Walt Disney World

[Brianfo]

My wife and I will be taking 2 small children to Walt Disney World in Florida in 2 weeks. I get to go as a bonus thru my work. We are staying at the Hilton. My question is what is the weather like down there in January? Any good ideas on what to see and do with twins that are 2 years old? I am kind of looking forward to it. A chance to get out of Iowa in January. Oh well, enought blabbing. Any responses are greatly appreciated.

[Spott]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

They do have those. I’ve kind of had good and bad experiences with it but that’s just really based on luck.

I haven’t seen them at Disney. I just see the standby line and the fast pass line when I go. I can never use the fast pass system because they aren’t available with employee passes(brother-in-law works there) so it’s always stand around and wait if we want to go on a ride.

[Third Eye]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

With fast pass you could make your reservations as much as 60 days in advance so no need to set an alarm and fight everyone else for that first set of reservations. This was a huge perk to staying on Disney property that just went away with no perk to replace it. Also, the two hour window to book another starts from when park opens, not when you reserve, so if your first ride is at 11:30 am or later, yes you can book another before it starts, but you still can’t make that booking until probably 10 or 11 am as parks usually open at 8 or 9 am. It’s all just very anti guest experience to me. It’s no fun having to constantly get on your phone and being in a hyper competitive ride booking environment while on vacation.

Yeah, it was a pretty smooth experience for me. Again, though, I can't compare it to what it was. I just know that we rode everything we wanted, never waited in lines, and was virtually stress free.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

With fast pass you could make your reservations as much as 60 days in advance so no need to set an alarm and fight everyone else for that first set of reservations. This was a huge perk to staying on Disney property that just went away with no perk to replace it. Also, the two hour window to book another starts from when park opens, not when you reserve, so if your first ride is at 11:30 am or later, yes you can book another before it starts, but you still can’t make that booking until probably 10 or 11 am as parks usually open at 8 or 9 am. It’s all just very anti guest experience to me. It’s no fun having to constantly get on your phone and being in a hyper competitive ride booking environment while on vacation.

I’m happy to report that Disney World actually listened to the complaints and made a change for the positive regarding genie + and ride reservations. Essentially they have decided to return to the fast pass system starting July 24th. And they are rebranding it to lightning lane multi pass and lightning lane single.

Starting then you will get to reserve three rides at a time in advance of your trip. 7 days in advance if you are staying on Disney property and 3 days for off property people. That’s a benefit returned to those paying the extra to stay on Disney properties so great to see. A few holdovers from the awful genie + are that it will still have a cost and there will still be a few marquee rides that require an extra/separate fee to use the lightning lane.

The major fix here is obviously that you can book three rides in advance. No longer will you have to wait to book rides until you enter the parks. That was a huge downgrade on the guest experience as you don’t get to enjoy the atmosphere upon entering, instead you are immediately expected to get on your phone.

This also means you don’t have to arrive as soon as possible in the morning to still ride your favorite things. On the system that’s going away, if you arrived after 9 am, chances are you wouldn’t get a ride reserved you actually wanted until 4 pm at best. But now you can go back to a more relaxed morning with three rides already booked. If you are fine arriving at 10 am you can now do that knowing you already have your whole first part of the day scheduled.

I’m pretty shocked they did this but am very glad and it will make our trip in January much easier. Getting two kids to the park as early as possible was never ideal and this solves that for us and many others.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Spott

It’s very nice here in the winter, although it’s probably still somewhat humid. A good time to go to the parks here is the week after Thanksgiving when it’s usually not too hot and all the big crowds have left.

Also dont forget the 2nd week in January is a great time to go to Disney. That and after Thanksgiving are the best times all year.... Another is mid-September after all the kids go back in school but it will feel ike an oven every day.

Originally Posted by BWillie

I went to Disney World on Thanksgiving weekend and it was quite possibly the worst day of my life.

When I was living in Missouri I came down on vacation over the July 4th weekend. It was a nightmare. Never again around a holiday.

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Yeah, the weather here is great for a few months out of the year, but generally that is not the time when the most tourists are here. Orlando is in peak season from March-August, Thanksgiving week, and the last couple weeks of December.

You come March-August, when most people do, you're getting hit with the worst of the crowds and weather. You come during Thanksgiving and Christmas, you're getting great weather but terrible crowds.

January-February is, like, perfect park time, IMO. Weather is generally going to be around 75 degrees, no rain or storms, and no crowds. September-October crowds are light as well and a bit cooler but still like 85-90 degrees.

Idk. Just my opinion. And yes, the coasts are generally a bit cooler than Orlando. They've got an ocean breeze that central Florida doesn't.

I agree with all this.

[BigRedChief]

Everyone complains about the prices(legitimately) but its a simple supply and demand equation. All of those parks keep raising their fees and entry prices. Still hasn't dented attendance. It's still packed solid all summer. Until attendance starts to drop off, they'll keep jacking up prices.

[loochy]

We just got back a couple of weeks ago. I was dreading the crowds. But you know what? It didn't bother me that much. I was dreading the heat. But you know what? It didn't bother me that much. We had a great time and we rode all of the rides. My wife got us lightning lane for everything (she has a pacemaker plus tachycardia issues) so we didn't wait in line over 20 minutes for anything. We did even rode Tron three times and Avatar twice.

[RedRaider56]

Originally Posted by loochy

We just got back a couple of weeks ago. I was dreading the crowds. But you know what? It didn't bother me that much. I was dreading the heat. But you know what? It didn't bother me that much. We had a great time and we rode all of the rides. My wife got us lightning lane for everything (she has a pacemaker plus tachycardia issues) so we didn't wait in line over 20 minutes for anything. We did even rode Tron three times and Avatar twice.

The Avatar ride is pretty cool. We were at Disney World the first summer that ride was open and the waiting line was 2 hours long.

[blake5676]

We just got back from a week at Disney World. My first time since I was about 10 so I don't have much recollection. I thought the Genie + and Lightning Lane stuff was pretty cumbersome and annoying, but got easier as I figured it out. They should really give you a 24 hour bootcamp to train you how to maximize using the app and the Genie stuff.

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and thought the shuttle system was easy to use. Other than it being hotter than Hades, the Disney trip wasn't the nightmare I envisioned. I'm not trying to go back again, but the kids loved it and none of us killed each other.

I was also pleasantly surprised at the food and beverage prices. We bought a dining plan, but if you were just gonna grab a burger and fries at a quick service place it was like $12.99. And bottles of water were $3.50. Pretty comprable to your average fast food prices which was a bit shocking. I expected way worse.

[blake5676]

Originally Posted by RedRaider56

The Avatar ride is pretty cool. We were at Disney World the first summer that ride was open and the waiting line was 2 hours long.

The Avatar ride was maybe the coolest thing I did. My son and I freaking loved it.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by RedRaider56

The Avatar ride is pretty cool. We were at Disney World the first summer that ride was open and the waiting line was 2 hours long.

I think the normal line was about that long. It was incredibly satisfying to walk through the lightning lane and bypass all the poor souls still standing out in the heat.


The Avatar ride, to me, was more intense than an actual roller coaster like Tron. The 3d-ness and realism of it made my stomach drop quite a bit. It was pretty impressive. I could even feel the banshee's ribs moving in and out as it breathed, which was a very impressive little detail to me.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by blake5676

The Avatar ride was maybe the coolest thing I did. My son and I freaking loved it.

I think I liked Tron the best. The lead up to the ride was so damn cool...the atmosphere from the music and the dark and the glowing blue everywhere was just so damn cool. We got to sit in the first seat and the initial acceleration was insane

[mr. tegu]

It’s going to be crowded and this isn’t really a secret. People know this going on so it’s really just about having the mindset of not letting it bother you. You have zero control over it and it’s just one of those things that does nothing except make your trip harder than it needs to be.

[DJJasonp]

They just announced today a revamping of Genie+

Will be able to book rides up to 14 days in advance.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/wal...e-plus-8669105

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

They just announced today a revamping of Genie+

Will be able to book rides up to 14 days in advance.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/wal...e-plus-8669105

It’s mostly a return of the previous fast pass system with a few tweeks/holdovers from genie +. Post 1158 covers why it needed to happen.

[DJJasonp]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

It’s mostly a return of the previous fast pass system with a few tweeks/holdovers from genie +. Post 1158 covers why it needed to happen.

Thanks, missed that.

I do know that getting up super-early and having your head in your phone all day while on vacation sucks.

Hopefully that improves.