Any of you goofs been to disneyworld or on a disney cruise?

[RightF00T]

Invest in blindfolds.  Everytime you pass a food stand, place said blindfolds on children.  You'll thank me, with drinks running at Three dollars and a walking limb.

[Seraphim]

Just curious.....how much is one of those packages or even just one ticket for disneyworld?

[Curval]

Originally posted by Wlfgng
[BEver since I was taken to disneyland as a kid.. from 4 states away.. only to find it closed.. [/B]

LOL.

Now where have I heard a similar tale?  Was it a family VACATION?   Were you guys the Griswolds?

Didn't they have phones way back then?    How come your folks didn't check to make sure?

Cyrano     Very clever.

[Dnil]

I went last summer...me the kids and the ex-wife, yes we were divorced at the time.

my tips.

1.  Bring a camel Bak.  I did and it was awesome, loaded it up with Ice at the hotel then had ice cold water all day for the family, plus extra storage.  Everywhere I went people told me what a great idea it was.

2.  Get a guide book with maps in it before you go.  I had a great book that was like a daily planner to.  I took out the map for the park I was going to be at each day and used that one instead of the park one, it was much better.  It had walking distance times to everything on it.

3.  Get the disney video sent to you ahead of time, has some nice tips on it including.....

4. Speedpass, learn it, use it, love it.  Use speedpass for the more popular rides, no waiting for those rides then.

5.  Dont know how old your kids are but get an autograph book for them if they are into that, my kids loved chasing down the characters for autographs.

6.  Do one of the character dinners, it was expensive, think mine was well over a hundred bucks but the kids loved having dinner with mickey, goofey and the rest.

7.  If you go in knowing its going to be a mass of humanity and accept that its not so bad waiting in lines and dealing with the crowds.

8.  Pirates of the Carribean(sp?) Dull and boring ride but the line for it is indoors, nice and cool.

One of the best experiences I have had.  Even though we were divorced, for that week we were a family again and it was great.

[Pooh21]

Pirates of the Caribbean was my favorite ride as a kid. I lived in George AFB then and went to disneyland once a year. Then they ****** it all up made it kindergarten in the caribbean.

[Frogm4n]

I thought the baptists still had a ban on disney.

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Seraphim
Just curious.....how much is one of those packages or even just one ticket for disneyworld?

A 4-day "Park Hopper Plus", which gets you into any park, anytime during our 4 day stay, was $800 for 4 of us (Roughly $50 per person, per day, average)  Park hopper packages are cheaper than buying the tickets individually and allows you to "park hop" whereas if you buy a single ticket for one theme park, you're limited to that themepark and the ticket is only good for the day in which you purchase it for.

In 4 days time, I would guess we took advantage of about 35% of what Disney World had to offer, if shrecking huge.

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Frogm4n
I thought the baptists still had a ban on disney.

only the day you and ur buddies show up to hold hands and other things in the haunted mansion

[Saintaw]

Go see "It's a small world after all". turns you into a serial killer in no time (or should I say SNIPAR? )

[APDrone]

Originally posted by hblair
any pointers appreciated.

Ok.. did the 3 day stay 4 years ago and followed up with 7 night stay 2 years ago.

You only have 3 days ( nowhere near enough time.. really..) so pace yourself with the understanding that a lot will have to wait until the next trip. ( just blowing an entire afternoon at the pool/beach is a vacation after running around for a few days )

The character meals are a 'must' IMHO.  My daughter was 4 on first trip and 6 on second one. It really made her day.

Which meals?  Without a doubt, Chef Mickey breakfast at the Contemporary resort ( big triangle looking hotel with monorail running through it.)  That has to be the best breakfast buffet I've ever eaten!!

The other 'must' is Donald Duck's Restaurantasaurus at the Animal Kingdom.  Call well ahead for reservations.. we didn't and couldn't get a seat during the 7 night stay ( we had the reservations booked before arriving for the 3 day trip )  This is the wildest bunch of waiters I've ever seen. An extrememly entertaining meal.

Rides? I liked the 3d shows ( bug's life, Honey I shrunk the audience and some star wars thingy at MGM ) as well as the classics.. Small World, Mr toad's wild ride, haunted mansion, Pirates of the carribean ( be prepared to see scenes from the movie..lol ) Try and get on the Buzz Lightyear ride.. it has light guns you can shoot at targets and rack up points that display on your dashboard.  That's where I got my buff gunnery skills. The kids are gonna love it.  

Dnil's suggestion about the camel bak is right on.  You'll need lots of water and it is expensive.  Food is expensive, but, then, it's not run by walmart, is it?  

You're gonna have a great time. We won't be going back until next year..

[hblair]

Wow, great info fellas. Thanks for the good tips.
Seraphim, its expensive man, I consider it to be anyway. I got the three night package with staying at the disney resort which includes tickets to the park for about 1500 bucks on travelocity. The kicker is the disney cruise. They're proud of them. We could've gone on a carnival for around 2300, but the disney was something like 3600 for three nights:lol. I'm still kinda sick to my stomach but the kids will remember this for the rest of their lives. Daughters 12, the boys are 8 and 9. Two or three more years and they'll be a little old IMO. So I bit the bullet. This will be the first time in my life I've been off work and away from the shop for one whole week. We're going to have a blast. Dnil, the camel Bak is a great idea. Can you bring soft drinks in?

[Stringer]

HB,
We just got back from Disney yesterday, and it was great (our first time there).

We stayed from Saturday thru Friday, stayed on-site at the Contemporary and still didn't see everything the place had to offer.

We have 2 boys ages 9 and 7 and they loved it!

Must Rides--Mission Space and Test Track (Epcot), Rock and Roll Rollercoaster, and Tower of Terror (MGM)  Dinosaur, and take the Safari ride, but Fastpass the Safari very early in the day or you won't get on (Animal Kingdom)

Must See Nite Shows--Fantasmic (@MGM Studios), do the dinner package that gets you priority seating (I recommend the Italian restuarant for this) so you don't have to wait in line for 2 hours, but book that dinner way in advance. It's expensive but this show is well worth it. (do not leave Disney without seeing this!)

Epcot Illuminations--Great nite show

And of course, the Magic Kingdom parade and fireworks.

We also did the 3D features and they are all good.  The Bug's Life one in Animal Kingdom is good for the kids and for the whole family the 3D Philarmargic at the Magic Kingdom is very good.  

Do the Magic Kingdom in the evening, the crowds seem to be less then.  Epcot on Sunday isn't bad at all, but avoid Magic Kingdom on Sunday and Monday if possible.

Do the Park Hopper pass and Fastpass your favorite rides early.

Of course we were there right smack in the middle of spring break, but even so, we had no real problems, we knew there would be a ton of people and just went with it.

Also, expect to spend alot of money, then it won't hurt so bad...hehe

Also, bring bottled water into the park and just fill them up at the drinking fountains.

It was the first time since our Honeymoon that I took a full week off for vacation as well, but the time was worth it and the money well spent for the time we had!

[Eagler]

for the seniors in high school they close Disney to everyone but them for one evening. They have the run of the park until about 2 am when they gather them up and bus them home. I had a blast that night in 77, my youngest is going in May.

your kids will love it hb, crowds or no crowds. guess we take it for granted being about 55 minutes west of the entrance

Univeral Studios is as fun if not better for adults. They put on a fantastic halloween scare fest for about two weeks in the evening prior to halloween. The makeup and special effects, hollywood stuff can scare the crap outa ya.

If you get a chance, stop into this place, its about 10 minutes south of Disney:

http://www.warbirdmuseum.com/

met bodhi there when he used to work there when I took my T-6 flight

have fun

[Seraphim]

Sheesh would cost me a fortune flyin in from Cali...............

[BB Gun]

DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, TRY TO DO EVERYTHING.

You simply CAN'T and you'll end up tired, frustrated and disappointed.  Make a priority list of what you want to do, and work down it, understanding that you won't get to do all of it.   That way you can do what is most important to you and the family, and everything else becomes a benny.

WRT the disney character breakfasts - I would assume you would have that opportunity on the cruise, as well.  I would do it there rather than at the park, since there is so much other stuff to do there.

The other best thing you can do, which is too late to do now, is to book your Disney trip the week before the shools get out for Christmas break.  We took our kids out of school early in mid december in 2000.  It was simply AWESOME because there were NO LINES.  NONE.  ZIP.  We walked right into nearly all the rides and shows mentioned above with ZERO wait times (even phantasmic!).  Well, maybe sometimes we had to wait a few minutes.  Never more than 10, though.

If you have ever been to disneyland, the magic kingdom at Disneyworld will disappoint you.  Many of the rides at DWMK are all SHORTER than their Disneyland twins.  Pirates of the Carribean was especially disappointing in relation to the Disneyland version.  However, if you have not been to Disneyland, you'll enjoy it just fine, since you won't have anything to compare it to.

My kids (at the time 12, 10, 8 and 6) all absolutely LOVED disneyquest in Downtown Disney.  Its great because you can do it in the end of the day after the parks close, and it should be free admission with your park pass, though you would have to check on that.  Inside is every coin-op arcade videogame ever produced, plus some that will knock your socks off and you have never seen before - (build and ride your own roller coaster, virtual river rapids ride, pirate ghost ship combat, buzz lightyear cannon-car game) - where you are IN the ship firing guns or in the raft pushing paddles instead of hitting buttons.  Sounds expensive?  It isn't becaase all those games are FREE with admission.  We had a great time because we all got to do things together there.  There's other stuff in there, but thats what the kids remember most.  http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/entertainment/entertainmentDetail?id=DisneyQuestIndoorInteractiveThemeParkEntertainmentPage

We'd eat dinner at whatever park we were at, then book on over to Disneyquest and stay there until it closed at midnight (I think).

Yeah, the kids got tired, but I wasn't gonna force them away - it was a once in a lifetime trip and I wasn't going to artificially impose rules made for the outside world.  I did end up carrying my 6 year old around a few times, though.  

And yes, understand that the money you've paid, is only the first installment - you are going to spend a LOT MORE when you're there.  Just bite the bullet and spend and don't look at the bill until you get back to the real world.  

BB