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.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Who the **** would want to go to Disney World on New Years Eve? I don't get it.

I wouldn’t, but millions would. I believe they typically reach max capacity on Christmas and New Years days.

[Spott]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Who the **** would want to go to Disney World on New Years Eve? I don't get it.

My brother-in-law, but he’s crazy into Disney. He said it took him like 3-4 hours to get from the Castle to the parking lot after the fireworks because it was so crowded.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

Where did you guys stay? We were at the All Star Music in one of the refurbished rooms with the Murphy bed.

The downside of the stay....I felt I needed a Golf Cart to get to my room every night...man they stuck us at the furthest point from the Main building.

We stayed at the Dolphin. Over multiple trips prior we had never stayed anywhere but the Boardwalk using DVC rental points. Usually it is about half price of Disney prices but with the pandemic availability was a bit limited. We purchased through Costco and still saved quite a bit though.

However the Dolphin is definitely not as Disney and in general not what we are looking for in a Disney vacation. The lobby was packed with Baseball winter meetings people all week so it was noisy and busy. Also just not as convenient with bus transportation or using magic bands for room entry. We actually walked to Boardwalk buses for Magic Kingdom and Disney Springs because the Dolphin drop point recently changed at those places.

Honestly can’t see ever staying anywhere outside of the Epcot resorts area unless we decide we want to do the Grand Floridian. There’s it’s of good places but the convenience and amenities there is hard to beat.

[wheeler08]

I’m going New Years Day. Hollywood studios or whatever it’s called. Pray for me

[notorious]

Someone could pay for a trip for my family to Disney World and I'd decline.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

We were actually there at the same time as you. I agree that Magic Kingdom was packed silly and it wasn't worth going to.

But we walked onto every ride we wanted to at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom save for Rise, Everest, Pandora and Slinky rides. Actually rode Soarin 3 times and didn't have but a 10 minute wait at the most.

The night show that was projected onto the Chinese Theater in Hollywood Studios was great. As was the light show and music that played on the EPCOT ball. The light show at the end of the night was enjoyable, but the Candlelight Procession was the best for me. There was one gal in the Cast Member choir whose voice you could hear above all was dynamite. Man...she could shatter glass.

Waits for things like Nemo, Little Mermaid, and Buzz Lightyear were routinely 30 minutes or more. Those waits aren’t worth it in general but especially not with a toddler. Once we decided to get genie + it was better but you can only use it on the same ride once which is awful.

[BigRichard]

With all the technology we have now why is that no amusement park can make it so you don't have to wait in lines... have some sort of paging system and you only can queue for one or two rides... if you don't show up within 5 minutes your spot is gone and goes to the next lucky bunch. I see that as a win win for everyone... nobody has to wait in lines and it would allow parents more time to buy other shit that makes the park money.

Could you imagine a big name park stating that you never have to wait in lines anymore?

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

Just spent a week at Disney World the first week of December...actually wasn't all that busy. Was able to ride most of the rides we wanted to at all the Parks.

There was a larger choice when it came to food options that last year. And 95% of the Cast Members were what you expected from Disney people.

They did a much better job getting people into the park quickly...no long lines checking every bag.

What was poor? The selection of merchandise and the prices for what merchandise was there. Quality of the merchandise was not there IMO

Anyone else been lately?

I was there the same time as you (I went down on the 4th, came back on the 12th). It was pretty damn busy but unless you were lining up for the E-ticket rides it wasn't bad. (Things like Mine Train, Frozen, Flight of Passage, Rise of the Resistance, Runaway Railway, and Slinky Dog usually had 60+ minute lines.) The trick to this new FastPass-free era is to treat Disney like it used to be in the summer: go in at rope drop, ride a few things until around 11am, then leave the park until early evening. (We didn't buy that stupid-ass Genie crap.) Every day we'd go off-property for lunch, or we'd do an escape room (we did four over the course of the week), and one day we trekked out to a big cat sanctuary. We never did get on Mine Train or Frozen, but we did Flight of Passage twice. We also did Soarin' three times, Toy Story four times, Haunted Mansion twice, and almost everything else once (Rise, Railway, Slinky, Peter Pan, Splash, Big Thunder, Test Track).

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by BigRichard

With all the technology we have now why is that no amusement park can make it so you don't have to wait in lines... have some sort of paging system and you only can queue for one or two rides... if you don't show up within 5 minutes your spot is gone and goes to the next lucky bunch. I see that as a win win for everyone... nobody has to wait in lines and it would allow parents more time to buy other shit that makes the park money.

Could you imagine a big name park stating that you never have to wait in lines anymore?

They are just starting to experiment with virtual queues and also with genie + lighting lanes having short waits for the exact reason you mention, sell other stuff, however by my estimation the way genie + is working thousands of people have no choice but to wait in regular lines so it’s not going to work as they hope. People who use their genie + reservation on a ride that has them return at 4 pm will and are waiting in regular lines.

I believe that’s why almost everything has very long waits. We waited 20 minutes for People Mover even. Clearly frequent visitors know how to get the most out of it and when to ride things, but the average Disney visitors aren’t doing that.

[Deberg_1990]

I’ve been hearing nothing but bad about Genie+.

Why did they move to that? To make more money? People loved the old free fastpass system.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

I’ve been hearing nothing but bad about Genie+.

Why did they move to that? To make more money? People loved the old free fastpass system.

Big thing clearly is just to charge for what was previously free. But there’s been lots of that such as no more free magic bands, no more free airport transport, or free resort parking. All those changes are fairly recent and huge added costs.

They sell it though as spend less time waiting in lines but that’s simply not reality as it’s worst for many people and at best the same for some people but now they have to pay. They also are pushing the genie + that will plan your day for you but it’s garbage, but in reality the people who would rely on that probably don’t know any better.

They also say it’s more in line with other places that do charge for fast ride access, such as Universal, but at Universal it’s still free for those at their resorts.

There also is a trend towards targeting guests who don’t go as often who will spend whatever is needed to have a good time. That’s why many of the perks I mentioned earlier are gone and why things like annual pass holders have been removed or greatly reduced. They believe the once every 5-10 year people, who do spend more money than frequent guests, will spend whatever they have to in order to get the most out of it. That’s the balance they have to work through because if those people stop coming and get priced out then Disney will really have to reconsider things.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

They are just starting to experiment with virtual queues and also with genie + lighting lanes having short waits for the exact reason you mention, sell other stuff, however by my estimation the way genie + is working thousands of people have no choice but to wait in regular lines so it’s not going to work as they hope. People who use their genie + reservation on a ride that has them return at 4 pm will and are waiting in regular lines.

I believe that’s why almost everything has very long waits. We waited 20 minutes for People Mover even. Clearly frequent visitors know how to get the most out of it and when to ride things, but the average Disney visitors aren’t doing that.

Originally Posted by BigRichard

With all the technology we have now why is that no amusement park can make it so you don't have to wait in lines... have some sort of paging system and you only can queue for one or two rides... if you don't show up within 5 minutes your spot is gone and goes to the next lucky bunch. I see that as a win win for everyone... nobody has to wait in lines and it would allow parents more time to buy other shit that makes the park money.

Could you imagine a big name park stating that you never have to wait in lines anymore?

Universal actually opened up a new water park called Volcano Bay a few years back and they have a virtual queue sort of deal.

Everyone who enters the park gets a watch. The watch is really just used to "check in" to virtual queues. So you'll walk up to a ride, say Krakatoa, and see how long the wait is. If it's 1 hour and you don't mind waiting, you swipe your watch over the sensor and it starts the countdown. You can head back to the wave pool or go grab some food. In an hour your watch will buzz and you can head up to the ride. You usually don't have to wait in line for any more than 5-10 minutes.

It's awesome.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

Big thing clearly is just to charge for what was previously free. But there’s been lots of that such as no more free magic bands, no more free airport transport, or free resort parking. All those changes are fairly recent and huge added costs.

They sell it though as spend less time waiting in lines but that’s simply not reality as it’s worst for many people and at best the same for some people but now they have to pay. They also are pushing the genie + that will plan your day for you but it’s garbage, but in reality the people who would rely on that probably don’t know any better.

They also say it’s more in line with other places that do charge for fast ride access, such as Universal, but at Universal it’s still free for those at their resorts.

There also is a trend towards targeting guests who don’t go as often who will spend whatever is needed to have a good time. That’s why many of the perks I mentioned earlier are gone and why things like annual pass holders have been removed or greatly reduced. They believe the once every 5-10 year people, who do spend more money than frequent guests, will spend whatever they have to in order to get the most out of it. That’s the balance they have to work through because if those people stop coming and get priced out then Disney will really have to reconsider things.

Yep that’s basically me. Go about every 4-5 years and spend a ton. This past summer took my son to Universal. Stayed at Sapphire Falls and bought unlimited express passes. Made the trip 100x more enjoyable.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I went to Disney World for one day during Thanksgiving weekend. Was one of the worst days of my life. 1.5 to 2 hrs to wait for rides. We probably went to the wrong park since we don't have kids, but my GF wanted to see that castle.

If I ever do it again certainly going at a less busier time and going to Universal Park.

Yeah, your biggest mistake was timing. Any time of year that the kids are out of school is just a horrible time to be in the parks. The week before Thanksgiving? Awesome. Week after? No worries. Week of? Not a ****ing chance.

You also chose the wrong park. Only thing good about Magic Kingdom is the castle and fireworks show. Unless you have kids, of course. If you have kids, Magic Kingdom is a must.

But childless? Your best bet is Hollywood Studios, IMO. Epcot is great for Food and Wine Festival or just drinking and eating in general. Animal Kingdom isn't bad if you like safaris. Everest is pretty good and they've recently added Pandora from Avatar and Star Wars stuff as well.

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

What was poor? The selection of merchandise and the prices for what merchandise was there. Quality of the merchandise was not there IMO

Anyone else been lately?

Universal is having a similar issue. Their merch is actually ****ing awesome right now, but they're having issues with supply. Apparently people are buying up so much of it they're finding it hard to keep up with the demand.

[Mosbonian]

Originally Posted by JD10367

I was there the same time as you (I went down on the 4th, came back on the 12th). It was pretty damn busy but unless you were lining up for the E-ticket rides it wasn't bad. (Things like Mine Train, Frozen, Flight of Passage, Rise of the Resistance, Runaway Railway, and Slinky Dog usually had 60+ minute lines.) The trick to this new FastPass-free era is to treat Disney like it used to be in the summer: go in at rope drop, ride a few things until around 11am, then leave the park until early evening. (We didn't buy that stupid-ass Genie crap.) Every day we'd go off-property for lunch, or we'd do an escape room (we did four over the course of the week), and one day we trekked out to a big cat sanctuary. We never did get on Mine Train or Frozen, but we did Flight of Passage twice. We also did Soarin' three times, Toy Story four times, Haunted Mansion twice, and almost everything else once (Rise, Railway, Slinky, Peter Pan, Splash, Big Thunder, Test Track).

We normally eat breakfast in the room...we bring supplies from home which is easy for us since we.drive there.

We go enough with the Florida Residents Pass that we don't have to cramp everything into one visit. The change in Season passes will change some of when we go but will still make sure.to go enough to get my money out of it.

We were lucky this time and didn't get charged for Parking at the resort like last year.