Disney tips? Travel tips?

[dmccarty]

We try to surprise the kids every trip with something new. Last trip was the Surfing Lessons.

On the kids first trip to WDW we took two days to drive down to Orlando. The kids did NOT know where we were going. They asked. They guessed. They begged to know. :laughing: But we would not say.

We were going to stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort(CBR). On the second day of the drive, a few hours before we got to WDW, the kids were really driving us nuts with the begging and guessing about our destination. :laughing: They asked again if we were going to the beach. To their other question we would answer no, I do not know, or I am not telling. This time I said, "Yes, we are going to a beach." :laughing: I did not lie.

The hard part was driving through Orlando down I4 because of all of the signs for Disney, Sea World, Universal, etc but we timed it right and they were in traveling mode so they were reading and watching a video. :thumbsup: They never saw a sign!

However, when we slowed down, turned right, drove onto WDW and the kids saw the BIG WDW sign across the road it was wonderful. The kids were kinda speechless for a second or two. One was too young to be able to read, but the oldest could read, and they both could see the Disney Characters! :laughing: They started yelling, screaming and saying, "Are we at Disney?" with awe and hope in their voices which then became, "We are at Disney." as they realized that they WERE at WDW. Then they went into screaming, "I knew we were gong to Disney!" That one moment was worth every cent we paid to go to WDW and we had not even been on property for five minutes. :laughing:

The resorts all have security now. Big change from when I was a kid. When we pulled up to the guard shack at CBR, I pointed out the Caribbean Beach Resort sign to our oldest and said, "See I told you we were going to the beach."

This is a hard surprise to pull but there are others you can do at WDW.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Down Town Disney can be a fun place to go as well. We finally made it over there last trip. Food is much better and better priced. We really like Wolfgang Pucks Pizza. There is a Lego store at DTD that should be seen if the kids or the adults like Legos. I was very jealous of the kids since I did not have a Lego store to go to as a kid.

There is a place called Disney Quest that is a multistory game room. If you get passes for the water parks you get access to Disney Quest as well. This could be a good place to go if it is raining or hot. I had hoped to make it to Disney Quest but we did not get there.

Somewhere in DTD there is a place you can buy oysters that have pearls. Japan in EPCOT on the first floor does this as well. You buy the oyster, they open it for you and you get the pearl. You can then get the pearl mounted in jewelry you pick out. The last time I looked at prices it was not bad. One day I figure one of the kids will like to Pick A Pearl.

One of the hidden pearls at Disney are the Cast Members. Most of them are paid very little, some are in the College Program, others are career employees, while some work at WDW because they love the place. They all have to deal with stressed out rude twits. Some of the most memorable events at WDW have been with the Cast Members.

One trip we had a major SNAFU. I mentioned I plan in a spreadsheet which park we will go to for each day of the trip. Laugh at me as you wish. One day The Spreadsheet said that we should go to Animal Kingdom because it had morning EMH. Did I mention why we do morning EMH? :laughing: My parents were with us and we were waiting at the bus stop. We were at Animal Kingdom Lodge which is five minutes away from Animal Kingdom so the buses run back and forth pretty quickly. After 15 minutes or so there is no bus and I start to doubt The Spreadsheet. One of the rules at WDW is to take what a bus drive tells you with a block of salt. Having said that, a bus pulled up and I asked if Animal Kingdom was open? He checked the schedule, that you can pick up at the front desk, and said nope it was not open but Hollywood Studios was open. So we hoped on the bus to go to Hollywood Studios....

We get to Hollywood studios and there are not other buses. No crowds. Hmmmm....

We walked up the gates and there was a good dozen or so Cast Members trimming the shrubs. The looked at us. We looked at them. :laughing: This was not right. Obviously the park was NOT opened. :laughing: The bushes they were trimming were Hibiscus and were blooming. They cut off some flowers and gave it to my mom, the girls and the wifey. :thumbsup: We wandered back to the bus stop wonder how in the heck we were going to get to Animal Kingdom. Just then a van drove up and the driver happened to be a bus manager. He asked what was going on, we told him, he said hop in and I will take you to Animal Kingdom. So we did. :laughing:

I am sure that the Cast Members at the gate radioed in that there were some lost Guests at the gates who needed to be picked up. :laughing:

We had a great conversation with him on the ride. We talked about the bus system, how the buses are dispatched, how many there are, I think he said 900, etc. It was a great little event.

Here is the thing. So many WDW Guests would have flipped out over this situation. He dropped us off at the front of Animal Kingdom. We missed the opening by a few minutes which is no big deal. The women and girls in the group cut fresh cut flowers to wear and we had a very nice little diversion. Many Guests would have been pitching a fit about the bus driver, how they missed rope drop, the vacation is ruined, what are you gong to do to make this right?, yada yada yada. We really enjoyed the SNAFU.

By the way the reason the bus driver gave out the wrong information was this happened on a Tues or Weds which is the day the NEW schedule comes out. The driver looked at the old schedule. :laughing: TRUST The Spreadsheet!

One day the oldest and I went back to the resort from Magic Kingdom. When we got on the bus we were the ONLY people on the bus besides the driver. We sat up front and had a long talk with him. He was a great guy named Dan. :thumbsup: He asked where we were from and we said NC. He said he used to live in Elizabeth City NC, so I guessed he had been in the Coast Guard. Which he had. He had been born in Orlando and had grown up there as well. We had lots in common talking about NC, how Orlando had changed, etc.

We have had wonderful CM conversations with the landscapers, sanitation guys, College Program kids from Africa, and boat captains.

The Cast Members can really add a bit of extra to your trip if you get lucky.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

At this point I think the kids have had about 35 day at WDW. With that many days some body is going to get sick....

One trip the two kids and myself got very sick. One kid got sick on Weds, the other on Thursday and it hit me on Friday. Really bad fever and chills that came out of the blue. We were to leave on Saturday and I was in really bad shape. I had returned before lunch on Friday when I felt really bad. I just crawled into bed and burned up. It was very iffy if I would be able to drive home on Saturday. The wifey talked to a manager and they would give us another room, our was booked, and we would get a cheap rate. In the end I was well enough to drive. We told them over and over they needed to sterilize the room.

We got home and the Doctors think we had the Swine Flu. Should we call it Oscar Flu?

The wifey did not get sick on that trip but on the next trip it was her turn. South of the WDW property is a Doc in the Box you can visit. They are used to dealing with people at Disney. We knew the general location of the Doc in the Box but the wifey asked for direction as the front desk. They told us and asked if we needed a ride...

Hopefully nobody will need a hospital but there is one near by as well. The Front Desk also has a number for a company that has MD's that will make room calls. It is not cheap but it was not bad when I saw the price.

Like I mentioned before, there is a company that will deliver groceries to he resort for you as well. I do not know if Shades of Green has fridges but if they do, bringing your own food, can save time and money.

Later,
Dan

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Don't ever ever ever go during spring break. The lines are sooooo long, you won't get to ride but a few rides, and there are so many people you can't hardly walk.

I stayed at one of the disney hotels the last time (spring break), the disney hotel was nice because they have busses to the parks, so you don't have to drive.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Does anyone go to Disneyland? 4 days is a good amount of time to see everything there and my understanding is it "feels" much more Disney. I've only been to Disney World once and that was back in 1975 before everything else was there. I honestly could not tell you how many times that we have been to Disneyland. There was a time when we would go every 3-4 weeks, now we only go between 8-10 days a year. Disney is a different place when you are not in any hurry and you know where everything is. Wife says that we would go more if we lived closer. :thumbsup:

 

[johnems]

One great experience to do with a group is to do a rent a pontoon boat and watch the ellumination show. You have to book it very very early but it is a great to see the show at ehwater level. The pick you up about an hour before the show and ride you around the lake and is a great way to see things. I think you can take up to 12 people and when you split the cost it was very reasoanble. Thanks John

 

[Taylortractornut]

I took Amy as she never got to go as a child. If I ever go back I will take a Xanex or valium and a pint of old No. 7 with me. I never had been and Amy wanted to go. Our second trip to St Augustine Florida we went down to Orlando and didnt have a clue what to do or where to go. We got to Down Town Disney and went in. We didnt have alot of time that trip plus it was June and aleady miserable. We had a good time there for the day and especially the Lego store.


Amy got sick and we didnt see any more. The next time we were down we went to back and spent the night in Orlando. She wanted to see the Titanic Museum and we left there early and went to WDW. We went through the The Magic Kingdom around 9 million screaming PO ed kids. We enjoyed it but that evening we went to DTD and ate at Planet Hollywood and ate the worst burger ever. If we go back we will bring our own food.
It was an experience

 

[dmccarty]

One great experience to do with a group is to do a rent a pontoon boat and watch the ellumination show. You have to book it very very early but it is a great to see the show at ehwater level. The pick you up about an hour before the show and ride you around the lake and is a great way to see things. I think you can take up to 12 people and when you split the cost it was very reasoanble. Thanks John

:thumbsup:

We surprised my mom and the kids on trip with an Illumination Cruise at ECPOT. It was not cheap but it was worth every cent to surprise the kids and mom. In all of the trips to Magic Kingdom as a kid she did not get to see the fireworks. We would go with my aunt and she would make us leave before the fireworks were over to avoid the traffic when everyone left the park.

The cruise was a surprise for my mom so she could see the fireworks while sitting down and relaxing. She earned it. My dad knew what we were up to but he did not tell mom. :thumbsup:

The number of boats is very limited so you have to reserve in advance. There is another fireworks cruise in front of Magic Kingdom but I cannot remember its name.

Later,
Dan

 

[Ridgewalker]

I didn't read the whole thread so this may have been posted.
Get a copy of this...

The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2012 [Book]

It's well worth the 10 bucks and will save you time. My wife mapped our days and we never stood in line for too long. We also used the quick pass feature a lot...get a quick pass and then get in line for a different ride. We would come off a ride and dash up the quick pass lane to get right on the next.

We stayed on site both times for 4/5 days. It was a great experience for our kids. I also recommend buying the ride pix...
they make for great memories.

 

[bdeboer]

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.

I like the Wilds in Cumberland, OH better than Animal Kingdom, probably because it is less commercial. The wildside tours from the back of the pickup truck are cool.

The Wilds: Advancing Conservation through Science, Education & Personal Experience - Home

We liked Epcot, Sea World, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom in that order. If you exclude the above experience.