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Disney Vacation (2 Viewers)

PIK95 said:
I have only stayed at the Poly, Contemp, and Wilderness in the past.  Is Saratoga gonna feel like I'm slumming it?  I'll have my truck at least.
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It’s not quite those resorts, but it’s good.  Wilderness Lodge and Poly are my favorites.

 
Osaurus said:
I hear ya.  Wilderness Lodge is still my favorite. I really don’t like Grand Floridian.  Beach House is nice too.  
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I just love being in the middle of it all at the Contemporary. That's probably my favorite now.  Floridian is too stuffy and has ghosts.  They are usually attracted to me when I sleep which is annoying.

 
PIK95 said:
I have only stayed at the Poly, Contemp, and Wilderness in the past.  Is Saratoga gonna feel like I'm slumming it?  I'll have my truck at least.
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I don't think you'll feel like you're slumming but those resorts are better themed, smaller, and the transportation to/from them to the parks are better (although transporation from Widlerness, with the exception of MK is not that great).  I think you'll be fine with the amenities at  Saratoga though

 
Godsbrother said:
I don't think you'll feel like you're slumming but those resorts are better themed, smaller, and the transportation to/from them to the parks are better (although transporation from Widlerness, with the exception of MK is not that great).  I think you'll be fine with the amenities at  Saratoga though
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My son was happy that he saw a basketball court and game room in the pics.

 
My wife is trying to sell me on the Dolphin or Swan teacher discount.  What's the story with those.  No dining?

 
shuke said:
My initial plan was to do FOP at rope drop.  But I figure, what's the difference between waiting an extra hour outside the park and waiting an extra hour in line for the attraction later.

Everything I've seen said there is a massive group of people heading to Pandora at rope drop, so I think doing some of the other attractions at that time might be better.
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To answer your original question - I do trust Toruing Plans but I’ve never used one of their plans and stuck to it.  I always tweaked it and now do my own thing.

My take is do FoP first thing - my assumption is you will just wait in the line once.  If you don’t have a FP the best time is always at rope drop.  You risk a 2 hour wait (or missing it) if you don’t.  I would keep Everest FP and I would never FP Lion King or Nemo unless you want a really good seat (I think FP assures you a good dear but not positive). There are always plenty of seats for Nemo and Lion King shouldn’t be bad either.  If you have to choose between those two go to Lion King and skip Nemo - it’s long and not super entertaining.  

Everest has a single rider line so if your family uses the FP you can then ride it more times in the single rider line.  If you put your wife first, the kids in the middle and you last then you won’t have to worry about your kid wandering off - you will watch them get on and your wife will watch them get off or if you are lucky you’ll ride on the same cart with each other.  

 
AAABatteries said:
Possibly the best restaurant on property is at the Dolphin.  Shula’s steakhouse.  There’s other restaurants but I don’t think any are Disney themed or character meals.  Not 100% on that last part.
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How does it compare to...say the Wilderness lodge?

 
PIK95 said:
How does it compare to...say the Wilderness lodge?
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The hotel itself?  It’s standard convention type hotel - nice but not a Disney experience if that’s what you want.  It has a couple of things going for it.  You can walk to Boardwalk and EPCOT and you get the perks of being on property.  Can’t say much more than that as the one conference where I almost stayed there I decided to stay off property.  Saw my co-workers room :oldunsure:  and it was nice enough. 

 
AAABatteries said:
To answer your original question - I do trust Toruing Plans but I’ve never used one of their plans and stuck to it.  I always tweaked it and now do my own thing.

My take is do FoP first thing - my assumption is you will just wait in the line once.  If you don’t have a FP the best time is always at rope drop.  You risk a 2 hour wait (or missing it) if you don’t.  I would keep Everest FP and I would never FP Lion King or Nemo unless you want a really good seat (I think FP assures you a good dear but not positive). There are always plenty of seats for Nemo and Lion King shouldn’t be bad either.  If you have to choose between those two go to Lion King and skip Nemo - it’s long and not super entertaining.  

Everest has a single rider line so if your family uses the FP you can then ride it more times in the single rider line.  If you put your wife first, the kids in the middle and you last then you won’t have to worry about your kid wandering off - you will watch them get on and your wife will watch them get off or if you are lucky you’ll ride on the same cart with each other.  
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Thanks.  I tried a few scenarios, and forced it to use my FP times. When I put FOP first, it was showing a 2 hour wait, as opposed to the 105 minute wait early afternoon.  

I also need to be reasonable here regarding our start time.  We don't land until 10 the night before, so I am not banking at us showing up at AK at 6:30 AM or whatever is recommended.  If we get there early and line looks reasonable, we'll do it first thing. But I'm not going to stress getting there.

 
PIK95 said:
We are now discussing 3-4 days at Saratoga, and then 3-4 days at Wilderness (for pool mostly).  Is that even legal to move mid trip?
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It’s called a split stay. And yes, very much legal.  Even if you have a car, bells services will move your luggage for you for free. It will just be tied up for a few hours, but you would prob be in a park anyway.  

Its fun to stay in different resorts, but a small hassle too.  As is the luggage thing, you’ll be homeless for a few hours bc you check out at 10 but generally can’t check in until 4. And if you are on the dining plan, the plan is based on your resort stays, not your whole trip. So if you split stay, you would have 2 unique resort stays and so 2 dining plan purchases.  It’s seamless enough, just realize and unused credits from the first stay would expire at midnight on your 1st check out day. So make sure you keep a tight count on what credits you used.  

Whenever we split stay, we pack 2 sets of luggage. In stead of each person having their own luggage, we partner up and create a luggage set for resort 1 and one for 2.  This way when we check in to resort 1, the other set is never opened.  If you don’t open it, you don’t have to repack it.  It saves us repacking time that we would rather be in the parks for when we move

 
Do we have to get a Dining plan or can we just wing it?  We have hit every restaurant that we wanted to, and did pretty much every good character dining on our previous trips.  Can we just quick serve and pay cash when needed?  Is it alot more expensive?  Is the dining attached to the hotel deal somehow?  Tia.

 
PIK95 said:
We are now discussing 3-4 days at Saratoga, and then 3-4 days at Wilderness (for pool mostly).  Is that even legal to move mid trip?
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Yeah if you don't mind spending the time to pack up one place and move all your bags to the other place.  No idea if they make you check out of one and check into the other or how easy they make the process though.

 
PIK95 said:
Do we have to get a Dining plan or can we just wing it?  We have hit every restaurant that we wanted to, and did pretty much every good character dining on our previous trips.  Can we just quick serve and pay cash when needed?  Is it alot more expensive?  Is the dining attached to the hotel deal somehow?  Tia.
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Nope. You don’t need to get the dining plan. You can pay cash if you want quick service or sit down meals. If you really only want QS, it’s prob cheaper bc you are not tied to a certain amount of ceredits.  You pay for what you want to eat.  

Im not the kind of guy who will run the numbers to the penny, I like the plan bc I don’t have to go in my pocket for the trip and no crazy credit card bills are waiting for me at home.  It may or may not save money, but the convenience is worthy of to me.  

But if I was only doing QS, I prob would not go with the plan. 

 
Ramblin Wreck said:
Yeah if you don't mind spending the time to pack up one place and move all your bags to the other place.  No idea if they make you check out of one and check into the other or how easy they make the process though.
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It’s pretty easy and seamless.  Just you will be homeless for a few hours.  So plan a Park da

bell services will physically move your bags for free.  

Re Packing is a bit of a pain but there are ways to minimize it.  

 
glvsav37 said:
It’s pretty easy and seamless.  Just you will be homeless for a few hours.  So plan a Park da

bell services will physically move your bags for free.  

Re Packing is a bit of a pain but there are ways to minimize it.  
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I don't mind that.  Is it worth just staying a couple of extra days at the hotel to hang at the pool?  We could stay for a month if we wanted work wise, so I am thinking maybe stay nine days with some days without parks.  Is the hotel and parking the only cost for that?

 
PIK95 said:
I don't mind that.  Is it worth just staying a couple of extra days at the hotel to hang at the pool?  We could stay for a month if we wanted work wise, so I am thinking maybe stay nine days with some days without parks.  Is the hotel and parking the only cost for that?
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I guess you are a teacher or something. So is my wife.  There is plenty to do there w/o going to the parks.  

You’ll be right by the campground  there are some real hidden gems there. you can go horse back ridding at the Circle D ranch    That’s where they store all the retired horses they use in the parks  i think there is a tribute to Walt’s railroad there   You can also do archery there   

Hop a boat to the contemporary and rent the little speed boats or wave runners at the marina  

plenty to do outside the parks  

i don’t know the wilderness pool, but any deluxe resort will have a great one. 

 
glvsav37 said:
I guess you are a teacher or something. So is my wife.  There is plenty to do there w/o going to the parks.  

You’ll be right by the campground  there are some real hidden gems there. you can go horse back ridding at the Circle D ranch    That’s where they store all the retired horses they use in the parks  i think there is a tribute to Walt’s railroad there   You can also do archery there   

Hop a boat to the contemporary and rent the little speed boats or wave runners at the marina  

plenty to do outside the parks  

i don’t know the wilderness pool, but any deluxe resort will have a great one. 
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Are there any additional costs I'm missing?  My wife is the teacher, I'm a man of leisure.

 
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PIK95 said:
Are there any additional costs I'm missing?  My wife is the teacher, I'm s man of leisure.
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there is always going to be a cost at Disney. Very few things are actually "free"

Just got to go in with the expectations of spending about $50 +/- per person per activity. 

Archery

horse riding

Tri-Circle-D ranch is free to explore

Sammy Duvall marina experiences (mini speed boats, wave runners, parasailing, water skiing)

Go see YeHaa Bob over at Port Orleans. Its a free (and very fun) show, just buy some drinks and maybe bar apps. 

Hang out at the boardwalk at night and watch the various sideshow performers. Then rent a surrey bike and take a lap or 2.

Play Mini Golf...they have 2 courses. WinterSummerland and Fantasia Gardens

 
Fantasia Gardens usually has a long ### line for the more difficult course. I got through 9 holes and split to get to my dinner reservation.  WinterSummerland is meh imo. Both are pricey.

 
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This morning my wife is pushing the place that's under construction.  Beach Club?  She read they give you a $70 gift card every day, because of the inconvenience or something.  She wants me to call today and verify the info.  Fml.

 
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shuke said:
AAABatteries said:
To answer your original question - I do trust Toruing Plans but I’ve never used one of their plans and stuck to it.  I always tweaked it and now do my own thing.

My take is do FoP first thing - my assumption is you will just wait in the line once.  If you don’t have a FP the best time is always at rope drop.  You risk a 2 hour wait (or missing it) if you don’t.  I would keep Everest FP and I would never FP Lion King or Nemo unless you want a really good seat (I think FP assures you a good dear but not positive). There are always plenty of seats for Nemo and Lion King shouldn’t be bad either.  If you have to choose between those two go to Lion King and skip Nemo - it’s long and not super entertaining.  

Everest has a single rider line so if your family uses the FP you can then ride it more times in the single rider line.  If you put your wife first, the kids in the middle and you last then you won’t have to worry about your kid wandering off - you will watch them get on and your wife will watch them get off or if you are lucky you’ll ride on the same cart with each other.  
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Thanks.  I tried a few scenarios, and forced it to use my FP times. When I put FOP first, it was showing a 2 hour wait, as opposed to the 105 minute wait early afternoon.  

I also need to be reasonable here regarding our start time.  We don't land until 10 the night before, so I am not banking at us showing up at AK at 6:30 AM or whatever is recommended.  If we get there early and line looks reasonable, we'll do it first thing. But I'm not going to stress getting there.
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I would never use a FP for the shows.  Those are easy to get into.  Make note of their start time and be there about 20 minutes early and you won't have a problem, especially at Nemo.  As far as FOP goes, we've been to AK 4 times in the last 2 months and I have never seen a wait time for the ride under 2.5 hours.  Most of the time, it's hovering at that mark, if not 3 hours.  We haven't been over to wait in line yet, so I am questioning their estimate of 105 minute wait ever for the ride.  If you don't have a FP for it and you really want to ride it, you're gonna have to commit to being there early IMO.  Otherwise you're going to be waiting a long time.  For example...on the Disney app, right now, it's 195 minutes.

 
The Commish said:
I would never use a FP for the shows.  Those are easy to get into.  Make note of their start time and be there about 20 minutes early and you won't have a problem, especially at Nemo.  As far as FOP goes, we've been to AK 4 times in the last 2 months and I have never seen a wait time for the ride under 2.5 hours.  Most of the time, it's hovering at that mark, if not 3 hours.  We haven't been over to wait in line yet, so I am questioning their estimate of 105 minute wait ever for the ride.  If you don't have a FP for it and you really want to ride it, you're gonna have to commit to being there early IMO.  Otherwise you're going to be waiting a long time.  For example...on the Disney app, right now, it's 195 minutes.
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I have heard if you can get in line right before closing it will be considerably shorter and if they let everyone in line go through even if it is after the official close time.  I have never tried it though.

As far as using FP for shows I agree that it normally does not make sense to use them but it really depends on the park you are at and what else is available.

 
PIK95 said:
This morning my wife is pushing the place that's under construction.  Beach Club?  She read they give you a $70 gift card every day, because of the inconvenience or something.  She wants me to call today and verify the info.  Fml.
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lol

 
Godsbrother said:
I have heard if you can get in line right before closing it will be considerably shorter and if they let everyone in line go through even if it is after the official close time.  I have never tried it though.

As far as using FP for shows I agree that it normally does not make sense to use them but it really depends on the park you are at and what else is available.
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I've heard this too....I haven't seen it.  The shortest time in line, at the end of the day, I've seen since we've started going regularly (Jan of this year) is approx 2 hours.

 
PIK95 said:
This morning my wife is pushing the place that's under construction.  Beach Club?  She read they give you a $70 gift card every day, because of the inconvenience or something.  She wants me to call today and verify the info.  Fml.
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IMO...no. And its Caribbean Beach Resort, not Beach Club. 

for me, the resort is a huge part of the experience. Currently, the resort is basically being torn down and rebuilt. The biggest thing that is causing guest issues ids the food options. Everything has been moved to temporary triage tents. And for all reports, its triage tasting food, if you can even get there. IDK, how much food plays into your stay, but for us, we do multiple QS breakfasts at the resort per trip b/c its is quick and convenient. If My wife cant get her AM coffee, I would contemplate kicking her overboard on Small world. 

here is a write up, a little old, but gives a good sense of the construction and experience.  

IDK, I don't like to gamble when it comes to Disney. I get plenty of construction on the Long Island Expressway every morning on my way to work, I want me vacation to be an oasis. 

Recent video

 
PIK95 said:
This morning my wife is pushing the place that's under construction.  Beach Club?  She read they give you a $70 gift card every day, because of the inconvenience or something.  She wants me to call today and verify the info.  Fml.
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They are not offering the GC any more.  The GC was only for stays booked before the construction was announced.  Now they assume you know what you're getting into.

 
ThreeThousand said:
They are not offering the GC any more.  The GC was only for stays booked before the construction was announced.  Now they assume you know what you're getting into.
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I just saw that.  With the 25% discount elsewhere, it's probably not worth staying there.

 
FYI

Starting April 9th, 2018, guests will be unable to use FastPass+ reservations to ride Toy Story Mania at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This period will last through May 7th, 2018 to accommodate further construction of the ride’s new entrance in Toy Story Land.

During this time, guests will only have access to a standby queue.

FastPass+ reservations for there ride will be available again starting May 8th. Toy Story Land opens June 30th, 2018 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
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.

 
Posting from Disney springs Orlando.  With a few couples at a cheerleading competition so some of the parents decided this would make a good dinner spot.  Haven't been here in 9 months.  Feels like my first time here since 1981.  Amazing how fast this place changes.

 
The Ref said:
Posting from Disney springs Orlando.  With a few couples at a cheerleading competition so some of the parents decided this would make a good dinner spot.  Haven't been here in 9 months.  Feels like my first time here since 1981.  Amazing how fast this place changes.
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right!? It's amazing.

where did you eat?  

 
getting one step closer to eliminating magic bands. 

Starting at Wilderness lodge, guests will be able to unlock their resort room door using their smartphone.  

Called "Digital Key" though the My Disney Experience App:

Guests can also use their digital key to unlock the hotel entrance gate and common area doors requiring a key, which may include pools, fitness centers, elevators and club level lounges. Arriving travel parties that have checked in online may even use their digital key to bypass the need to visit the front desk, giving them the opportunity to go directly to their room when it is ready and start their vacation even faster.
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video in link 

edit to add my $0.02: No brainer move by Disney...not that I like it, but no brainer regardless. Why should disney continue the expense of creating, shipping, managing, and supporting magic bands when almost everyone of us carries a very similar delivery method in our pockets everyday. Yes, I know i really hate being on my phone while on vacation, but thats not the case for most guests...just look around, everyone is on their phone in one way or another while in the parks. I fully expect this to roll out to fastness and ticket media very shortly. I believe they are already using your phone for such things in Disneyland. The MDE App has gotten very powerful and from a developer perspective, it is easier to update, control and troubleshoot one app vs literally thousands of magic bands. Plus, from a retail side, it makes the magic bands they sell more valuable b/c not everyone will want smart phone exclusive integration, so those who would have gotten MBs for free will know be forced to buy them. 

 
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3.5 hour FoP wait this week.   Kudos to those families who can actually survive a 210 minute line for a 5 minute ride.  20 minutes after rope drop the wait was at 3 hours.  

They must have done an amazing job with the queue because from the outside you can't see any lines.  

 
harryhood said:
3.5 hour FoP wait this week.   Kudos to those families who can actually survive a 210 minute line for a 5 minute ride.  20 minutes after rope drop the wait was at 3 hours.  

They must have done an amazing job with the queue because from the outside you can't see any lines.  
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Is that a posted or actual time?

 
harryhood said:
3.5 hour FoP wait this week.   Kudos to those families who can actually survive a 210 minute line for a 5 minute ride.  20 minutes after rope drop the wait was at 3 hours.  

They must have done an amazing job with the queue because from the outside you can't see any lines.  
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The queue is enormous. Never seen anything like it. 

 
glvsav37 said:
getting one step closer to eliminating magic bands. 

Starting at Wilderness lodge, guests will be able to unlock their resort room door using their smartphone.  

Called "Digital Key" though the My Disney Experience App:

video in link 

edit to add my $0.02: No brainer move by Disney...not that I like it, but no brainer regardless. Why should disney continue the expense of creating, shipping, managing, and supporting magic bands when almost everyone of us carries a very similar delivery method in our pockets everyday. Yes, I know i really hate being on my phone while on vacation, but thats not the case for most guests...just look around, everyone is on their phone in one way or another while in the parks. I fully expect this to roll out to fastness and ticket media very shortly. I believe they are already using your phone for such things in Disneyland. The MDE App has gotten very powerful and from a developer perspective, it is easier to update, control and troubleshoot one app vs literally thousands of magic bands. Plus, from a retail side, it makes the magic bands they sell more valuable b/c not everyone will want smart phone exclusive integration, so those who would have gotten MBs for free will know be forced to buy them. 
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I have an s8. It’s barely a year old. I’m lucky if my battery lasts until 4pm. I hope there is a backup system

 
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