Disney tips? Travel tips?

[dmccarty]

We went during spring break and got caught in the crowd heading to the parking lot after the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. People started pushing and shoving etc. It was not good had 2 year old and 3 year old in strollers, hopefully an isolated experience.
...

It is not an isolated experience. Leaving the parks at closing can be ugly. Lots of people trying to get to their cars, on a bus, boat, etc. It really is best to walk around the park after closing or just sit and watch the crowd. Disney WILL NOT kick you out of a park that is closing. People have stayed HOURS after a park closing to talk or just wonder around. Eventually you will notice Cast Members watching you and they might slowly guide you to the exit.

If one watches the fireworks the best thing to do is just hang around the park and let the crowd leave. The buses run for a couple hours after park closing and while the rides will shut down the stores remain open. Disney does want to collect as much of YOUR money as they can.

Seeing the parks lit up at night is very nice and completely different than what you see during the day. Seeing the parks with few or no people is a treat. This is hard to do with kids unless you have strollers. But waiting for the crowd to clear while you sit on a bench with a sleeping kid is better than standing in the bus line with a sleeping kid.

Mob avoidance is a good strategy at WDW. If the crowd is leaving the park then stay in the park. If the mob goes to the right then it often is best to go left. :laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[WH401]

My wife and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon last July, first trip ever for both of us. It was a great experience, the best we've ever had for a trip. We got the park hopper pass so that we could go to any of the 4 parks as many times as we wanted. Instead of staying at a resort, because of the price, we stayed at one of the 6 Downtown Disney hotels. It cost us a little over $100 a night (we were there for a week), and the best part was that the hotels all offer shuttles to/from the parks for all guests. We stayed at the Best Western, which I would do again. We had a great experience there, there were hardly any Disney visitors catching the shuttles in the morning and we were always the first pickup/first drop off. Some of the other hotels offer the extra hours which allow you to stay or arrive in the park at times later or earlier than the regular hours. We didn't get a meal plan, although we were kind of planning it late, only about a month in advance. Even getting just the food from the regular "fast food" type venders wasn't bad and it was still pretty reasonably good food. We never at at one of the "sit down" restaurants in any of the parks, so I can't speak for those but I have heard they are great. As others have said, don't rush the trip while your there trying to see everything, because it won't happen. Enjoy everything that you see to it's fully entirety.

We also visited Universal Studios but we'll never go back there again, at least not in July. We had to get a waiting ticket just to get into Harry Potter World, and even after we got in it was so packed that you really couldn't move. I'm sure other people have had better experiences but ours was horrible. Also, they have a pass similar to the fast pass at Disney, except you pay for it so if enough people buy this thing then the "fast" line gets as long as the regular line, which is what happened for us. We visited both parks in under 6 hours and only rode 1 ride because there were so many people.

 

[crashz]

Dan gave the most complete and thorough explaination of Disney World I've ever heard.

My wife and I are avid Disney goers. We too are DVC members, as we were married there (at the wedding pavilion) in 2009. When we bought the DVC (also Animal Kindon Lodge, Kitani Village) we were able to bank and borrow 3 years of points and were able to put all of our family and wedding party up for a minimum of three days.

Last trip was entirely free, as we had the DVC, enough miles on our card, and friends who bought us dinners as we put them up on the timeshare. Unfortunately this was our year to get sick. Both of us got a very nasty stomach flu that took us out for most of the vacation. I doubt I'll ever stay at Saratoga Springs again.

The upside is that we did get one good day in the parks and met chef Robert Irvine at the rock & Roll rollercoaster. That was cool!

 

[RSKY]

DO NOT GO TO DISNEY THE FIRST WEEKEND IN JUNE.

Unless things have changed that is when the "Gay Days" take place. We found out about that taking place after all reservations made and vacations scheduled and could not back out. This was about fifteen years ago but still....

Each to his own but we had a twelve year old and an eight year old with us. The...... attendees were for the most part nice. But some would be sure to stand in front of my two girls and make out. My two would stare at them for a second or two then say "YUCK GROSS" as loud as they could and turn away. And I nearly got in a fight for laughing at some guys taking pictures of another....guy who was posing for them. It would have been four, well maybe four and a half, against one. But when they walked over to confront me I apologized and my wife and I ended up talking to them for a while. Saw the same group a couple more times later that day and they always waved at the girls and spoke to us.

Really heartbreaking to see some drop dead gorgeous gal with a halter top and Daisey Duke shorts walking around with a 'thing' with boots and a chain drive billfold.

One other no-no if you go that week, DO NOT WEAR RED.

 

[dmccarty]

My wife and I are avid Disney goers. We too are DVC members, as we were married there (at the wedding pavilion) in 2009. When we bought the DVC (also Animal Kindon Lodge, Kitani Village) we were able to bank and borrow 3 years of points and were able to put all of our family and wedding party up for a minimum of three days.
....

Hi neighbor! We bought into DVC at Kidani as well. Sight unseen which very UNLIKE me but it is a great resort.

We have burned through our points so we have to wait 18 months before going back.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

DO NOT GO TO DISNEY THE FIRST WEEKEND IN JUNE.

Unless things have changed that is when the "Gay Days" take place. We found out about that taking place after all reservations made and vacations scheduled and could not back out. This was about fifteen years ago but still....

There are still Gay Days at WDW. WDW does not plan or sponsor the event though. I think Gay Days can happen at different times of the year. I am pretty sure that we had a visit during Gay Days, and while I saw the shirts, we did not see anything inappropriate. Gay Days "schedules" a park to visit on a given day. So one can find out which park will be visited by Gay Days and head to another park. This could be a good crowd avoidance strategy.

Unfortunately Disney is full of people and with so many people there is amble room for someone to get offended by someone. People wear T Shirts with bad language and/or rude and obscene graphics. Don't get me started on the smokers :laughing:, or worse, flash photography on Dark Rides. People wear clothes that are not really appropriate and bordering on obscene. You can see kids getting whacked and domestic violence. There have been fights at WDW and I just saw a video of a man getting pepper sprayed at Disney Land. You do not want to get anywhere near a Brazilian Tour Group. I have seen loud drunks at EPCOT, I might have been a bit tipsy once or twice myself walking around the world. :confused2: My mom saw a couple, shall we say, becoming one with nature on Tom Sawyer Island one trip.

Oh, yeah, people can be flat out rude.

Some of what you see can be really funny. I can't tell you the story about what my wife saw in the women's room near the Kali River Rapid ride. You can get real wet on that ride. :laughing:

Of course if you really want to see strange people go to Hollywood Studios for a Star Wars weekend. You will see all sorts of people dressed up as all sorts of "things." :laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Looks like it's about time to visit Disney world, July trip for the kids. Wife and I are long overdue for a vacation, haven't had a proper one in several years.
Anyone have any tips on Disney?

ScoutCub,

There is an event that Disney does that I think will be of interest to your wife.

If she has a TBN account, have her send me a TBN email so I can send her the link to the event.

If she does NOT have a TBN account, I can post the link to the event. But if I post the link, you have to promise to not look at the link.

Later,
Dan

 

[scoutcub]

ScoutCub,

There is an event that Disney does that I think will be of interest to your wife.

If she has a TBN account, have her send me a TBN email so I can send her the link to the event.

If she does NOT have a TBN account, I can post the link to the event. But if I post the link, you have to promise to not look at the link.

Later,
Dan

Dan -

Hmmmmm....you ol rascal......what do you have up ur sleeve......:laughing:
I can wager whatever it is, it's gonna cost me some $$$$:laughing::laughing:
Which is actually Ok, she deserves a break and some treats. :thumbsup:

Send it and I will forward it. Won't look!


Frank

 

[Ridgewalker]

DO NOT GO TO DISNEY THE FIRST WEEKEND IN JUNE.

Unless things have changed that is when the "Gay Days" take place. We found out about that taking place after all reservations made and vacations scheduled and could not back out. This was about fifteen years ago but still....

Each to his own but we had a twelve year old and an eight year old with us. The...... attendees were for the most part nice. But some would be sure to stand in front of my two girls and make out. My two would stare at them for a second or two then say "YUCK GROSS" as loud as they could and turn away. And I nearly got in a fight for laughing at some guys taking pictures of another....guy who was posing for them. It would have been four, well maybe four and a half, against one. But when they walked over to confront me I apologized and my wife and I ended up talking to them for a while. Saw the same group a couple more times later that day and they always waved at the girls and spoke to us.

Really heartbreaking to see some drop dead gorgeous gal with a halter top and Daisey Duke shorts walking around with a 'thing' with boots and a chain drive billfold.

One other no-no if you go that week, DO NOT WEAR RED.

We did that once by mistake, we didn't know it was gay week until we got there and by then it was too late.

We were with my wife's best friends family, one morning we agreed to meet them at the line for one of the rides and when we got there the other Dad and I were wearing matching shirts. :laughing:

 

[dmccarty]

Dan -

Hmmmmm....you ol rascal......what do you have up ur sleeve......:laughing:
I can wager whatever it is, it's gonna cost me some $$$$:laughing::laughing:
Which is actually Ok, she deserves a break and some treats. :thumbsup:

Send it and I will forward it. Won't look!


Frank

I am going to send a PM to you. Don't peek! TBN is not allowing me to set the title of the link. If I post the link, you will have a clue.

If she wants to do what I will send in the PM, and if she can pull it off, it costs NOTHING. Yes, NOTHING! At Disney World! Well it did cost the family something but Disney does not charge for this particular event. :laughing:

I just sent a TBM PM to your account. Don't read it!

Later,
Dan
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