have to go to MK more than all of the other parks combined. You could rent DVC points and stay in a one bedroom villa for far less money than what you pay for a pretty small room at GF. Hmmmmmm..... Have sex or avoid folding up a stroller 2 less times.
We always rent a car now though to bypass almost all disney transportation and have access to groceries and liquor off site. We also only go to MK once or twice per trip anyway. We just stayed at OKW and I gotta say there are few resorts with a better location. Easy drive to everywhere if you know your way around or have a GPS that doesnt use google maps.
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
Not complicated. Like everything else you can get into every small detail or you can just enjoy the overall experience.
The only real advice I'd give someone as a must do is relax. You simply can't do everything there is to do in a week. If you try you won't have any fun. Do what you can at a pace that let's you absorb it.
The only real advice I'd give someone as a must do is relax. You simply can't do everything there is to do in a week. If you try you won't have any fun. Do what you can at a pace that let's you absorb it.
It is certainly a preference and a cost analysis to determine what you value most. When we were booking (since I have a larger family) the total cost was a few thousand more dollars more to stay at Contemporary large room multiple bed room/bathroom vs Art of Animation. We are glad we did it. As a side note, we visited Polynesian and Wilderness Lodge and both were under major construction and would have been pissed paying a premium to stay at a place that was a work in progress.
Either way, have fun.
Either way, have fun.
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