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We're planning our first WDW Vacation in roughly 2 years. I have some questions if you folks wouldn't mind answering. 1: We're planning on going either the last week of Feb, or first week of March, I've read those are good dates to go. Confirm/Deny? 2: My kids will be ages 5 and 3. Some have said this is too young. I know the 3 year old will be limited, but my daughter is 3 right now and I think she'd be just fine. We want to get a good trip in with extended family before they all start school. 3: We're tentatively planning on grabbing a Family Suite at the Art of Animation Resort, since it will be my wife and I, 2 kids and the mother in law. Would those accommodations be reasonable for our party? 4: Money. I'm planning on budgeting 6,000 dollars for the trip, not including getting there. I figure 4K of it will go to the Room, Dining Plan, and Tickets. Will 2,000 get me through a week there? I ask because my 5 year old daughter will want to do the Bippity Boppity Boutique and all sorts of other expensive add ons. This is also going to be a big once a decade trip for us, so I don't want to think about money in the slightest while I'm there. I'm thinking 2K will cover the extras for the most part, especially if we get the normal DDP. Thanks for any advice!
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Jun 5, 2013 23:31
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We've never done the DDP, and I'm personally on the fence about it. I don't like to eat when I'm hot/sweaty/active and will go most of the day just snacking on granola bars and drinking Gatorade. I think we would have to work to use all the credits on the DDP. My wife's cousins though go and they get their moneys worth out of the DDP. We're going for 7 days/6 nights, and I anticipate a more relaxed schedule than most folks. I'll be in no rush to see everything, and will work around the kids schedule. I think the Park Hoppers will be worth it though, with the MIL coming with us, we can get away for a few hours to do our own thing, so if the kids spend the day at Animal Kingdom we can do Epcot at night or something. My MIL doesn't get around so good and will probably only be getting 3 or 4 days worth of tickets to the park. The AOA family suites have gone up a bit in price since I last looked. I wouldn't be opposed to spending up to an extra 100 a night on the hotel to get a much nicer experience. Thanks for the info, definitely stuff to think about.
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Jun 6, 2013 19:12
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Keith Stone posted:I have been very lucky to be part of a family able to go annually to Disney World. Not bragging, just very fortunate. Are you a DVC member? If so how do you like it? We're kicking the idea around, maybe going in with another family member.
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Jun 11, 2013 16:07
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I really want to buy at Bay Lake Towers, but it'll be a few years before I'm comfortable with the purchase. If you plan on going to Disney every year or two DVC is a good way to go.
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Sep 3, 2013 16:40
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tomapot posted:Think I read that ESPN generates the most profit in the company, possibly more profits than the rest of Walt Disney combined, but couldn't find a source when I tried to look it up just now. Just because I'm a giant nerd and like looking at SEC filings, here is a brief summary from their last quarter's earnings located here. I've taken the liberty to round off a fair bit for simplicities sake. Their operating units are broken down as such: Media Networks = TV stations Disney owns like ESPN, ABC, A&E Networks, ABC Entertainment, ABC Family, etc. Parks & Resorts = Pretty much all their theme parks, Disney Cruise Line, Dis Vacation Club, land holding companies, etc. Studio Entertainment = Almost anything to do with Movies and Music. Walt Disney Studios, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Touchstone pictures etc. Consumer Products = Almost anything you can buy with a Disney logo on it. Disney Licensing, Disney Retail stores, publishing arms, toys, etc. Interactive = Disney Online, various websites, Games, Apps. Remember these figures are for one quarter (3 months), not all of last year. Revenue (total money taken in) Media Networks : 5.3 Billion Parks and Resorts: 3.6 Billion Studio Entertainment: 1.9 Billion Consumer Products: 1.1 Billion Interactive: 403 Million Operating Income (profit) and calculated profit margin. Media Networks : 1.5 Billion (28.3%) Parks and Resorts: 671 Million (18.6%) Studio Entertainment: 409 Million (21.5%) Consumer Products: 430 Million (39.9%) Interactive: 55 Million (13.6%) So it is fair to say that media networks group brings in about as much profit as the rest of Disney combined when looking at a pure dollar amount figure. Sure it is. If you look at percentages though, the Consumer Products division has an insane return at almost 40%. Personally the big surprise for me was how successful the interactive division is. 55 Million in profit is a whole lot of copies of Where's My Water. Unfortunately they don't seem to break out ESPN specifically any farther than lumping all the Cable Networks together. Interesting figures from the report quote:Parks and Resorts revenues for the quarter increased 6% to $3.6 billion and segment operating quote:Operating income at Cable Networks increased $325 million to $1.3 billion for the quarter due to growth at ESPN, higher equity income from A&E Television Networks (AETN) and, to a lesser extent, an improvement at the domestic Disney Channels. Another interesting tid-bit of information, having 2 young children who enjoy the Disney Jr. Channel I recall seeing something about how since the launch of the Disney Jr. Channel in 2011, it has been directly responsible for over 1.8 Billion dollars in merchandise sales. My kids eat that poo poo up, they can't get enough of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Sofia the First, or Doc McStuffins. They could give the Disney Jr. Channel away for free to cable operators and make a handsome profit just on toy and t-shirt sales. I can't find the news article to quote it though.
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Feb 27, 2014 19:34
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Our first trip will be next March. My daughter will be turning 5 and my son will be about 39 months old. Should be about perfect for them
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Mar 1, 2014 21:46
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Crazyweasel posted:So is Disney World vacation projected to be more expensive this year no matter what(Dining Plan no longer free) or do they just not have Q3 deals set up yet? I don't know about Q3/Fall, but I just got a early advanced offer (by having a Disney CC/Disney Rewards acct) for summer deals that opens to the general public tomorrow 3/17/2014. It's only good for 6/15 to 8/28. The deal I got is only a discount on hotel rooms, no free dining or anything listed.
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Mar 16, 2014 21:33
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Anya posted:I love reading this thread and planning an eventual trip in the next couple of years - I have a 4 month old, and while my husband went to Disney when he was about 4, I've never been (had several opportunities that were all taken away from junior high to high school). Would it be worth it to get a Disney credit card and start using it for rewards points? I only have one, and don't get any rewards at all for that one, so I would like to start getting something that will be useful. This sort of depends really. I have a Disney CC, and use it for purchases that I don't get better rewards on using other cards. I don't hardcore play the CC points game, but if Gas is 5% with Discover I use that card. I think of the 1% on the normal Disney card as sort of a forced cash back savings account for our Disney trip next year. On average though my family puts around 1200 dollars a month through the card, and we have around 100 Disney reward dollars right now. We don't use debit or cash for anything, it all goes on one of our various reward credit cards. I also got a 100 dollar Disney gift card when I got the card as a bonus. So in the last 9 months I'm ahead 200 Disney bucks just by using this card instead of debit/cash A few things about the card worth mentioning: -Supposedly Chase is pretty picky about the credit profile on this card, I've heard it is one of the harder cards to get. They did start me off with a conservative credit limit compared to some of my other cards. I would make sure you have a 700+ score before applying -If you spend a lot on gas/groceries consider the Premier version of the card, I kind of kick myself in the butt for not getting in considering 70% of my spending on the card is gas or groceries. There's a 49 dollar annual fee, but if you spend enough it is more than worth it. - If you're willing to play the credit card game you can do better than the rewards on this card. It gets complicated though and not everyone wants to remember which of the 5 credit cards in their wallet will get them an extra 30 cents back on a certain transaction. Playing the game can add up though, in the last year since I started I've amassed about 600 dollars worth of points/cashback just by changing the way I pay for things.
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May 1, 2014 16:50
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I know the pin collectors are crazy, what would that Mine Pin go for if you sold it?
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Jul 3, 2014 20:47
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Squack McQuack posted:Trying to book my first Disney vacation. For 2 adults, 7 nights/6 days at a deluxe resort, 7 day pass, and free dining plan, the cheapest price I'm seeing is about $4000. Does it get any lower than that? Monorail access is expensive. I really want to be on the rail when we go next year but 3 adults 2 kids prices me out of the deluxe resorts. We're probably staying at the family suites at Art of Animation. I might try to stretch for monorail though as granny is going to need a scooter to get around. She's over 60 and her knees are shot. I'm guessing it'll be several times easier to deal with a scooter on the rail instead of the busses.
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Jul 9, 2014 02:10
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:Food and wine fest menus (no prices) got released and goddamn they're gonna have to roll me out of Epcot. If anyone else has the Chase Disney card I got an email for advance booking to the special events during this
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Jul 26, 2014 05:27
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We just booked our trip next year as well Feb 27 to March 6th in a Nemo Family Suite at AoA. drat Disney is expensive...it's our big hurrah though before my oldest starts school. It's worth it.
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Jul 31, 2014 17:42
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7 nights, DDP, and 8 day park hoppers came in around 6300 bucks for 5 people.. 3 adults, 2 kids.
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Jul 31, 2014 19:55
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That's not bad at all. Future trips we will probably be more cost conscious with, maybe staying off site in a large condo. This trip is a special 'go all out drat the cost' trip for the kiddos and we want the full Disney experience. Do you drive or fly? I know you live in LA, guessing you fly out of MSY? We're in San Antonio and tickets are expensive as hell right now and flying on Fridays isn't helping. I'm kicking the idea around of either driving to Houston for a direct flight to ORL, or even staying in Gonzales with family and flying out of MSY. skipdogg fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 20:23
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Is Be Our Guest really hard to get into these days? We made our dining reservations as soon as we could, and our agent said she was shocked we got a reservation. Also we have a large party of 11 total, some of the reservations are broken up into 5 and 6 and we're being told we can ask to 'have our tables together'. I worked restaurants for a long time in a previous life and I can't see that happening for a 7:30 PM Saturday night reservation at BOG. Confirm/Deny?
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Sep 4, 2014 23:03
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My kids like Frozen but for them it didn't have the staying power of some of the other Disney Movies. I've seen Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast way way way more than Frozen. They enjoy the movie, but when I ask them what I want to watch, it's never Frozen.
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Sep 12, 2014 23:12
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Braksgirl posted:There's a Stay/Play/Dine discount out today for Disney Visa cardholders. Dates are Dec 14 - 20 and Jan 5 - Mar 7. Room only discount is good for Jan 5 - Mar 28. Should be available for the general public Thursday morning. Thanks, I missed this email, but I did get it this morning. We're going 2/26 to 3/6 so maybe this can save us a few bucks.
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Oct 6, 2014 22:19
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Ended up saving 715 bucks on our trip next year due to that Disney Visa promo code posted earlier in the thread. Thanks again Braksgirl, I would have missed that email without you mentioning it. (Stupid Gmail promotion filter)
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Oct 14, 2014 16:14
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We're headed to WDW in 6 weeks hoping for light crowds and good weather 
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Jan 14, 2015 21:52
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It seems like all we're going to do when we go to WDW is eat. Fri - Ohana Sat - BoG Sun - 1900 Park Fare Monday - T-Rex cafe (lunch) Tues - Akershus (bfast) Tues - Chef Mickey Wed - Tusker House (bfast) Wed - Biergarten Thur - Hollywood and Vine (bfast)
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Jan 14, 2015 22:51
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I really wanted to go there, but my kids are 5 and 3 so we're trying to maximize character dining as much as possible. We have Monday night free, and Granny is coming with us, might try to squeeze something in there with just me and the Mrs. maybe. edit: How much parental stress is normal before going to Disney? I've never been, but my kids have negative attention spans. I can barely keep the 3 year old in line for 2 minutes at the Carousel at a local amusement park, I have no faith in my ability to keep him in line for more than 10 minutes at any point of the trip. The 5 year old is a future diva in training... We're going for them to have a great time but I can't shake this feeling that I've just spent over 7 grand to be miserable and stressed out for 8 days/7 nights... skipdogg fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Jan 15, 2015 |
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Jan 14, 2015 23:58
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Any chance of the limited editions still being around?
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Jan 16, 2015 05:51
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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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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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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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28 days to go! 
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Jan 29, 2015 23:10
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A couple of quick questions if y'all can indulge me. 1: We're booked in a Nemo family suite at the AoA resort, does anyone know if there is internet there? Additional charge? Wifi? Ethernet? Both? I'm an IT guy so I may need to connect up to work if something blows up that my team mates can't handle. It's not likely but it's something I need to think about. I have a Verizon LTE hotspot for emergencies if needed. 2: Can anyone recommend a light jacket? We're going from Feb 26th to Mar 6th and I'd like something light that can handle a brief bit of rain and any nights that dip into the low 50's or lower. I'm pretty cold tolerant, but being outside for hours in the 50's can even be a bit much for me. Here in San Antonio the only 'jacket' I own is a light fleece zip up, but that won't repel any rain. Thanks!
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Jan 31, 2015 23:30
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Posting this from the west wing room at BOG. This place is amazing.
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Mar 1, 2015 01:43
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JoshTheStampede posted:If there is anything I learned on my Disney trip its that you better like walking. I totally under estimated this aspect of our trip. We just got back from 8 days/7 nights and I'm not going back until I can afford to stay at BLT or The Contemporary. The trip was great, but I feel like I spent over a third of the time walking to/from where we wanted to be or waiting on a loving bus. My wife's fitbit kept track of everything, our busiest day was over 22,000 steps, that was last weekend during extra magic hours at Magic Kingdom where just the adults went back to MK around 11PM, and our lightest day was 16K steps. Basically every day we walked a 10K or more (7 to 10+ miles a day), and most of that time I was pushing a double stroller with a 3 & a 5 year old in it that weigh a combined 80 pounds, add another 27 for the stroller and I was pushing around 107 pounds all day. My wife was on packmule duty hauling everything we needed in a backpack. Really though, I was not physically ready for this trip, I'm what the nice lady at the suit store called "Executive Sized" (aka fat white dude with an office job), and I was physically exhausted and hurting entire trip. I think I got at most 6 hours of sleep on any given night. The travel time to get around though is ridiculous, so much of our vacation was wasted waiting on buses to get around. We were at AoA in a family suite, and my kids are still at the age where they need naps. That's a minimum of 2 round trips to the parks every day, sometimes more depending on dining reservations. 15 minute average waiting on the bus, another 15 to 20 to get where we were going, and we seriously spent 3 to 4 hours a day just on the bus. Older kids and families might make it the entire day at the park, but not us. We spent 70% of our time at the Magic Kingdom, in hindsight the extra money for the contemporary would have been peanuts. I just checked, it's almost .7 miles from Fantasyland/Be Our Guest to bus stop 34 at the Magic Kingdom servicing the AOA resort. I hated that walk so much. It's 11PM, you're exhausted, ready to leave, and oh, lets push a 110 pound stroller over half a mile so we can wait on a bus that is going to be packed asses to elbows to ride 15 to 20 minutes to the resort. No wonder everyone there rents a scooter. First on the bus alone would be worth it. I could write a small novel about my first trip to Disney. It was really amazing though. I was absolutely floored by the sheer scale of everything, the attention to detail, and how clean the parks were and how friendly everyone was. I have my gripes of course, and I'm sure I seem bitchy because I'm sunburned and my feet still hurt but overall it's pretty amazing. We'll be going again but we'll be changing a lot of things next time. I might post a full trip report later on this week but here's a few things I took away from this trip 1: The DDP and the resort mug are a waste of money. I'll not be purchasing either again. 2: Memory Maker is worth every single penny 3: Never again staying off monorail 4: It really is the happiest place on earth and I can't wait to go back. The children had so much fun I don't even think about the thousands of dollars I just spent. It was worth it. Also last weekend seemed really busy to me, I don't know why anyone would go during peak season, it must be absolutely miserable. Nothing I rode was worth waiting more than 15 minutes for. Soarin' was OK, but I have no need to ride it again. Toy Story Mania I would go on with a FP or less than 15 minute wait time, but I definitely wouldn't wait 75+ minutes for that. The only problem during our trip was Thursday night we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping, there was some sort of accident at the bus station and it took over an hour just to get on a bus back to the resort. They shut the entire thing down and had to tow a bus away. I hope no one got hurt or anything, but it was complete and total chaos, and definitely was not a 'magical' part of my trip.
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Mar 7, 2015 23:11
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We did a ton of Table Service and Character dining and next trip I'll definitely be cutting back on the scheduled meals. I understand if you want to eat at certain Disney spots you have to reserve way in advance, but I hated having to schedule my vacation around our meals. There was a couple evenings I would have rather just had a PB&J in the room instead of having to make sure we left for the restaurant 90 minutes before our reservation. Most of the pain was poor planning on our part, 8:30 AM breakfast after staying at MK until 3 AM was miserable, but I really prefer a more laissez faire vacation experience. Aside from Be Our Guest I wasn't super impressed with most of the food. Be Our Guest was amazing, and our server was one of the best I've ever had. I waited tables for a long time in what seems like a previous life and I'm a generous tipper in normal circumstances but that dude made serious bank from me. It was our anniversary dinner and he took great care of us and the food was amazing. Ohana was a very good meal that I really enjoyed but it wasn't mind blowing or anything. We did the buffet at 1900 Park Fare (dinner) and I was seriously unimpressed. It was Golden Corral with Prince Charming and Cinderella. Chef Mickey (dinner), Tusker House and Hollywood and Vine (bfast) were pretty good and I'd say worth it. Cinderella's breakfast at Epcot was not. I basically cut the price of the buffet in half (50% of it is the characters being there) and if I would have paid it I'll call it good. The QS meals were decent for mass cooked quick service. The Shrimp at Harbor House though are cooked in the same oil as the fish, and made them so fishy some of our party wouldn't eat them. Most of them are from Louisiana though, and they can be a bit particular about their fried seafood. Our last night there we paid cash for a meal at Fulton's Crabhouse in Downtown Disney and it was excellent and worth the price tag.
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Mar 8, 2015 02:23
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After finally going I get it. My wife was checking prices for later this year at the airport before we even left Orlando. We can't swing another trip this year, but probably next year if we stay budget conscious. What are the thoughts on renting DVC points? We could get a week in a studio at BLT for around 2500 bucks, which is much less than a room at Contemporary. We spend most of our time at MK anyway.
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Mar 12, 2015 15:38
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Awesome, post a trip report if you would. What kind of room did you get?
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Mar 12, 2015 19:05
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I've never even seen the movie. I'm a monster.
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Mar 13, 2015 14:15
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Lincoln posted:I'm considering leaving my wallet in the room safe since we'll have Magic Bands this time. Will I need my ID to buy alcohol, or does the Magic Band know how old I am? I have a small travel wallet / card case that I kept my ID, Disney Visa CC, and a bit of cash in vs carrying my whole wallet around. Worked out well
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Mar 14, 2015 19:22
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Lincoln posted:Any special advantage to using your Disney Visa as your reservation/Magic Band card at check-in? None that I saw. Also while shopping the 10% off discount at Disney Stores only applied if you charged the entire purchase to the card, not the room, and you couldn't use any other form of payment like cash, gift cards, or other credit cards.
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Mar 19, 2015 19:16
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Disney did something strange to my wife. We got back from WDW less than 3 weeks ago and she's already booking our trip for next year. She's working with one of the DVC point renter outfits to secure a 1 bedroom villa at BLT next March which may be tough. I have no doubt we'll be DVC members by the end of 2016. skipdogg fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Mar 25, 2015 |
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Mar 25, 2015 17:31
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Silly Burrito posted:I actually like the ride. I know, I know, but it's a cool ride for 11 minutes getting away from the Florida heat. Could be much worse. It was one of my kids favorite rides. My 3 year old son loved it. We rode it probably 8 times while we were there. The other night I put a 1080P youtube POV video of the ride on the TV and they watched the whole thing singing along.  (yes my entertainment center is a mess, and yes my kid is sitting on a cat scratcher)
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Mar 26, 2015 18:19
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It was always fun watching people come out of a ride and panic when they can't find the stroller they left improperly parked and a CM moved to the proper area.
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Apr 8, 2015 16:31
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TheBigBudgetSequel posted:More people have caught onto this, so it's not as effective anymore. Unless it rains ALL DAY. Then the park is your oyster. It was pouring the first time we went to Hollywood Studios, didn't really affect crowds too much to be honest. Everyone just wearing their ponchos and running around. When you spend the coin to go to WDW you don't let a little water slow you down.
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Apr 9, 2015 18:30
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I know expectations for Disney should always be high, but I'm not sure if getting breakfast right before a kitchen's lunch cut over is a fair evaluation. You never want to be the guy getting McDonalds breakfast at 10:28, or one of the last people to order in a restaurant before closing. No cares are being given at that point. My wife looked at the park app last night... 7D Mine Train was showing a 280 minute wait, I told her it had to be a bug of some sort, that's insane. The line would have to be past the Carrousel or something.
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Apr 10, 2015 15:49
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