tAll Encompassing Disney Thread

[Baboontyme 2762]

Pretty much what I expected and figured. Oh well, it will be nice to get away and take some time off of work. Get the kids out from behind their Fortnite and Roblox for a couple of weeks. 

[Wade 463]

On 7/26/2021 at 1:47 PM, CooterBrown said:

It's not.  There's nothing there. There's Web Slingers, which I passed on due to the wait. My wife and kids said they wouldn't do it again.  They unintentionally created a furnance for the queue. It's on bright concrete and the walls are metal. It just radiates heat like a solar oven. They put in some industrial fans on top of the wall but they don't help that much. There's Pym's Test Kitchen and the Shwarma trailer.  I did have a breakfast shwarma since that's about the only thing open for breakfast in CA.  It was good.  The big plus is that they always have a variety of characters out on the balcony. However, it's surprisingly far away. We had a debate whether the blonde was Captain Marvel or Black Widow. It was too far away to even tell what her costume looked like.  Same thing with the jet. It's so far away, you barely notice it's there. The jumping Spiderman? That never happened once. I assume it was broken and they haven't been able to fix it. A random guy there said he'd been there a half dozen times since it debuted and hasn't seen it once. As far as the design, the buildings don't look like anything in particular. Wow, a brick wall that says "Stark something". Wow a metal wall with the Avengers logo. Cool.  

 

That's a pretty spot on characterization of the attraction.  My kids' two cousins are staying for the week and wanted to see the Avengers thing, so took them to CA yesterday.  We didn't even manage to get into the virtual queue for the Web Slingers, but I saw the line and didn't mind at all.  There's just not much to the whole thing.

Park was crowded, day was hot as hell and a beat down.   Waited over an hour for the Cars Racing ride.  Tried to talk the wife into us going into the single rider line, which was about a ten minute wait, but she wasn't having it.  Have no idea why they can't line the wait lines with inexpensive umbrellas, would make a big difference not being directly baked by the sun.

However, the day was saved by the short lines at the big roller coaster at the pier.  Kids absolutely loved it and went four times in a row.  Still talking about it today.

[Wade 463]

Pro tip.  If you're visiting DL and driving, do NOT park in the Mickey and Friends parking structure.  They used to have trams to take guests the half mile or so from the ramp to the park.  Now, the guests have to WALK!  I was shocked and pissed off today to learn this.  Nothing like being overheated and tired before you even enter the fucking park!  And even better to walk back when you're on your last energy reserves (Wetzels saved us tonight).  I don't know what's gotten into Disney but not liking it

Probably should add (cause reading this sounds like first world problems) that I have a weak-ass heart (heart failure and all that) and I "ration" my energy on things like a day at Disney.  This shit this morning set me off as a massive, unneeded waste of "heart energy", but I survived the day.

Last edit: Rise of the Resistance is amazing

Edited August 6, 2021 by Wade

[CooterBrown 17760]

8 hours ago, Wade said:

Pro tip.  If you're visiting DL and driving, do NOT park in the Mickey and Friends parking structure.  They used to have trams to take guests the half mile or so from the ramp to the park.  Now, the guests have to WALK!  I was shocked and pissed off today to learn this.  Nothing like being overheated and tired before you even enter the fucking park!  And even better to walk back when you're on your last energy reserves (Wetzels saved us tonight).  I don't know what's gotten into Disney but not liking it

Probably should add (cause reading this sounds like first world problems) that I have a weak-ass heart (heart failure and all that) and I "ration" my energy on things like a day at Disney.  This shit this morning set me off as a massive, unneeded waste of "heart energy", but I survived the day.

Last edit: Rise of the Resistance is amazing

Something I just thought of...if you are driving, you can park in the Hyatt Regency (on South Harbor) parking lot that is behind the hotel. It's huge since it's built to handle conference center traffic. Last time I rented a car 5 years ago, it was $20/day. You could then take the private Hyatt Disney shuttle that costs $10 adult, $5 kid/day. There's a ticket kiosk in the lobby.  It leaves from the front of the hotel at 0:15 & 0:45. It leaves the park at :00 & :30. It runs from about 90 before park open to 1 hour past close. The shuttle stop at the park is about 200 yards from the ticket plaza.  Of course, I'd call and verify that the parking lot is still open for non-guests.

Edited August 6, 2021 by CooterBrown

[mdmost 42490]

I'd think your best bet is to Uber from your hotel and have them drop you off on Harbor Blvd right near the entrance. I believe there's a rideshare area just off that near where the Anaheim bus system goes through. That's a much easier walk than from the parking structure. 

[CooterBrown 17760]

I'd think your best bet is to Uber from your hotel and have them drop you off on Harbor Blvd right near the entrance. I believe there's a rideshare area just off that near where the Anaheim bus system goes through. That's a much easier walk than from the parking structure. 

Yep. It’s right next to the shuttle bus stop.

I will say it’s damn near impossible to get an Uber there right now. When we arrived at John Wayne on a Monday early afternoon, it took over 30 minutes for a driver to pick up my request. It also cost $120 to get to the Hyatt Regency. Didn’t want to do that again so we did a town car service on the way back for $65.

[mdmost 42490]

Paid Fastpass is coming but it seems more like the DLR Maxpass system with a bit of pay extra to go straight to 7D or Radiator Racers front of the line mixed in.

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/08/18/paid-fastpass-is-coming-to-disney-world-soon-and-its-called-disney-genie/?utm_content=bufferbdb4d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[The Dog 43483]

fuck this paid fastpass/Genie+ shit. 

[ROFL BOX 6622]

You’re going right through the middle of fuck everybody land. FL has been slam packed all summer. We’ve been at our place since school let out and I’ve never seen so many people down this far. It also hasn’t been the usual crowd we normally deal with, it’s been a little more rough around the edges.

¿Where do you live?

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

[mdmost 42490]

10 hours ago, The Dog said:

fuck this paid fastpass/Genie+ shit. 

I don't mind the paid FP stuff since that's pretty much what Maxpass was and it helped us enjoy our Disneyland vacations the two times we used it. I do mind the surge pricing on individual rides that you used to be able to get Fastpasses for like 7DMT, Radiator Racers, Space Mountain, and Test Track. That's bullshit but Chapek is going to try to pull every nickel out of the pockets of people who don't want to wait. At least our DLR trip is a ways out so I can take advantage of other people's strategies with the new system. 

[Brew 2917]

18 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

¿Where do you live?

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk
 

9 months of the year in TN, 3 months in Sanibel, FL.

[DonkeyCigars 144]

On 8/23/2021 at 9:17 AM, mdmost said:

I don't mind the paid FP stuff since that's pretty much what Maxpass was and it helped us enjoy our Disneyland vacations the two times we used it. I do mind the surge pricing on individual rides that you used to be able to get Fastpasses for like 7DMT, Radiator Racers, Space Mountain, and Test Track. That's bullshit but Chapek is going to try to pull every nickel out of the pockets of people who don't want to wait. At least our DLR trip is a ways out so I can take advantage of other people's strategies with the new system. 

I love this. I’ll happily pay for the privilege of less wait times. 

[mdmost 42490]

Since I feel like we're out of the Delta woods now, I can post about our Labor Day trip to WDW.

We had a blast. We arrived late Thursday, Sept 2nd and got to take advantage of the low crowds at MK on Friday. We stayed at the Swan which was excellent. We took the Boardwalk bus over to MK, walked to Hollywood Studios, took the boats home from there and over to Epcot. Loved the pools and queen beds at the Swan. It wasn't quite staying in a Disney resort but it worked well for what we needed which was quick access to Hollywood Studios for our two mornings there. Mask compliance seemed really good. Cast Members would remind guests before they walked into an indoor ride to put up the mask. We never felt worried about being in too tight of a crowd. The crowd levels definitely increased as the weekend commenced on Saturday. I don't believe the 1s and 2s that Touring Plans was saying on Saturday and Sunday. It was definitely more crowded and Delta was not dissuading people from coming to WDW. We got there early every morning to get a lot in before taking a break around 2-3 when it was way too hot. Our cooling towels were very helpful with dealing with all that heat.


9/3- Magic Kingdom:

Most of the rides were walk ons in the morning. We got there early and rode 7 Dwarves at Rope Drop. We rode Big Thunder, Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Splash all before 11 am. We then went over to Space Mountain since it was a walk on before going through the other Fantasyland rides. Left around 2:30 to go back to swim at the hotel. Came back around 6pm to a 2 hour downpour so all we could do was Hall of Presidents. Finished the night with watching the fireworks.

9/4- Hollywood Studios/Epcot
Woke up early and got boarding group 41 for Rise. I had been practicing with the app and was thinking it would be no issues given the low crowd levels I had seen and boarding groups being available for a while. Not the case on Saturday. They were gone by the time my selection had completed and I felt lucky getting one. We walked on Smuggler's Run twice which was fun. Loved the theming in GE and as a big Star Wars nerd, I was in awe of everything. Our BG was called around 11:30 so we headed back and rode RoTR which was fantastic. We then headed out around 12:30. Took a break till 4 and headed to Epcot. It was super busy with the Remy ride crowd. We went counter clockwise around the World Showcase, grabbing beer for me and caramel treats for the family in Germany before hitting Frozen and Grand Fiesta Tour. Finished the night with Spaceship Earth and the every trip picture we have to get which is a recreation of the trip I took with my family when I was 8. We try to position ourselves in the same manner as that photo from 1986 (me for my dad, wife standing in place for my mom, older daughter in place for my brother, younger daughter for me). It was a nice end to a long day.

9/5- Hollywood Studios/back to MK
Woke up early and rope dropped Slinky Dog. We were able to walk on Slinky Dog, Alien Saucers, and Midway Mania, all before 9am. We got Woody's Lunch Box pop tarts and then headed to Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. Younger daughter was scared to ride ToT but loved it. She's ridden the similar Guardian ride in California Adventure. RnRC was a long wait and a very hot queue. It's a great ride but they need more shade there. ToT was a decent wait but at least it's mostly covered. I forgot just how hot HS gets with all that concrete. Rode the Minnie and Mickey's ride. We really enjoyed that as we had no idea it was a ride where the cars separated like Remy's. It was great and a nice replacement for Great Movie ride. Went back to the hotel to rest before heading back to MK. Older daughter and I did the Boo Bash while my wife and younger daughter rode some Fantasyland rides and went back to get in the pool for an evening swim. 

Boo Bash- the sole purpose for older daughter and me doing Boo Bash was to let her beat her personal record of 7 Space Mountain rides in one trip. We walked on Big Thunder Mountain twice and timed it just right on the 2nd ride so we were on it when the fireworks started overhead. We then walked on Haunted Mansion before starting our 8 straight rides of Space Mountain. We got Mickey Bars and Sandwiches and multiple waters to stay hydrated. By ride #5, my stomach was starting to feel it. I was relieved when we finally got done with ride #8. It was a walk on the entire time and they had both sides open so we alternated Alpha and Omega with every ride. We then walked by Mine Train but it was still a 30 minute wait so we passed. We rode Haunted Mansion one more time before heading out. It was a fun yet expensive way for me to have some great bonding time with my older one.

9/6- Animal Kingdom
We got there around 7:30 and walked back to Pandora. We waited maybe 20 minutes to get on Flights of Passage. Enjoyed it but I don't think I need to go back and do it again. Same with Navi River Journey. The animatronic was missing at the end so we got a screen with an animated shaman which wasn't as good. We then hit up the Dinosaur ride, though the Indiana Jones version is so much better at Disneyland. I think they should go ahead and switch that over. You could make the area an archaeology exhibit. We then rode Expedition Everest which was a 15 minute wait before heading towards the Tree of Life get our picture. We had a late check out of 1pm at the Swan so we went back to pack up and make the sad journey back to MCO.

All in all, it was a great trip. Only lost my cool with my kids once or twice. It always seemed to be around the 2pm time when it was super hot and they were super whiny. Wife and I decided it was good to call it quits and take a break when we see the signs that things are going south. We didn't have many complaints other than guests being a bit crappy like families trying to skip around others or parents yelling at their kids. There was some fun karma for one family trying to get around us in the line for Minnie and Mickey. Around the front entrance there's a wide area in the line and I notice a dad edging around the people behind us, cutting them off. When we got to the Fastpass break, the cast member let us through and then held the line behind us and let about 30 people through behind us from that Fastpass line. I saw the dad who was trying to skip around us act all huffy as he then was way behind an entire new set of people. I don't understand the mindset of trying to skip around people in a line that might save you a minute.

One negative that I wish Disney would do away with is the biometric finger scanner. That slowed the line down multiple times because the scanner wouldn't recognize things. It happened to us a few times and that's just frustrating for everyone. 

We navigated the lack of Fastpass pretty well. It just takes good planning and getting there early every day to not be stuck with really long wait times. I'll be honest, in the 95+ degree heat, I would've gladly paid extra to skip the Aerosmith queue. If Genie+ was an option, I would've taken it. I'm a big fan of Maxpass in DLR. If Genie+ is like that, I'll be golden.

Disney needs more shows and parades to offset the crowds and give them somewhere to go other than rides. The calvades are okay but they don't replace a cool nighttime parade. Crowds were really bad leaving MK after the fireworks. I don't know if they had the left side pathway open so you could bypass Main Street as we were on the right both times. We plan to wait until the Tron and Guardians rides are both open before we make a return trip. We have an after school summer trip to Disneyland scheduled for late May 2022. We find we're more Disneyland people as it just fits us better being a smaller, more easily walkable park. WDW is still magical but it's such an investment of time and money that it creates a lot of stress on the planner (me) if we can't get everything in. We were able to this time but it was not as easy as DLR. Things felt a bit of a blur and I don't really feel I was ever able to stop and enjoy things like I can at Disneyland. We did talk about trying to stay at the Polynesian next time as we'll focus that trip more on MK and Epcot when they are fully back up and running with the new rides. Walking to Hollywood Studios was f'ing fantastic. The Swan was a great hotel for doing that especially with the Friendship boats that could take you home after a hot walk in that park. 

Delta was in my mind while we were there but I honestly never felt that worried about it. We would mask up when necessary. However, we did not eat at an inside restaurant the entire time, save the Dolphin hotel restaurant on our last day that was pretty empty. I was more worried when we were at DFW and our terminal changed and the entire flight of people were all forced to race to the tram to all cram together for a trip from Terminal C to Terminal B. We did KN95 masks for the two airport portions. Mask compliance was pretty good at all the parks. We were only really worried for our non-vaxxed 11 year old but we send her every day on a school bus full of kids for 45 minutes both ways and 7 hours of sitting indoors 5 days a week. We just tried to stay smart with our risks. So that meant cancelling things like Oga's Cantina, Ohana's and Sci Fi Restaurant. We just stuck to quick service and ate outdoors. It was hot but not too awful. I don't know how people from northern states can hack being in that Florida heat. At least Dallas can feel like that at times so we were more ready for it. I saw Rise of the Resistance is about to go to Standby only until the Genie+ pay option comes online. I'd hate to have to sit in that line for a couple hours. That's a bit of a if it's not broke, don't fix it to me. But Chapek is all about the nickel and diming of guests now. I'm glad we got to go before Genie+ was a factor. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by mdmost

[Baboontyme 2762]

MD is there currently zero option for fast pass/max pass/whatever the new system is? I am considering the after hours Christmas party now that my wife and kids all are sick. Might as well take advantage of a few months of elevated immunity. We would probably do a couple of park days around it. 

[mdmost 42490]

There's Fastpass if someone in your party qualifies for disability access services. We saw tons of people blow by us that Fastpass lane. The Genie+ option is supposed to start next month but I think it's going to be clunky for a while. I think it will definitely be worth it when it's ready to go. I would've loved blowing past the lines at Hollywood Studios when it was 90+ in direct sun. I didn't ride Peter Pan because the line was never short enough to give it time. Kid didn't want to ride it at Boo Bash. Wife and younger daughter rode it after they left us when we went to do the Boo Bash but they waited 30 minutes around the fireworks time. Genie+ would allow you to skip that line so totally worth it. 

I'd say the key is just getting their early in the morning not necessarily rope drop but around that, doing a before hours or after hours hotel guests benefit(Deluxe hotels get more I believe, including the Swan and Dolphin) though that's only 30 minutes in the morning but I believe 2 hours in the evening, or doing an after hours experience like you're planning but it ain't cheap. The Boo Bash was perfect for us because we only wanted to ride rides. We didn't worry about candy or wearing costumes. We could've ridden everything in MK except 7 Dwarves over and over. It was great. Though others have gotten there when it rained the whole time and all the outdoor rides were down. It's Florida, you never know what you might get weather wise. 

Edited September 22, 2021 by mdmost

[Baboontyme 2762]

Thank you sir. Genie is rolling out 10/1? Maybe I'll see what that's like before I decide. I'm sure it will be a cluster but I would be all about paying more to avoid lines. Not quite to the point where I'd instruct my kids to pretend they have scurvy but...

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3859]

1 hour ago, Baboontyme said:

Thank you sir. Genie is rolling out 10/1? Maybe I'll see what that's like before I decide. I'm sure it will be a cluster but I would be all about paying more to avoid lines. Not quite to the point where I'd instruct my kids to pretend they have scurvy but...

It either rolls out in the next day or two or after the Columbus weekend school break. Disney won't risk any rollout issues flubbing up the WDW 50th anniversary.  MK opened Oct 1 1971.

Best thing is not having to make FP ressies 60 days out. 

Edited September 22, 2021 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[SimonBolivar 10697]

On 8/24/2021 at 10:35 PM, DonkeyCigars said:

I love this. I’ll happily pay for the privilege of less wait times. 

Yeah that's not what this will end up being. It isn't expensive enough to price out anyone so basically you (and everyone else in the park) is going to be paying for the same fastpass service that was free before Covid. The writing was on the wall that this was going to happen for years and Chapek is gonna Chapek.

Edited September 22, 2021 by SimonBolivar

[Baboontyme 2762]

I don't know man. Have you ever been to WDW or even Florida in general? At least 50% of that population I'm not certain are sophisticated enough to eat soup with a spoon. 

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3859]

4 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

Yeah that's not what this will end up being. It isn't expensive enough to price out anyone so basically you (and everyone else in the park) is going to be paying for the same fastpass service that was free before Covid. The writing was on the wall that this was going to happen for years and Chapek is gonna Chapek.

Disney started down the Vegas road of catering to the whales before Chapek.  With COVID they don't have the cheap labor anymore(They are trying to get the college program back up and running but still can't get the foreign nationals that used to staff the world showcase at EPCOT) and are leaning into catering to the biggest spenders even more.

[mdmost 42490]

The queue this morning for the first day of the Rise of the Resistance standby queue was 180 minutes. F that shit. I thought this was a perfect tweet for exactly why it's happening. 

 

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3859]

53 minutes ago, mdmost said:

The queue this morning for the first day of the Rise of the Resistance standby queue was 180 minutes. F that shit. I thought this was a perfect tweet for exactly why it's happening. 

 

Meant to ask the question yesterday of did they price Genie+ high enough to not end up with hour waits in the 'Lightning Lane' and push standby out to hours of wait time.  

I'll try to find the post I read one of the  Disney boards that figured out for a family of four at a moderate for a week that Genie+ is only a 5% surcharge on total cost(room, park tickets, quick serve only food) and goes down from there for staying at a deluxe and eating at full service.

EDIT- just read RotR dropped the boarding group lottery system yesterday and was put on standby only in preparation for rolling out Genie+

Edited September 23, 2021 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[Okie State 3708]

We're going a month from tomorrow and I have no idea what to expect on ride wait times. So it sounds like Fast Pass is gone and Genie+ may or may not be rolled out next month. Is that right?

[mdmost 42490]

Yeah, Genie+ should be up by then. Give me your exact dates and I'll look up what Touring Plans says for the days you're going. 

[SimonBolivar 10697]

2 hours ago, mdmost said:

The queue this morning for the first day of the Rise of the Resistance standby queue was 180 minutes. F that shit. I thought this was a perfect tweet for exactly why it's happening. 

 

Every new attraction will effectively be an upcharge attraction like a Skycoaster is at Six Flags. Fun.

[SimonBolivar 10697]

12 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Touring Plans says for the days you're going. 

Speaking of, everyone knows about their reservation finder right? I've been able to get every restaurant I've wanted with that thing.

[SimonBolivar 10697]

Like usual it looks like WDW is inflating wait times. This is usually a good thing, but now they're going to want you buying LL and this could cause some shit. Yesterday they had RotR listed at 80 minutes but was only 15 in reality.

 

It must be dead in the parks right now. I loved visiting in late September before the wife got a teaching job.

[mdmost 42490]

I imagine it's low because it's a week before the 50th anniversary starts. I bet it's going to be a shitfest in October through early December. 

[RexWilson 1341]

Anyone made a DL trip in the past few months? It seems masks are still required indoors and wanted to see how accurate/enforced it is.

How are the lines and social distancing when waiting for a ride? Kids are too young to be vaccinated so trying to evaluate the situation. Thinking about going the 2nd or 3rd week of Nov.

[CooterBrown 17760]

Anyone made a DL trip in the past few months? It seems masks are still required indoors and wanted to see how accurate/enforced it is.
How are the lines and social distancing when waiting for a ride? Kids are too young to be vaccinated so trying to evaluate the situation. Thinking about going the 2nd or 3rd week of Nov.

I went a few months back. No enforcement, no social distancing at all. We wore masks anyway.

[mdmost 42490]

Genie+ starts the week of October 19th. Here's the list of the extra ones you would have to pay for and how much it might cost. Not a fan of Expedition Everest and Space Mountain being ones you have to pay extra for. A little shocked Slinky Dog isn't on the pay extra per ride list. 

[LW Goatman 1117]

Headed there in two weeks. I've been to WDW 7/8 times with the family though its been 3 years. Will be interesting to see crowds based on first month of 50th. Got reservations to Space 220. Will pay for whatever I have to not to stand in extended lines. Will report back on FL heathens and euro trash. 

[Okie State 3708]

Genie+ starts the week of October 19th. Here's the list of the extra ones you would have to pay for and how much it might cost. Not a fan of Expedition Everest and Space Mountain being ones you have to pay extra for. A little shocked Slinky Dog isn't on the pay extra per ride list. 

So is this saying for a family of four it could cost $120 extra per day to skip the lines on some of those rides?

[CooterBrown 17760]

So is this saying for a family of four it could cost $120 extra per day to skip the lines on some of those rides?

Everybody’s gonna pay extra. It’s not expensive enough to be a deterrent. Unless they limit the number of Genie passes per day, those lines may be longer than the poors line.

[Yesh 904]

Anyone have recent experience with having a car at WDW?  We are staying at animal kingdom hotel and plan to go to all 4 parks plus universal.  Previous trips we used magical express for airport, bus to parks, and Uber for universal.  I'm trying to decide if we can save time driving to parks vs waiting for the bus, or is it a hassle to walk from the parking lot, lines to enter/exit parking lot at peak hours, etc.  Plus I hate Uber and covid safety.

[Baboontyme 2762]

Driving is easy other than MK. Best bet for MK is to park at the Contemporary and walk. You can valet or if you have a dining reservation they'll let you just park there. Or you can lie. It's not as easy as getting dropped off at the front gates with Uber but I would rather drive than have to wait for and load onto buses personally. 

[Dutch 4456]

On 10/8/2021 at 3:08 PM, mdmost said:

Genie+ starts the week of October 19th. Here's the list of the extra ones you would have to pay for and how much it might cost. Not a fan of Expedition Everest and Space Mountain being ones you have to pay extra for. A little shocked Slinky Dog isn't on the pay extra per ride list. 

So basically the only rides most people care about are now $7 - $15 each time you ride? Is that on top of the standard $15/day Genie+? 

Our family of three is planning on going in Feb 2022, and I figured The Mouse was going to have to make up for the lost revenue of limited park admissions in some areas... but damn. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Dutch

[mdmost 42490]

No, you can ride them on standby. They're $7-$15 if you don't want to wait. It's 2 rides per park. A lot of the popular rides are there for people to get with the $15 a day deal like Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Test Track, Soarin, Slinky Dog (which is always a pain in the ass to try to do standby for), Tower of Terror, and the AK Safari. That's a lot of rides I'd be fine with paying to skip the waits for them. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by mdmost

[Yesh 904]

1 hour ago, Baboontyme said:

Driving is easy other than MK. Best bet for MK is to park at the Contemporary and walk. You can valet or if you have a dining reservation they'll let you just park there. Or you can lie. It's not as easy as getting dropped off at the front gates with Uber but I would rather drive than have to wait for and load onto buses personally. 

So no long lines at the car parking lot entrance around park opening time?  I'm remembering some of the bad experiences at sporting events.

 

Also, if you haven't heard magical express no longer does luggage or flight check-in.  I'm looking at Avis preferred at the airport.

[Baboontyme 2762]

I've done rope drop multiple times at each of the parks, we've always driven, and I've never had any issues with traffic flow. At MK you might have a 3-4 car wait to pay for parking at the TTC but that's about it (and btw if you are going to the Contemporary you don't have to pay the $25 or whatever it is at the TTC booth, just tell them you're going to Contemporary for Chef Mickey's). The only time I have parked at the Contemporary and NOT had reservations for Chef Mickey's, I tried to do valet and flat out told them that we wanted to park and walk. They looked at me like I was stupid. They were like uhh, just go park over there then, why are you paying us $25 for valet? I said uh, I felt like I should pay for parking since I didn't at the TTC booth. They again looked at me like I was stupid. 

 

I should add it's been a few years (before Rona but < 5) so things may have changed. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Baboontyme

[mdmost 42490]

Supposedly they have you present your MDE app at the Contemporary parking gate so they can check if you really have the Chef Mickey reservation you claim to have. I base this on people on Disboards who said not to do the Uber to the Contemporary for that reason. 

[Zepol87 9028]

 Have an Orlando work trip early December. GF will be joining me and neither of us have been to Disney or Universal and probably have 2 days we will visit and I won't be working. Haven't read much of the thread yet but if you had 2 days what would you choose to do? I want to see the Star Wars stuff at Disney and she is more interested in Harry Potter stuff but Disney is what we are leaning towards. 

[mdmost 42490]

Where are you staying? If you can stay onsite for either, that's a better way to go for perks, especially at Universal which has better options like the low wait benefit if you stay at one of their hotels. I mean you could do both parks. Do Hollywood Studios for the Star Wars Land part. Do Universal for the Harry Potter world. You could do both separately in a full day at each. Harry Potter Land is basically 1 ride in the Hogsmeade part, a train ride to get you to the other land, and then 3 rides in the other land. 

If you only want to do Disney and are planning to stay in a resort, book 2 nights at the Swan or Dolphin hotel. You can walk to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios or you can take a bus to Magic Kingdom. Plus, you'd get access to the early morning or late evening hours if you stay there on certain days. If you want to do the Genie+ ride skip where you pay $15 to walk on Rise of the Resistance (worth it), you'll need to be staying onsite as those passes go really quickly. 

[Zepol87 9028]

Just found out about the teip a few days ago so didn't have anything planned. Looking at your hotel recs now 

[mdmost 42490]

If your lady friend would prefer Universal for Harry Potter, we stayed here and really enjoyed it. We're more of a Disney family but the perks are better at Universal. Like I said in the previous post, staying onsite at Universal gets you walk on access for the Harry Potter rides (not sure on the newest one thought) which is nice. That may have changed since we went but it was nice because you could also get into the parks an hour earlier than the non-resort folks which made the crowds easier to navigate. It's a short boat ride to the parks or you can walk it. The Universal hotel didn't make me feel like I was being overcharged like a Disney hotel does. We stayed here but the Portofino Bay hotel is also nice. They're equidistant to the parks. I think the Hard Rock Hotel is the closest to the parks. The two parks are separated by the CityWalk entertainment area whereas the Disney parks are massively spread out. If you're only doing the Harry Potter stuff, you need to buy the park to park ticket and start at the Wizarding World part of Universal Orlando. It only has the one ride but has the Diagon Alley part which is fun for Potter nerds. We bought our kids wands that allowed them to interact with different parts of the area. There's HP shops and restaurants. You then take the train "ride" over to Hogsmeade which has the village and 2 rides which are far superior to the one in the other park. We spent a whole day doing both Harry Potter areas with a small break in the middle to go back and swim at the hotel.

https://www.loewshotels.com/royal-pacific-resort

If you do Disney, I really enjoyed the Swan since it's a Westin property. I didn't feel like we were overpaying for a nice room and you'll definitely overpay for Disney theming at their resorts. If you don't care about theming and just want to go to the parks, Swan/Dolphin is pretty nice as it's technically considered a Deluxe Disney Resort so you get the early morning/late evening select night perks and the ability to get the Genie+ selections at 7 am. You'd want that for the Rise of the Resistance advanced purchase Fastpass as those may sellout by early morning. You also can't beat the ability to walk to Hollywood Studios. It's maybe 15 minutes from the hotel. On the way back, you can take the boats and they'll drop you off at the Swan/Dolphin first before going towards Epcot. For Magic Kingdom, you can walk over to the Boardwalk Hotel bus stop which is under 10 minutes from the Swan and jump on a Disney bus right to Magic Kingdom. The buses at the Swan don't go straight to MK, it drops you off at the Transportation Center and you'll have to take the ferry or Monorail into MK. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8789]

Definitely do hollywood studios if you are only there
For a day or 2. MK is classic but I dunno. Feels like you should have a kid with you if you’re there, id probably skip and do it another time with more available days or you brought kids..Epcot world stuff would be fun to do, without kids so I’d give that a shot and no offense to animal kingdom fans but I’d tell you to skip that even tho avatar land is as equally impressive as Star Wars land in terms of design and rides


If neither of you care what you do, I’d do one day HS and one day at universal

[Knoxtnhorn 5908]

Hey @Zepol87

I know @mdmost has everyone covered on this thread re: info.  As mentioned on another page, my daughter is currently down there interning.  She did say that the Hagrid ride at Universal is the best coaster she's ever been on ... and we've been to quite a few different theme parks.  She would also give a +1 to HW studios if given one day at a park.

[Yesh 904]

Hagrid and Velocicoaster do not have Express lines, but we find it is worth buying anyways because you can get on any other ride with less than 15 min wait.  Standing in line for 45-60 min for those isn't so bad if that is the only line you wait in all day.  Hagrid is our favorite ride, but Velocicoaster is intense.

 

Our last trip we were able to go to all 4 Disney parks in the same day (last day of the trip, we had already been to each on previous days), but I wouldn't recommend it.  You can definitely do everything at Hollywood by afternoon and then park hop to Epcot for dinner/drinking.  The line for ROTR was 90-120 minutes without the Lightning pass, and yes they sell out soon after 7am.  If you don't have a Lightning pass get to the park at open and go straight there, the families with little kids will go to Slinky Dog instead.

[SimonBolivar 10697]

On 10/22/2021 at 7:19 PM, mdmost said:

Where are you staying? If you can stay onsite for either, that's a better way to go for perks, especially at Universal which has better options like the low wait benefit if you stay at one of their hotels. I mean you could do both parks. Do Hollywood Studios for the Star Wars Land part. Do Universal for the Harry Potter world. You could do both separately in a full day at each. Harry Potter Land is basically 1 ride in the Hogsmeade part, a train ride to get you to the other land, and then 3 rides in the other land. 

If you only want to do Disney and are planning to stay in a resort, book 2 nights at the Swan or Dolphin hotel. You can walk to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios or you can take a bus to Magic Kingdom. Plus, you'd get access to the early morning or late evening hours if you stay there on certain days. If you want to do the Genie+ ride skip where you pay $15 to walk on Rise of the Resistance (worth it), you'll need to be staying onsite as those passes go really quickly. 

We Ubered to California Grill in July and they just waived the Uber through, but then again it was a dinner reservation.

Edited October 26, 2021 by SimonBolivar

[SimonBolivar 10697]

On 10/24/2021 at 8:36 AM, Knoxtnhorn said:

Hey @Zepol87

I know @mdmost has everyone covered on this thread re: info.  As mentioned on another page, my daughter is currently down there interning.  She did say that the Hagrid ride at Universal is the best coaster she's ever been on ... and we've been to quite a few different theme parks.  She would also give a +1 to HW studios if given one day at a park.

She's not wrong. Hagrid might be the most enjoyable "thrill" ride I've ever been on.