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.

[Bowser]

No, you're absolutely right. They get away with it because people are willing to pay for it. For me personally, that's a ton of scratch to pay to just sit around in hour long lines in an overcrowded park.

Maybe I'm just turning into a grumpy old bastard?

[The Franchise]

Taking the kids in August after school starts. Hopefully it won't be SUPER ****ing busy. Nothing can be as bad as when we took the kids for New Years. Holy **** was that a mistake.

Works out on cost though because I'll be down there for a work conference. Hotel paid for. Driving down and I get reimbursed for mileage. We're literally paying for the Disneyland tickets and food.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by scho63

I was at Disney World when I was around 16 years old with our family. We did it as a Christmas trip around Dec 1979. Was pretty damn cool. A lot smaller than today obviously. I learned how to juggle on that trip and also met former NBA star and NJ Senator Bill Bradley with his wife and two kids on the tram from the parking lot.

I am curious to anyone who has just been there with a family of 4 or 5 and maybe a total of 2-3 days, what the hell did it cost you? We had the luxury of staying at my grandparents house in Ft Lauderdale for free so no hotel bills.

Not including airfare, what did it cost?
$1,500 or more?
$2,500 or more?
$4,000 or more?

What do they charge per day into the park?
What does that include?
Other things to pay for to enter?

3 years ago my buddy took family of 5, it was 8k

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Taking the kids in August after school starts. Hopefully it won't be SUPER ****ing busy. Nothing can be as bad as when we took the kids for New Years. Holy **** was that a mistake.

Works out on cost though because I'll be down there for a work conference. Hotel paid for. Driving down and I get reimbursed for mileage. We're literally paying for the Disneyland tickets and food.

Are you going during the week or on the weekend? The weekends are absolutely brutal these days.

Also, if you haven't been in a while, be prepared to see scores of obese people riding electric carts. I'm not talking 20 pounds overweight, I'm talking 300-600 pounders.

Also, there's usually a strong contingency of douchebag parents toting around under 2 year olds in dual and sometimes triple strollers.

What the **** is their 18 month old going to get out of Disneyland, other than a sunburn?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Bowser

No, you're absolutely right. They get away with it because people are willing to pay for it. For me personally, that's a ton of scratch to pay to just sit around in hour long lines in an overcrowded park.

Maybe I'm just turning into a grumpy old bastard?

And it's not just Disney World. Most people that I know that travel to Orlando also spend time at Universal Studios Orlando and Sea World.

I can't imagine dropping $10k to take my family to Orlando. I'd rather take them to Italy or Greece or Spain.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Are you going during the week or on the weekend? The weekends are absolutely brutal these days.

Also, if you haven't been in a while, be prepared to see scores of obese people riding electric carts. I'm not talking 20 pounds overweight, I'm talking 300-600 pounders.

Also, there's usually a strong contingency of douchebag parents toting around under 2 year olds in dual and sometimes triple strollers.

What the **** is their 18 month old going to get out of Disneyland, other than a sunburn?

Driving down on a Sunday. The kids and the wife will be in the park with some friends during the day on Monday and Tuesday while I'm at the conference. Then I'll join them at night. Wednesday....all of us will be in the park during the day and night. Then we'll drive back on Thursday.

We're thinking about coming down a day earlier and going to Universal. The kids have never been and the oldest really wants to go for the Harry Potter stuff. Not sure yet.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Driving down on a Sunday. The kids and the wife will be in the park with some friends during the day on Monday and Tuesday while I'm at the conference. Then I'll join them at night. Wednesday....all of us will be in the park during the day and night. Then we'll drive back on Thursday.

We're thinking about coming down a day earlier and going to Universal. The kids have never been and the oldest really wants to go for the Harry Potter stuff. Not sure yet.

I live 10 minutes from Universal and I haven't been over there, other than CityWalk and Pearl Jam at the Gibson Amphitheater (which is now Harry Potter) in more than 20 years. FYI, parking is $20 dollars, which I found out the hard way when I went to the IMAX presentation of Rogue One. I should have Uber'd.

Be sure to stay on top of the Fast Passes. Plan your day out, which rides at which time, etc. so the wait won't be as long. You can't stack Fast Passes all day, you have to wait until you're within the time frame (usually 1 hour) of your current pass in order to get another pass. It's jacked up.

I talked to a friend earlier this week that took his family to Orlando that told me it's like $50 additional per person to purchase Fast Passes at Universal, which he said was totally worth it. It's too bad Disney doesn't have a similar option because I'd grab it in a heartbeat.

I've taken my kids down for a full 12 hours before and we've only gotten into 6 or 7 rides.

Good luck!

[BlackHelicopters]

Save your money.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I live 10 minutes from Universal and I haven't been over there, other than CityWalk and Pearl Jam at the Gibson Amphitheater (which is now Harry Potter) in more than 20 years. FYI, parking is $20 dollars, which I found out the hard way when I went to the IMAX presentation of Rogue One. I should have Uber'd.

Be sure to stay on top of the Fast Passes. Plan your day out, which rides at which time, etc. so the wait won't be as long. You can't stack Fast Passes all day, you have to wait until you're within the time frame (usually 1 hour) of your current pass in order to get another pass. It's jacked up.

I talked to a friend earlier this week that took his family to Orlando that told me it's like $50 additional per person to purchase Fast Passes at Universal, which he said was totally worth it. It's too bad Disney doesn't have a similar option because I'd grab it in a heartbeat.

I've taken my kids down for a full 12 hours before and we've only gotten into 6 or 7 rides.

Good luck!

Thanks for the heads up. I think there are really only 2 or 3 things that the kids want to see if we go.....so we're not 100% sure that we're going to do it or not. Maybe we'll just head over Sunday night after we get into town and hit up the shops around there.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Thanks for the heads up. I think there are really only 2 or 3 things that the kids want to see if we go.....so we're not 100% sure that we're going to do it or not. Maybe we'll just head over Sunday night after we get into town and hit up the shops around there.

Yeah, you can hit up City Walk for just the $20 dollar parking fee. The restaurants aren't anything special (mostly chains) but whatever you do, avoid the Mexican place Camacho's, because it's full on awful.

It was awful back when I worked on the Uni lot from 1993-1997 and it's awful to this day. I think it only stays in business because it's at City Walk, because it would fail in month anywhere else.

We ate at the Hard Rock a few years back during the holiday season and it was pretty bad, too.

[Mr. Arrowhead]

We thought about going next spring, but not sure if our 2 kids are too young for it. They will be 3 (they are twins). Thinking might be best to wait a year.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Mr. Arrowhead

We thought about going next spring, but not sure if our 2 kids are too young for it. They will be 3 (they are twins). Thinking might be best to wait a year.

I've got twins and we took them for the their first time when they were 5. They were more 5.5....but still. I don't know if I'd take a 3 year old. They aren't really going to understand a lot of stuff and you're mainly going to have to stick to the really little kid rides.

[Mosbonian]

Ahhhh....the joy of living in Florida and having season passes. And living close enough that I can actually make day trips to Disney or midweek jaunts.

Being a Disney fanatic this works perfect f or me.

I have actually thought about buying a house/condo and renting it out when I wouldn't be there. I have enough family and friends who would use it to make it worthwhile.

[Mr. Arrowhead]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

I've got twins and we took them for the their first time when they were 5. They were more 5.5....but still. I don't know if I'd take a 3 year old. They aren't really going to understand a lot of stuff and you're mainly going to have to stick to the really little kid rides.

Ya thats what we were thinking, especially if you gonna spend as much as it cost

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Mr. Arrowhead

Ya thats what we were thinking, especially if you gonna spend as much as it cost

A 3 year old won't even be tall enough for the majority of the rides, so I'd definitely recommend waiting until they're older (and taller).

It was different when we had the Premium Pass at $239 because kids under 3 were free at the time. My wife would take our oldest down to Disneyland on a Sunday while I watched the Chiefs and she'd go on a few rides (Small World, Teacups, Merry Go Round, Autotopia, etc.), then come home in 4 hours or so.

But to plan an expensive vacation with 3 year olds, when they don't really get the best of what the park has to offer (Star Tours, Hyperspace Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Rocket Ships, Splash Mountain, etc.) would be a total waste of money.