You’re not getting out of it that easy. I’m asking.
Ah - if just two of you, you’ll be comfortable at any of the Disney resorts. When we went last year, we were considering taking a friend’s 13 year old along with our two, and for 5 people, the onsite options are very limited and/or expensive. The rooms and pools improve with the levels of resort - the budget resorts are motel-cheap and have basic pools and limited onsite dining; the moderate resorts have nicer pools and better onsite dining, and the rooms are slightly better (I think; I’ve only stayed in a moderate resort). The deluxe resorts can be fantastic - I’ve dined at the Polynesian and at Animal Kingdom Lodge and the grounds and indoor public areas are stunning. However you pay lots of $$ for that. Think about how much time you might spend actually taking advantage of the hotel facilities when you’re deciding where to say. When we went last summer, we swam perhaps twice and ate at the hotel perhaps once; we did use the bus transportation every day.
Depending on what time of year you go, you can get decent rates even on-site. What time of year are you thinking of going? We went in October 1987 (this was pre-kids) and lines were pretty much nonexistent, and hotel rates (we stayed in Kissimee, just a couple miles away) were the cheapest of the year. You’ll want to avoid the Spring Break period (late March / early April) if you can as it’s likely to be crowded. Also high summer is unpleasant… somehow we always wind up going there in July though.
The Disney Dining Plan can be a good deal for adults. It’s 40ish dollars a day which gets you a sit-down meal, a table-service meal, and a snack. We did that last summer and though the kids didn’t typically eat much of the bigger meal, some of the table-service meals would have been pricey enough that this paid for the entire day (we had one at Kona, I think, that would have been 180 dollars). This is only available if you stay on-site though.
I do recommend the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. It has scads of information on all the parks, including touring plans that help you avoid the worst of the lines and maximize your riding time. We didn’t do the touring plans - we wanted to play it by ear - but the rest of the book was invaluable. And one of the authors is a Doper 
Typo Knig and I are planning on going again in October 2015. Why plan so far in advance, you say? Well, our youngest child will be in college that fall. So we can enjoy the short lines and cheap rates and not have to deal with the WHINING and we can ride what we want!
Definitely do the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. This, surprisingly, was a huge hit with my kids last year - we actually spent 2 full days there. Disney-MGM was so-so, in my opinion, though as the Unofficial Guide says, the Phantasmics (I think that’s the name) show in the evening was really worth it. If we were doing it again, we’d probably skip MGM altogether, except perhaps for the show. Then again, the only really interesting “rides” there were a bit too scary for my kids.
Animal Kingdom is worth a visit but if time is tight or you’re really enjoying Magic Kingdom or Epcot, you can miss it.
I haven’t visited either of the waterparks but they’re supposed to be very good.
There are other parks in the area, which are not Disney-affiliated. Sea World is worth a visit (though getting there might be tricky if you’re staying on-site at Disney and don’t have a car). Ditto Gatorland which is worth a couple of hours if you have half a day to kill - when we went 5 years ago, we arrived early in the morning on the auto train, didn’t want to hit a Disney park, and that was just right for an afternoon’s diversion. That’s also not Disney-affiliated. And Universal Studios is, I imagine, someone similar to Disney/MGM; I have not visited it.
Discounts on onsite hotels and theme park tickets are hard to come by. Some travel agents can save you a little; we went via AAA (American Auto Association) and saved perhaps 250 dollars for the week, for 4 of us. I couldn’t find a better deal anywhere.
Can’t agree enough - October/November and February are by far the best times to be here… not too hot, and tiny crowds.
I also used to work at Disney (EPCOT, which I personally love), and you’ve already gotten some good advice.
One thing: Some people mentioned the rain - it WILL rain at least once a day (except October - February, a travel time that I heartily second). Keep in mind that this rain shower is not like the drizzly European rain, but more like going from “lah dee dah, skipping in the sun” to “whoa, Niagara Falls!” in a second. This means that when you feel the first drop, stop whatever it is you are doing and immediately find a roof to stand under. Don’t start there rooting around in your backpack for rain gear, there’s no time to put that on anyhow, and you will get soaked. However, the rain usually will only last for 15 minutes or so.
As to snacks, I usually went with fare from the fruit carts (there used to be one in front of the German/African pavillion, for example).
Oh, and the answer to the most frequently asked question (apart from “Can you pour me a large Jägermeister beer” which I had to respectfully decline about 10 times a day): In EPCOT, the bathrooms are always to the right of the respective pavillion (if your back is towards the lake, that is).
Early December is great too. Low crowds, cool weather plus the resort is all decked out for Christmas.
Keep an eye on Disboards & MouseSavers.com. You can sometimes find some great discounts on rooms onsite (up to 40%) if you’re there at a slow time of year.
Maybe someone could tell them the current entry fees. I visited only once, for one day after attending a business training workshop 20 years ago for $26 per person, just for Epcot. Friends visited about 10 years ago at much higher rates-gave them sticker shock with their 2 kids. Anyone know the current rates?
A single day parkhopper is $50 online, $60ish at the gate.
I went “Drinking Around the World” for the first time with a few girls, two ex-linemen and one very gay man.
On the way out, the gay one decide to skip to the car. I’m talking about a chunky guy, 6’2" or so, skipping all-out along the walkway that runs past the rows of cars.
Then the other two, equally inebriated, decided to teach him to “skip properly”. “Power skipping”, they called it. Apparently it’s a training technique for football players.
Anyway, after they knocked over a few children the park authorities had had enough and “escorted” us the rest of the way to our cars.
My husband and I plan to fly out of Nebraska and go to WDW in May for our anniversary. We are staying “in resort” at the Disney all-star movie or pop century. (If I had the money it would be the Port Orleans) We went for the dining deluxe plan which is 3 meals and 2 snacks a day per person. We get there on a Sun afternoon and leave Sat mid morning. We have park hopper tickets for all days but Sat. I decided against the water park option figuring that if we want the pool, the one at our resort would be less populated than the water park. I’m thinking of doing the hidden mickeys while we are there but with it being our first time I’m unsure if I want to spend the time looking for them. My questions are,
- Hidden Mickeys worth the time and/or trouble?
- At Disneyland there is/was a restuarant INSIDE of Pirates is it at WDW and if so what is it called?
- I have been to Disneyland ALOT but not since '92. Never been to WDW. What are the three bigest things that are different or have changed that I should be prepared for?
- No. Save boring stuff for when you’re bored.
- Pirata y el Perico it near Pirates at Magic Kingdom, but not actually inside.
- Everything in Orlando is bigger than everything in California. Also, there are now sponsors’ logos on everything at Epcot that has a flat surface.
Just calling in to say thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread - I really had no idea I would get such a great response! Len has been in touch and I’ve bought a copy of the Unofficial Guide which he co-wrote. I am now in a much better position to plan this portion of my trip. Thanks to you all! The power of the Dope is proved once more…
It’s kind of fun to keep an eye out for them, but I wouldn’t actively search for them. Too much better stuff to be doing.
Disneyland, especially the '92 version, can only really be compared to the Magic Kingdom in WDW. And the MK is just a small piece of the resort. WDW is HUGE compared to Disneyland.
Pop Century (AKA Scopa Towers) > All Star Resorts
I totally forgot… if everyone going on your trip is an adult (actually, just 16 or over), then I strongly recommend taking 1/2 day to do the behind the scenes tour.
You meet at the Town Hall off main street (make reservations first) and get a tour of the hidden workings of Disney World. For instance, the entire park (I’m talking Magic Kingdom only), where you walk around? You THINK you’re at “ground level” but in reality you’re on a massive “2nd floor”… ground level is a huge “underground” complex of corridors and offices called the Utilidor that they run the park from. You’ll get a tour of that, the parade floats, etc.
I know they offer similar tours for their other parks, but I’ve heard the MK tour is the best one. I’ve taken it and loved it.
Well worth the time.
(They don’t allow young children as it would ruin the magic of the experience for them.)
OOH! They give a similar tour to new cast members, & filmyak is 100% correct. “Backstage” is amazing, & just as thrilling as they show.
They tunnel system reminds one of a James Bond type villain lair.
Another small step forward for the meme. Thanks!
For anyone curious about the “Scopa Towers” nickname for Disney’s Pop Century resort: Mike Scopa, a columnist for the Disney fan site AllEarsNet, also contributes occasionally to the Unofficial Guide, and Mike and I (along with Mike Newell and Matt Hochberg) do a thrice-weekly podcast called WDWToday. Scopa spent something like six weeks at Disney’s Pop Century resort between 2005 and 2006, and it’s now almost certainly the only resort at which he stays. That’s the “Scopa” part. The “Towers” were added because (a) Scopa’s Pop Century Resort" was too long; and (b) none of the buildings are over three stories.
One of the goals we have for the show is to encourage Disney resort guests to ask for “Scopa Towers” so frequently that Disney’s own reservation staff understands the reference. I believe you can ask for “Scopa Towers” at many Disney-specialist travel agencies and be understood, so we’re part of the way to our goal.
Len
This has been more or less true about EPCOT, at least as far as attractions go, and was used to help pay for the park’s construction. Many sponsors have dropped off and/or changed, but the concept isn’t even new for Disney regarding EPCOT as this was the case with the Magic Kingdom as well, with Space Mountain being the most notable, but not sole, ride that had corporate sponsorship tied in.
Not having been before 1996, I can’t really argue with that, but the pictures of my family’s trips pre-my birth gave me the impression that there were an awful lot less of the sponsor’s logos before about 1982.
Also, and this is a slight hijack, I can see why’d they’d need sponsors to get things built, but now that the old attractions have paid for themselves fifty times over I can’t help but feel that Disney has no business selling the ad space again.
They do it because they can. It’s not to pay for the original construction, it’s a continuing revenue stream. The sponsors’ names get seen by millions of people in extremely favorable circumstances (being associated with Disney is generally a good thing), and Disney probably earns millions of dollars a year simply by saying yes.
If a product you liked offered you a thousand dollars a week to be seen in public once in a while wearing a t-shirt with its name on it, would you turn it down?
(That said, I understand your thinking, and I despair at the increasing commercialization of all aspects of our society. I hate advertising and marketing in virtually all its forms. But I know how it works.)
It depends how many days you go, and it drops considerably the longer you stay. For example, it’s $71 for just one day, but you stay 5 days it’s $43 a day ($215) and for 6 it’s $36.17 a day, which is less than an extra $3. Of course Disney knows they’ll make the money up with food and souvenirs.
For current prices see here.