Disney World

MelliJellyBean · Post by **MelliJellyBean** » June 17, 2008 12:00 pm

Been to Disney World MANY times. My family has a timeshare with Westgate Villas in Kissisimmee.

Best time of the year to visit that I've experienced is mid-May. we waited in line no longer than 15 minutes for any ride at any of the parks. Was great! We were very lucky to experience a space shuttle launch while we were there that year, so check the schedules and plan for a visit to Cape Canaveral which is only an hour or so away.

We'll be going there again in October. I can't wait!

Tarheel Tail-Gator · Post by **Tarheel Tail-Gator** » June 19, 2008 10:29 pm

Just got back from a four day (three days at the park) trip.

I was fortunate to go over 30 times as a kid (always had relatives working there)

Took our keet a year and a half ago for his 5th B-Day and just took him back for the 2nd time.

The Good:
Cashed in some Hilton Honors points and stayed at the Hilton at Downtown Disney. It is an official hotel which meant extra magic hours!!!
We would go to a park in the morning, leave about 3pm and go back to the hotel and rest for a few hours, then head to the extra hours park (Epcot until midnight one night and Magic Kingdom until 2AM). The parks are so much better at night (although you miss the landscaping)
>>Rode Toy Story Mania--It's a great addition via FastPass (wouldn't want to spend 90 minutes in line waiting on it)
>>Between Fast Passes and being willing to pass up a few rides if the lines were too long, we only waited 50 minutes on two rides (Soarin' and Test Track). The rest of the time, we were able to spend 20 minutes or less
>>Drinks/Snacks are still affordable in the park--$2 for a bottle of water or coke is not unreasonable
>>Despite the multiple trips as a kid, rode Soarin', Test Track, Rock N Roller Coaster, Everest, Splash Mountain, and the Rapids for the first time and was impressed with all of it!

The Bad:
Disney is really cutting back on transportation getting into the parks. At all parks, they are holding trams until they are full before entering the park. In the afternoons and evenings, they are often only running one tram, which means that you might as well walk to your car.
The have also cut the number of monorails back on the loop into the MK. In fact, we had to wait 20 minutes to get into the park at 9:00pm the first night, because they were holding one to fill it, before they left the station (during the parade, when no one was leaving) Then, we went to get on the train to avoid the parade crowd and the train quits boarding at 9:00pm each night.
Disney used to really shine at getting you into and out of the parks
They are also cutting headcount. At night ride operators are also loading passengers and there are no personnel at the tram station (The driver and rear train employee are also responsible for loading)
>>On "it's a small world", one of the hula dancers was missing. No attempt was made to hide the missing square in the carpet (just bad show)
>>On "Ellen's Energy in Epcot," one of the screens was out. There was audio, but no video. Again, bad show.

All in all it was a great trip (and I was able to get on Radio Margaritaville with JD on Saturday during lunch), most of the magic is still there. Wish we were still there!

PackPhanGirl · Post by **PackPhanGirl** » June 19, 2008 10:42 pm

That is very good info...Thanks TTG! We are leaving Sat.! Can't wait!

Tarheel Tail-Gator · Post by **Tarheel Tail-Gator** » June 19, 2008 11:05 pm

PackPhanGirl wrote:That is very good info...Thanks TTG! We are leaving Sat.! Can't wait!

Where are y'all staying?

PackPhanGirl · Post by **PackPhanGirl** » June 21, 2008 8:17 am

Tarheel Tail-Gator wrote:
PackPhanGirl wrote:That is very good info...Thanks TTG! We are leaving Sat.! Can't wait!
Where are y'all staying?

We are staying at Port Orleans Riverside and are getting ready to ride! Where did you stay? I will let you know how it goes when we get back! Your comments will be very helpful!

SailQwest · Post by **SailQwest** » June 28, 2008 8:37 am

MelliJellyBean wrote:We'll be going there again in October. I can't wait!

We're going to be there in October, too! We like going then because the crowds aren't too bad...

finz42 · Post by **finz42** » June 28, 2008 11:16 am

SailQwest wrote:
MelliJellyBean wrote:We'll be going there again in October. I can't wait!
We're going to be there in October, too! We like going then because the crowds aren't too bad...

October is a great time to go to WDW. 109 days and counting until departure for the most magical place on earth.

weirdo0521 · Post by **weirdo0521** » June 30, 2008 4:01 pm

Tarheel Tail-Gator wrote:Just got back from a four day (three days at the park) trip.

I was fortunate to go over 30 times as a kid (always had relatives working there)

Took our keet a year and a half ago for his 5th B-Day and just took him back for the 2nd time.

The Good:
Cashed in some Hilton Honors points and stayed at the Hilton at Downtown Disney. It is an official hotel which meant extra magic hours!!!
We would go to a park in the morning, leave about 3pm and go back to the hotel and rest for a few hours, then head to the extra hours park (Epcot until midnight one night and Magic Kingdom until 2AM). The parks are so much better at night (although you miss the landscaping)
>>Rode Toy Story Mania--It's a great addition via FastPass (wouldn't want to spend 90 minutes in line waiting on it)
>>Between Fast Passes and being willing to pass up a few rides if the lines were too long, we only waited 50 minutes on two rides (Soarin' and Test Track). The rest of the time, we were able to spend 20 minutes or less
>>Drinks/Snacks are still affordable in the park--$2 for a bottle of water or coke is not unreasonable
>>Despite the multiple trips as a kid, rode Soarin', Test Track, Rock N Roller Coaster, Everest, Splash Mountain, and the Rapids for the first time and was impressed with all of it!

The Bad:
Disney is really cutting back on transportation getting into the parks. At all parks, they are holding trams until they are full before entering the park. In the afternoons and evenings, they are often only running one tram, which means that you might as well walk to your car.
The have also cut the number of monorails back on the loop into the MK. In fact, we had to wait 20 minutes to get into the park at 9:00pm the first night, because they were holding one to fill it, before they left the station (during the parade, when no one was leaving) Then, we went to get on the train to avoid the parade crowd and the train quits boarding at 9:00pm each night.
Disney used to really shine at getting you into and out of the parks
They are also cutting headcount. At night ride operators are also loading passengers and there are no personnel at the tram station (The driver and rear train employee are also responsible for loading)
>>On "it's a small world", one of the hula dancers was missing. No attempt was made to hide the missing square in the carpet (just bad show)
>>On "Ellen's Energy in Epcot," one of the screens was out. There was audio, but no video. Again, bad show.

All in all it was a great trip (and I was able to get on Radio Margaritaville with JD on Saturday during lunch), most of the magic is still there. Wish we were still there!

Which trams are you refering to? When I was there in May I thought the bus service was much improved from my last visit.

Tarheel Tail-Gator · Post by **Tarheel Tail-Gator** » June 30, 2008 5:06 pm

weirdo0521 wrote:
Which trams are you refering to? When I was there in May I thought the bus service was much improved from my last visit.

The trams that carry you in from the parking lots. If you were taking the busses, you probably didn't board a tram the whole trip.
Could be that they are putting more resources into the busses (which service those guests who stay on property) in order to encourage staying on property. That is their goal with meal plans, etc. ---to keep as much of your spending on property as possible.

tikiwoman · Post by **tikiwoman** » July 5, 2008 9:39 pm

Just got back from two weeks down at our place in Kissimmee which we rented for the summer for our college daughter who is working at Disney World this summer. Loved seeing the place with an "insider" this time after taking her and her younger sister there ever year of their young lives! And loved the 20% employee discount at all the fine restaurants of Disney as well! The place is still so magical to me and my daughter just loves working there.

Val

PackPhanGirl · Post by **PackPhanGirl** » July 6, 2008 10:17 am

We also just got back a week ago! I do feel that the best time to get on the more crowded popular rides are to go right when the parks open, or for the early magic hours. We arrived early and could get right on our favorite rides and then get a fast pass for it again or another fave if we wanted and didn't have to wait all day!

We tried to do the same for the evening magic hours where the park was open for late hours, but it just seemed to crowded. (except Animal Kingdom)

I highly recommend having your picture made every time you see a passport photo person! The first photographer will give you a card and scan it for you then you will just use the same card every time you get your picture made! Just walk up to them, hand them your card and they will take your picture! Then you come home and put your code in and look at the pictures, with so many options to purchase! They do so many cool things! We came home and my daughter was holding Tinkerbell, my son was holding Simba, and Stitch was eating ice cream with us!!! They are so cool!! There is no option to purchase any of the pictures! You can even drag you pictures into a book and make a hardback book about your trip! Way Cool!

OH.....and if you don't want to purchase every picture of you on the ride that the ride takes of you....just take a picture of your picture! I saw someone do this and I started doing this...the Disney employee even gave me a tip "to not use flash and it will turn out better". Great idea!

SailQwest · Post by **SailQwest** » July 7, 2008 3:02 pm

I love this thread! It's keeping me psyched about our hurricane season schedule!

finz42 · Post by **finz42** » July 8, 2008 7:28 am

We are finally into the double digits---only 99 more days until Disney!!!

britparrothead · Post by **britparrothead** » July 8, 2008 8:18 am

Hubby & I are going Paris in September

We thought we would visit Euro Disney as well. Never been to this park so hope it is as good as Disneyworld.

Missing B'dos · Post by **Missing B'dos** » July 17, 2008 1:11 pm

It's great to see people who are still excited as kids about this! Go Disney!Tarheel's 'modus operandi' with the afternoon break is just right! One of our trips we stayed at Port Orleans and we truly enjoyed it! And we really enjoyed Typhoon Lagoon during a hot June visit.
Staying in the parks is the best, but another good thing is to schedule, book ahead, a 'character breakfast' at one of the hotels from which you can walk or take a restricted boat into the parks, thus avoiding the trams and busses. Examples: New England Beach resort -- you can walk into Epcot or take a small boat to MGM, Grand Floridian character breakfast you can take the private GF boat into Magic Kingdom, etc.

We took our kids, now in their late 20s, quite a few times, and it wasn't until the last trip when they were 16 and 19 that it became clear this wasn't a Family Sport any more!! Yet the younger one loved one of her college spring breaks there, and when we moved to the OC after Barbados, the first thing we bought was Disneyland annual passes; to our surprise the California parks re-awakened the kids' interest in Disney. We just realized it's been 9 years since we last hit the Florida parks, so we're kinda psyched that Jimmy's annual conference will be there October '09!

Another nice tip is NOT to leave the great souvenirs to the END of your trip. We would stop at the big Disney store on our way into the hotel, right away, and let them get that plush toy, special shirt, hoodie-- not having to wait made it great! Then they got a second special souvenir at the END, after they had had a chance to look around! (REMEMBER TO BUY THE DISNEY AUTOGRAPH BOOK AS SOON AS YOU ARRIVE AND ALWAYS CARRY IT. THE CHARACTERS WILL SIGN IT, LEAVE THE PAGE OPPOSITE EACH SIGNATURE BLANK, AND FASTEN A PICTURE OF THE CHILD ON -- we also dated each set of photo/autograph in small print at the bottom of the page, so that after a few trips, the book was a memory of them all!)

Oh, and don't know if they still do it, but on some day when you are repeating Magic Kingdom, so you don't have to race off to a ride right away, if they still have the cafe on the Square that serves the Mickey waffles, have breakfast after you enter the park. It may be gone now.

We've only been away from California and down island here, less than a year, but it did seem to us, too, that Disney was cutting back on staff.

Have a wonderful time... and remember "when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true!"

keynorthwestprthd · Post by **keynorthwestprthd** » July 24, 2008 11:24 pm

finz42 wrote:We are finally into the double digits---only 99 more days until Disney!!!

I still got a year and a half before I go, but at least it won't cost me much. My parents are paying hotel and airfare. Hell, I I move out to Atlanta before then I might just drive down (well if it not like 10 bucks a gallon for gas by then)

piratenurse · Post by **piratenurse** » July 25, 2008 11:35 pm

Well, it's official. Going in January, my son's high school graduation present and his first trip. I've been twice, but it's been 20 years ago. Couldn't resist; Airtran had airfare from San Antonio to Orlando and back $87 each way with a one hour layover. Would have preferred Southwest, but the flights are a lot more. Still have to book resort stuff, but will do that later. Probably just going with value resort, spend the money elsewhere.

ContinentalDrifterIII · Post by **ContinentalDrifterIII** » July 27, 2008 10:16 am

Just reading this thread makes me want to go back. I was there in April and have been thinking of when I can go again. I love October during the food and wine festival. But will not make it this year.

I was in a meeting the other day and to pass the time I wrote all of the countries in the world showcase with their respective beers and restaurants. I love that place

gottagofishin · Post by **gottagofishin** » July 28, 2008 7:56 am

We are going the day after Christmas till Jan 2. I got New Years dinner reservations at Italy in EPCOT. We have been there 3 times at Easter so we are use to the crowds. Has anyone else ever been there at Christmas/ New Years? How crazy is it?

weirdo0521 · Post by **weirdo0521** » July 28, 2008 10:06 am

gottagofishin wrote:We are going the day after Christmas till Jan 2. I got New Years dinner reservations at Italy in EPCOT. We have been there 3 times at Easter so we are use to the crowds. Has anyone else ever been there at Christmas/ New Years? How crazy is it?

You are going at one the busiest times of the year. If you are a veteran visitor you will find a way to hit what you want to see without much trouble. As long as you are prepared for it you should be OK.