Disneyland Hotel has a better pool. Grand Californian has a private entrance into DCA that can be nice. Last two times I've gone I've stayed at Grand Californian and I don't think I've gotten a single meal there, so can't provide any input on hotel meals. How much is ambience worth to you, if you aren't using the early magic hour, that's basically what you're paying for with a Disney hotel vs the nearby partner hotels.
Decided to let Sea World lapse because we never go and just stick with Disney (we go all the time). Three days in a row my son has asked about the “Elmo parade.”
Ya we dropped SeaWorld a while ago as well...we go every now and then when they have special FL rates on their 1 day passes..
If you have the money, stay at grand Californian. Every time you walk back/from the hotel and pass it, you’ll be pissed you didn’t pick it. I speak from personal experience on that one
Grand Tally for the Disney-moon = 135K steps and 62 miles counting travel days Hotel - Drury Plaza was an awesome find. My wife and I like walking and the walk to the near side of DSprings was 12 minutes from the lobby. Going over there was easy after a half or full day at the park. Great to have that option within walking distance. Free breakfast and dinner buffets every day (we only ate dinner once on our off-night but it was solid for a hotel) and 3 free drinks from 5:30-7:30pm every night. Think there were 3 different nights we went down and got 3 glasses of wine before each before going to dinner. Bus schedule to the parks was very very solid. The only times we Uber'd were the two days in Universal and the last night after MK fireworks because we were worried about the bus home being full. Overall - can't recommend this hotel enough if you're looking for something more affordable and don't need the themed Disney style rooms. Our room was pretty damn nice. Epcot - Said it the night before we went I was proud of my planning for this day and I was absolutely right. Walked out of the park that night very proud old man feeling. Guardians is a dope ride. Probably the best in show on the trip. We have a good 6Flags an hour away we go to multiple times a year so any kind of fresh take instead of your standard fast-loops roller coaster is more fun for me these days. Had 2 margaritas prior to going over to Mission to Mars - we did not feel right until we had another marg to balance things out afterwards. Pizza in Italy was better than expected. Dinner at Chefs de France was very solid. Got to ride everything and take our time drinking around the world. Only disappointment was the tuned down street performers schedule. The Japan one I would have liked to see but I guess it was too cold. Hollywood - Honestly if you're not a Star Wars fan, this park is the weakest by far. My wife isn't a Star Wars fan and not a huge fan of the rides that jerk you around in a seat while watching 3D/a Screen (Star Tours, Smugglers Run and Krusty's in Universal all 3 got her on the brink of vomiting). We knocked out SW stuff, Muppet vision, and Tower all before lunch she had booked brunch with the gang at Hollywood & Vine. As far as buffets go... pretty good. Definitely not worth the price, but she wanted to meet the characters and that made her day. Walked around a little bit after then got drinks at Oga's and left the park around 2:30 for a low key night. MK - A lot more fun going with my wife than my last visit with 2 brothers and dad. We didn't even ride a ton of rides and had a blast. This was the one day we did the Photo-Pass because they have people everywhere taking pics. Tron was tight. Dwarves was meh. Pirates and Haunted Mansion are what they are. Space Mountain still slaps but damn that thing on day 6 had us looking for one of those astroturf areas to chill for a little bit. Crystal Palace was another solid buffet option with some Disney buds. Overall Grades: Best Park Experience: Epcot Best Park for Rides: Islands of Adventure Best Theme Area: Both Harry Potter areas of Universal Best Ride: Guardians Pending the timeline on reproductive efforts, I could see us going back in 4-5 years / when we have a kid that's in the 5ish year old range. Would likely combine AK and HS into one day. Universal do one-day multipark fast pass. One day Epcot. One day MK. We didn't need a park hopper for Disney 3 of the 4 days we got them for.
At the Crystal Palace dinner the family next to us had a ~3ish year old kid that was a bratty little shit. Winny comes through our section and hits our table and then had to go on break or something... comes back like 10-15 later and the kid was in the bathroom so he continued on his route. Family complained to 3 different people that the kid was upset. Ended up telling the manager they weren't leaving their table until Pooh came and hungout with their son.
What's funny is that Disney is prepped for this as it happens 100x a day. All you have to do is politely ask and they will send the character over when they get a chance.
Got the current plans set up: Wednesday - Fly in early in the day - Check into the Swan - Take boat to Epcot and walk around F&G - Buddy gets in this evening Thursday - Epcot all day Friday - AK first thing in the morning - Currently have Jungle Canteen scheduled for lunch at 1:30, though I am going to try and either cancel that or move it up - Make our way to Trader Sams around 1:30 to get in line for the grotto - MK Dessert Party Saturday - HS all day - Roundup BBQ for lunch - Oga's Cantina around 4pm Sunday - Buddy departs early in the morning, so I will go back to Epcot to have a few more drinks before heading to the airport that afternoon
Trying to do a sit down lunch on a park hopping day is quite a bold move. If you really want a sit down lunch, eat in AK. Tiffins/Yak and Yeti are better than Skippers. Or just eat at the new restaurant at Poly while you wait for Trader Sams. I've heard good things.
Yak and Yeti is probably one of my favorite restaurants on Disney property. My suggestion is going to be- Nomad Lounge check-in and have a few drinks and apps, then leave by 1pm to head to Poly.
In my experience they are always coming over to the table to make sure your kids meet Every character
Off to Disneyland this weekend. Enjoying the lunar new year celebration and going to partake the first sweetheart nite
Wife has suggested I have some kind of surprise for her on her birthday at Disney World. Uh babe were already going to be a Disney World wasn't the proper response. Anyone got suggestions or a scantron for Freak?
Also while I'm here we get to the parks on a Saturday and our last day at parks is a Wednesday. How much money would you guess the two of us light on fire in the name of Walt?
https://journeyacrosstheboard.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopsVn9jYXalt7dqjVcs-VmKxpLKCHrv4ZhqLzCz3GjZtBqwq-R3 Get a charcuterie board from here. Buy a nice bottle of wine. Set up a nightime picnic during fireworks. Even better if your room has a themepark view and watch from balcony. Sexy time after. Could also get a reservation at somwehere like California grille for a nice dinner during fireowrks. (Would have to hire a nanny if your kids are too small to stay in the room alone) It all completely depends on you. If you are trying to ball on a budget, you can. Have instacart deliver food/snacks. Bring sandwiches and drinks to the park. limit souveniers. You can get out of each park for less than $50 a day. If you decide to go full Disney tourist and eat every meal at a sitdown/quick service, you are looking at $500+ a day depending on if you have kids or not. That's another quesiton. Age of kids?
Bring things to Decorate your door. poly may have packages you can buy to have in the room. every single hotel stay when you check in the TV says “welcome thefreak55 family” and uh you can pretend you set that up.
You can find people on facebook to do door decorations and stuff. Ear for Each Other is a good group to join to find that kind of thing. Also a lot cheaper than buying direct from disney
This is a judgment free thread man. don't worry. My advice. Charcuterie (or some kind of dessert tray) and fireworks. That or get the reservation at california grill. Can't go wrong.
This is our 4th time in 14 years of marriage. We should be judged and judged harshly. I'll allow it be judgment free for others but for us well it kind of pisses me off.
I’ve been with my wife either dating engaged or married for ~20 years and we’ve been to Disney World together 5 times costing me $0. Big shout out to her dad. We’ve been on one Disney Cruise with another coming in March and those I paid for.
Before kids my wife and I mostly went to booze at Epcot and never once waited in line for a character… it’s very different now also I live a half hour away
Every adult should take the time to get eviscerated by Megatron if you get the chance. Explaining Wonka chocolate lol
2nd day here. Our kids our 7, 6, 6 so haven’t needed a stroller in forever. Our wife buys one for storage and to make things easier. She researches the biggest stroller size allowable by Disney and buys that size.
My wife and her best friend are heading to DW on Wednesday for a week with the kids. They’re staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which we’ve never stayed at. Any feedback from those who have? It looks like getting to/from the other parks is the biggest drawback.
AKL is probably my second favorite resort in all of WDW. The food options are fantastic. Boma has a great buffet for breakfast and dinner. So much to see around the resort with several different viewpoints for the animals. Pool and splash pad are very good, my kid loved the splash pad at Kidani Village. As you mentioned, the biggest detriment is the transportation options, which are bus or your own car.
Megatron, Beetlejuice, the Grinch. Universal has some of the most fun character interactions. Are there any Disney standouts besides Gaston?
Wait, she BOUGHT a giant stroller just so you could pile shit on it to push around at Disney? She didn't get a BOB double, did she?
Funny but also seems out of character? my son watches a lot of transformers and I don’t remember him firing insults. Granted I don’t watch closely.
All of this. Sanaa is one of the better “casual” sit down dinners on property and Jiko is a top 5 “fine dining” restaurant. Worth getting a late start at the parks one day to walk the property and see the animals. final tip, if you didn’t spring for the Savanah view already call ahead and ask to be assigned to a partially obstructed Savannah view. There’s a bunch of rooms that overlook the Savannah and something “less appealing” so they get categorized as standard view rooms. Good way to be able to see the animals from your room without having to pay the upcharge on the room rate.