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.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I have about 10x more fun at Universal. I'm thinking about getting season passes there and wouldn't even contemplate doing the same for Disney..

Of course, that's just my personal preference. Plus I live like a mile away from Universal so it makes sense in more than one way.

My experience is different....I have 10x more fun at Disney because of the way WDW is run. Like someone else said, think Six Flags when you think of Universal. I went once and honestly have no desire to go back to Universal, and I will admit it is part personal preference, and part how the 2 places are run differently.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

Universal is still fun, just not as serviceable as Disney. The best way I could compare it is Disney being Princess Cruise Lines or Royal Caribbean whereas Universal is Carnival.

Perfect analogy....

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

Another fun thing to do at Fort Wilderness is the Chip-N-Dale Campfire Sing-A-long. You can bring along your own hot dogs and marshmallows or buy them there.

They have an old fashion sing-along and then you get to watch 2 Disney movies back to back that are shown on a screen outside.

Not too interested in chippendale hot dogs.

[Gravedigger]

Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat

Biergarten is one of my faves for a place to eat at Disney. It's in Epcot and it's a huge buffet of German food with everything made from scratch and they also have entertainment on a stage while you are eating.

We'll have to try it, EPCOT is my favorite park out of them all just because of the insane amount of things you can experience and the fireworks show is stellar. We ate at the Aquarium Coral Reef restaurant and even though it was amazing views while eating the food wasn't that great. We'll head over there next time and give it a go, thanks for the recommendation.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

The ride needs to be updated....what you really want to do if you are at AK is take the Wild Animal Trek which lets you walk half of the Safari Ride. You get to walk a suspension bridge over the crocodiles and hippo's. After that you get to have a lunch in a picnic shelter right in the middle of the Savannah.

Disney needs to update a couple of the shows...keep the characters, but update the theme.

The Wild Africa Trek is way too expensive for what it is. I'm glad we did it, but we will never do it again.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

The safari ride is meh. Lion King show is good.

Festival of the Lion King is currently closed.

[Silock]

Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure is awesome. However, the new Harry Potter area at Universal Orlando isn't open yet. It's close, but not yet.

If you do go to WDW, get your tickets and reservations now so that you can book your Fastpasses before you go. Why no Epcot? I would split Hollywood Studios and AK in a single day and spend the third day at Epcot. Do Animal Kingdom in the morning (Safari, Everest, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Tough to be a Bug) and then head to DHS for the afternoon and evening. Book your Fastpasses for DHS and avoid the line for Toy Story. Do Rock'n'Roller coaster, Star tours, toy story, tower of terror and then watch Fantasmic.

The dining plan is a ripoff. Avoid it.

[Jimmya]

Summer is almost here. These places will be packed and making millions.

[ct]

Originally Posted by Silock

If you do go to WDW, get your tickets and reservations now so that you can book your Fastpasses before you go. Why no Epcot? I would split Hollywood Studios and AK in a single day and spend the third day at Epcot. Do Animal Kingdom in the morning (Safari, Everest, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Tough to be a Bug) and then head to DHS for the afternoon and evening. Book your Fastpasses for DHS and avoid the line for Toy Story. Do Rock'n'Roller coaster, Star tours, toy story, tower of terror and then watch Fantasmic.

The dining plan is a ripoff. Avoid it.

Solid advice, all of it. Especially the dining plan, don't do it.

AK is definitely a 1/2 day for me, morning before it's too humid. Studios is easily a full day but if your whole trip is short the 1/2 day hopper AK&HS is the way to go, full days for MK and Epcot.

We're goin in 40 days, Beach Club. 1st evening trip is the back door of Epcot for Fish n Chips and a Black n Tan @ the pub. Be my 1st trip w/ the oldest son 21+, very much lookin forward to buyin my boy and I a couple beers and people watchin!

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by Silock

The Wild Africa Trek is way too expensive for what it is. I'm glad we did it, but we will never do it again.

I agree it is pricey.....but it's no different than what you pay for if you do the Richard Petty Driving Experience...or go play any of the Disney Courses...or do the Fishing Expedition.

Any extra at WDW is going to cost. And it's usually something you do only once.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by Gravedigger

We'll have to try it, EPCOT is my favorite park out of them all just because of the insane amount of things you can experience and the fireworks show is stellar. We ate at the Aquarium Coral Reef restaurant and even though it was amazing views while eating the food wasn't that great. We'll head over there next time and give it a go, thanks for the recommendation.

EPCOT has the most under-rated and under-recommended ride in all of WDW....Soarin'....

The Coral Reef is like a lot of WDW these days, especially the front part of EPCOT....in dire need of an update. The Test Track is nice, but beyond that and Soarin' it's really hard to get excited about EPCOT. Even the nightly fireworks display could use an update. It's nice...but, still.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by Silock

If you do go to WDW, get your tickets and reservations now so that you can book your Fastpasses before you go. Why no Epcot? I would split Hollywood Studios and AK in a single day and spend the third day at Epcot. Do Animal Kingdom in the morning (Safari, Everest, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Tough to be a Bug) and then head to DHS for the afternoon and evening. Book your Fastpasses for DHS and avoid the line for Toy Story. Do Rock'n'Roller coaster, Star tours, toy story, tower of terror and then watch Fantasmic.

The dining plan is a ripoff. Avoid it.

The dining plan...completely agree. Been many times and have done better with buying my meals without the plan.

The best and most fun time to go to DHS is during the Star Wars Weekends. Although it is packed as it can be, there is so much more to do and characters to see....

I would say the only codicil to what you have said is to mix in what are the days that each Park has additional hours for on-property guests. We've been so many times that we have it down to an art on how to maximize our experience and see/ride what we want to. The only thing that will change for us in June and again in November is experiencing Magic Kingdom with all the changes for the first time.

We get the Park Hopper passes for the full time we are there...that way we go where we want when we want. Park Hopper isn't for everyone...

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

EPCOT has the most under-rated and under-recommended ride in all of WDW....Soarin'....

The Coral Reef is like a lot of WDW these days, especially the front part of EPCOT....in dire need of an update. The Test Track is nice, but beyond that and Soarin' it's really hard to get excited about EPCOT. Even the nightly fireworks display could use an update. It's nice...but, still.

We didn't even do EPCOT with my family (which I kind of feel bad about). I think that a lot of what I liked was dictated by the fact I was there with a 5 and 7 year old. I didn't like Universal Studios much. The main reason we went was to do the Star Wars stuff, and the Star Wars ride made us all horribly nauseated (the kids getting to fight Vader was fun, of course). Tower of Terror wasn't that great, and my youngest son was too small to do the Aerosmith rock and roll ride.

So yeah, one of the reasons we might have liked AK is because our kids really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was also just really cool there as well.

[Mr. Plow]

The one thing I wish is that it was more cost effective for my family to stay on property. With 6 in the family & the oldest bringing a friend, it is too expensive to stay on property. We are driving it as well because flying all of us down is just to much.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by NewChief

We didn't even do EPCOT with my family (which I kind of feel bad about). I think that a lot of what I liked was dictated by the fact I was there with a 5 and 7 year old. I didn't like Universal Studios much. The main reason we went was to do the Star Wars stuff, and the Star Wars ride made us all horribly nauseated (the kids getting to fight Vader was fun, of course). Tower of Terror wasn't that great, and my youngest son was too small to do the Aerosmith rock and roll ride.

So yeah, one of the reasons we might have liked AK is because our kids really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was also just really cool there as well.

My kids were around that age and then a year or two older, each when we went. We skipped Epcot, too. We go Magic Kingdom/AK/Magic Kingdom for the 3 days.