My wife and I took the Firebug, age 5, there last November. It was great fun. The Firebug and I did Splash Mountain four times, the last three back-to-back-to-back, because there were no lines. We’ll be going back, and I’m looking forward to it.
If we didn’t have a kid, it wouldn’t be my first choice of vacation destinations (Montana, Maui, the Caribbean, Greece…there’s a lot of places I’d go to before Disney) but if that was where my wife wanted to go, I’d go with her and have a great time.
IMHO, the Magic Kingdom is much more fun than Epcot, even for an adult. But YMMV.
I remember eating at Blue Bayou at Disneyland in 1989 - had a very enjoyable shrimp avocado salad as the entree. I was very disappointed that they didn’t have the place at Disney World. They routed the Pirates ride along one edge of the dining area. No animatronics at that area, and in general the riders didn’t scream because it was a gentle drift through ‘swamp’ . [It was to emulate the ride out of New Orleans to Lafite’s Pirate Camp for the rummage sale]
Last March we hit the Harry Potter site at Universal, and wandered around Universal. A splurge [for me] of junk food, watching of the crowds having fun, mrAru going on some rides and window shopping. Ate at the restaurant in the Harry Potter area - food was decent, but the place was packed with people - it was a wait to get into the candy store, and it was so packed with people that I ended up going back outside and sitting because other than it was not wheelchair friendly to start with, you got the suctastic people who decide that the ‘retard fat slob in the chair’ doesn’t need to be given a chance to move around and shop.
For people who have the time (most people on a first trip enjoy the parks) just spending a day going from resort to resort to walk the grounds and see the lobbies can be entertaining. Each one has its own theme, most of them done very well. We often book dinner at a different hotel each night - in part just because over years of visits we’ve gotten to see most of the high end hotels this way.
We went about 4 years ago with the kids (10 and 13 at the time, so we could go off by ourselves a bit). It’s corporate, micromanaged, artificial, manipulative, and expensive. That’s what my forebrain told me. My hindbrain, on the other hand is a whole lot less cynical and had an effing blast.
A few things that made it better:
[ul]
[li] My kids have all of Thanksgiving week off of school, so we went the 4 days before the holiday. That’s off-peak season. That is essential, and easy to do unless one of you is a teacher. Much less crowded and we got a screaming deal–for staying at a park hotel, we got free meal plans. That was one sit-down meal, one “cafeteria” meal, and a snack each day, which would have cost us easily a couple hundred bucks. I think the rack rate on the plans would have been about $600 for the 4 of us.[/li][li] Research the restaurants ahead of time and make reservations ahead for the sit-down ones you want. Otherwise it can be hard to get a table without a long wait. We liked: 1) the Scandinavian place at EPCOT (it is a “Princess” dinner, so you get all the Disney princesses visiting your table for pictures); 2) The Moroccan place at EPCOT (belly dancers, naturally); 3) the African buffet at the Animal Kingdom Hotel; and 4) the Crystal Palace lunch buffet (counts as a sit-down) in the Magic Kingdom (Winnie-the-Pooh characters). All have good food, though be warned that everything is one notch sweeter than it really should be, and 2 notches less spicy.[/li][li] Ride the Test Track in EPCOT. The final acceleration will rip your face off–total blast.[/li][li] Stay on the grounds and take advantage of the opportunities for early entrance to the various parks.[/li][li] Make use of FastPasses[/li][li] Use guidebooks and the myriad of DisneyWorld fan websites for tips and tricks[/li][li] Do not, under any circumstances, think about how much everything costs[/li][/ul]
I think they took that idea and applied it to the restaurant in the Mexico Pavilion in Epcot. It does the same thing.
[quote=“RickG, post:48, topic:655366”]
[li] Ride the Test Track in EPCOT. The final acceleration will rip your face off–total blast.[/li][/QUOTE]
They’ve recently performed a massive update on this ride and it now has a futuristic, almost TRON-esque look. The ride is mostly the same, including the final acceleration, though.
A few things that made it better:
[LIST]
[li] My kids have all of Thanksgiving week off of school, so we went the 4 days before the holiday. That’s off-peak season. That is essential, and easy to do unless one of you is a teacher. Much less crowded and we got a screaming deal–for staying at a park hotel, we got free meal plans. That was one sit-down meal, one “cafeteria” meal, and a snack each day, which would have cost us easily a couple hundred bucks. I think the rack rate on the plans would have been about $600 for the 4 of us.[/li][/QUOTE]
I’d say this advice is outdated. This past fall, we were there on the Sunday and Monday before Thanksgiving. It was quite crowded, and discounts were not to be had.
[QUOTE]
[li] Research the restaurants ahead of time and make reservations ahead for the sit-down ones you want. Otherwise it can be hard to get a table without a long wait. We liked: 1) the Scandinavian place at EPCOT (it is a “Princess” dinner, so you get all the Disney princesses visiting your table for pictures); 2) The Moroccan place at EPCOT (belly dancers, naturally); 3) the African buffet at the Animal Kingdom Hotel; and 4) the Crystal Palace lunch buffet (counts as a sit-down) in the Magic Kingdom (Winnie-the-Pooh characters). [/li][/QUOTE]
This. We waited until just a few weeks before to investigate restaurants, and it was already too late for any of the themed restaurants with Disney characters.
[QUOTE]
[li] Stay on the grounds and take advantage of the opportunities for early entrance to the various parks.[/li][/QUOTE]
And the extended evening hours.
[QUOTE]
[li] Make use of FastPasses[/li][/QUOTE]
While they were less help than I’d expected, getting into even a couple rides a day without waiting in the regular line made a real difference.
Also, for a few rides at Disney, and a few more at Universal–there are Single Rider lines, often out my the ride exit. These act as a shortcut for people who are alone or don’t mind riding without partners to “fill in” when other parties have odd numbers. For example, a standard coaster has two people per car, if a group of three boards, they’ll pull someone from the single rider line and fill the empty space.
This can turn a 30+ minute wait into a 5 minute wait, so even if you’re there with a fiance, it might be worth considering.
Two things: dont go when crowds are huge and don’t go when the weather is super hot. i.e, don’t go during summer.
Our fellow SDMBer Len writes the very best guide- The UNofficial Guide to DisneyWorld. Buy it. Read it. Use it. Get onto their website, it costs a pittance and is worth it.
For a newb- follow their plans. Seriously. They will make the day work out great. Skip maybe one thing on the plan, and relax, have some extra nice food.
Have at least one Table service meal per day. Strangely, even tho you eat well, you will more than likely lose weight.
Stay at a Disney resort hotel. Stay at least 4 days.
One other thing. get into training for a month before. I am not kidding. Not crazy stuff, but a half-hour/hour walk every day, maybe more on the weekend. Your feet will thank me.
Slather sunscreen. Stay hydrated. Bring snacks. Wear good shoes and the right clothing. Wicking underwear. Wool socks- Smartwool is best.
Honestly, unless you go at just the wrong time and MAKE yourself try to ride everything*, you’ll have fun.
Training and wicking underwear are only for the quasi-OCD who need to see and do everything. It’s not a requirement, you can make things as hectic as you want or just liesurely stroll around if you don’t feel the need to do everything.
My husband and I went the weekend before Christmas last year mostly because we were desperate for a vacation and found a good last minute deal. The Disney Passes are crazy expensive so we just got a 2 day one and went to Magic Kingdom one day and Epcot the next day. The third day we were there we actually went to the shore (as in, drove a couple of hours to it from Orlando). I had been to Disney as a kid, right after they opened Epcot I think…and my husband was going for the first time.
Weather: Orlando decided to be fricking impossibly cold the entire time we were there. I was actually in WPB not even ten days before for work and it was so bloody nice, but the minute my husband and I show up we end up in the middle of a 5 day cold front from a Midwest storm system. So, if you’re going to go in winter, check the weather right before you go and do pack a sweater or light jacket just in case.
Overall, we did not really enjoy the experience as adults, save for Epcot, which was absolutely awesome. Magic Kingdom was absolutely insane in terms of crowds and even with minimizing our line times by efficiently using FastPass, we still seemed to spend a lot of time waiting around. I guess we’re just not Disney-as-adults type people. Considering we were staying right in front of Universal, I wish we’d just done Epcot one day and then gone to Universal Studios for our second theme park day.
Now, on to Epcot. We ate at the Biergarden and the Teppenyaki restaurant. Both were really great-make reservations for either one of these (I did it on my smartphone the day before) because they are among the most popular restaurants. The world showcase is gorgeous. Epcot rides are fun-but my review of Disney rides is that they’ve been surpassed by places like 6 Flags (I think this added to our disappointment with the place because we’re both into thrill rides).
Would we take our kids there? Yeah, I’d slap on a smile and take them because that’s what my parents did for me and it was awesome and I think they got a kick out of seeing us so happy-I’d want to do the same thing for my kids. Would I ever go again till I had kids, aww hell no-I’d rather spend the money elsewhere. As my husband said after our vacation, “babe, next time let’s plan a bit better and go to Costa Rica.”
Yeah, Disney isn’t a thrill ride park. The number of rides it has in the thrill ride genre are less than a dozen across four parks - and of those dozen, only perhaps Rock N Rollercoaster would hold a candle to the marquis rides at a thrill park.
Disney is a theme park - While most parks will have a drop ride where you strap into chairs, get lifted up above the park and dropped a few times, Disney send you through a haunted house first, before giving you what is a relatively mild sequence of drops. While a thrill park will have a rickety coaster ride, Disney’s is surrounded by manicured gardens with a Nepal theme - and a Yeti - and significantly less drop or speed. People who value thrill are often really disappointed in Disney, while people who value theme wonder why anyone would spend time at a Six Flags.
Thanks for supplying the name.