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

I love Muppet vision so that part stinks

but muppets >>>>>> Aerosmith

 

When I think of the muppets, my first thought is rock n roller coaster

 

#SaveTheMuppets

 

Wish there was a dislike button

 

Also Soaring is solid, it's my 7 year olds favorite ride potentially.

 

I can now give the opinion that Halloween party is better than Christmas party

 

I like this post, however I can’t agree….. Only because of weather. If you hit the Christmas party right on a cool night, it’s absolutely gorgeous

 

Absolutely…. Hot chocolate and a snickerdoodles….. My kids love it.

 

Oh the weather was fantastic but everything else about Halloween is better

 

Going with the wife the first week in January. She hasn't been in ~25 years. I went every year from age 4-15 and then my first time as an adult 3 years ago. Had a blast with brothers and dad. Staying at the Drury Plaza in Disney Springs. I originally was like hey we should stay at Boardwalk Inn that's where our guys trip was and it was nice and convenient etc. $1000+ a night

Got 4 day parkhoppers starting on Sunday 1/5. And a 2-day Universal multipark starting on Tuesday. So tentatively going to do:

Sun - Animal Kingdom
Mon - Epcot
Tue - Universal
Wed - Hollywood
Thu - Magic Kingdom 1/2 day + Epcot afternoon/night
Friday - Universal

Both big harry potter fans, she's moreso than me. Feel like you gotta do your main parks in those first 4 days because days 5-6 the is gonna start kicking in.

Couple questions for any vets:
- Haven't been to Universal in like 25 years. Given the HP fandom, is one day enough for all things Harry if we wanted to make that Tuesday's thing? If not I'd probably do Universal again on Thursday because MK is just not a lot for adults and it'll end up being more epcot day #2.

- How quickly do they take down the Christmas stuff?

Any recs on places to eat that don't need a reservation several months out would be appreciated. We get in Saturday around lunch and have no plans that day but checking in and wanted to have a date night. So any fun stuff that's not too far of an Uber from DSprings / good date spots to eat - hit me with em

 

you can definitely do all of HP stuff in one day, it just depends on how much other stuff you wanna do

my recommendation would be to rope drop Hagrid's then go to Forbidden Journey, then take the train over to do Gringotts/Diagon

then you'll have like 7 hours left to do whatever you want

main thing is just getting the rides out of the way, then you can take your time and walk around the 2 lands as leisurely as you'd like

 

I’ll say just soak in all the attention to detail for both HP lands (I’m sure Epic will be on an even greater level), and then go straight to Velocicoaster after doing HP attractions.

But are you park hopping both days you listed as Universal?

 

How much more expensive is the VIP tour for Universal in Orlando? I thought the value for doing that in LA was great.

 

I haven’t gotten that in depth into the Universal routes and timing but I bought the 2-park pass because I wanted the flexibility

 

Bourne stunt show is super cool and lets you unwind for a bit.

I’ll just say that Islands of Adventure has won best theme park in the world many times for a reason…(it’s dope as hell)

 

You might be locked into your hotel reservation but if not, might want to consider how I've set it up last 2 trips there. Knock out Disney stuff on front half and then move over to one of Universal's premier hotels for the last night or two depending on flight. You'll get fast pass for the day you check in and the day you check out. When we were there last week of October didn't wait more than 15 minutes for any ride with fast pass and most were basically walk straight on with it. We actually did a little different stay set up this last trip. Did Islands on Friday and then US on Saturday. Stayed at Hardrock on Friday night so that we could get fast passes for Friday and Saturday. Before we left Saturday we had the luggage concierge send our luggage over to Sapphire Falls and stayed there Saturday night, flight out Sunday. Not the most convenient thing in the world but it was like $400 cheaper to stay at Sapphire falls so I was willing to deal.

 

A buddy and I are planning to go in March and will likely be our last guys trip to Disney for years. We have done most of the normal things but any suggestions on random but fun things that y'all have done that you would suggest? Some of the items we want to make sure to do are: Trader Sams Grotto and the MK fireworks dessert party.

Open to all suggestions.

 

If you’re doing steak then go to Sear and Sea at the JW. If you really want to splurge maybe check Bull and Bear at Waldorf.

 

We've done the Keys to the Kingdom tour, Jelly Rolls, mini golf at all 4, and all the actual golf courses.

Will need to look up the monorail and skyliner bar crawls.

 

I still like Shula's...damn good filet.

 

Wild Africa trek at animal kingdom

 

There's a Hooters within a stones throw of your hotel.

 

We've actually done that though had to skip the part with the gators as one of the guys is around 6'7" 375 lbs. Also did the savor the Savannah your along with Behind the Seeds. All were awesome and definitely recommend.

 

Nice magic kingdom day yesterday. Lines aren’t too bad.

2nd grader officially declares Tron the best ride at Disney (yes he’s been on guardians).

5 year old was not a fan of Tiana’s but we’re glad we got him on to do it.

I had no idea there was a hidden playground in the dumbo line. Spent some time there which was nice.

 

Haven’t brought my kid to this one yet because there are enough things we have to do at Epcot every time (Nemo, Moana, trains, drums and often Mexico).

 

Oh yeah, it will still be introduced this summer now that #2 will be able to play in there

 

Anyone who goes frequently care to give user Pelican a good Universal/IOA itinerary?

 

3 days you don’t need an itinerary. Each park is barely a full day park.

And generally the best food is in each of the Potter lands

 

if he gets the express pass, then you definitely don't need to rush with 3 days

 

You’re still good. Express pass at those parks kills bc not many people get it, total opposite of Disney

 

Express pass at Universal and you're living the cake life. If that's your setup, then you should do your first day at Universal so your nephew can experience taking the Hogwarts express to Hogwarts (you can take it back from IOA to Diagon Alley too).

Universal also has some other great rides and experiences. If you have the express pass, you can take your time and carve out time for some shows bc you're not rushing around to stay ahead of the crowds.

Don't miss Olivanders wand presentation. Basically 20 or so people pile in to Olivanders shop and a cast member picks out a kid (usually around your nephews age) and basically reenacts the wand choosing the wizard scene from the 1st movie. Your nephew will love it. I believe it's at Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, so you can do it in either park. Knockturn Alley in Diagon Alley is a cool walk through too.

 

Looks like if any of you were at MK or Epcot today, you had a chance of running into Kacey Musgraves.

 

I did not see her at Epcot

 

As a first and likely only timer, I think all 5 in my family liked Hollywood Studios considerably more than MK. My 6 and 8 year old were able to meet a bunch of characters, and my 15 year old did his own thing with his friend that was with us pretty much all day. Fantasmic (sp?) at HS was incredible and my favorite part of the trip.

 

I don’t think I ever asked this but the last post made me think of it. For those that have been to both are characters a lot more prevalent at DL? My guess is the weather has something to do with it? Outside of GE @ DW we’d see 1 or 2 a day. At DL every 2 minutes you’re bumping into someone.

 

Just booked a Disney cruise. Figured my 3 year old daughter will love it and it feels a little more contained than trying to deal with a toddler in Disney World. Doing a 5 nighter on the Dream in April. Any tips I should know going in? Sorta miffed about no casino, but we do what we must for the kids I guess

 

Never been to DL but if you’re a character person the best experience is a Disney cruise

 

Are you familiar with other cruises?

I got over the casino thing. It’s honestly just a different vibe. I didn’t even miss it even though I’m a casino guy.

First, find your sailings Facebook group. You’ll find one specific Disney Dream April x-xx group. Youll learn a lot. (Maybe too much). But it’s helpful.

So kids club. 3 years old is on the edge a bit as far as wanting to go in so guess it just depends on the daughter. For example, need to independently go to the bathroom to be in kids club. BUT for kids who take to it, it’s a vacation game changer. Disney youth programming are the absolute best and it’s a closed environment. It can give her lots of fun while giving you some time to yourselves. If you get that, then the adult dining options are outstanding.

characters are everywhere. Come prepared with something to keep with character signatures. I’ll try to take a picture but we have a small canvas signed just from the cruise. We met like 2 dozen. The best way to describe it is it’s like the characters are simply guests on board. Ran into chip n dale in an elevator once. They kinda stuff.

look into experiences that sell out. 3 year old girl you should probably keep your eye on Royal Gathering. It’s meeting 5 princesses at once.

bippidy boppity boutique is on board.

photos. Just get the digital package. We couldn’t narrow down to just 10 so we got unlimited. It’s expensive but yolo.

new movies in theaters are on board. It was a great way to introduce our then-3 year old to movie theaters. Bring your popcorn bucket. Theme park popcorn available nearly 24/7.

ask your room attendant if they have themed sheets.

I could go on. Look up what fish extenders are. It’s fun for the kids if you’re open to it. It’s basically gift giving with other cabins.

 

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. Only been on a Royal Caribbean a few years ago.

We are hoping to be able to use the kid's club. She is mostly potty trained. Pees by herself and tells us when she has to poop...but refuses to poop unless we put her in a diaper. Really hoping to have her broken of that by then.

She's definitely gonna love the characters. We had to travel up Eleuthera to get her passport a few weeks back and decided to spend a few nights and make the trek to Lookout Cay. They give day passes to anyone with a Bahamian ID. She went crazy for the characters they had there.

 

Way more characters at Disneyland

it's bc they care about disneyland, disney world is just a money printer