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LOL Buffalo Bisons shirt
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Jan 20, 2015 00:47
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They're the Blue Jays AAA team now so we made the road trip down on Blue Jays day, hence the t-shirt. $10 tickets and $7 craft beer and Dinosaur BBQ a short drive away. God bless America.
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Jan 20, 2015 01:27
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Dont worry about the feelings man, my fiance and I are struggling to balance wanting to start a family with getting some bucket list vacations done and we STILL have going to Disney for a 3rd year in a row on our mind....its a crazy place man. Hell if you look at demon's posts in this thread you'll see what it can do to a man, haha
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Jan 20, 2015 03:48
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Day three done with four more to go. Verdict: Worth it. Will be back. Question: Thanks to grandparents my wife and I will be on our own for once this (Tuesday) afternoon. We will be at Epcot and are looking for table service with decent food that doesn't require a reservation for an early (~4pm) dinner. Wife says she doesn't want "anything too fancy," which really means sub-$25 entrees. Any suggestions? Epcot is full of restaurants, but I'm unfamiliar. We are open-minded about cuisine, and WDW doesn't seem to have many challenging menus anyway. Alternatively, we plan to ride the monorail(!) to MK to fastpass Space Mountain, as that's out of the question when we're dragging/chasing a three year old. Is trying to get into Be Our Guest without reservations worth the effort?
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Jan 20, 2015 05:58
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Loucks posted:Day three done with four more to go. Verdict: Worth it. Will be back. My cousin is an annual passholder, and she said the other easy walk-ups in Epcot are Nine Dragons (which I ate at ten years ago and liked) and the two Japanese restaurants (which I haven't tried, but she said Tokyo Dining is a bit expensive for what you get, and Teppan Edo is a waste of money if you have a decent Japanese hibachi restaurant in your hometown). You might also want to consider the restaurants in the Boardwalk area, which is a five-minute walk from the "back" World Showcase entrance of Epcot. There are five huge hotels there, each with several restaurants. I've heard the Big River Grille brewpub at the Boardwalk Inn is very good and not overly expensive (for Disney).
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Jan 20, 2015 07:11
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Crazyweasel posted:Hell if you look at demon's posts in this thread you'll see what it can do to a man, haha Yesssss.. hehe. Must. Sleep. Under. Castle. Bridge. hehe. Look. Bunny. hehe. Is that a coat you are wearing? My you have lovely hair. /runs off into bushes
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Jan 20, 2015 13:56
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Loucks posted:Day three done with four more to go. Verdict: Worth it. Will be back. If you've got access to a smart phone and wifi (parks have free wifi) download the "My Disney Experience" app. It has a section for dining. Just pick where you want to eat (ie: Epcot) and you can look at all the restaurants/menus and make a reservation directly off that. Reason I suggest that is it'll show you which restaurants are filled up, since they won't display when you are searching to make a reservation. Then you can just make your own reservation at one of the available choices and not have to worry about waiting around a long time/getting rejected if you do a walk up. There's no chance of getting into Be Our Guest for dinner without a reservation. No idea how FastPass for lunch works or if they allow walk-ups then, but dinner you're out of luck. ETA: Going off my app - here's what's available in Epcot around 4pm (I searched for 4:30 reservations, you may get different results if they fill up/search a different time) Biergarten - 415, 430, 445pm Chefs De France - 440pm Coral Reef - 405pm, 445pm La Hacienda de San Angel - 415, 430, 445pm Nine Dragons - 415, 430, 445pm Restaurant Marrakesh - 415, 430,445pm Rose & Crown Pub - 415, 430pm San Angel Inn - 350, 430, 445pm Spice Road Table - 410, 430, 445pm Teppan Edo - 4pm Garden Grill - 425pm Tokyo Dining - 410, 430, 450pm That's it for Epcot - but there's lots of other places available too. But if you can, grab the app and make a reservation. It'll make things a bunch easier on you. Happitoo fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 14:58
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You can walk up toe BOG for lunch, we have not been turned away and as recently as last month we had lunch there with no wait.
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Jan 20, 2015 15:06
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Hi! I'm starting to read through the OP and disseminate the information there to my parents as we are planning a joint vacation to Disney World this June! It will be 4 adults (2 in early 60s, 2 in early 30s), and two kids (My daughter is 6, and my son is 3.5) What we have so far is that we'll be going in early June. It's a short time window as my wife is a teacher and her last scheduled day is June 3rd, and I believe that the hotel prices increase on June 16th. I think we are looking at June 10th through the 15th or 16th (4 or 5 days). My mom had looked on Southwest vacations, and got some pricing information on flight + hotels, and for two rooms with 2 queen beds in each, it looks like Carribean Beach came out on top at. It looks like we'll have to go with 2 rooms as we can't seem to find a 1 room option that would work for all 6 of us. Unless I'm missing something? These are the prices from Southwest Vacations for two bedrooms (5 nights) and flights for 6 people (Pittsburgh to Orlando, we can also look at Latrobe PA to Orlando). Allstar Music $2,841 Carribean Beach $3,189 Art of Animation $3,232 Port Orleans Riverside $3,335 Animal Kingdom Lodge $3,528 Port Orleans French Qtr $3,752 Polynesian $4,029 Cororado Springs $4,215 Saratoga Springs $5,100 These don't include the park passes, or the food. We are considering between 4 and 5 day hopper passes (and would extend hotel another night). My parents are pro bus, and anti Disney dining plan. Is it a bad idea to skip a Disney dining plan? Any thoughts/ideas about the above plan so far? We are going to AAA on Saturday to get more info/options.
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Jan 20, 2015 15:58
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If you are not on the Disney Dining plan that means you have to eat offsite so if you are at the park you can imagine the logistics of having to leave, jump in the car and drive to some location ten minutes away if not more depending on what park. If you are not at a park then there are endless choices within driving distance. Personally I would skip the DD and only eat at the park when I am there and leave the other meals for off site but that is just me. If you need help for local choices feel free to ask. I live by the park so I pretty much know everything around here. Feel free to PM me if you decide to go that route or just want to get more information.. I am serious though they have just about everything in this area unless you are looking for something totally obscure.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:13
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demonR6 posted:If you are not on the Disney Dining plan that means you have to eat offsite so if you are at the park you can imagine the logistics of having to leave, jump in the car and drive to some location ten minutes away if not more depending on what park. If you are not at a park then there are endless choices within driving distance. Personally I would skip the DD and only eat at the park when I am there and leave the other meals for off site but that is just me. If you need help for local choices feel free to ask. I live by the park so I pretty much know everything around here. Feel free to PM me if you decide to go that route or just want to get more information.. I am serious though they have just about everything in this area unless you are looking for something totally obscure.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:18
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Getting your money's worth out of the dining plans assumes that 1) you will be eating a lot of food, 2) you will be eating expensive food, and 3) you will be making and meeting scheduled reservations to get into good places. If you're running around with kids then there is a lot of potential to get derailed.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:19
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Uziel posted:We aren't going to have a rental car! We didn't realize that you can't eat at the parks WITHOUT the Disney Dining plan! How does it work if you pick a dining plan, but are hungry and don't have a meal left for the day?! Personally, I'd recommend skipping the dining plan. It used to be a great deal, but now it only makes sense if you intend to eat a lot at each meal - and at the more expensive restaurants. I'd recommend looking at the menus for the restaurants that interest you (in a very un-Disneylike twist, the online menus all show prices), and figuring out a ballpark budget for meals. If you want to do any sit-down meals at all, definitely ask to make restaurant reservations as soon as you book your rooms. June is peak season, so some of the more popular places may already be full.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:30
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WhiteHowler posted:Wait, what? You can absolutely eat at the parks (and the hotels) without the dining plan.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:31
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Uziel posted:We aren't going to have a rental car! We didn't realize that you can't eat at the parks WITHOUT the Disney Dining plan! How does it work if you pick a dining plan, but are hungry and don't have a meal left for the day?! Wait, what? You can eat at the parks if you're not on the dining plan. Of course you can. You just pay for it at the time you order. As for a room that would accommodate 6 of you, the family suites at Art of Animation can sleep 6. Watch out for Caribbean Beach because not all the rooms have been renovated to include queen beds as yet. As far as I understand it, AAA's contract with Disney was not renewed so I doubt they can get you any discounts. I feel like I'm being punked with that "Can't eat at Disney without the dining plan" business. Now I'm all paranoid.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:32
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Having stayed at all of the Moderate resorts aside from Port Orleans French Quarter, I think Caribbean Beach is my least favorite. That's not to say it's bad (is there even a legitimately bad on-property resort?), but it has smaller, older rooms than the others, and I felt like the amenities on-site weren't as good as at Coronado Springs or Port Orleans Riverside. And yeah, Art of Animation looks awesome for families with kids. I haven't been there, but the photos and reviews make it seem amazing.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:41
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Art of Animation is FANTASTIC for small kids. I've stayed there twice in the Lion King suites and we're going there again in Nov, this time in a Cars suite. We have 3 kids and the additional space is necessary. My kids love the pool and the playground. Caribbean Beach is undergoing refurb right now. They're changing the standard rooms (not pirate themed ones) from doubles to queens and adding in the banquette beds. They'll accommodate 5 at some point, but they're not finished. You can't request a renovated room so when you book you don't know which you'll get. For that money, I'd rather just stay some place where I know what I'm getting. The other thing I don't like about CB is that it is HUGE. There is an internal bus to take to get to the stops where you catch the bus to take you to the parks. That seems like a lot of time on buses to me. No thanks. Braksgirl fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 16:44
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Braksgirl posted:Wait, what? You can eat at the parks if you're not on the dining plan. Of course you can. You just pay for it at the time you order. We are considering the Art of Animation suite for sure, but not entirely sure how well the 2 double beds would work for 2 adults and 2 kids.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:44
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Braksgirl posted:I feel like I'm being punked with that "Can't eat at Disney without the dining plan" business. Now I'm all paranoid. Why on earth would anyone think that Disney will refuse your money like that? Doesn't make any sense. demonR6 posted:If you are not on the Disney Dining plan that means you have to eat offsite Oh, you are definitely trolling. nimper fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 16:48
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You got that impression because that's what he said! Anyway, I can see the doubles being an issue. It is for me and my husband. In that case, I'd look at either Port Orleans or Coronado. They both have queen beds and the resorts are much more manageable, size-wise.
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Jan 20, 2015 16:49
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nimper posted:Why on earth would anyone think that Disney will refuse your money like that? Doesn't make any sense. should have elaborated. Looking at the OP I thought they may have wanted to go outside of the confines of the DDP. Surely you can eat anywhere you want and not be tied to the DDP but it makes more sense from a package perspective to take advantage of it. You are however restricted by the plan rules but I have not heard many complain about it. It was being restructured for this year though but not sure what changes were made. You can eat anywhere you want without having to be part of DDP, it does not get you preferential dining reservations so you cannot walk up to LeCellier and say "Good sir I am on DDP and I demand you seat us!" EDIT: also bring cash to eat, lots and lots of cash.
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Jan 20, 2015 17:35
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Should you bring cash to the park? I wasn't planning on it. I was going to link my credit card to our Magic Bands and just bring my small travel wallet (which is just a 4 slot card case), which would hold my ID, health insurance card and a Visa and a MasterCard just in case. I'm assuming all our meal gratuities and other purchases can be charged to my card on file. Should I bring a hundred or two in smaller bills for tips and other small expenditures? (that's what I do when I go to Vegas)
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Jan 20, 2015 18:08
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demonR6 posted:should have elaborated. Looking at the OP I thought they may have wanted to go outside of the confines of the DDP. Surely you can eat anywhere you want and not be tied to the DDP but it makes more sense from a package perspective to take advantage of it. You are however restricted by the plan rules but I have not heard many complain about it. It was being restructured for this year though but not sure what changes were made. I think the guy's parents were against DDP entirely and didn't want to add it to their package. This is folly. But you can definitely pay for meals yourself without worrying about DDP. And by bring cash, you don't mean literally bring a wheelbarrow of cash. Just make sure you have the funds available.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:10
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The dining plan seems like a poor value unless you use it to maximum advantage, which can feel pretty limiting. You're always chasing your next meal, or deciding not to get something you want because it would take too many credits. If you have some free time, you can do what I did. I imagined up a five-day trip using the dining plan, chose some restaurants (one table, one counter service, one snack), looked at the menus, and figured out how much my meals would cost if I paid cash. Then I compared with the daily cost of the dining plan. For me, it was about the same cost either way, and that was focusing on the most expensive items at each restaurant (which weren't necessarily my first choices). The normal dining plan used to be a good deal, but it used to include gratuity and an appetizer with each table service meal. Since those were removed, I don't feel like it's worth it unless you specifically plan to exploit it for value.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:39
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I was against the DDP when we booked our trip, but my wife wanted it so we got it. My kids don't eat anything at normal restaurants, and I don't like to eat big meals when I'm out running around and being active. What sold her (us) on it is - it's prepaid, we don't have to think about what things cost while we're there. It's just part of the cost of the trip. We're doing a ton of character dining so things will probably be a wash when it comes to costs but man it's expensive. I think it's running us 1300ish for 4 people We're going balls out on this trip and spending a small fortune for the total Disney Experience before my oldest starts school. I've made it pretty clear future visits will have to be a little more budget friendly.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:55
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My husband and I are considering attending next year's Disney World marathon weekend. Traveling with our son and probably some family members. I think husband and I will probably run the half marathon which is on Saturday, January 9, 2016. How busy is Marathon weekend? What about the following week? We want to make a week of it, so say arrive on Friday the 8th to pick up our runners packets, run on Saturday, lounge around the pool recovering on Sunday, then visit some parks over the following weekdays. Would this allow us to miss most of the crowds, or would it still be crazy? Also will be renting someone's DVC points, but I've never stayed on property other than a few nights at an all star years ago. Just from googling it, Beach Club looks cool but are we going to make good use of their pool in January? Bay Lake Tower sounds like it might be a good one because it's so close to Magic Kingdom and we'll have a two-year-old with us. Last idea was to go with a value studio at animal Kingdom villas because they are super cheap points wise.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:59
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The dining plan only ever seems worth it for me and my wife when we get it for free as a trip deal. Even then, it feels like an overwhelming amount of food (we usually stay at a budget resort and upgrade to the deluxe dining with the 1 table, 1 quick, 1 snack a day). The Starbucks getting added to the parks are definitely helping curb our underused snack credits since essentially everything on their drink menu is a snack credit and I like my daily coffee fix. The quick service meals always seem like way too much especially since I don't like soft drinks and opt for bottled water, which we always have plenty of already, and the desserts are usually undesirable or overkill on the stomach. The sit downs are always a treat though.
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Jan 20, 2015 19:07
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You people are crazy if you don't get the dining plan. It pays for itself in like the first day.
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Jan 20, 2015 19:22
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LoG posted:You people are crazy if you don't get the dining plan. It pays for itself in like the first day. For me, it felt limiting, and the math didn't work out at most of the restaurants I wanted to eat at. If I did go for it, I'd probably get the deluxe plan (which includes three table service credits per day, and they include appetizers, which the normal plan doesn't). But I'd also come home 50 pounds heavier. That's a LOT of food.
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Jan 20, 2015 19:29
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APOLLO OHNO-UDIDNT posted:How busy is Marathon weekend? What about the following week? We want to make a week of it, so say arrive on Friday the 8th to pick up our runners packets, run on Saturday, lounge around the pool recovering on Sunday, then visit some parks over the following weekdays. Would this allow us to miss most of the crowds, or would it still be crazy? Marathon weekend is very busy.. the runners all get admission into the park and they are walking around with their medals all hanging around them like gangsta rappers wearing their giant gold chains. Seriously, it is really busy during the week it is very manageable. We went the Wednesday after marathon weekend to MK after work and it was pretty slow. Weather here in January is hit or miss. We had a few unseasonably warm days then days like today where it is 65 degrees. One year it is cold as heck, the next it is not. Last year was really warm this time of year. nimper posted:And by bring cash, you don't mean literally bring a wheelbarrow of cash. Just make sure you have the funds available. It can get expensive.. so make sure you have funds available. You might get sticker shock at times too but it's Disney. demonR6 fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 20:03
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I stumbled across a dining plan calculator while browsing the We tend to do a lot of character meals, so the DDP tends to work out for us. If I'm running over on snacks I just load up on dry based goods for the airport and flight home. I'm not affiliated in ANY way to this site, but it's a very resourceful tool when trying to decide which way to go with dining. It also factors in Tables In Wonderland and DVC discounts. http://seeyareelsoon.wix.com/seeyareelsoon You have to put your email in but I've never received anything from them. E: fixed the link Douchebag fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 21:00
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When we visited in September we skipped the meal plan and that worked out better for us. We did some days off-site at Universal and Kennedy Space Center though, which influenced our decision.
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Jan 20, 2015 21:16
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We always do enough eating/shopping/site-seeing off property that the dining plan just doesn't work for us. Two adults and two kids (15/16) headed down for our 10th time in a week and a half and we've never used ddp.
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Jan 20, 2015 21:23
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Tunga posted:When we visited in September we skipped the meal plan and that worked out better for us. We did some days off-site at Universal and Kennedy Space Center though, which influenced our decision. This is my plan for my June trip. We are doing 1 or 2 days at Universal so it won't be worth it. Plus I think not using the dining plan will help me not eat as much food.
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Jan 20, 2015 21:27
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People be weird and crazy to go to Disney World and travel off site and not eat like whales. Takes all kinds I guess. I'm mostly joking so don't get your magical feelings hurt.
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Jan 20, 2015 21:37
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From my POV the DDP isn't worth it to me, because I wouldn't be eating as much at such nice restaurants left to my own devices. I would have a couple nice meals out, but this is my dining plans while we're there (Just the ADRs) There's no way I would spend this much time, or money eating at Disney if it wasn't for the DDP. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of the experience, but if it wasn't for the DDP it wouldn't look like this at all, so I'm not sure it's fair to compare DDP to out of pocket cash on an apples to apples basis, because I would imagine most people wouldn't eat as much if they didn't have the DDP. skipdogg posted:Thurs - No ADR, arrive 9PM probably QSR at the hotel Those are just our ADR's with our DDP. Monday night Granny is going to watch the kids and we're going to have a nice adult dinner somewhere that serves steak and seafood and pay out of pocket for that. That will be our anniversary dinner. Then we still have 8 snacks and 8 QSR's per person. I may need a second airplane seat on the trip back home
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Jan 20, 2015 22:09
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We like the DDP because it's easy and the cost of the food is already taken care of, set it and forget it. Sure, it might be $30 cheaper if you spreadsheet menus to get the best costs and ratios or whatever but if we are spending thousands a couple of hundred bucks up front isn't that big of a deal.
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Jan 20, 2015 22:19
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I don't care for the DDP for the same reason I don't like Fast Passes. I would rather enjoy my vacation and not have to worry about having each day planned months ahead of time. That could be because I've been a few times though.
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Jan 20, 2015 22:25
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Malt posted:I don't care for the DDP for the same reason I don't like Fast Passes. I would rather enjoy my vacation and not have to worry about having each day planned months ahead of time. I'd rather not be chained to a specific park every day, so I think next time we'll do exclusively counter service for lunch, and try for very late dinner reservations whenever possible. We are probably staying in the Boardwalk area, and most of the restaurants we want reservations for are there or in Epcot.
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Jan 20, 2015 22:43
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LoG posted:You people are crazy if you don't get the dining plan. It pays for itself in like the first day. I think when we went last, I calculated it to be around $56 per person per day. My 7,4, & 2 year old kids didn't come close to eating that much worth of food and snacks per day. Even if we hadn't went to Target to get basic breakfast foods (milk, cereal, pop tarts), choosing the dining plan would have had us spend way more money than we needed to. We ate what we wanted to when we wanted to and there were no worries that we were "wasting" our dining plan choices. But.. my mom and sister didn't get it either and they said that they would've rather had it so they didn't have to think about food prices even though it was still cheaper for them. I don't think they realized that you could use your magic band to pay just as easily as you could with the dining plan. They said that they would get it next time no matter what for peace of mind. So.... to each his/her own for the dining plan. 
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Jan 20, 2015 22:45
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