tAll Encompassing Disney Thread

[Skipper 6325]

Found a friend of family that is a travel agent so continued some research and tentatively booked resort through them.  There was a blog post I found that discussed benefits of a "split stay" and that's what I went with.  2 nights at Contemporary on the front end and then 5 nights at AKL 1BR Savannah view thereafter in May.  Bonus of the split stay is purportedly Disney will transfer your luggage for you on your transfer day.  So plan is to hit Magic Kingdom and Epcot on the front end (including transfer day) then move over to AKL and slow the trip down and enjoy additional space.  My concern with AKL for an entire trip was that the busses might get old by the end of the trip.  I figure this way we have walking/monorail option a couple of days to break up any monotony of busses.  Now I have a ton of research on everything else but good to get this part out of the way.  Let me know if anyone sees a fatal flaw in this plan!

[hornbri 1467]

When we went last year we also did a split stay with half the time at AK and half at beach club, it worked well and the luggage transfer worked no problem. 

[mdmost 43321]

Split stay is a smart idea. Your kids will love the Contemporary and you'll love the quick walk to MK and Monorail trip to Epcot.  You'll definitely enjoy starting the beginning of your trip at MK. Take a look at Chef Mickey in the Contemporary if you want to do a character meal with your kids. I'd definitely recommend the park hopper ticket as you may want to go back to MK on the Epcot day or switch parks in the PM. Always a good idea to be flexible and you're already paying a crapload so what's an extra bit for park hopper versus single park tickets?

[Macanudo 13100]

Not sure who has been to DW in the last few weeks/months but Disney has fucked this up royally with the Lighting Pass/Genie+.   I'll do a full report when we get home but we just finished day 3 of a 5 day DW/Universal trip and it's been horrific.  MK and Epcot were clusterfucks on Sunday and Monday.   Hollywood Studios wasn't much netter today.   Multiple rides at each park shut down randomly throughout the day resulting in 30-180 minutes down times.   On more than one occasion we've either been in line when a ride had to close or had our Lightning Pass delayed for several hours due to maintenance issues.

Standby (Regular) line wait times at a significant amount of the "good" rides are  90+ minutes.   Earlier today at Hollywood Studios, Rise of the Resistance had a Standby time of 180 minutes.   It pretty much rained all day and finally around 5:00, the wait time dropped to 75 minutes.  We made our way through line in about 65 minutes.   

It's at the point where you might get 5-6 rides a day even if you pay for upgraded rides.  And don't get me started on food and drink prices and quality.   150% mark up on water and soft drinks.   The "expensive" restaurants in Epcot serve food that's worse than cruise ship quality and the counter service stuff makes Allsup's hot dogs in Wichita Falls seem like gourmet.   

[mdmost 43321]

Yeah, the combo of bringing back FP+ and the constant maintenance issues makes standby being even worse. It pushes the standby to FP riders ratio to a level that balloons wait times. If everything was running right, the standby times wouldn't be as bad. There's actually a bit of sport at Disneyland to fishing for the multi ride pass that you get when a ride goes down and you hold a Lightning Lane pass. The system will convert your LL pass to a multi-ride pass that you can use on other rides with Lightning Lanes. The Matterhorn and Indy rides are really good for getting those. 

I booked our San Diego hotel and Disneyland package for late May/early June last week. This will probably be our last trip for a while. 

[SimonBolivar 10961]

22 minutes ago, mdmost said:

This will probably be our last trip for a while. 

Sad that so many of us are saying that....and then we'll be back in 2024.

[mdmost 43321]

17 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Sad that so many of us are saying that....and then we'll be back in 2024.

Eh for us it's more the wife wants to take the kids other places. We said we'll probably go back to WDW when Tron opens but after a goodish amount of time so that it's not so crazy. We still love DLR but there's just more we need to do. The only reason my wife agreed to this one was we're going to San Diego as well. 

I could see a quick weekend trip to DLR in the next couple of years but we have lots of other cities and places like National Parks we'd like to take our kids to before they leave the house. Going for an extended time is probably over. My younger one loves Super Mario so we may go to Universal Hollywood when Nintendo Land opens up on a long weekend. 

[Macanudo 13100]

I was opposed to this trip when it was decided but one of the Macanudo-ettes is a senior and we've always done a trip that they wanted to do.  She's a Disney maniac even she is done with this shit.   We're back at Hollywood Studios today.  Line rides are all over 60 minutes for anything worth doing with the best at 90+.   

Rise of the Resistance was down the other day for 60 minutes.  Went down again today as well for 30+ minutes.  The ride is barely 2 years old and they can't keep it in working condition.

Noticed as well that just overall upkeep is incredibly shabby.   Paint looks worn out or just plain cracking/flaking off all over.   When we were in Rise of the Resistance there are places where the shoddy craftsmanship on the overall build is evident.  Plywood looks like plywood, gaps in ceiling panels, etc.   And not like a gritty space future is supposed to look.  No, this is low quality effort on Disney's part.

And it's not just rides.   We went to Disney Springs last night for dinner.   Actually had a great meal at City Works (not a Disney owned restaurant) and multiple elevators/escalators were broken.   Waiter told us that some had been down for 10-12 days.  I realize that Covid/Supply issues might  be a problem for them but our waiter said he'd been working at DS for 5 years and it's been a regular and routine issue for 5 years.   The Disney Corp doesn't give a shit about this place anymore as long as dumb fucks keep coming and spending a shit ton.    

I'm sure the annual pass doofuses and the families who make this their annual vacation pilgrimage "because of the kids" will keep coming back and shelling out money because of how awesome this place was 20 years ago.

But I'm done giving these fuckers my money.  And I'm not alone.   We've met quite a few people like us that are just done.

[SimonBolivar 10961]

14 minutes ago, Macanudo said:

I was opposed to this trip when it was decided but one of the Macanudo-ettes is a senior and we've always done a trip that they wanted to do.  She's a Disney maniac even she is done with this shit.   We're back at Hollywood Studios today.  Line rides are all over 60 minutes for anything worth doing with the best at 90+.   

Rise of the Resistance was down the other day for 60 minutes.  Went down again today as well for 30+ minutes.  The ride is barely 2 years old and they can't keep it in working condition.

Noticed as well that just overall upkeep is incredibly shabby.   Paint looks worn out or just plain cracking/flaking off all over.   When we were in Rise of the Resistance there are places where the shoddy craftsmanship on the overall build is evident.  Plywood looks like plywood, gaps in ceiling panels, etc.   And not like a gritty space future is supposed to look.  No, this is low quality effort on Disney's part.

And it's not just rides.   We went to Disney Springs last night for dinner.   Actually had a great meal at City Works (not a Disney owned restaurant) and multiple elevators/escalators were broken.   Waiter told us that some had been down for 10-12 days.  I realize that Covid/Supply issues might  be a problem for them but our waiter said he'd been working at DS for 5 years and it's been a regular and routine issue for 5 years.   The Disney Corp doesn't give a shit about this place anymore as long as dumb fucks keep coming and spending a shit ton.    

I'm sure the annual pass doofuses and the families who make this their annual vacation pilgrimage "because of the kids" will keep coming back and shelling out money because of how awesome this place was 20 years ago.

But I'm done giving these fuckers my money.  And I'm not alone.   We've met quite a few people like us that are just done.

The fanbase feels you

 

https://www.disboards.com/threads/best-strategy-for-a-trip-in-2022-lower-your-expectations.3869236/

[mdmost 43321]

It all goes back to Bob Paycheck. He was over the parks before they made him CEO. He was cutting corners for years and the pandemic gave him every excuse he needed to cut further. 

[Macanudo 13100]

5 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

The fanbase feels you

 

https://www.disboards.com/threads/best-strategy-for-a-trip-in-2022-lower-your-expectations.3869236/

The DL experience seems to be very different than the DW one.  

Either way, Disney has fucked up.

[Wade 464]

1 hour ago, Macanudo said:

The DL experience seems to be very different than the DW one.  

Either way, Disney has fucked up.

Yeah, have had family annual passes for DL since Sept, been maybe a dozen times and no complaints other than shitty food and the trams not operating (good news is they're finally bringing them back Feb. 23).  Someone said the Rise of the Resistance looks like shit at DW, not so at DL.  Frankly, looks amazing and the ride itself is unmatched.  It does tend to go down daily, but I imagine that's because it's so complex.  They normally get it working again in 30 minutes.

That said, I don't plan on renewing.  It's expensive and my goal is to go so much that the kids get burnt on it.

[mdmost 43321]

Chapek needs to stop neglecting maintenance issues. Maybe there are supply chain issues affecting that but one of the people I follow on Twitter is reporting this morning that Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain are all down. The wait for Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder Mountain which are the closest to the first two closed rides have lines that have ballooned. Jungle Cruise is 120 minutes right now. 2 f'ing hours. Big Thunder is close to an hour. This is in the morning when lines are supposed to be shorter. Haunted Mansion, 50 minutes. Small World 40 minutes. Peter Pan's Flight 90 minutes. That's insane. 

 

[Okie State 3867]

We were spoiled by relatively light crowds last October. Not sure I could handle what is being described here.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8918]

We were spoiled by relatively light crowds last October. Not sure I could handle what is being described here.

We went at 30% occupancy back in March. When we go back next month, it might be a culture shock

[MNLonghornFUKM 8918]

Chapek needs to stop neglecting maintenance issues. Maybe there are supply chain issues affecting that but one of the people I follow on Twitter is reporting this morning that Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain are all down. The wait for Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder Mountain which are the closest to the first two closed rides have lines that have ballooned. Jungle Cruise is 120 minutes right now. 2 f'ing hours. Big Thunder is close to an hour. This is in the morning when lines are supposed to be shorter. Haunted Mansion, 50 minutes. Small World 40 minutes. Peter Pan's Flight 90 minutes. That's insane. 
 

Just go ride carousel of progress 5 times to calm the storm

[mdmost 43321]

30 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Just go ride carousel of progress 5 times to calm the storm

That's a bit too much Great, Big Beautiful Tomorrow for one man to take. 

[SimonBolivar 10961]

1 hour ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Just go ride carousel of progress 5 times to calm the storm

I could do five rides in a row on Spaceship Earth, but I'd probably have to wait an hour each time to do it now. I used to do that all the time when I worked at Innoventions. Take off my costume and ride it once or twice with no wait most nights. The good ole days

Edited February 11, 2022 by SimonBolivar

[mdmost 43321]

I believe I shared with the group that I chose to ride Space Mountain 9 times in a row on the night we did Boo Bash because my older child wanted to beat her record of 8 rides from back in 2015. It got pretty grueling around ride 5. I have no desire to try for 10 rides in a row. 

I think the only ride I could do over and over and not tire of it is Haunted Mansion.

Edited February 11, 2022 by mdmost

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

2 hours ago, mdmost said:

I believe I shared with the group that I chose to ride Space Mountain 9 times in a row on the night we did Boo Bash because my older child wanted to beat her record of 8 rides from back in 2015. It got pretty grueling around ride 5. I have no desire to try for 10 rides in a row. 

I think the only ride I could do over and over and not tire of it is Haunted Mansion.

Splash Mountain would be mine.

[CooterBrown 18099]

Took my oldest to DLR over spring break about 6 years ago just for a day. We walked on to Big Thunder 6 times in a row. Then it broke down and we left. For some reason, that day was the lightest crowd I’d ever seen the park. By noon, we had ridden everything. At parade time, everyone left the queues and we did our Big Thunder marathon.

[Francisco 2.0 32440]

Checking in.  Wife had planned a trip to DW in 2020.  In March of that year, I told her it didn't look like it was happening, so we tentatively pushed it to '21...and well, it's happening this summer, and we are going hell or high water.

She's fully aware of some issues (she keeps up with disboard) but the few posts in this thread was a wakeup call to her.  I don't expect us to cancel after 2 years of waiting, but at the same time, it's highly possible the highlight of this trip will be the day trip over to KSC (other than the two Star Wars rides, which are 1A and 1B).

 

 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8918]

Universal Orlando dropped their indoor mask policy starting today

disneys right around the corner with dropping theirs. I figure these 2 vibe off of each other during the pandemic

[MNLonghornFUKM 8918]

Universal Orlando dropped their indoor mask policy starting today

disneys right around the corner with dropping theirs. I figure these 2 vibe off of each other during the pandemic

Aaand new Disney mask policy takes place on February 17th

Thank you universal

[mdmost 43321]

Disneyland as well will make them optional on 2/17. 

[Woland 750]

Returned from DW two weeks ago. The wife planned a great trip.

[Woland 750]

Disney World

We used Happy Limo for transportation to and from the airport. Worked great. We had a stretch limo for the return trip.

First night we had the chef tasting at Jaleo. It was a hit with everyone… can’t beat the table sangria for value.

One in our party was very limited for food choices. Everywhere we went, the chef came out and designed a custom meal.

The dessert party at MK was worth the cost for reserved seating for the evening show.

The Lion King Show was disappointing… a shell of its former glory. Make reservations if you want to hang out at Nomad Lounge.

The Voices of Liberty have returned to the rotunda. I was high score at Test Track. Spice Road was excellent. We did the Rose and Crown for the night show… my wife got the reservation by walking up mid-day.

Despite the complaints about the new ride system, my wife handled it like a pro. We never waited in line and road both Flight of Passage and Rise of the Resistance twice. We seriously sucked at Smuggler’s Run, but the two Asian fellows who got stuck as engineers thought it awesome. We enjoyed having them with us as much as doing the ride.

We did Oga’s Cantina late. Worth the reservation. The inter-active games are fun, but bring a battery charger.

We stayed at Port Orlean’s French Quarter. Lots of new employees with resulting frustrations.

BTW, a daughter of a long-time friend will be working at Galactic Cruiser.

[LonghornSean 4036]

Met Bob Iger at the Tech game today.

 

[mdmost 43321]

Great success Bob Paycheck

 

[Macanudo 13100]

That's what it was like 2 weeks ago.   Brutal.

[Okie State 3867]

Isn't February traditionally one of the lowest attendance months too? Thought I read that somewhere.

[mdmost 43321]

Yeah it normally is but this is a holiday weekend which are always busy. But Mac was there in the normally slow time and it was bad. I think there’s just a lot of pent up demand. Couple that with rides that aren’t being maintained well and a system that halts the standby line and it’s a recipe for ridiculous waits. 

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

12 hours ago, Okie State said:

Isn't February traditionally one of the lowest attendance months too? Thought I read that somewhere.

President's Day weekend is a bigger deal in the NE, than in Texas, to get somewhere warm and sunny for 4-5 days.

Edited February 21, 2022 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

12 hours ago, mdmost said:

Yeah it normally is but this is a holiday weekend which are always busy. But Mac was there in the normally slow time and it was bad. I think there’s just a lot of pent up demand. Couple that with rides that aren’t being maintained well and a system that halts the standby line and it’s a recipe for ridiculous waits. 

They cut staff so much with COVID and now they can't get the positions refilled to meet demand.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

On 2/19/2022 at 9:18 PM, Woland said:

Disney World

One in our party was very limited for food choices. Everywhere we went, the chef came out and designed a custom meal.

How Disney handles food allergies is why we used to go so much. The chef coming to the table and discussing with food allergy kids what they can make for them changes those kids to the special guest from their food allergies instead of the usual issue guest treatment is such a great experience for food allergy kids.

Edited February 21, 2022 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[Woland 750]

Yeah it normally is but this is a holiday weekend which are always busy. But Mac was there in the normally slow time and it was bad. I think there’s just a lot of pent up demand. Couple that with rides that aren’t being maintained well and a system that halts the standby line and it’s a recipe for ridiculous waits. 

They want you to pay to not wait, which we did, but it was just two of us so the extra cost wasn’t terrible.

[TurkeyChew 383]

Just got back, where to start?

Money over Magic is definitely the theme these days. 

[TurkeyChew 383]

Anyone going in a few weeks during Spring Break or during the summer are fools. Grade A fools.

And this is coming from someone who obviously went during Louisiana’s Mardi Gras/Break. Gag me if I have to see another purple, green and gold Disney themed shirt or LSU shirt.

We used the DAS pass (disabled family member) and the Genie+ in parallel to keep from crazy waits, and even that wasn’t enough to not be frustrated with the lines and crowds.

I simply can’t understand anyone who would come to a park and not buy the genie+ and just do the lines— you can ride 2 maybe 3 rides a day that way if you don’t eat onsite. The rocking roller coaster Aerosmith ride there were people who got in line at 4p and were finally riding after 7p. They were beyond frustrated (and apparently the wait was misrepresented initially) and they all were resentful to lightning lane folks. Just one extreme example. Most other rides that were 2 hour rides; we’d get off and just think “who would wait 2 hours for this? I’d be so upset.”

Edited March 3, 2022 by TurkeyChew

[Woland 750]

Anyone going in a few weeks during Spring Break or during the summer are fools. Grade A fools.
And this is coming from someone who obviously went during Louisiana’s Mardi Gras/Break. Gag me if I have to see another purple, green and gold Disney themed shirt or LSU shirt.
We used the DAS pass (disabled family member) and the Genie+ in parallel to keep from crazy waits, and even that wasn’t enough to not be frustrated with the lines and crowds.
I simply can’t understand anyone who would come to a park and not buy the genie+ and just do the lines— you can ride 2 maybe 3 rides a day that way if you don’t eat onsite. The rocking roller coaster Aerosmith ride there were people who got in line at 4p and were finally riding after 7p. They were beyond frustrated (and apparently the wait was misrepresented initially) and they all were resentful to lightning lane folks. Just one extreme example. Most other rides that were 2 hour rides; we’d get off and just think “who would wait 2 hours for this? I’d be so upset.”

Good advice. If you rope drop and use Genie+ you will be fine. Also, don’t go in thinking you will do everything. There is so much to do now you have to set priorities.

[Baboontyme 2840]

Anyone know anything about the on property villas? It seems a number of the properties have them but I am having a hard time getting any to come up in search. Can you rent third party from a dvc member and still get the perks such as early park entry?

[MNLonghornFUKM 8918]

Starting day 5 of our 7 day grind at WDW, here at animal kingdom today.

App sucks as expected. All of the LL purchase rides are available like 10 min after 7 once the system regains functionality. Disney rules. Even at full capacity now. No masks is also a huge bonus Vs last years trip

[MNLonghornFUKM 8918]

Trip was almost a success. Our last park day was Monday. Tuesday morning about 2AM, my 6 year old starts puking. Fuck. Disney flu. She pukes off and on all day Tuesday. We made it to a beach tues night just to cross it off of the list.

Flight 7AM Wednesday morning went smooth since both kids slept the entire 3 hours. And then last night I puked for the first time in years…that doesn’t involve booze.

Shit water all day today but haven’t puked thank god. We bought hand sanitizer at our gift shop the first night we were there but got forgetful after some of rides. Shit sucks. Next time I’m double sanitizing after everything, and everyone in here should too.

[iodeac 138]

Long time lurker on this board, but wife and I are at Disney right now to run the 10K race Saturday morning and the 10-miler Sunday morning.  We've been to Disney tons of times before, usually with her parents since her father worked for ABC and we always got free admission, but this is the first time in a while that we've done it by ourselves.

This time around has definitely been stressful.  We had to wake up at about 5 AM about 60 days out just to make dinner reservations, the main reason being we really wanted to book Space 220, which we didn't end up getting.   We've had to take Ubers to a few places from Coronado springs since it was a lot quicker than taking the buses, since they don't go from resort to resort.

Epcot today was pretty short, we didn't feel like waiting for the Ratatoulle Ride or Frozen, and Mission Space is just really intense from what I remember so we passed on that.  We ended up doing the new Soarin' which only took about 30 minutes.  It's by far my favorite ride in Disney World and the new scenery with HD is incredible.  Other than that, we did Spaceship Earth, the Land, and the Figment ride and walked around the World Showcase and had some drinks/food, then decided to come back to our hotel and rest up since we have to start getting on the buses around 3 AM.  A lot of Epcot is under construction and to me there really just wasn't all that much to do. 

We had dinner at Jiko last night, which we really enjoyed, and we're staying at Coronado Springs, so the first night we ate at their tapas bar called Toledo which was really good.  There was a guitar player in the lobby and I paid him some extra to play Malagueña and he brought the house down.    On the way back, we took another Uber because we didn't know the buses would stop running after a certain time, even though the app told us to take a bus.   Definitely some issues to work out there.

Speaking of Coronado, I really like the Spanish theme.  The ambient music around the lake always has cool Spanish guitar music playing.  I think it's our first time here and cost-wise it's about 400 per night, but you really don't get many amenities.  It's basically two queen beds, a TV, a coffee maker and nice shower. 

Sunday we have passes to Hollywood studios and it's stressing me out because I at least want to try RoR but don't want to wait in line for 2 hours, and this whole Genie+ Lightning Lane thing is just really confusing to me without reading tons of info on it.  Plus we're both going to be tired and cranky from running 10 miles at 5 AM.

Sorry for the ramble but Disney is definitely different this time around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mdmost 43321]

Getting the ILL for Rise isn't that difficult. Once you're scanned into Hollywood Studios, go on the Disney app where there's the map of the park. Go to Rise on the map where you see the wait time. Click on it until you see the ride details. There will be LL on the screen. Click on that. That brings up the Genie+ for that ride. If there are times, you can buy one for $20 per person. It's worth it. 

Another way to do it is just open your app and click Summon Disney Genie and skip to the tip board. Hollywood Studios should be your park but if it isn't you can change it at the top. Then just score down to look for Rise. It goes quick though especially on busy weekends. 

 

In my world, it's 60 days out from our Disneyland trip so I booked a time for Oga's on our first day really just as insurance in case I can't get a time on our 3rd day where we plan on going to Galaxy's Edge. I think I'll book a morning time then since we're going to just do the rides there, eat a Ronto Wrap, and go on to the rest of the park. 

We're going for 4 park days. Day 1 is all the favorites. Day 2 is California Adventure. Day 3 is Star Wars and the rides we didn't get to on Day 1. Day 4 is something new we're planning to try. We're going to give the kids (will be 14 & 12 by then) some money and Disney gift cards and let them have a day where they go do whatever they want. The wife and I are going to just have a relaxing, slow day at Disney. We're planning to try to hit Trader Sam's around 5-6  as we've never been and the kids wouldn't care about it. 

[hornbri 1467]

One week away from our stay at galactic star cruiser. I do appreciate how my family is pretending this is a trip “for the kids” and not for Dad. 
 

[mdmost 43321]

I love Star Wars but not enough to shell out that much for it. Also not a dress up/cosplay type. Not shaming those who do, just not my bag. It looks a lot better than the previews were making it look. I've read reviews that say it's everything that was promised with Galaxy's Edge and that's cool. Now put some of that in Galaxy's Edge. 

Have a great time!

Edited April 2, 2022 by mdmost

[MNLonghornFUKM 8918]

Long time lurker on this board, but wife and I are at Disney right now to run the 10K race Saturday morning and the 10-miler Sunday morning.  We've been to Disney tons of times before, usually with her parents since her father worked for ABC and we always got free admission, but this is the first time in a while that we've done it by ourselves.
This time around has definitely been stressful.  We had to wake up at about 5 AM about 60 days out just to make dinner reservations, the main reason being we really wanted to book Space 220, which we didn't end up getting.   We've had to take Ubers to a few places from Coronado springs since it was a lot quicker than taking the buses, since they don't go from resort to resort.
Epcot today was pretty short, we didn't feel like waiting for the Ratatoulle Ride or Frozen, and Mission Space is just really intense from what I remember so we passed on that.  We ended up doing the new Soarin' which only took about 30 minutes.  It's by far my favorite ride in Disney World and the new scenery with HD is incredible.  Other than that, we did Spaceship Earth, the Land, and the Figment ride and walked around the World Showcase and had some drinks/food, then decided to come back to our hotel and rest up since we have to start getting on the buses around 3 AM.  A lot of Epcot is under construction and to me there really just wasn't all that much to do. 
We had dinner at Jiko last night, which we really enjoyed, and we're staying at Coronado Springs, so the first night we ate at their tapas bar called Toledo which was really good.  There was a guitar player in the lobby and I paid him some extra to play Malagueña and he brought the house down.    On the way back, we took another Uber because we didn't know the buses would stop running after a certain time, even though the app told us to take a bus.   Definitely some issues to work out there.
Speaking of Coronado, I really like the Spanish theme.  The ambient music around the lake always has cool Spanish guitar music playing.  I think it's our first time here and cost-wise it's about 400 per night, but you really don't get many amenities.  It's basically two queen beds, a TV, a coffee maker and nice shower. 
Sunday we have passes to Hollywood studios and it's stressing me out because I at least want to try RoR but don't want to wait in line for 2 hours, and this whole Genie+ Lightning Lane thing is just really confusing to me without reading tons of info on it.  Plus we're both going to be tired and cranky from running 10 miles at 5 AM.
Sorry for the ramble but Disney is definitely different this time around.
 
 
 
 
 
 

On the Disney app, tough the magnifying glass(search) and the popular search will be tip board and my day


Tomorrow at 7AM make sure your park is Hollywood studios and start refreshing (pull down method) at 6:59:59 or 7:00:00) EST. That’s when lightning lanes open for every ride.
Doesn’t hurt to go to a world clock website so you can watch the exact time and begin anticipating 7:00:00 at 6:59:55or so. Switch back to the app.

Then scroll quickly down to Star Wars rise of resistance and book a LL. You may be lucky enough to choose the time but i think it mostly chooses for you.


Did you shell at $15 per person for LL? If not then it’s a waste of time reading this. You can rope drop rise if you’re at a Disney resort and probably wait less than an hr in line since Disney resort get first priority for 30 min until the public is allowed in. We rope dropped rise because the app bogs…and was able to book a LL for Rise while waiting in line…like an hr after 7:00 which was weird so don’t be discouraged if you fail at 7:00

Good luck. It’s almost every man for themselves out there. You shoulda rode remy at Epcot, run ride

[MNLonghornFUKM 8918]

Err by 15$ I mean rise is one of like 4 rides at WDW that you have to pay extra to skip the line.

So on top of paying for LL for the day you have to pay 60 for a family of four to ride rise. Most people swing it because fuck it. What’s another 60 dollars.

If you do have LL, I’d LL tower of terror too. You don’t have to pay for it but the line moves slooooww


And how on earth are you gonna run 10 miles then walk around Hollywood studios?? Psychopath

[Knoxtnhorn 6173]

The closer this trip gets, the more I think I'm going to appreciate my wife's obsession with Disney.  I lose my shit driving to school in traffic.  I can't imagine how frustrated I'd be if I was responsible for tickets, lines, Genies, rope drops, etc... As it stands, my wife has done more research on this than she did in getting her Master's.  

[SimonBolivar 10961]

On 4/1/2022 at 7:46 PM, iodeac said:

Long time lurker on this board, but wife and I are at Disney right now to run the 10K race Saturday morning and the 10-miler Sunday morning.  We've been to Disney tons of times before, usually with her parents since her father worked for ABC and we always got free admission, but this is the first time in a while that we've done it by ourselves.

This time around has definitely been stressful.  We had to wake up at about 5 AM about 60 days out just to make dinner reservations, the main reason being we really wanted to book Space 220, which we didn't end up getting.   We've had to take Ubers to a few places from Coronado springs since it was a lot quicker than taking the buses, since they don't go from resort to resort.

Epcot today was pretty short, we didn't feel like waiting for the Ratatoulle Ride or Frozen, and Mission Space is just really intense from what I remember so we passed on that.  We ended up doing the new Soarin' which only took about 30 minutes.  It's by far my favorite ride in Disney World and the new scenery with HD is incredible.  Other than that, we did Spaceship Earth, the Land, and the Figment ride and walked around the World Showcase and had some drinks/food, then decided to come back to our hotel and rest up since we have to start getting on the buses around 3 AM.  A lot of Epcot is under construction and to me there really just wasn't all that much to do. 

We had dinner at Jiko last night, which we really enjoyed, and we're staying at Coronado Springs, so the first night we ate at their tapas bar called Toledo which was really good.  There was a guitar player in the lobby and I paid him some extra to play Malagueña and he brought the house down.    On the way back, we took another Uber because we didn't know the buses would stop running after a certain time, even though the app told us to take a bus.   Definitely some issues to work out there.

Speaking of Coronado, I really like the Spanish theme.  The ambient music around the lake always has cool Spanish guitar music playing.  I think it's our first time here and cost-wise it's about 400 per night, but you really don't get many amenities.  It's basically two queen beds, a TV, a coffee maker and nice shower. 

Sunday we have passes to Hollywood studios and it's stressing me out because I at least want to try RoR but don't want to wait in line for 2 hours, and this whole Genie+ Lightning Lane thing is just really confusing to me without reading tons of info on it.  Plus we're both going to be tired and cranky from running 10 miles at 5 AM.

Sorry for the ramble but Disney is definitely different this time around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have Coronado Springs' ambient music playing all the time.