DisneyWorld: Do's and Don't
 

This year will be my first time to DisneyWorld (Florida). Already have every thing paid for.

I've reviewed the DVD. Scheduled three parks. But I keep getting their e-mails on dining plans, and race car driving, and all these 'extras'.

I guess my question is this... who has been a few times, and can offer up some advice?

There looks like there is so much to do, even in ONE park, it will be hard to conquer in a day. Much less take in all the shows, parades, and so forth.

Any tips, no matter how small, to survive Disney would be appreciated.
:helpme:helpme

My wife and I have taken our son to Disney World twice in the past 4 years.

Rent a car, ends up being way cheaper in the end plus gives you the freedom to explore in your downtime.

Pick and choose what you really want to do. The first time we went there we tried to do it all and it got stressful to the point of almost not being fun. If you find something that everyone is having a good time at, don't rush to leave it just because you have to hit this or that park.

Plan a day of downtime. We scheduled this right in the middle of our trip. It was nice to not have to run anywhere and sit at the pool and relax. Running around and being around mobs of people all the time takes it out of you, you will need time to recharge.

If you have a chance and like seafood, go to salt island. They bring in fresh fish everyday from the coast. - http://saltislandrestaurant.com/ Somewhat spendy but my favorite resturaunt in Orlando.

Have fun on the trip!

Been there a whole lot of times! Happy to advise...

I would say Animal Kingdom is a must, I think we had the most fun there with the kids. Depending on their ages, Epcot can be great or not.... In my opinion, Epcot is somewhat lost on kids under 7 due to attention span.

At disney my advice is pretty simple... everyone needs to wear really comfortable shoes and outfits. We all laugh about fanny packs but I'd recommend this over your wife bringing a purse any day. The parade and fireworks at night is awesome but also an absolute cluster fuck of a rude crowd with pushing. You basically have to get there early to get a decent position but by the time its 'on' expect that you have people pushing in - so the best bet is to get a spot right on the street but to do so I bet you need to be 45 minutes early. We ended up putting the kids on our shoulders and I'll tell ya that was the hardest half hour ever after a long day.

If you have a daughter there are opportunities at every park to purchase a princess lunch or tea party....... I did one with Elizabeth at Epcot and it rocked.

My advice would be to get a general idea of what everyone wants to see when you start each day. I found that we have had the most fun when there is no stress... let the kids be kids and take a break or even go back to the hotel for a nap mid-day. Bottled water on a strap makes it easy to stay hydrated and depending on the time of year those misting fans are pretty good.

:)

Brad

The best advice to everyone when going to a theme park is to go on Superbowl Sunday.

My family did this while I was growing up, and the parks are totally empty! We rode the Matterhorn like 3 times in a row because there was no line at Disneyland CA.

Unless you are a football freak, plan your trips around Superbowl Sunday and you will fight minimal people in line at theme parks. It was the best time I ever had as a kid going to one.

Thanks gents.

One thing I forgot, and especially after reading ToeJO's post...

It's just myself, and a girlfriend. No kids.

:)

get the VIP card ( costly ) but nomore waiting lines.

Good tip!
:thumbsup

I've done disney several times, with little cash, to it doesn't matter what it cost.

You need to stay at one of the Disney Resorts, it's a must. Don't get a hotel outside of the park unless you simply cannot afford it, and at that point i would then recomend a rental car. Do the math and you maybe better off with a Resort.

In the Resorts, your kids will get to eat breakfast with Mickey, and that alone is worth the trip.

You can only see one park in one day, and if you do it all like I did, your kids will be dead asleap by 10 PM. You have to see the fireworks, at night, and see the parade during the day, and at night.

When you stay in the Resort, you can relax, see the park, in the morning, come back to your hotel mid-day and get in the pool, and then go back to the park. Remember it's a vacation, not an adventure to see it all.

Animal Kingdom, is great, specially if you have a three year old, just hearing them scream Tiger, Elephant etc... as they sea them upclose is worth it.

You must plan out each ride, by getting a fast track pass ticket for the most popular rides, if not you will have to wait two to three hours for a five minute ride.

To get a fast pass ticket, you can buy them... I won't tell you how. But you can, and you will need to talk to the staff. They have tickets, which you can use per ride, if you get lucky and get your hands on these, try not to use them for your kids. The staff is fairly lenient with letting the kids in with no ticket, as long as you have one.

The legal method to get a fast track ticket, is to simply go to the ride you want to see, look for the Fast Track booth, get a ticket and come back at that time. You can only get one fast track ticket per person at a time, and you need to wait till you ride that ride before you can get another ticket, for another ride.

The Fast Track allows you to shop and eat, while you wait for the time stamped on your ticket to ride your ride. The last thing you want to do is wait in a line, I've done it and regret it.

VIP Card? Is this new?

Yep. She's been many times. On average, once a year. She had said the same thing.

That's fucking crazy foo!

Dayum! The VIP is looking better and better.

Uhhh are you sure? Upon entering the park, we usually walk around the whole park collecting fast track tickets for every ride first, then sort them by timestamp, and then rewalk around hitting the rides in those orders. Quick and easy with no wait (other than a lot of walking which I don't mind).

I never saw any posted sign or had anyone tell me you had to wait before getting another ticket. Hell the operators saw our big stack of fast track tickets.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

How many days are you going to be in Orlando for? My list of must do parks goes in this order:

- Universal Islands Of Adventure
- Magic Kingdom
- Universal Studios
- Disney Hollywood Studios (mgm)

Islands of Adventure is by far the most amazing park in the area, if it's not on your itinerary it should be.

Don't touch Snow White, inappropriately.

Is it bad that I think dirty thoughts about the chicks dressed up as princesses? :Graucho

If you are staying on the property, you should definitely look into a dining plan. It will certainly save you money. :thumbsup

I know a lot of these guys have been a few times, but please take these tips. I have been more than 200 times and stayed on the GROUNDS of Disney at least 60 of those 200. No kidding.

First off, STAY in a Disney hotel on the grounds. NO NEED TO RENT A CAR, they have a bus that will take you ANYPLACE on the grounds that you want to go. EVERYTHING OUTSIDE of disney is a tourist trap, and expensive as hell for nothing.

DO NOT MISS Disney Village. The GF will LOVE it. and be prepared to spend a few bucks.

Dont bother making reservations at any place to eat. If there are 10k shops in disney there are 10k places to eat as well. and you may regret having to RUN LIKE HELL to make a reservation.

They have several water parks on the grounds that are fun, and they also have the Jungle thing, I forget the name. anyway if you go in the summer, you wont see much at the jungle place as all the animals sleep though the heat, and they do that in the shade hidden. So think that over before going.

I can not think of a single place there that WONT take a debit card, so no need to worry about much cash. As with any big busy place, keep your money and wallet in a safe place, and dont leave expensive things in the hotel room unless they are locked up.

Have a good time.


Oh, and if this is your first trip there and it is a bit of a BIG trip, SPEND like you are bill gates. Deal with it later, Make it a trip to love.

Hahahaha yea we did this last year and we basically rode the park 5x over. It was almost like it was our private park.

Tuesday throught Sat.

I think I did a three day pass so we would have time for Downtown, relax day (she recommended as well). If memory serves, the plan was

Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Universal

I am going 1st week of December. She has never seen Disney at Xmas time. She is going back in Feb for a few days at the parks before doing the Disney cruise.

Good advice all around though. Nice detail.

With the dining plan, it had a lot of info, and recommended reservations for just about anything sit down. It said something about doing the dining plan can save your 20-30%.

My thoughts exactly.

I paid off the airfare, tickets, hotel upfront so I could pay back down the credit cards and have them at $0.00 so I can max. em while there. :)

I did the same when I went to L.A.. It allows you to pick up that Louis Vitane the woman wants, or whatever. So you enjoy your trip. Not worry about running around with a calculator.

Fasttrack was limited last year. One ticket open at a time.

how old are the kids?

Id ditch epcot and DEF do Magic Kingdom. That park is very good.

Dont forget to get reservations for crystal palace (brunch/buffet joint) to see Pooh Piglet Tigger..etc. By far one of the better places to see the toons.

Dont forget batteries and some sort of spraying water into your face device- you will save some $$ there.

Bring SNACKS and drinks to the park.

You can do the fireworks and parade any night. I would suggest doing it more than once.

The parade is inspiring and magical. In fact as gay as it sounds...disney is just a magical fucking place. Ill go back in 2 seconds. even though I toted 3 kids- (1- 2yr old) and wasnt easy-

3 day pass wont be long enough IMO_ the diff between a 3 day and a 12 day pass is like under 50 bucks- so get the 4th day or even 5th and have the flexibility to go back and back and back till your done.

get some pool time in for sure - I did and the kids loved it

Magic Kingdom takes at least an entire day and night- or 2 full days. You cant get bored there- and thats the meat of disney- do everything- all the movies shows..etc.. You will not be disappointed.

The hell with hotels, we always stay in one of central Florida's many nude resorts.

I used to love going to DisneyLand and DisneyWorld! What 3 parks did you pick?

36 & 37 :winkwink:

Our flight gets in early enough that we could hit a park if we wanted on Tuesday, and even one on Sat as the flight back is a straight shot, and we leave late in the day. I did it that way to allow for more time at park(s) or whatever.

That's the plan. See as much as I can, and spend like a mofo trying to find out why she goes back every year, and what is so 'magical' about this joint.

if you've gone to disneyland in california id avoid magic kingdom because they are very similar.

erm animal kingdom where you see magic - cant edit for some reason

Thought about it when I was in CA. But I was told I would be disappointed.

But I had better things to do when in L.A. and many things on my list. So it worked out.

It did not look as toe curling as some of the other parks.

She, and others, said it's nice with little kids. But other than that, not a must see unless you have already seen the other parks.

My advice is just get the maps for each park and find the things you want to do - and plan everything out. It's tons of walking so you get tired pretty quickly, planning everything out will reduce backtracking and wasted time.

Find out which rides have FastPass - unless you dont mind waiting 30+ minutes for some rides.

I went to Epcot two days ago. They're doing the International Food and Wine festival right now - where you can buy food samples from each country - it was kinda cool. There were a couple cool rides, but its more laid back compared to the other parks. Sam Adams beer school was kinda interesting. They're also doing free concerts everyday too - Boys II Men, etc.

We just got back from 10 days in the parks. The Dining Plan is now a must have. We actually got it for free, but if you're going to be eating in the parks anyhow...it does save you some money.

If you've got little ones the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween was a blast. We actually went kidless for the night and had the most fun of the trip that night.

I went a few years back with some friends. Here is one little tip others haven't made. Epcot center has a very cool light and firework show every night when they close down. Well, at least they did a few years ago so I assume they still do. It is very impressive to see, but very popular and since Epcot stays open later than some of the other parks a lot of people leave those parks an come to Epcot just to catch this show so it can be very crowded.

If you want to see the show make reservations at the Rose and Crown restaurant in Epcot and tell them you want them late so you can see the show. It is traditional British food and is very good and they have basic stuff like fish and chips even kids will like. You can order a big beer and relax then when the fireworks start you can go out on their back deck and have a first class view of them without having to stand in the crowd and get crushed.

You also mentioned that you're getting a three day pass at Disney but want to do Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Universal. Universal is it's own park and has nothing to do with Disney...so you might want to double check that. Disney's Hollywood Studios would be the Disney equivilent to the Universal park.

The new Toy Story ride they have at that park is probably the "coolest" ride in the park...for kids and adults.

mnnn interesting to know there are ways arround the FastTrack.. any directions on this? I'm planning my 20th visit for January

I could be saying the wrong park.

It is the Hollywood I think. Where they do the stunt cars stunts, and shit.

Good to go then. DEFINITELY get there early and get a FastPass for the Toy Story ride. It was the only ride that had a line over 30 minutes the entire time we were there. At one point it was 120 minutes to get on it. The stunt show and the Rock N Rollercoaster are there too.

Which resort are you staying at? We had a HUGE party and they could only do us all together at one of the All Star Resorts. There are their budget hotels and that being said...they were PACKED. Waiting for a buses was not something anyone enjoyed. I'd bump up to the next level just to not have to wait in the uncovered lines baking in the sun for a bus.

We go at least once a year and even booked next years trip while we were there. I come from a family of Disney fanatics.

I wanted to stay at the Contemporary. But it was booked. I checked the others on the Tram Rail or whatever it's called. All booked. Ended up in one of the All Stars I think? I would have to check the reservations.

I was shocked. I tried a number of the mid and higher end because I wanted to be on the Monorail so I could avoid the buses. But every one of the line was booked my week. :disgust

The rooms are all pretty much the same. The All Stars are nice enough...as you don't spend much time at the resort anyhow.

If you are doing the Dining Plan, make your reservations as soon as possible. You will be satisfied food wise the entire time. One restaurant I HIGHLY recommend is Spoodles, which is on the Boardwalk. I had a some beef that you could cut with a spoon. We ate there the first night we got in and ended up back there on more time it was sooooo good.

When are you going to be there Barefootsies? We are going Oct 31st. I always like to meet people from here in real life.

Universal is HORRIBLE unless you're 50, seriously my wife and I with 2 kids went there for pics with some of the characters and spent a TOTAL of a few hours there. Not anything special

Epcot tends to be an eating place

GET THE FOOD PLAN! You eat better and end up paying about the same plus you get some upscale food instead of the "cheap" shit which is still like $8 hamburgers.

Park hopper is a MUST.

Don't plan a damn thing! Do whatever you feel like and don't make a "schedule"

They have employees standing around to give you directions to shit. They tend to have STACKS of fast passes to anything you could want to ride on. Get some from them... Fast pass is 1 pass per ride PER person so what you do is walk around to EVERY ride and get fast passes. I had one for everything in animal kingdom and just timed it to catch them...

I will be there 1st week of December, Tues thought Sat.

Interesting..

I wouldn't worry too much about the ParkHopper if you're only going to be there a few days. We paid the extra $50 to have it on our tickets this past trip and only "park hopped" one time and that was because we had dinner reservations.

While I wouldn't plan or schedule what rides you want to do and when, you really do have to plan ahead and make reservations for your meals...which they let people do 180 days in advance. So you might want to get to that soon if you are going the meal plan route (which we won't ever go without from this point).

When I used to go as a kid we would bring my grandmother because she was in a wheelchair and that meant we could cut the line...dont know how that would work with just you and your girl though :)

Yeah, the gf I am going with said that you 'may' use park hopper on those days you go to the secondary parks like Epcot or Hollywood. But, since it's my first time. She said I do not know what I like, or not, and probably a waste for this trip.

Plus she recommended just hitting a water park if it was that lame at one.

As for the dining plan,.. do you have to make reservations just because you have the plan? Or should you do them anyways? I mean, what if I wanna just pay the extra money, and hit the sit down restaurants. Do I still have to call ahead?

Disney MGM Studios

Barefoot, get my info if you want I live right behind Disney, been there a zillion times and can point you in the right direction for anything you're looking for.

Here's my down and dirty one day disney guide for seeing the best stuff and not feeling like you missed out.

Show up at Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning when the park opens and go DIRECTLY to the back to the safari ride (dont stop for shit) you should be one of the firsts in line, you'll get to see all the animals before it gets hotter and all the animals go hide. When it's over go back up right outside to the Lion Kind show, it's pretty good.

Then leave the park and hop a bus to Epcot. Lines should be small hit up test track and the couple rides there then go to the world pavilion and eat some food, drink some beer and hangout, it's lots of fun and my favorite place.

Hop the Tram then to Magic Kingdom and finish the day out there, walk down main street, do the haunted house, small world, house of presidents, jungle cruise, you know the big ones.. that'll take the rest of the day. Eat a turkey leg in frontier land.

Skip MGM, now known as Hollywood HUGE waste of time unless you really need to do something there.

Nope, you don't have to make reservations just because you have the plan.

How it works is you get one snack, one counter service meal and one sit down meal...each day. The sit down meals (buffets, lunch with mickey, restaurants) mostly need reservations...but they do all take walk ins. You just might have to wait. The counter service meals are the standard cafeteria type burger, salads and fries type setup. Those you just walk up to and order.

All the meals are deducted from your "ticket". It's really a nice addition to the package. We ate like kings and are already planning on where to eat next year.

Uh are you serious? Islands of Adventure has some great rides, and the other attractions are fun if you like movies.

it all depends on how long you'll be there and how weather holds up... If say the day you choose animal kingdom it rains then there is seriously NOTHING. Also something to look at is open/closing times. If I remember right Animal Kingdom closed at like 4PM (was there In like February) Magic Kingdom was open late so if the place you spend your day at closes earlier you can hop over to a later place.

When I went I drove down... Last time I was down there it was during the summer so I only hit a water park (didn't have kids with me that time)

Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom are really the best two. I liked Animal Kingdom more than busch gardens (got DRUNK on free beer there though)

I might hit the busch gardens in Virginia or wherever it is on my way to North Carolina this summer sometime.