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Bettina
Citizen
Username: Bettina
Post Number: 99
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 10:08 am: |     |
We are considering a trip to Disneyworld in April, somewhat against my better judgment. Have others gone and loved it? My kids are 8 and 4.
In addition, we would like to take a side trip to a nice beach, the less built up the better, but not too far from Orlando (say within 2 hours driving distance).
We are considering St. Augustine but know nothing about it.
Any information? Thank you in advance. |
Suzanne Ng
Citizen
Username: Suzanneng
Post Number: 589
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 10:32 am: | |
FYI... I would avoid the weeks before and after Easter, since those are likely to be prime school breaks. But with an 8 year old (unless home schooled) you are likely going one of those two weeks. Check the archives for Disney World info...
My main suggestion would be to stay on site, to take advantage of the extra hour or so that the parks open early for on-site guests. Get a good guide book, too. and Have fun! |
phyllis
Citizen
Username: Phyllis
Post Number: 468
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 1:42 pm: | |
We just brought our four year old there and had a wonderful family vacation. I was NOT looking forward to it, but it was wonderful.
A friend recommended, and now I recommend the Passporter guide to Disney. In the front pages it talks about when peak weeks are and all that. We did a whole bunch of planning ahead of time and was happy in the end. THere are tons of message boards dedicated to Disney travel, but I couldn't deal with them -
There's also a site run by a former Disney "cast member" - tourguidemike.com. There's a fee, but once I figured out how to navigate the site, I found it very helpful.
When we were kids, we did half the week in Disney, the other half in Clearwater, on the west coast. Not sure if its nice or honkey tonk.
St. Augustine is supposed to be beautiful.
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kriss
Citizen
Username: Kriss
Post Number: 236
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, January 15, 2006 - 2:04 pm: | |
St. Augustine is beautiful. Any of the beaches in Flagler county (south of St. A, north of Daytona/Ormond area) are very nice, not too crowded and within 2 hours of Orlando.
The west coast (Tampa/St. Pete) beaches are gorgeous. Some nice areas: Madeira Beach, St. Pete Beach, Clearwater, Anna Maria island. Again, within 2 hours - Anna Maria I. is a little bit more - it's south of Tampa Bay.
Sea World is great for kids. Plus, they have beer. |
Wendyn
Supporter
Username: Wendyn
Post Number: 2621
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 8:28 am: | |
Get the "Unofficial Guide to Disneyworld". Amazing book. I'm planning our trip for early May with my 2 & 5 year olds. |
Eats Shoots & Leaves
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 2856
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 10:22 am: | |
Seconds on Wendyn's recommendation for the Unofficial Guide--it is fabulous, and also shows which days of the year are expected to have the most crowds.
We went last April during an off-time--it was only moderatly mobbed--and the kids had a blast. To my surprise, I had a blast also. I really wanted to hate it--I had as much fun as the kids, watching them have fun and purely be kids with no other reason to exist but have fun--and I liked a bunch of the attractions, also. You have to let your inner kid loose, shut down the inner critic, and be in good physical shape.
You should also go to the websites that gossip about Disney--lots of good tips there. Some people on those boards take it to an obscene fetish-level, but you can pick and choose what works for you.
My kids were 12, 11, and 8 when we went (3 boys), and only one is a daredevil (the youngest, go figure) so we kept off of most of the really hairy rides. But there are plenty for non-daredevils and littler kids to enjoy--Disney is better for them than for older kids, but the older ones also seem to have a good time.
First decision: Stay on-Disney or off-Disney? On is more expensive but a lot easier to get back and forth to your room if you want to take a break during the day (you will need it). Off is cheaper, with pretty good shuttle buses, but the parking area is very poorly marked so be careful to ask your driver EXACTLY where they will be parked for pick up.
Second, one-park or park-hopping pass? We decided to focus one day on each park, and I doubt that park hopping works your first time there. Explore each park fully in its day.
Third, get there at park opening and hit the hot rides you really want to do first. Then, around lunchtime, get a fastpass for the hot ride you want to do a little later that day. Just before your fastpass time expires for that ride, but before you use the fastpass, like around 1/2 hour before, get another fast pass for another hot ride you want to do later, then get in line for the ride that you have a valid fastpass for. I believe (unless they have caught this loophole) that your fast pass lock-out is dropped in that last half-hour. Worth exploring--saved us a bunch of line time.
Fourth, go to one of the Magic Kingdom theme restaurants at least for one lunch or dinner. Dinner is best because if you time it right, you walk out into the fireworks show, which is awesome. We ate at the Crystal Palace (I think that is the name) with a Winnie the Pooh character theme. I thought my pre-teens would kill me, but they LOVED dancing with large costumed Pooh characters. The food was, um, edible, and at least copious. But you have to get a reservation early--so call down NOW for this or other on-site restaurants.
Fifth, MGM park was not as great as Magic Kingdom, but it does have some pretty hairy rides if you are into that. The Rock'n Roll Rollercoaster is crazy, but not as bad as stuff at Six Flags or Universal.
What we liked most: The Magic Kingdom. Everything there was great. Pirates of the Carribean ride. Water Flume ride (forget exact name). Tom Sawyer's Island is a wonderfully quiet place to hang out, let the kids run around in a natural setting, and relax--good place to catch your breath. Indiana Jones special effects show at MGM. Blizzard Beach water park (if you go, you absolutely have to go early--unlike other Disney attractions, this one is one person at a time, mostly, so the lines get insanely long at lunchtime even on an off day).
Biggest surprise: How amazingly well Disney handles large crowds so you always feel like you are moving forward, that you will get on the ride soon, etc. Signage is pretty good (except for bus parking), and the staff are amazing at all times. For example, almost every ride is constructed so that two or more ride cars are on the ride at the same time, which really speeds up the lines without creating a danger (well-engineered). My kids now HATE Six Flags because it is so inefficient, poorly thought out, each ride is a single car at a time, the staff can be rude, and it is filthy compared to Disney.
I may fulminate against the Disneyfication of American culture, but, damn, they sure do theme parks right. |
oots
Citizen
Username: Oots
Post Number: 340
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 10:44 am: | |
We went for the second time this past november with 3 high schoolers-I think I had more fun than they did! Next time may be without kids! Enjoy!
oots |
Boomie
Citizen
Username: Boomie
Post Number: 258
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 6:36 pm: | |
Im going next month and I have to say, do not miss Universals parks, Islands of Adventure and Universal studios. Also, there is an EXCELLENT online offer right now where for every adult 2 day pass you buy you get a childs one free, AND you get 3 extra days on each! So a family of 4 can get access to both parks for 5 days for the cost of 2 (two day) passes, which would be $200. Awesome deal. See Universalstudios.com |
peteglider
Citizen
Username: Peteglider
Post Number: 1703
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 9:24 pm: | |
Plan plan plan! The guidebooks are superb -- follow them to a tee -- and your wait times will be minimized greatly!
IMO -- especially if this is your first time with the kids, I'd skip MGM. I also was not overwhelmingly thrilled with Animal Kingdom. For my money, skip that park, too (go to the safari at Great Adventure one day this summer instead). But don't skip Universal!
Stay at Disney or close by -- so you can take a break, change clothes, take a quick swim, etc. if you need. If your little one still takes naps -- its essential! The last couple of times stayed at a condo complex about 2 or 3 miles from the main gate. Gives you a lot more room, washer dryer in the place, flexibility. And more privacy for Mom & Dad, too. (...but alas no room service).
I've gone to the beaches on both sides of Florida. The Daytona/Space Coast side -- very nice (esp if you want to see Kennedy Space Center). But the water can be rougher than on the gulf side. On the Gulf side -- you can stay in mega hotels in the Clearwater area, or find old style deco type places more towards St Pete.
Really -- there is SO much to do. You'll be limited mostly by time and your budget. (never made it to Busch Gardens...)
Enjoy! /p |
Wendyn
Supporter
Username: Wendyn
Post Number: 2624
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 7:51 am: | |
Interestingly the "Unofficial Guide" did extensive research on how long it takes to get to each park from a variety of hotels inside and outside the park. Our hotel (Sheraton Vistana) is a timeshare suite hotel (critical with little kiddos) and it takes less time to get to every park than it does from one of Disney's timeshare hotels, which are triple the price. |
peteglider
Citizen
Username: Peteglider
Post Number: 1704
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 10:36 am: | |
I've had good luck at this place -- but there are a bunch of others along the same stretch.
http://www.holidayvillas.com/
(btw -- you can also find their inventory on Expedia and even some auction sites -- with some digging you may find even better rates)
There is a Krispy Kreme close by ;-)
Pete |
Bettina
Citizen
Username: Bettina
Post Number: 100
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 11:48 am: | |
Thank you so much for all this information. I guess my only fear now is that it is going to be way too crowded during our public school spring break. |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 4359
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 12:06 pm: | |
We are line haters - it would destroy the fun.
We went twice. Once in September when we had a few days off from school. It was completely off season, so no crowds and no lines and no crying tired children. Blizzard Beach was our fave. We liked Animal Kingdom. Epcot was boring.
THe other was November the M-T-W before teachers convention. Also, a good time to go.
At Universal, we stayed at Hard Rock Hotel where you get to use your room key as a line cutter. Fantastic. We did everything more than once in one day. |
Mummite
Citizen
Username: Mummite
Post Number: 198
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 2:27 pm: | |
We have also used www.holidayvillas.com in Kissimmee many times, but this year need a bigger villa so we're staying at the new Terra Verde resort with its own little beach/sand area and many other hotel-type facilities. We like being off park - you save a ton of cash on food/drinks. The only negative is you have to pay to park if you don't get a hotel/resort shuttle.
Disney fun can be catered to all ages. Can't wait! |
drewdix
Citizen
Username: Drewdix
Post Number: 1104
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 10:28 pm: | |
It will be super crowded during a school break.
My god, only do this if you must.
I respect anyone's good time there- not trying to ruin your fun (as if I even could)-go for it- I understand on some level- to each his own-
but I felt exploited and maneuvered, trapped and disappointed (i.e. things not worth the build up). And we did the planning, the guides, etc.
Easily spent 35% of the time there on line. I was a good Dad and smiled all the way, but I'll pay you the $225 or whatever to take my family next time.
....never again. |
bak
Supporter
Username: Bak
Post Number: 792
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 3:28 pm: | |
Before you go, visit the great ladies at TravelMagic online at www.travelmagic.com
All they do is Disney vacations, and they are very detialed in learning your likes and dislikes and customize a trip for you and your family. I didn't use them for air, but hey booked my hotel, got me all the reservations at the reataurants including Princess Breakfast at Cinderella's Castle, and more. Their service is free and I highly recommend them--they will help you avoid most of the pitfalls listed above. |
sac
Supporter
Username: Sac
Post Number: 3041
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 4:05 pm: | |
Another vote for the "Unofficial Guide". I do have to disagree with the advice against park-hopper tickets though. On our first (and so far only) trip to Disney with our kids, we loved the park-hopping feature. Each day we went to one park in the AM until early or mid afternoon and then came back to our hotel to rest, swim, etc. Then on to a different park (usually Epcot) for the evening. Our kids, who were fairly young(ages 5 and 9) at the time, liked Epcot just fine and it was the adults' favorite park. Not boring at all to our crew!
Also, in the Unofficial Guide, they tell you about upgrading within the Disney resorts. It sounds too good to be true (and maybe sometimes it is), but I watched someone do it right next to me while I was checking in. He got the same accommodations at the Contemporary Resort as we had, but for a much lower price, because he had reserved one of the low budget resorts instead. So read that section and, if you could live with the lower end resort, go for it! Also, we followed the suggestion about asking to ride in the front of the Monorail and got to do that two or three times during our stay. That was also a big hit with the kids!
As someone mentioned above, we thought we were doing this vacation for the kids and were prepared to "tolerate" it at best. But, we (the parents) had a wonderful time.
Caveat - We went on Spring Break at an "off" (non-adjacent-to-Easter) time a few years ago. Unfortunately, that is not the case in our school calendar now, at least for this year and next. I'm not sure I would be willing to do it on a peak weak and I'm not willing to take my kids out of school for this purpose, so I've told my kids that it isn't in our near-term plans for that reason. Hopefully we'll get another off-peak chance before the older one goes off to college. |
algebra2
Supporter
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 3943
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 4:13 pm: | |
To us, Park Hopper is a MUST. We'll visit three parks in a day -- Magic Kngdom first thing for a few hours, then MGM, and Epcot for happy hour/dinner. MGM stinks EXCEPT for Rock n Roll Rollercoaster which is a must -- our favorite ride. When my son was 3.5 he loved Tower of Terror -- at 5.5 he was scared. He did LOVE Rock n Roll Rollercoaster though.
I wish they offered 2-day Park Hoppers b/c that's about all the WDW I really need, after 3 days I start to freak out.
Hotels -- we've stayed twice at the bargain on-site hotel -- All Star and Pop Century. Both are fine, and we've gotten rooms as low as $59/night. |
darrensager
Citizen
Username: Darrensager
Post Number: 220
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 12:05 am: | |
I just got back from seeing the mouse. If you like roller coasters, you'll love the new one they are opening in Animal Kingdom called Expedition Everest.
They were dry running it while I was there. I'm surprised no one mentioned it yet. Check it out here: http://www.disneyeverest.com/ Its like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad on steroids.
Staying at a Disney hotel is a great idea. You get extra hours in the parks and you won't have to pay for parking. We stayed at the All Star Movies hotel. The rooms are fine for two people, not for four. I could only describe the All Star resorts and the Pop Century resorts as, "Disney's Motel." I think you'd be better off spending just a bit more a night and getting into the Coronado Springs Resort. It's their biggest resort, and best bang for the buck. |
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 2267
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 10:32 am: | |
We went last January (for four days) and stayed at the Sheraton Vistana Village time share thingy. It was inexpensive and nice because of the kitchenette. We were literally five minutes from the entrance to the park. We purchased 4 day park hopper passes and univeral tickets from AAA at a slight discount. We spent two days at WDW/MGM/Epcot/Animal Kingdom, hitting two parks each day. The other days we went to Universal and Downtown Disney. While everything at the parks was great it had to go down as one of the worst family vacations ever. My son refused to go on any rides where the lights weren't full blast or where the ride went more than 2 mph. It made it difficult for us to enjoy anything. To top it all off my son had an allergic reaction to something and his eye was swollen shut so we had to make an emergency run to one of those 24 hour urgi-care places.
The parks were great and not at all crowded. As someone mentioned above Disney has perfected the art of moving large volumes of people efficiently and effectively. Everything works.
We also went to Disney this past November, this time for three days. We stayed at the Grand Floridian. We didn't rent a car since we used Disney's magical express (which I recommend) to cart us around. Magical Express is available to anyone staying at a Disney resort. You essentially get off your plane and head right to the shuttle. Disney retrieves your bags for you and they arrive in your room approximately 1-3 hours after you land. Therefore you should take anything you might need (baby stuff etc.) with you on the plane. It is unbelieveably convenient. Plus if you stay at one of the resorts you can take advantage of the extended hours (if available). Each day, either in the morning or at night, the parks will either open early or stay open late (check the schedule) for people who are staying at one of the Disney resorts. You can use this time to ride the more popular rides. We used it to ride Soaring at Epcot though I doubt it really saved times for us because everyone else had the same idea. If you're going for a short time stay at the resort its ultra convenient especially for the little ones. If you're going for a full week look into the time share things. We didn't even have to sit through their speech, we just kept telling them we would but would then cancel. I think we paid only $199 for the three nights at a one bedroom condo.
Unfortunately, we're going back next month and staying at the Nick Hotel (a promise we made to our spongebob loving son). Not sure what we're going to do as we're tired of WDW. We may try Seaworld - we had fun at the one in San Diego last March and possibly Universal, but my son still won't ride rides so that seems like a waste of money. Any non-theme park ideas?
You definitely have to lose the anti-corporate bias in order to enjoy it. That said, they do know how to appeal to the kids and they know how to get you to open your wallets. |
Glock 17
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 270
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 2:13 pm: | |
Personally...I just took a trip to universal stuidos and islands of adventure...and id reccomennd that
as for non theme park ideas? Kennedy space center!!! |
twig
Citizen
Username: Twig
Post Number: 176
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 3:35 pm: | |
A good reason for staying on-site at Disney World is the fact that the parks take turns opening one-hour early for resort guests only each week. It may have changed but the schedule used to be as follows:
(Sunday-Magic Kingdom; Monday-Animal Kingdom; Tuesday-Disney/MGM Studios;Wednesday-Epcot; Thursday-Magic Kingdom; Friday-Animal Kingdom;
Saturday-Disney-MGM Studios)
Also, three of the parks (I think that it's Animal Kingdom that does not participate) take turns staying open up to 3 hours longer for resort guests only during the week.
You would be surprised how getting into the parks an hour ahead or three hours longer than non-resort guests can make a difference. Of course, attraction wait times vary by time of year.
A great website that has a ton of information is:
http://allearsnet.com/index.html
Adults who are willing to let go of the postmodernist jade can have a ball at WDW. Go for it! |
Jason
Citizen
Username: Jason
Post Number: 51
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 3:45 pm: | |
Another website recommendation - www.mousesavers.com - this website and, especially, the newsletter} provide a wide range of info on Disney related discounts and special offers. |
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