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NFT: Easter vacation planning- Disney World

GMAN4LIFE : 8/30/2016 8:59 am
Looking to go to Disney world during the easter holiday. (yes im early but fuck it)

Looking to stay in the resort. Any recommendations for hotels within the resort?
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RE: A couple other tips  
lawguy9801 : 8/31/2016 11:30 am : link
In comment 13093781 NNJ Tom said:
Quote:
1) Buy a Disney guide book. Birnbaum's is considered the bible.

2) Use a Disney Specialist travel agent. I have used Amber at Small World Vacations a few times. They always seem to score upgrades and freebies. They offer better payment terms than if you book directly with Disney.

3) BOOK EARLY as AVAILABLE. Not kidding about this one.


All of these.

I can also give you the info for a Disney travel specialist that we used. She booked all of our sit-down meals months ahead of time, and we were very glad she did. She also booked our FastPass rides well in advance

Also, get the Disney app, which gives you info on all the rides, including wait times, and through which you can also change your FastPass appointments and see what is available.

As for where to stay, we stayed at Port Orleans, which was OK but nothing great in my opinion. If you can splurge, stay at Grand Floridian, Beach Club or one of the other higher-end resorts.

Enjoy.
did anyone book without the dining plan?  
GMAN4LIFE : 8/31/2016 11:34 am : link
.
GMAN4LIFE  
EricJ : 8/31/2016 11:35 am : link
Disney has been my customer for the past 6 years. Been there about 50 times during that span including family vacations.

Stayed at every property and I am in food and beverage and know the restaurants well. Just shoot me a note if you have any specific questions.
RE: did anyone book without the dining plan?  
EricJ : 8/31/2016 11:35 am : link
In comment 13096075 GMAN4LIFE said:
Quote:
.


The dining plan is actually a great deal.
RE: did anyone book without the dining plan?  
lawguy9801 : 8/31/2016 11:37 am : link
In comment 13096075 GMAN4LIFE said:
Quote:
.


I went once without the dining plan and once with.

My advice: Get the dining plan, and book your table meals as early as possible.
RE: GMAN4LIFE  
lawguy9801 : 8/31/2016 11:41 am : link
In comment 13096078 EricJ said:
Quote:
Disney has been my customer for the past 6 years. Been there about 50 times during that span including family vacations.

Stayed at every property and I am in food and beverage and know the restaurants well. Just shoot me a note if you have any specific questions.


Out of curiosity, and apologies if you are directly responsible for this, but why is the food at some of the resorts so horrific? I stayed at Port Orleans last year, and I'd barely classify some of the food in the dining area as fit to serve my dog.

Also, I've always wondered why Disney doesn't double or triple their number of restaurants. If you don't have a dining plan, the wait at any halfway decent restaurant is hours.

In my amateur opinion, it seems like they could do food so much better there.
thanks for all the suggestions.... i guess i have alot of work to do  
GMAN4LIFE : 8/31/2016 1:15 pm : link
for my girls to have their dreams come true.
called up amber to get some prices...  
GMAN4LIFE : 8/31/2016 3:26 pm : link
holy fuck is it expensive during that time.

prices were in the 6k at the contemporary from friday to tuesday, with meal plan.
took my daughter for her 4th birthday last year  
YAJ2112 : 8/31/2016 4:05 pm : link
she still talks about the princess breakfast and the nightly fireworks and the boat lightshow on the lake.
RE: RE: GMAN4LIFE  
ThreePoints : 8/31/2016 4:31 pm : link
In comment 13096090 lawguy9801 said:
Quote:
In comment 13096078 EricJ said:


Quote:


Disney has been my customer for the past 6 years. Been there about 50 times during that span including family vacations.

Stayed at every property and I am in food and beverage and know the restaurants well. Just shoot me a note if you have any specific questions.



Out of curiosity, and apologies if you are directly responsible for this, but why is the food at some of the resorts so horrific? I stayed at Port Orleans last year, and I'd barely classify some of the food in the dining area as fit to serve my dog.

Also, I've always wondered why Disney doesn't double or triple their number of restaurants. If you don't have a dining plan, the wait at any halfway decent restaurant is hours.

In my amateur opinion, it seems like they could do food so much better there.


That's shocking, I always found Port Orleans good. What was wrong with the food?

Be honestly, you don't need to eat at a real restaurant for every meal. The counter service places often have good selection and variety.
Me too. I found the food at Disney to be very good  
PatersonPlank : 8/31/2016 4:50 pm : link
Its just also very expensive, but I guess you get what you pay for. I even found counter service places with burgers, etc., pretty good.
GMAN4LIFE  
NYG27 : 8/31/2016 5:05 pm : link
Since you're staying Friday (travel day) to Tuesday (travel day), that mean you have only 3 full days Sat-Mon in Orlando.

How many of the Theme parks are you planning to visit, that is very important to figure out now. So you want to visit all four parks (MK, Epcot, Disney Studios and Animal Kingdom) or only planning to visit 2-3 parks?

Personally, on travel days (Friday and Tuesday for you), we usually skip the parks and visit Downtown Disney instead or go to one of their two miniature golf courses. Just my opinion but not worth going to the parks when you're not going to be there for a full day.
RE: RE: GMAN4LIFE  
EricJ : 8/31/2016 5:07 pm : link
In comment 13096090 lawguy9801 said:
Quote:
In comment 13096078 EricJ said:


Quote:


Disney has been my customer for the past 6 years. Been there about 50 times during that span including family vacations.

Stayed at every property and I am in food and beverage and know the restaurants well. Just shoot me a note if you have any specific questions.



Out of curiosity, and apologies if you are directly responsible for this, but why is the food at some of the resorts so horrific? I stayed at Port Orleans last year, and I'd barely classify some of the food in the dining area as fit to serve my dog.

Also, I've always wondered why Disney doesn't double or triple their number of restaurants. If you don't have a dining plan, the wait at any halfway decent restaurant is hours.

In my amateur opinion, it seems like they could do food so much better there.


no apologies needed. I do not set their menus and I don't work for them. I sell products to them.

The food at the "food courts" at the resorts is basically food court food. There are many high quality "restaurants" on property (parks and resorts) and that is what I would target. However, every resort does not have a great restaurant. For example, at Animal Kingdom Lodge I would eat at Sana.... an awesome restaurant. However, you may not like the food at the quick serve location behind the pool. Huge difference.

This is why I recommend the dining plan. Get the one which gives you a table service meal, a counter service meal and a snack item. Then, here is how you maximize it...
Use your snack item for breakfast. Get a yogurt parfait or something and then pay for a cup of coffee. If you are staying at a place like the Beach Club or Caribbean Beach, they also have a market where you can buy milk and a box of cereal (and bowls and spoons) so you can eat cheap in your room for breakfast and save your snack item for a mid day snack. Use your counter service meal at lunch. This does not have to be a burger. You can find much better food than that at a counter in the parks. Fish & Chips, BBQ Ribs, etc. Save your full service meal for dinner. Do not waste your time taking your kids to a character breakfast. Total waste of money. If they insist on a character meal, then do it at dinner.

For the full service dinner you need to make reservations well in advance. You cannot show up and then try to find a place on the same day. Especially when you are traveling during their busy season. You can download their app too and make reservations that way if you don't like to use your home computer.

You can order anything you want with the dining plan. The most expensive thing on the menu and it also includes an appetizer and desert. Just does not include any alcohol. Then, you are not concerned with the cost of the meal. It is a fixed daily price. I can tell you that the dining plan always costs us less than if we had to purchase those meals individually.
im doing this all for my daughters  
GMAN4LIFE : 8/31/2016 5:15 pm : link
any princess stuff. so Magic kingdom seems to be the only one that we will be at.

honestly, when my kids get older, i will visit again to take full advantage of theme park but for now its the joy of my kids is all i want
Disney Land\Sea combo was great  
NYG27 : 8/31/2016 5:27 pm : link
We weren't sure how our kids would like a cruise ship for a full week. So we decided to so a combo Land\Sea vacation. Stayed at the Disney resorts for 5 days\4 nights and then did a 4 day\3 night Disney Cruise.

Best of all the Disney hotel had easy travel arrangements to the Cruise ship. The hotel transferred all out luggage's to our cabin on the cruise ship.

In the end, as much as the kids loved visiting the parks, they enjoyed the cruise ship much much more and even talk about it today.

FYI, if you do a Disney Cruise ship, skip any and all character meet and greets. On the Cruise ship, they have designated times to meet characters and get photos\signatures and was supper easy to get to 20+ characters in less then an hours time without waiting on long lines.
RE: im doing this all for my daughters  
NYG27 : 8/31/2016 5:40 pm : link
In comment 13096741 GMAN4LIFE said:
Quote:
any princess stuff. so Magic kingdom seems to be the only one that we will be at.

honestly, when my kids get older, i will visit again to take full advantage of theme park but for now its the joy of my kids is all i want


If you want princess stuff, then you can't beat breakfast at Cinderella's castle at Magic Kingdom and then visit Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, I've linked it below....

link

Make sure you book very early for both, as reservations and appointments fill up very quickly months in advance. Your 4 and 6 year old girls will love it!

Also don't listen to some of these comments about Epcot not being for little kids. They have greatly improved the attractions for that age group in the park the last 5-7 years. Soarin is a great ride, Turtle Talk with Crush is a great interactive Q&A with the kids. They added the Frozen ride on Norway and not sure if your girls what Phineas and Ferb on Disney channel but there is a VERY fun interactive game you play at Epcot's showcase of the world where you have to visit various different countries to find Perry the Platypus. My 4 and 6 year old easily spent 3 hours on the hunt for clues and finding Perry and wanted to spend more time looking for him before we had to do other activities.
Fast Pass and know what lines to avoid  
NYG27 : 8/31/2016 5:53 pm : link
If you don't buy the Disney unoffical book, get yourself familiar with fast pass lines at all the parks you're planning to visit.

Download one of the many apps that show you line wait times and get a feel for which rides fill up quickly and get fast passes for them during your trip.

Just off the top of my head, here's the rides that have the LONGEST lines and definitely put in Fast Pass requests for them.

Magic Kingdom
Peter Pan - Very fun kids ride but no idea why but ALWAYS has a long wait time.

Epcot
Soarin - Usually around 11am-12pm, all the Fast Passes will sell out and wait times usually go up to 2+ hours

Disney Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Midway Mania Ride - Absolutely INSANE lines. The ride it ok and fun for kids but on various visits, I've seen the wait time for this ride in the 2-3 hour range. Definitely get a Fast Pass for this one!

Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris - I love having a Fast Pass and getting on the ride in less then 5 minutes compared to people waiting over an hour+. Also get there early for this one, as the animals are way more active in the early morning.
RE: RE: RE: GMAN4LIFE  
lawguy9801 : 8/31/2016 5:53 pm : link
In comment 13096684 ThreePoints said:
Quote:
In comment 13096090 lawguy9801 said:


Quote:


In comment 13096078 EricJ said:


Quote:


Disney has been my customer for the past 6 years. Been there about 50 times during that span including family vacations.

Stayed at every property and I am in food and beverage and know the restaurants well. Just shoot me a note if you have any specific questions.



Out of curiosity, and apologies if you are directly responsible for this, but why is the food at some of the resorts so horrific? I stayed at Port Orleans last year, and I'd barely classify some of the food in the dining area as fit to serve my dog.

Also, I've always wondered why Disney doesn't double or triple their number of restaurants. If you don't have a dining plan, the wait at any halfway decent restaurant is hours.

In my amateur opinion, it seems like they could do food so much better there.



That's shocking, I always found Port Orleans good. What was wrong with the food?

Be honestly, you don't need to eat at a real restaurant for every meal. The counter service places often have good selection and variety.


The only meals I had at Port Orleans were breakfast, but the eggs on the hot food line were horrible and barely edible, and most of the other breakfast foods were similarly bad. The food at the sitdown places and even the quickserve offerings at the parks was generally good, but the main issue there, imho, is that there are not enough restaurants. Everything seemingly is too crowded, and the table service restaurants are an hours-long wait if you didn't make a reservation well ahead of time (which we thankfully did).
RE: GMAN4LIFE  
NYG27 : 8/31/2016 6:01 pm : link
In comment 13096776 lawguy9801 said:
Quote:

The only meals I had at Port Orleans were breakfast, but the eggs on the hot food line were horrible and barely edible, and most of the other breakfast foods were similarly bad. The food at the sitdown places and even the quickserve offerings at the parks was generally good, but the main issue there, imho, is that there are not enough restaurants. Everything seemingly is too crowded, and the table service restaurants are an hours-long wait if you didn't make a reservation well ahead of time (which we thankfully did).


Did you stay at the French Quarter of Port Orleans? I really didn't like that section of the hotel and food court there was bad, just like you described.

Not sure why, but on the Riverside part of Port Orleans, the food court was much better and really like overall feel of that section of that hotel compared to French Quarter.
We took our 2 oldest at 7 and 9  
AP in Halfmoon : 8/31/2016 6:02 pm : link
20 years ago and never returned. We prefer the Caribbean or Outer Banks. I hate the crowds and overall experience.
RE: called up amber to get some prices...  
NYG27 : 8/31/2016 6:08 pm : link
In comment 13096590 GMAN4LIFE said:
Quote:
holy fuck is it expensive during that time.

prices were in the 6k at the contemporary from friday to tuesday, with meal plan.


I've stayed at 12 different resorts at DisneyWorld of varying price ranges and in all honesty, check out the Disney All Star hotels. Nightly cost are around $100 per night compared to the $300+ of the higher end ones.

Especially with your kids being 4 and 6 years old, they'll never remember the hotel, so why pay 3x the cost to stay at the fancier hotels when the All Star hotel will do the trick and have two pools each to keep the kids active when not in the parks. Plus with only 3 full days at Orlando, majority of your time will be spent at the parks and you'll only mostly be sleeping in the hotel. So is it worth the extra cost to sleep in a nicer setting?

Save your money on your first visit and spend on the bigger hotels on a future trip there when the kids are older and can appreciate it better.
RE: RE: GMAN4LIFE  
lawguy9801 : 8/31/2016 6:19 pm : link
In comment 13096781 NYG27 said:
Quote:
In comment 13096776 lawguy9801 said:


Quote:



The only meals I had at Port Orleans were breakfast, but the eggs on the hot food line were horrible and barely edible, and most of the other breakfast foods were similarly bad. The food at the sitdown places and even the quickserve offerings at the parks was generally good, but the main issue there, imho, is that there are not enough restaurants. Everything seemingly is too crowded, and the table service restaurants are an hours-long wait if you didn't make a reservation well ahead of time (which we thankfully did).



Did you stay at the French Quarter of Port Orleans? I really didn't like that section of the hotel and food court there was bad, just like you described.

Not sure why, but on the Riverside part of Port Orleans, the food court was much better and really like overall feel of that section of that hotel compared to French Quarter.


No, we stayed at Riverside. This was last August.
RE: RE: called up amber to get some prices...  
Jim in Fairfax : 8/31/2016 6:33 pm : link
In comment 13096787 NYG27 said:
Quote:
In comment 13096590 GMAN4LIFE said:


Quote:


holy fuck is it expensive during that time.

prices were in the 6k at the contemporary from friday to tuesday, with meal plan.



I've stayed at 12 different resorts at DisneyWorld of varying price ranges and in all honesty, check out the Disney All Star hotels. Nightly cost are around $100 per night compared to the $300+ of the higher end ones.

Especially with your kids being 4 and 6 years old, they'll never remember the hotel, so why pay 3x the cost to stay at the fancier hotels when the All Star hotel will do the trick and have two pools each to keep the kids active when not in the parks. Plus with only 3 full days at Orlando, majority of your time will be spent at the parks and you'll only mostly be sleeping in the hotel. So is it worth the extra cost to sleep in a nicer setting?

Save your money on your first visit and spend on the bigger hotels on a future trip there when the kids are older and can appreciate it better.

Biggest reason: the All-Star Resorts have double beds. The width of two crib mattresses. I'm not an infant, and I'm never sharing one of those again.

The moderate resorts, like Port Orleans, have queen beds. It's costs more, but way less than the deluxe hotels.
RE: Fast Pass and know what lines to avoid  
MetsAreBack : 9/1/2016 11:54 am : link
You left a bunch out... i'll add. btw you can get your fast passes 2 months ahead of your scheduled visit if staying on a Disney property... if going over Easter I suggest you are online at midnight of your eligibility. Most of the below rides will sell out fast.

In comment 13096775 NYG27 said:
Quote:


Magic Kingdom
Peter Pan - Very fun kids ride but no idea why but ALWAYS has a long wait time.
Space Mountain
Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride


Epcot
Soarin - Usually around 11am-12pm, all the Fast Passes will sell out and wait times usually go up to 2+ hours
Frozen ride at Norway
Test Track


Disney Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Midway Mania Ride - Absolutely INSANE lines. The ride it ok and fun for kids but on various visits, I've seen the wait time for this ride in the 2-3 hour range. Definitely get a Fast Pass for this one!

Animal Kingdom
Kilimanjaro Safaris - I love having a Fast Pass and getting on the ride in less then 5 minutes compared to people waiting over an hour+. Also get there early for this one, as the animals are way more active in the early morning.
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