The Walt Disney World Resort Thread: The Surface of the Sun…But with Rides and Expensive Stuff

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by CF3234, Feb 26, 2020.

  1. IrishLAX2

    IrishLAX2 So you’re telling me there’s a chance
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    Right of first refusal will allow them to buy back a ton of points, assuming their cash flow allows for it. There have been tons of outstanding questions around how they’ll handle 2042 expiry resorts given how poorly the Old Key West extension went, so it wouldn’t shock me if they bought a ton of those resorts back over the next year plus.
     
  2. Hank Scorpio

    Hank Scorpio Globex Corporation, Philanthropist, Supervillain
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    Looks like the trip is happening the first week of August. Mrs. Scorpio's company is paying for the hotel (Disneyland Hotel) and her plane ticket. Also able to get tickets at a pretty big discount since it's for a conference she's attending. It's also looking like we're going to be out there for 6-days, with Mrs. Scorpio attending the conference for 3 of those days. I know Disneyland is pretty small, so I'm not sure what else we'd do in LA for the days we're not doing Disney or DCA, which will likely be the days it's just me and the kids. Any tips for the trip, Disney related or otherwise?
     
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  3. duc15

    duc15 Hey Nong Man
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    Disneyland is a full day, DCA is more half day.
     
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  4. duc15

    duc15 Hey Nong Man
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    If your family enjoys baseball the Angels play not that far from the parks
     
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  5. Hank Scorpio

    Hank Scorpio Globex Corporation, Philanthropist, Supervillain
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    Thanks. Yeah, none of us really care about baseball. I've seen some recommendations on reddit about Santa Monica pier, doing a studio tour, and the observatory, but I don't know how feasible any of that is or whether it would be worth renting a car to do different things outside of Disney vs just ubering everywhere.
     
  6. DirtBall

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    How old are the kids? With the early park access you’ll have everything in DL and DCA covered (probably more than once) in 2 days. We went to universal for a day. It’s an hour away so you need to uber or rent a car. If you rent a car you could plan a sightseeing day as well if the kids are old enough.
     
  7. CUgator

    CUgator Well-Known Member
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    Go to the beach where it's actually enjoyable in the summer - Big Corona for the kids. Could do Knott's for a day if they want to do bigger roller coasters. Can take a drive down PCH. Plenty of stuff to do.
     
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  8. duc15

    duc15 Hey Nong Man
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    yea we do universal sometimes but the drive from Anaheim to Hollywood sucks and it’s way worse coming back.
     
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  9. Doug

    Doug Skeptical Doug-o
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    My daughter and wife are headed to Disney World Friday, they got invited to do one of those expensive skip the line VIP tours so that should be cool. I'm flying in to meet up Saturday, and we go on our Disney cruise Monday.

    My daughter is asking about one of the Disney water parks for Sunday - I've never done those, any thoughts or advice?
     
  10. DirtBall

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    We were done at Disney so we went up then stayed at the hotel across the parking lot, so that was nice. If driving up and back in one day I’d seriously look at the guided tour. Such a pleasant and stress free day at a theme park.
     
  11. Simon Templar

    Simon Templar Well-Known Member
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    Santa Monica Pier is a dump imo
     
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  12. afb

    afb Spoiler Alert: Pawnee, IN may not be on a map.
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    I prefer blizzard beach, most prefer typhoon lagoon
     
  13. Hank Scorpio

    Hank Scorpio Globex Corporation, Philanthropist, Supervillain
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    Kids are 12 and 10. So big enough to do pretty much everything.
    I saw Knotts while doing some recon a few hours ago. Is that place a good time? We'll have just gone to Hawaii a few weeks before, so I think we'll be beached out by then.
     
  14. CUgator

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    It's basically the Orange County version of Busch Gardens. Used to go all the time when I was a kid.
     
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  15. Sub-Zero

    Sub-Zero ALL THE TOSTITOS!!!
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    Water parks are fun. If you are checking into a Disney resort, you can go for free but only on the day of your check in.

    I think typhoon is more complete but BB has a the bigger thrill slides if you just want to go on the taller rides
     
  16. DirtBall

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  17. Jeffrey Lebowski

    Jeffrey Lebowski Obviously you're not a golfer
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    Is Epcot after hours party worth it?
     
  18. FrankReynolds

    FrankReynolds Go Blue
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    Disney Cruise booked for October (again)
     
  19. duc15

    duc15 Hey Nong Man
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    I’ve done a couple after hours/special events at Disneyland and each one I did was very worth it. Limited people in the park on top of special food and drink made for a very enjoyable experience. Know my answer isn’t specific to this event but Disney does special stuff well.
     
  20. Dr. Mantis Toboggan

    Dr. Mantis Toboggan Well-Known Member
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    The only issue when I went (and this was years ago so it could be different) is a lot of the country’s had their booths shut down. But if you wanna ride frozen, GoTG and all that I’d imagine it’s worth it
     
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  21. MrOutlaw

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    It’s pricey but we had fun. Rode every ride multiple times. Problem with Epcot is it is so spaced out it’s hard to really enjoy the less crowded park. To get to all the rides it’s a lot of walking. World showcase is closed from France to Norway. If you want to avoid lines and paying for lightning lanes, it’s an option but you miss out on all the world showcase experience.
     
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  22. Jeffrey Lebowski

    Jeffrey Lebowski Obviously you're not a golfer
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    Well damn, went to go buy after hours tickets and it’s sold out
     
  23. afb

    afb Spoiler Alert: Pawnee, IN may not be on a map.
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    personally there aint enough in epcot to justify it

    MK has lots of rides and DHS has a lot of high wait rides so those are justified
     
  24. snowfx2

    snowfx2 Well-Known Member
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    Finally a coaster for the family. Seems like a hybrid of Velocicoaster and Cosmic Rewind




     
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  25. CF3234

    CF3234 Fan of: Bandwagons
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    Taking the place of rip ride rocket?
     
  26. This is Universal Hollywood
     
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  27. snowfx2

    snowfx2 Well-Known Member
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    Not sure if that’s their plan but this one is Hollywood. They took out the shitty special effects and animal shows and using both the upper and lower lots for this ride.

    They took out the Supercharged attraction (was part of the tram ride here) and rumors are that’s being demolished for a Harry Potter expansion
     
  28. afb

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    considering it's faster than VC and Stardust im not so sure about that
     
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  29. snowfx2

    snowfx2 Well-Known Member
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    Also I was surprised Disney is still using existing California Adventure property for their expansion instead of the Downtown Disney parking lot. Which leaves lots more room for even more expansion.

    The lame Hollywood Land outside of a solid bar and getting children on Monsters Inc ride sucks, Avatar is going there. Coco ride in a not busy spot too. Plus two new Avengers Campus rides under construction.

    The Downtown Disney parking lot is huge, they’ll be able to fit like 2-3 lands in there when they want
     
  30. snowfx2

    snowfx2 Well-Known Member
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    [​IMG]
     
  31. DirtBall

    DirtBall Space Zaddy
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    Saw it’s the fastest coaster in any of their parks at 72 mph and eventually starts “drifting out” and doing 360s.
     
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  32. afb

    afb Spoiler Alert: Pawnee, IN may not be on a map.
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    damn, that really went over my head

    touche
     
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  33. Pelican

    Pelican COOL huh
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    Apparently we are going back to Universal in October. Some five-day package thingy but unfortunately only one of them can be at the new one. My wife is currently freaking out over which Universal resort to stay at. The cheaper ones are closer to Epic but they don't make as much sense if we'll only be there one day.
     
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  34. afb

    afb Spoiler Alert: Pawnee, IN may not be on a map.
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    correct

    you do not want to be on that bus on kirkman twice a day every day
     
  35. Hank Scorpio

    Hank Scorpio Globex Corporation, Philanthropist, Supervillain
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    Loews Royal Pacific includes fast passes to Universal and IoA. Loews Sapphire's pool is pretty nice. Both have a water taxi to City Walk

    If you go to Halloween Horrer Night, get a fast pass or don't bother going :twocents:
     
    #5436 Hank Scorpio, Jun 15, 2025
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2025
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  36. Pelican

    Pelican COOL huh
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    We are going to the Halloween night stuff.
     
  37. Pelican

    Pelican COOL huh
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    Is it one of those situations where what should be a 10 min trip actually takes like 40?
     
  38. Pelican

    Pelican COOL huh
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    Yeah I think she said that one is considered like elite or premium or whatever word they use to categorize the top-end options. We are doing the fast pass stuff so maybe it would make sense to go that route depending on the price.
     
  39. Hank Scorpio

    Hank Scorpio Globex Corporation, Philanthropist, Supervillain
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    Probably depends on your party size. HHN season is peak season for Universal though, so the on site hotel prices are jacked up.
     
  40. Pelican

    Pelican COOL huh
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    3 of us. Apparently my wife checked it and if we stay at one of the lower-end ones (in this case that Aventura one + buying fast passes) vs. the high-end that includes the fast passes.......we'd be saving over $4k if we go with Aventura.

    I know nothing about these places but I'm sure Aventura looks like a Motel 6 compared to the higher-end one.
     
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  41. duc15

    duc15 Hey Nong Man
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    Anyone else have trouble purchasing tickets or renewing magic keys through the Disney app and website?
     
  42. afb

    afb Spoiler Alert: Pawnee, IN may not be on a map.
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    exactly

    The infrastructure is not built yet. Eventually if it is an actual bus lane the whole way it wont be bad, but it's currently insane. My friend stayed at helios and took the bus to IOA one night and each way it was 45 minutes.
     
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  43. afb

    afb Spoiler Alert: Pawnee, IN may not be on a map.
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    do cabana bay with volcano bay view

    it's roughly $250/night
     
  44. Pelican

    Pelican COOL huh
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    Yeah I’ve read so many articles with people ranking the resorts and whatnot and Cabana Bay seems to have pretty solid reviews. The other one we are considering is a lower-end one that allows you to walk to a higher-end one and take a boat to the city walk or wherever.

    edit: Aventura was the other one
     
  45. Hank Scorpio

    Hank Scorpio Globex Corporation, Philanthropist, Supervillain
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    Nah, Aventura is fine. It's like a standard Marriot or Hyatt hotel.
     
  46. Pelican

    Pelican COOL huh
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    Also not sure if it matters really, but it's just three adults. No kids.
     
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  47. Hank Scorpio

    Hank Scorpio Globex Corporation, Philanthropist, Supervillain
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    When we stayed at Loews Sapphire, a bunch of 20 somethings walked over from Aventura to use the pool (Aventura has one, Sapphire is just more of a resort style). Mrs. Scorpio almost got in a fight with one of them. It was quite funny.
     
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  48. Hank Scorpio

    Hank Scorpio Globex Corporation, Philanthropist, Supervillain
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    In that case, Aventura meets all of your needs.
     
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  49. Pelican

    Pelican COOL huh
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    I guess we are also going to take a day to go to a Disney park. Is there any certain one we should try to hit up during Halloween?