|
What do yall think of this itinerary? Stay at Dolphin/Swan Resort or Port Orleans - French Quarter. Tuesday, October 27: Depart for Orlando, arrive in evening; Check in to hotel, relax Wednesday, October 28: Epcot, including Food and Wine Festival Thursday, October 29: Magic Kingdom, including Mickey's Halloween Party Friday, October 30: Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom Saturday, October 31: Epcot, more Food and Wine Festival and Party of the Senses! Sunday, November 1: Head home Wife and I are ~30 yrs old, no kids, like foodie stuff, roller coasters, good times. Edit: all this shifted forward 1 day to better use airline miles but otherwise the same. Comb Your Beard fucked around with this message at 02:20 on Aug 24, 2015 |
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 01:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 7, 2024 00:35 |
|
|
My trip is planned for the second week of Nov and the crowd calendars keep climbing. It makes me want to throw up because I loathe crowds. I'm thinking about doing a training trip with some agent friends and we're looking at the last week of January because the crowd calendars are at 2s and 3s.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 01:38
|
|
|
Braksgirl posted:My trip is planned for the second week of Nov and the crowd calendars keep climbing. It makes me want to throw up because I loathe crowds. This year we're going in September, and while the crowd calendars say we picked a good week, it sounds like things are crowded all the time, and going in the peak season has gone from unpleasant to masochistic. I guess we'll see. If nothing else, we have good dinner reservations and FP+'s on all the rides we really want to go on. If there are one-hour-plus walk-on lines for everything, we'll probably spend a lot less time in the parks than before.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 04:11
|
|
|
Comb Your Beard posted:What do yall think of this itinerary? Keep in mind that while you can take a boat from the Swan & Dolphin to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will require a bus. From Port Orleans, everything will require a bus. Obviously this doesn't matter if you have a car, as you can simply drive on property, but buses can take a while to get to where you need to go. It's always recommended that you get up early and get to the park ASAP if you want to do everything you plan on doing. Since you're trying to hit a park every day, you'll probably want to get breakfast once you're in the park or just take some snacks from the room instead of getting a full breakfast at the hotel. For Friday, hit Animal Kingdom first. Hollywood Studios is open later.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 05:48
|
|
|
Boxman posted:On the subject of datechat: can someone vouch for the accuracy of the calendars at Your First Visit? Things seem well reasoned, but as with all things, I'd love the input of the goon hivemind. I personally swear by easywdw.com crowd calendars.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 05:54
|
|
|
Bottom Liner posted:Yeah, the crowds are definitely picking up during what was traditionally slow times. It's hard to get an empty park day anymore. The last few times I've been have been at times that site listed as "lowest" and it was pretty crowded. Like skipdogg said, with the economy, the value of packages and I think especially the dirt cheap resident annual pass prices, the days of having the place to yourself are long gone. I think they've gotten better with crowd management- I mean of course it's going to be absolutely miserable on capacity days but with really minimal effort, you can get fast passes and not have to sit in line for hours.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 12:56
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:Keep in mind that while you can take a boat from the Swan & Dolphin to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will require a bus. From Port Orleans, everything will require a bus. You can take the monorail from EC to MK so if you are in for a casual stroll you can boat it to EC then monorail to MK.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 17:15
|
|
|
demonR6 posted:You can take the monorail from EC to MK so if you are in for a casual stroll you can boat it to EC then monorail to MK. Depending on how lucky they are with bus schedules, that might end up slower than a bus. Especially since the boat drops you off on nearly the opposite side of Epcot from the monorail. It works for a schedule where you plan on spending the day at both parks, but it's not very efficient as a transit option.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 19:15
|
|
|
It is far from efficient, that is why I said casual stroll.  I would never recommend that if you are on tight schedules.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 19:41
|
|
|
The boat is nice and worth doing once just in and of itself, unless you're on a really tight schedule to fit everything in. So if there's a day where you going between those two parks anyway it's perfect. But the monorail is quicker.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 20:38
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:info Thanks! We ended up going French Quarter because it's like $400 cheaper over the whole visit. I think the French Quarter theme sounds fun. In regards to getting an early start, can't you hit the official hotel breakfast and still get an early start? I've never stayed at a hotel where it didn't start quite early. Is it ever feasible to just hail an Uber with your phone if you're burned out at the end of the night? Even with surge pricing, could be clutch. The posts at the beginning of the thread from a few years ago made me really think of transport issues.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 22:04
|
|
|
Of course you can call Uber but honestly the poo poo crowds happen after fireworks when everyone bails the park or after the parade. We just stay later or leave just before to avoid them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 22:07
|
|
|
Comb Your Beard posted:Thanks! We ended up going French Quarter because it's like $400 cheaper over the whole visit. I think the French Quarter theme sounds fun. The Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory opens at 6:00 AM for breakfast. All of the parks open at 9:00 AM on the week of your trip (the World Showcase at Epcot doesn't open until 11:00 AM and that's where the Food & Wine Fest stuff actually is), but keep in mind that depending on your time of departure and the whims of fate it can take up to an hour to get to your choice of park by bus (the good news is that they often start arriving 45 minutes before opening time). Buses generally operate up to 1 hour after a park's closing time, and they run till 2:00 AM between resorts and Downtown Disney.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2015 22:33
|
|
|
Abu Dave posted:I hope they don't get rid of the 90s cartoon Hulk stuff The shutdown/upgrade of the Hulk is something theme park fans should keep their eye on. I'm pretty sure Universal still has the rights and permission to construct/update Marvel rides based on whatever characters they have in the parks and whatever "team" that character might be associated with. When the Hulk comes back with it's interior queue upgrades, and they're using MCU Ruff as Bruce Banner, it'd be very likely we could get an Avengers ride in the future since Hulk is associated with the team. Also, RIP 'I Love Lucy' Store, welcome 'Hello Kitty'! 
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 00:54
|
|
|
Disney owns Marvel and guess who has to pay when it is time to renew? At least that is the interpretation I got reading around on the interwebz.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 01:00
|
|
|
Universal owns the rights in perpetuity. There is no renewing. The only way the license will change hands is if Disney offers some mega bucks, so you have that backwards actually. They gave up west coast rights in 2007, Japan until 2020s, East of the Mississipi indefinitely. quote:the Orlando rights are in perpetuity, meaning that Disney never will be able to secure the rights to use its Marvel characters in Walt Disney World's theme parks until it can convince Universal to give up those rights. They're milking Star Wars really hard right now, but in 10 years or so when that dies down they might fork over a few billion to be able to build a Marvel area of their own, assuming it's still king of pop culture and box offices around the world. Renovating Hulk might be a big "nope" from Universal though, but they haven't come close to capitalizing on the Marvel craze of the past 5 years so who knows what their plan is. Bottom Liner fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Aug 26, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 01:05
|
|
|
Disney should just buy Universal. Easy peasy.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 02:06
|
|
|
Disney launched this awesome app yesterday called "Shop Disney Parks." It lets you explore park merch, click a button, and it'll show you on a map everywhere on property you can buy it. It also shows inventory levels, and you can even scan barcodes there and have it shipped to your home. Recommended! (Unless you don't want to spend hours looking through all the baller Haunted Mansion merch)
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 14:55
|
|
|
So today is my 60 days out and poo poo went crazy! I got up at midnight to do my fastpasses. Got everything I wanted but hosed up by scheduling the Anna/Elsa meet & greet at the same time as my Be Our Guest reservations. And by the time I noticed I was unable to change it to a different time. Luckily I got one for noon on my last day (plane didn't leave until 8:30pm) so my daughter won't freak the gently caress out about not being able to meet them. Although from what I hear lines aren't completely ridiculous anymore. I could handle an hour wait (and probably will have to... multiple times). So then the poo poo hits the fan. Air Canada decided to change my flights. By around 12 hours. Both ways. Instead of leaving at 6:30am, I was now leaving at 4:30pm. And instead of returning at 8:30pm, I was now returning at 7am. So I was losing 2 days of my vacation. And as an added bonus, they re-assigned my seats so my 7-year old daughter and I are sitting in different rows on opposite sides of the plane now. An hour on the phone I get that fixed. So now I'm coming home at 8:30pm again, and my daughter will get to see Elsa/Anna for sure again. I'm still heading to Orlando later though. 8:30am. So I had to re-do all my fastpasses for the first day because I'm 2 hours behind now. And I'm not really sure if I'll be able to do all of Hollywood Studios that first day anymore. I got the important stuff for my daughter (Frozen Sing Along & Toy Story). She hates Tower of Terror and is too small for Rock n Rollercoaster so I should be fine. But still stresses me the gently caress out. Now I have to re-do my online check-in and call Magical Express because of my flight changes. gently caress you Air Canada! On the bright side - only 60 days to go. And I got Mine Train fast passes for 3 days. Which is good as I think my daughter will like it. She loves Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and wanted to ride it 5 times in a row last time we went. So now that the Mine Train is there I think she'll enjoy that too. Anyway... everything fixed (mostly) so end rant about stupid airline trying to gently caress up my vacation.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 19:51
|
|
|
Happitoo posted:
Wow. FUUUUUUUUCK that. I would raise hell about it until they give you some kind of compensation.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 20:19
|
|
|
We are just under 60 days (I think 57 right now). FPs are booked and after hammering the Ohana reservation page for a few weeks, finally got our last ADR. Gotta get to work on my Halloween costume and play the horrible waiting game now.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 20:41
|
|
|
Bottom Liner posted:Wow. FUUUUUUUUCK that. I would raise hell about it until they give you some kind of compensation. They mostly got it fixed. Even the woman on the phone was like "why the hell would they do that?". So at least they recognized how ridiculous it was. I'm content again. I just get super stressed out about travelling and I thought after getting my fast passes settled I was good to go for the next 59 days without trouble. That didn't seem to happen though. It was also annoying as poo poo due to the fact that I bought tickets in November 2014, and they decided to gently caress with the plane schedules 60 days out.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 21:10
|
|
|
22 days...crazy as hell. The girl and I need some MNSSHP costume ideas.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 21:48
|
|
|
Tim Whatley posted:22 days...crazy as hell. The girl and I need some MNSSHP costume ideas. Pick among Riley's emotions based on body type.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 12:45
|
|
|
Bottom Liner posted:Universal owns the rights in perpetuity. There is no renewing. The only way the license will change hands is if Disney offers some mega bucks, so you have that backwards actually. They gave up west coast rights in 2007, Japan until 2020s, East of the Mississipi indefinitely. Got it, so WDC owns Marvel but not allowed to have any of the superheores in any of the four parks Florida because of the agreement. Disney does get paid on this because even though Universal has the rights to the characters money has to be exchanged. Hopefully Universal has something in the contract stipulating the cash portion but come time to renew I wonder if Disney can say 'no worries, you can keep them.. how does $5 billion over the next five years sound.'
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 14:22
|
|
|
Also Disney makes a huge cut of the merch sold in Marvel Superhero Island. Most toys and stuff are MCU based, so large swaths go back to Disney. If things were to change hands, it's because down the road, it becomes financially unfessible to continue feeding a cash cow belonging to their major competitor. This won't happen for a while, but of the MCU films keep steamrolling the box office, it could happen eventually.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 16:15
|
|
|
I don't know how you guys can stand booking months (or years?!) in advance. Yesterday I just booked a trip for next week, and I already am bouncing off the walls in "can't wait" mode. That being said, the last time I was at WDW was about 4 years ago, and that was part of a greater Orlando trip so I had a rental car. This time I'm not renting a car and depending on Disney for all transportation, so I have some questions. Is there a Hopstop-esque site for travel within WDW? I know about the buses and boats, but I'm more curious about researching things like if there are buses directly from park to park, or water park to water park, or if I'm going to have to transfer at a resort or at the TTC, costing me precious time. I'm staying at the Yacht Club for the first time, and very excited about the ability to walk to Epcot or DHS. Any idea how long of a walk those are? Is the walk actually a good idea, or is it one of those things where technically you CAN walk there, but you're better off taking a bus/boat? Also, last time I was there they had no FP+, so I'm curious about how that works. I'm a former CM, so I know how the old school paper-ticket fastpass works, but with the Magic Bands it sounds pretty different. From what I can tell, I can pre-book 3x fastpasses at any given park in a day. In addition to that, I can get 1x additional fastpass at any park on the day-of, subject to availability. So far, so good, I think. What I'm wondering is how thoroughly the fastpass check process is at the attractions. Do they just scan it and give the green light? Or do they scan it and verify your name, etc? My reason for asking is that I'm travelling with my wife, who is not a fan of the scarier rides. So, for example, if we both book fastpasses at DHS for Toy Story, Star Tours, and Tower of Terror, but she doesn't want to ride ToT, can I just ride it twice by switching bands with her? Lastly, from what I've seen in this thread, it sounds like the EasyWDW crowd calendar is the most accurate one? I've mostly been looking at that one and the UndercoverTourist one, but sometimes they are at odds with each other. For example on Sunday, EasyWDW says MK is not recommended, while on UndercoverTourist it's listed as the only green-rated park on an overall yellow-rated day. This thread has been a valuable resource in planning my trip, thanks for putting it together! OldSenileGuy fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Aug 27, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 17:27
|
|
|
OldSenileGuy posted:I don't know how you guys can stand booking months (or years?!) in advance. Yesterday I just booked a trip for next week, and I already am bouncing off the walls in "can't wait" mode. I've had a countdown on my fridge since I got off the plane in Boston. It said 370 days. To see it say "21" today makes it all the more special. The parks have buses to other parks, also obviously the monorail to/from Epcot & Magic Kingdom. Not sure about water parks? You can walk to Epcot real quick (10 mins-ish), Hollywood by boat or bus. You can book 3 fastpasses to start out with, and then more when the final one expires. So for example, you have Test Track expiring at 4:45pm. You can book a new fastpass (at any park) right after that. They haven't implemented park hopper with the fastpasses yet. Also keep the time thing in mind, because from what I hear, most of the parade/fireworks FPs are not worth it. So if you book one for say, Illuminations, you're pretty much screwed on booking any extra FPs that day. The fastpass just returns a green "go" per wristband. Maybe someone else can elaborate if there's more to it? I had the crowd question myself, but from here and other places I've heard EasyWDW is the best resource for this! Tim Whatley fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Aug 27, 2015 |
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 18:54
|
|
|
OldSenileGuy posted:Is there a Hopstop-esque site for travel within WDW? I know about the buses and boats, but I'm more curious about researching things like if there are buses directly from park to park, or water park to water park, or if I'm going to have to transfer at a resort or at the TTC, costing me precious time. There's no buses between Magic Kingdom & Epcot (that's what the monorail is for). Pretty sure there's buses between everything else. Maybe not Epcot/Hollywood Studios since there's a boat. But HS to MK &AK, Epcot to AK, AK to MK, Epcot & HS, and MK to AK & HS should all exist. quote:I'm staying at the Yacht Club for the first time, and very excited about the ability to walk to Epcot or DHS. Any idea how long of a walk those are? Is the walk actually a good idea, or is it one of those things where technically you CAN walk there, but you're better off taking a bus/boat? Walk to the International Gateway of Epcot is like maybe 10 minutes, probably less. Not sure about to HS. Never done it. But at least to Epcot, unless you're horribly crippled you should be fine. quote:What I'm wondering is how thoroughly the fastpass check process is at the attractions. Do they just scan it and give the green light? Or do they scan it and verify your name, etc? My reason for asking is that I'm travelling with my wife, who is not a fan of the scarier rides. So, for example, if we both book fastpasses at DHC for Toy Story, Star Tours, and Tower of Terror, but she doesn't want to ride ToT, can I just ride it twice by switching bands with her? They scan at the beginning of the FP line and where the FP line merges with the regular line. Yes, you should be able to wear your wife's band fine. The person's name does come up when you scan, but at best you may get a weird look or "have fun riding Tower of Terror Cheryl!" and that would be it. That's the things I can answer at the moment...
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 18:54
|
|
|
You can bus to EC from MK.. I've taken it this year in fact. Twice, because we parked at MK knowing we would be there for fireworks at the end of the night so we ditched the car and bused over to hang out there for a few hours. Yes, it's the reverse of what you mentioned but the same bus ran the route back. We were steered to the bus by a TTC CM with the promise of 'the bus is running every five minutes and you will get there sooner!' and we did.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 20:01
|
|
|
demonR6 posted:Of course you can call Uber but honestly the poo poo crowds happen after fireworks when everyone bails the park or after the parade. We just stay later or leave just before to avoid them. This is the pro move. Rode Splash and Thunder mountains back to back last night inside of twenty minutes total, including the rides, because we were in line for Splash when the fireworks started. Casual stroll back to the exit, and got seats on an empty monorail car back to the resort we were parked at. No drama. In other news: nightime Splash/Thunder mountain after three hours in Trader Sams is pretty awesome. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2015 23:28
|
|
|
I was at Trader Sam's I think 2 weeks ago? First time there, and I find it pretty neat. It's hard to get in because they restrict access to how many seats are available, but it means that it maintains its really casual and spacious feeling instead of being permanently standing room only. The poke they serve is pretty nice.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 00:10
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:I was at Trader Sam's I think 2 weeks ago? First time there, and I find it pretty neat. It's hard to get in because they restrict access to how many seats are available, but it means that it maintains its really casual and spacious feeling instead of being permanently standing room only. The poke they serve is pretty nice. For some reason, it seems like the wait time is incredibly spiky. Both times I've been (both weekdays,) I've walked in and taken one of the few remaining seats with no wait, and then the place immediately has a line outside for like forty minutes, and then the line disappears. Also, all of the waitstaff are good, but some are absolutely wonderful. Also, went outside and tried the spiked dole whip this time. Go extra-spiky: It's worth it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 00:37
|
|
|
MrYenko posted:For some reason, it seems like the wait time is incredibly spiky. Both times I've been (both weekdays,) I've walked in and taken one of the few remaining seats with no wait, and then the place immediately has a line outside for like forty minutes, and then the line disappears. Also, all of the waitstaff are good, but some are absolutely wonderful. The waitstaff there are easily top notch and I wish all bars could have them. They're very personable and love joking around with the customers and playfully ribbing off one another. When I went with my mom, she was feeling very sick (she had her gallbladder removed in 2010 after nearly dying and is vulnerable to severe illness from certain foods like chili peppers, which she mistakenly had in her noodle bowl from Captain Cook's) and the bartender whipped up a glass of soda water and bitters that successfully settled her stomach to keep her from vomiting on the drive home. Part of the issue with wait times seems to be that even though they give estimates, you still need to wait for a free seat if there's not one available when you arrive because they don't kick people out when a buzzer rings. I think it helps that they have a 2 drink per ID limit, so there's no real way for someone to just sit and order half a dozen drinks and meander through each one before stumbling off. Also minimizes the chance of big problems with rowdy drinks.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 00:48
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:I think it helps that they have a 2 drink per ID limit, so there's no real way for someone to just sit and order half a dozen drinks and meander through each one before stumbling off. I... Was not aware of this. Also, that's a pretty accurate description.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 01:03
|
|
|
God I hate my job so much. I can't book a vacation because I don't know when I can go so I spend 1/2 my days hovering over the websites deciding what to do ugh.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 01:14
|
|
|
MrYenko posted:I... Was not aware of this. Also, that's a pretty accurate description. They don't tell you outright. On the right side of the bar, look up above where the bartenders are working. You'll see I think a jug or something hanging from the wall with the 2 drink sign stuck on it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 01:46
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:They don't tell you outright. On the right side of the bar, look up above where the bartenders are working. You'll see I think a jug or something hanging from the wall with the 2 drink sign stuck on it. I meant that I had four last night, if you include splitting a Nautilus as a full drink. Two drink limit not observed.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 04:47
|
|
|
That's per transaction, not total. I love the spikey pineapple but you can only get that outside.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 05:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 7, 2024 00:35 |
|
|
The Spikey Pineapple is some top tier level Good poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2015 14:55
|
|