I thought that Disney, while overpriced, was still not as gouging as the Six Flags parks. I was at Disney last December and parking was $11 with tram service. Six Flags was $20 and you walked to the ticket gate.
We could find lunch at Disney for $8-$9 for an adult and $5 for a child. Six Flags had it’s prcing set up so there was absolutely no where to eat lunch for under $10.
My adult son and I went last January for a memory trip. I used the same site as Mama Zappa to book through. If you use Disney’s help you will be well taken care of but you will pay for it.
Although we rented a car we didn’t use it for our days at Disney. Most of the hotels and motels near the entrance have a complimentary cooperative shuttle service and we used that so we didn’t have to deal with parking fees and the hassle.
We got our room for $50. a night in an okay neighborhood though the place was rundown. It was clean, though and we didn’t plan to do anything but sleep there so it didn’t matter. I suppose with the children along you may want a place with a pool or some other amenities.
A little time on the site will offer you many options.
Let’s ignore the 15k quote; my sister is vulnerable to aggressive sales people. God knows, maybe that includes gold-plated diapers.
These quotes are bumming me out.
I’m going on this trip to spend time with my nieces and nephews. It sounds like a nightmare on Walt’s green earth. Do they sell liter bottles of vodka in the parks?
We can’t avoid doing this the first week in April. I’m thinking hard about an alternative, but the kids have already heard the words “disney” and “world”
Let me try to un-bum you. If you absolutely can’t avoid going during a busy time of year, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t still have a good time.
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Temper your expectations. Know going in that you probably won’t have time to do everything in one day. Decide ahead of time which attractions are most important to your group, make use of FastPass when you can, and plan a route through the park to minimize backtracking.
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If you’re getting overwhelmed by the crowds, every park has a few off-the-beaten-path spots where you can catch your breath for a bit. (Check the Unofficial Guide or just keep your eyes open throughout the day.) Or leave the park for a couple hours, chill out in a nearby hotel lobby (I love the Wilderness Lodge), get lunch outside the park, etc.
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Plan some non-theme-park days to sleep in, relax at your hotel’s pool, shop, whatever.
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If you do end up staying on-property, you’ll be able to take advantage of early-opening and late-closing days. Every day, one of the four parks opens an hour early and/or stays open up to three hours late, but only for Disney hotel guests. Many of the websites listed upthread will give you the schedules, or ask at your hotel desk when you check in. (They call it “Extra Magic Hours” in Disney-speak.) These are great times to explore the parks with smaller crowds and shorter lines.
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Yes, you can buy alcohol at all parks except Magic Kingdom. (Not in liter bottles, though. :() I heartily recommend drinking your way around the world at Epcot.
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No matter how crowded it gets, you’re in charge of your own mood! Relax, you’re on vacation!
I have been to Disney World several times. We always stayed on-site and we always went over Spring Break or in the summer. I do not remember it being a high holy hell (though admittedly, the last time I went was 2000). Only two things I definitely remember (both from the on-site perspective):
Be at the gate of the park you want to go to a few minutes before it opens in the morning. By lunchtime you’ll all be tired and cranky and ready to crash… and you’ll be doing that during the hottest, busiest part of the day. By evening you’ll be refreshed and a lot of the daytrippers will have left.
If you want to eat at a nice sit-down restaurant, make reservations.
I have been to the World quite a number of times myself and I know a few things.
These two websites are the key to figuring things out (that and getting yourself an Unofficial guide).
I am not sure about staying off-site (I am a DVC member and stay on site using my points) but I hear some good things about www.allstarvacationhomes.com from people I trust.
If you have specific questions once you have read the Unofficial guide, go to allears.net and see if they have the answer. If not, post it at disboards.com.
(Or just send me a PM and I can hunt down the answer. I have planned lots of other peoples vacations. It’s a bit of a hobby. If I can’t be at Disney World at least I can be helping someone else get there.)
Adding an enthusiastic recommendation for the Unofficial Guide.
We’ve been to Disney World twice, but both times were in the off-season, so I can’t give any advice on high-season touring. But some things are the same at any time of year.
The Magic Kingdom - the park many people think is “Disney World” - and Epcot are huge. In the best of circumstances you can’t expect to see everything in either park in one day. They are also in my opinion the best parts of WDW. If you can, give yourselves two full days for each park. If that’s not possible, you can still enjoy what you see - but go in understanding that you won’t see everything. It’s okay. If you like it, you can go back some other time and see the rest.
Know about what you want to see before you go. Your plans will change, of course, and maybe get totally derailed - but you don’t want to be standing in the parks looking at a map trying to figure out what you want to do. It wastes time and creates stress.
Each park has some rides that get crowded very quickly, even in the off-season. If you want to ride them, be at the park at opening and go right to those rides. Each park also has rides and shows that handle crowds very well, which can be done at any time. The Unofficial Guide explains which ones are which.
Use FastPass! It’s brilliant and it’s available to anyone with a valid ticket - whether you’re staying on- or off-site.
Tickets are set up so that the longer you stay, the less it costs per day. They are also set up so that you can add days and features later - but you can’t take them off the tickets if you don’t use them. Don’t pay for more than you know you’re going to use.
Finally, be ready to take an afternoon break. The Disney parks are a total immersion experience - not just sights but sounds and even smells - and sometimes the brain needs a break even if the body is still good to go. You’ll see less, but enjoy it a lot more, if you leave the park for the quiet of your hotel room when the crankiness begins.
I’m afraid this is coming across as negative, so let me just say I have absolutely LOVED our trips, and if it wasn’t so dang far away we’d’ve been more often already. It’s an incredible experience and you and your niecephews will remember it for years.
(OH! You didn’t say how old the niecephews are, but if any of them are at all intersted in geography, get 'em the Epcot passports. They collect stamps while the grown-ups get to enjoy the countries. Best ten bucks we spent :p)
When we went two years ago, we happily spent several hours one afternoon just hanging out on park benches behind the giant Fantasia hat in the middle of the Hollywood Studios park. None of us had any particular interest in going on any particular ride.
I don’t think Blank Slate will have any problems because it’s Spring Break. Disney people are masters at crowd control and the parks are big enough that no area seems too crowded. I think you said that you’re going with your sister, her husband and their five kids. Perhaps you might volunteer to take one or two of the kids separately on rides. That would be a good bonding experience for you as the uncle (aunt?) and really the park is great fun when you’re seeing it through the eyes of the kids. They may want to get an autograph book and collect signatures from the costumed characters. So the characters are available throughout the parks through the day for autographs and pictures (so bring your camera). There’s also a whole system set up of collectible pins which are for sale and trade, but I think it’s basically a pointless waste of money.
Someone suggested that Disney was expensive, but I actually didn’t think so. I don’t believe that you have to pay separately for any ride or attraction in the parks and they’re all first-class. For example, there was a Lion King stage show with performers as good as you’d see in a Broadway show. The meals can be expensive (because they have high-end restaurants) or cheap (since you can get diner-style food).
An excellent point that you should not overlook. You can make reservations up to 180 days in advance. Yes, I said 180 days. If you wait until 30 or even 60 days out, you may find it difficult to get into the restaurant(s) of your choice.
Also, depending on the kids’ ages, a character meal (where Mickey & his pals will come right to your table) might be a big thrill for them. These fill up fast, though.
Good point. I think there’s a princess dinner, if one of your nieces wants to dress up and play princess, she can also meet several of the movie princesses. And I think there’s some sort of pirate dinner, which would better appeal to me.
As far as the food goes, eating at Disney is a little more expensive than eating at a corresponding place in your neighborhood, but no more so than you’d expect from any theme park. If you’re on a budget, take heart that the variety in the fast food places is actually pretty good - except for the kids’ meals, which are monotonous. And the portions are generous; two kids can easily split an adult meal.
As far as I can remember the only “attractions” you pay extra for in the parks are games of chance - and there are very few of those. There’s a small area in the dinosaur part of Animal Kingdom, and I think there’s a shooting gallery in the Magic Kingdom. That’s it. They’re easy enough to avoid.
The souvenir stands are not easy to avoid, of course. I recommend giving each kid a souvenir budget and letting them know that when it’s gone, it’s gone. They have stuff in a wide price range, from a couple of bucks up to You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me level. Last time we were there, I was working at a preschool; I bought two packs of Mickey Mouse pencils and two packs of Princess pencils, and let each kid pick out one pencil. Cost me very little and the kids were thrilled with them.
If you are a regular visitor to DisneyLAND, you can zoom through the Magic Kingdom in a day. I know, I just did it.
But Epcot is really two parks- the furture area up from, and then the International area. It really needs a day and a half, maybe two days.
Yes, and it gets really cheap after day 4 or so, enough so that a extra day is cheap. Try to do a park per day, then back to Epcot to MK on other days- Park Hopper passes are a needless expense on a multi-day trip, IMHO.
Basicaly, with extra crowds it’s still just as much fun, just that certain rides need to be planned, and maybe you might have to skip a popular ride that doesn’t have Fastpass. Really, it’s not that bad at all, Disney folks are experts at this, they compensate like crazy.
Food? I found that the Character Breakfast buffets, although not cheap- are a bargain. The food is up there with a moderately-high-end Vegas Buffet (with scads of stuff for kids) there’s entertainment, and that’s a really good meal at which to fill up. Go ahead and grab a bananna each for laters, they have always told us we are welcome to do so. Bring some food bars, granola, etc. Thus, you have paid for a good breakfast, then had fruit and stuff for lunch. Eat a early dinner. Disney cafeteria style places are an excellent bargain. The top end sit down plces are expensive, no doubt. The only place I found wasn’t worth it was like a hot-dog stand, where you get a Hot dog and fries for $5 or so. Meh. The slightly nicer “order at a line, then sit down in a nice enclosed restaurant” places are a little overpriced, but not bad at all. And of course, if you stay offsite, there’s often a complimentary breakfast.
Try to get the kids out of the junk food though- it’s expensive and not good for them. That’s why you bring your own snacks- although buying fruit and drinks is not a bad idea.
One odd thing- geting INTO Disneyworld is really easy. One central road, you peel off to whichever park you are going to that day. But, each park sends you back out a different way, so it’s easy to get turned around if you’re staying off park.
If the kids are younger than 10 or so, you might want to skip Disney for the next year or two. The Magic Kingdom is undergoing massive refurbishment - it seemed like a good quarter of the park is shut down right now. They’re going to raze Toontown, the teacups are boarded up, and they’re revamping Ariel’s Grotto into something people might want to do. If the kids are young, they’re not going to get a lot out of EPCOT or MGM. Animal Kingdom is good, but Magic Kingdom is where youngsters like to be.
Honestly, I recommend telling the kids that Disney World is closed right now, and rent a big beach house on the outer banks or something. Going during Spring Break is the pits - it is SO overcrowded. To give you an idea, we just went over Columbus Day weekend (the schedule was not our choice), and the wait for Dumbo was 40 minutes within half an hour of park opening. Granted, that is a slower-loading ride, but I guarantee you smaller kids will demand to ride it, and it’s right in the middle of things so it’s hard to avoid them seeing it.
As much as children like the *idea *of Disney World, the aforementioned Unofficial Guide has polled kids and found that they overwhelmingly agree the best part of their Disney vacations was the hotel pool. Why not save yourselves the headaches of going at a packed time when lots of attractions are closed, and still give the kids most of what they love about Disney - get a house with a pool, take them out for chicken fingers, fries, and soda, and buy them dumb trinkets.
Don’t get me wrong - we own a timeshare on property* and go every couple-three years. I just think you should go when you can get a lot more out of it.
*you can rent timeshare interests by the way. I believe the DIS boards have a forum for this. Can’t beat a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and separate bedrooms, on property!
I was there a couple of weeks back - traditionally one of the slowest times of the year - and when we got to Hollywood Studios, we naturally went straight to Toy Story Mania (the newest, most popular ride). It was about 10 AM and the Fastpass return time (which means, you get the Fastpass and it tells you what time to come back) was 7:30 - 8:00 PM! I would imagine that during a busy time, Fastpasses would be gone by 9 AM.
Not the Magic Kingdom, but liquor flows fairly freely over the rest of the “world.” I’m particularly fond of the Grand Marnier slushies in France over at Epcot. (Food and Wine in Epcot is worth a trip - but that’s in October…)
The key will be to PLAN. You want to get to the parks when they open. You want to tackle the important things first. You don’t want to promise the kids anything you haven’t booked or aren’t sure about (the line to see Mickey can be hours). Make sure you have character meals booked before you promise them if you hear about them. Decide on the most important things and get those done first - if you have time for other stuff, get it done. There may be a few times where “divide and conquer” is the plan - no need for a twelve year old to wait to watch his four year old brother ride Dumbo. But the four year old will need to ride Dumbo.
Easter isn’t until the 24th, so you won’t face the overwhelming crush you get right at Easter. It doesn’t have to be a nightmare, but there are times Disney virgins can walk into the parks unprepared and find themselves having a magical time. Spring break will involve planning.
Do be prepared, you are unlikely to find a sit down meal without a reservation at most times of year at Disney, and Spring Break is worst than many times of year. If dining on property looks interesting, that needs to be tackled soon. But there are plenty of good places off site if you go that route and counter service up the yango.
I have no idea what the price point is, but there are condos run by - I think - Wyndham - called Bonnet Creek. They are about as close to on site as you can get without being on site. If you can get a timeshare rental there during that time, that would be a good bet.
The former is Vacation Rentals by Owner. Many Orlando listings.
Redweek is a pay site ($15, I think) but will give you access to timeshare owner rental ads. I’d stick to the Marriott and Sheratons as they are very nice.
The best advice is that no matter how much planning you do, be prepared to go to Plan B. Take a deep breath and ENJOY your time there. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard tired kids and cranky parents by the end of the day. Just relax and enjoy.
Get the Unofficial Guide and follow one of their touring plans. This will probably make you trip a lot more pleasant. They’ve really done their research. Check out their site. Also check out Len Testa’s podcast.
We went a couple of months ago. We stayed at the Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort. Its on property and averaged about 64.00 a night for two queens and a sleeper sofa. Shuttles ran every 30 minutes from the Hotel to the Parks (both directions). The resort charges eight dollars a day for a “resort fee”, but that is cheaper than the parking if you were to drive, and you don’t have to deal with parking or navigating your way into the parks.
Couple pieces of advice: Take a couple of LIGHT WEIGHT back packs. The Walmart in Kissimee sold light mesh backpacks for 9 bucks. Use it to carry water, snacks and whatnot. Take bottled water with you! It’s not cheap in the park, and although there are water fountains near all the restrooms, its not as “flavorless” as the bottled kind. A little fragrant if you ask me. Also buy your beverages for the hotel elsewhere. The hotel vending machines were charging 2.50 for a coke.
You don’t have to spend a fortune in the park. Everything is inflated obviously, but as far as eateries you have a few different price-ranged options. And you can find online coupons for other Orlando restaurants outside the park. Just be aware that many places try to hide the 18% percent gratuity, and then try to get you to tip on top of it. One place had a line for “a donation” to the establishment on the receipt which seemed like it was for a tip. But if you fill it in, when you get back your credit card slip to sign, you find that there is a spot for tip as well. In addition of course to your hidden gratuity.
Just be aware, plan ahead, and expect to spend a little more than elsewhere. And make note of all the “indoor rides” like Snow White and Monsters INC (which was really cool in more ways than one). If its hot, you’ll be praying for the indoor, air conditioned attractions.
Have fun!
I’ve ordered the guide, but a subscription to that site sounds useful too, especially the crowd calendar and line times.
I’d love to do this in the least busy week of the year. I hate crowds and heat. But it’s cool, I’m just the uncle so I don’t have to have a 100% attendance record.
Unauthorized Cinnamon: that’s really funny about the poll. I believe it…the kids are already excited about the rental or hotel having a pool.