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Who is the main character of "Aladdin"?
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[quote="AladdinsGenie"][quote="APK"]My condolences to your feet! :lol: Mainly, I was worried that if I didn't pick a hotel on Disney property, that I'd have to walk really far just to get to the park.[/quote] A lot of hotels know you're there because you don't want to pay Disney prices, so they have some sort of shuttle service for you to make them even more of an option. Some don't, though, but since Orlando is a touristy place, there's dozens of shuttle/cab services ready to bring you. You won't have to go far unless you pick a hotel that far.[/quote]
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Salukfan
Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:19 am
Post subject:
For tickets, unless you purchase they non-expiration option, they expire 14 days from first use.
Oh, and that upgrading ticket policy mentioned on the site did change. Yes, tickets can be upgraded to add days, but only if there are still entitlements on that ticket. A used-up four day park hopper can't be upgraded to a five day. At that point, you're looking at a one day again.
I'm also someone who would recommend staying on property, as the resorts at WDW are lovely. There's also resorts that aren't owned by Disney, but are located on property (by Downtown Disney). Those are often less expensive, and at least you'll be close. They have bus transportation to the parks from there, and you can walk to DTD.
I'd recommend the dining plan, depending on how you wanted to handle it. There are also periods where Disney offers the dining plan for free. It'll be crowded, but still, free dining can save you a LOT of money. There's also a lot of discounts for off-peak times, so it's certainly worth inquiring about discount packages with the peeps at 407-W-DISNEY
(... ok, full disclosure, I just started as a reservation sales agent for Disney, so I could be on the cast member on the other end of that phone number.
)
I definitely agree with the advise to not overdo it. People, you're supposed to enjoy the trip.
I've seen families having shouting matches over not following their "schedule" and whatever, and it makes me sort of sad. Yes, it's important to have a plan, but make it a flexible one, because you're not gonna do everything at WDW in a week. You're just not.
AladdinsGenie
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 9:15 pm
Post subject:
I always find it so amusing when guests are impressed or touched by the buttons because I found those to be so lame
. I'm coming from a different perspective, I guess, after working there. Some guests act like that's their ticket to the world when it's honestly just a button used to alert other cast members to acknowledge your event. That doesn't mean you get VIP treatment, buddy.
Disney Quest is fun, but you have to be prepared to be physical, which I think throws people off. Those are really interactive games in a lot of cases, so you're pretty tired after a few hours. I've been on that damn Aladdin ride twice and it still doesn't work right for me, so I can't say how it is. My carpet keeps running in to a wall
Ah yeah, the magical moments with characters. I almost got to ride with Hatter and Alice on the teacups, but some other people were like, about to cry if they didn't pick them, so I let it go
Chris
Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 5:47 pm
Post subject:
Just got back so figured I'd add my opinion as well (pretty similar to AladdinsGenie)
Personally I would stay on site. WDW cast are some of the most helpful and friendly people I've ever met as a customer and it's the little touches that can really help make your stay magical. We went for our honeymoon and on arrival they gave us the "Just Married" buttons and when we got to our room there was a phone message from Mickey and Minnie to say congratulations. It was also Jane's birthday whilst we were there, I spoke to staff and they arranged for ballons and a card from Mickey to be in the room when we got in from the park.
Free transport. Magical Express takes you to and from the airport and then Disney buses have all the parks and Downtown Disney covered.
If you want to go off site you can catch a Lynx bus from Downtown or the Ticket and Transportation Centre ($2 single, $4.50 day pass). You can get to Sea World (Lynx 50, every half hour), I-Drive and Florida Mall, etc. You can probably get to Universal with a lot of changes, but we chose to get the Mears Shuttle ($19 per person round trip) which the hotel will help you arrange.
Extra Magic Hours. Great to get in early or stay late, really good for the queues on some of the main attractions. Buses may be a little more crowded.
Dining Plan! With this being our honeymoon we decided to go to a moderate resort (we've stayed at the value Pop Century before and loved it) so we went to the Caribbean Beach. As we were going out of season we got a Quick Service Dining Plan included, which we didn't really think about as we'd chosen that hotel anyway. I can't believe how much it saved! You get 2 snacks and 2 counter service meals per day each for the length of your stay and if you think about theme park food prices that soon adds up. Even with eating off site a few times and character dining (we had about 30 meals left!) we must have easily saved over $1000 as we were there for 3 weeks (easily $30 at breakfast and $50-60 for lunch or dinner, plus snacks, and we each got a refillable resort mug which gave us unlimited fountain drinks at our hotel). Now if you think that was just 2 of us, a family of 4 could share a room (so room cost would be the same as ours) but they'd have 4 dining plans! The saving would probably be more than the cost of "upgrading" from a value to a moderate resort so the hotel upgrade would pay for itself and then some!
Can't really comment on Magic Your Way Tickets as guests from the UK can get Ultimate 14 and 21 day tickets which are only valid from day of first use, but they do come with Water Parks, Disney Quest and park hopping so they're fantastic value for money. But I think AladdinsGenie is right and MYW tickets can still be used on your next visit (best check somewhere like MouseSavers.com for the most up to date info).
Car rental - don't unless you're planning on going somewhere out of the way or really don't want to wait for buses. Public transport in Orlando is amazing value and really easy to use.
Disney buses run every 20 minutes, the Lynx bus to Sea World is every half hour, the Mears shuttle to Universal is every half hour (at set times, must be pre-booked). The only time Disney buses are really over crowded is at park closing (after Wishes, Fantasmic, etc). Then you might have to wait in a queue and the bus will be over crowded. Best advice here is don't race for the exit, take your time, browse a few shops, maybe get a photo pass photo or 2 done). The buses don't stip running until AT LEAST an hour after park closing, so by taking an extra 30 minutes in the park you'll (hopefully) let the queue die down a bit. But let's face it, the alternative is sitting in the line of cars trying to get out of the car park.
Even paying for the Mears Shuttle to Universal twice (two days - US and IOA) and the Lynx bus to Sea World, Aquatica and Florida Mall/Mall at Millennia, we saved a fortune by not hiring a car. No parking fees (if you stay on site you may get Disney free but you'd still have to pay for Universal and Sea World), no gas, no rental fees or insurance.
The only time you need a car is if you want to go further out. We wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory at Mall at Millennia, plus it was raining really badly so we decided to do a mall day and go to Florida Mall as well. We had to get a Lynx day pass, bus for Downtown Disney to I-Drive, get a connection from I-Drive to Millennia, then on the way back get a bus from Millennia to I-Drive then wait for an hour for the connection to Florida Mall (the only time a bus was ever late our whole trip) and then finally get a bus back to Downtown Disney. In all fairness it wasn't that bad and the only benefit to having a car would have been saving time (but we weren't in a rush), not carrying the Millennia bags at Florida Mall (not that we bought much at Millennia, wow most shops are expensive in there!) and of course not getting as wet!! If it wasn't for the rain, which was like someone had just turned on a tap, we wouldn't have even thought about a car, even with the late bus.
Fast Pass - essential for some rides (Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios comes to mind) but much more important in the summer when the park's busy. Like AladdinsGenie said, just judge it on the ride times and if it's over 30-40 minutes then think about getting a fast pass. Soarin' and Toy Story Mania are the main 2 where they run out (sometimes Test Track as well), Soarin' fast passes generally last until early/mid-afternoon. Toy Story Mania was gone before lunch.
Toy Story Mania, get to park for opening. At rope drop be as close to the front of the crowd (gathered in front of the hat) as possible, also on the right side, you want to follow the staff straight into the Animation Forecourt and up Pixar Avenue. At this point stay left, right becomes the fast pass queue and left goes to the ride (if you're near the front you'll hear them call this out). We walked on in five minutes doing this. When we came out the queue was already 45 minutes long, the fast passes were already up to 12:30 return times and the fast pass queue was probably a good 15 minutes long. It's a good ride but we only went on once due to the queue length.
I'd agree you want to get out of WDW and see the rest of Orlando. Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World, Aquatica, etc. There's more than enough to last months never mind weeks! Pick which you'd like to visit and plan accordingly. And if you want to do 2-3 days remember that like with Disney you might be better off buying a multiday/multipark pass.
Can't really comment about Orlando dining. Not driving that's probably one thing we did miss out on. But then we did get the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot and to be honest, we didn't go to Walt Disney World for the food! (though I should add the food is very nice, just be prepared for a lot of fast food style meals, and I must recommend Donald's Safari Breakfast an all you can eat self serve buffet!)
I'd give each park at least one full day (of course not all attractions appeal to everyone) and probably give Magic Kingdom 2 days just because there are so many shows and because people seem to be sitting down ridiculously early for the parades now so you need to spend at least an hour sat waiting if you want a good spot (seriously, some people were sitting down 2 hours before the parades started and this is meant to be the off season!)
If you've been before you can do Animal Kingdom in half a day and depending on how much time you want to spend walking around World Showcase the same is probably true of EPCOT. Hollywood Studios will need a full day if you want to see all the shows. We allowed 2 days at the Universal Parks. The first day was Islands of Adventure (Harry Potter we walked on in 15 minutes) and we did all the main rides at least twice, the next day we did Universal Studios, did all the main rides once, our favorites twice and then headed back to IOA and did our favorites again there. So I guess if you've been before and move like crazy you could hit all the main rides at both in a day (queues permitting).
Water Parks are nice rest days. Sleep in (they don't open till 10), and because they close early (and you don't even need to stay till closing, you should easily get all the rides in before 2pm if that's your aim). You can then enjoy your hotel, Down Town Disney (I'd recommend Disney Quest if you get it included on your ticket, if not then I'm not sure it's worth the entry price even if the Aladdin ride is great fun), a nice meal out or even head to another park!
If you're taking some time out of the parks I can recommend the Fantasia Gardens mini golf for some fun, just be careful not to put your ball in the water on hole 17... like me!
Make a sensible plan that's flexible. This is one I wish we'd stuck to more. We didn't argue and we both had an amazing time, but we were exhausted when we came home and both agreed that we'd tried to do a bit too much.
The annoying thing is that if you want to do anything like character dining at Disney then you need to book 6 months in advance, but if you book multiple things in advance you start to lose flexibility (for example Pirates and Pals is, I think, only on 2 nights a week and Fantasmic is only on 2 nights a week and one of those nights is the same). So unless you don't mind sticking to a pretty rigid schedule pick 2-3 things that you really want to do, book those in advance and then play the rest by ear when you get there.
That said, booking in advance is extremely important, especially for popular events (character dining seems a lot more popular than last time we went, probably because if you stay at a Deluxe hotel you get table service meals, including character dining, included). You can still get last minute bookings and cancellations (just ask at the hotel desk, Donald's Safari Breakfast was booked up before we went, but we still managed to get in once we were there) so don't give up just because it was booked up first time you asked. We were even offered Cinderella's Royal Table breakfast when we asked what was available, which nearly gave away Jane's birthday surprise when I had to politely decline the offer!
Visit out of season - agree 100%!! I've done July and October, and given the choice I'd go back in October. You can walk on almost everything, just watch out for Fall Break and LOTS of tour groups (probably didn't help that 1st October was Magic Kingdom's 40th, but the crowds were worth it as the atmosphere was amazing that day).
Think that covers most of it but if you have any questions about anything just ask.
Oh, one last thing! If you're going with young children to Magic Kingdom, get there for opening, go straight to Adventure Land and go straight to the Aladdin Meet and Greet area (you'll see it clearly next to the Flying Carpets ride). First kid in line might get th chance to fly a carpet with Aladdin and Jasmine!
AladdinsGenie
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 11:55 pm
Post subject:
APK wrote:
My condolences to your feet!
Mainly, I was worried that if I didn't pick a hotel on Disney property, that I'd have to walk really far just to get to the park.
A lot of hotels know you're there because you don't want to pay Disney prices, so they have some sort of shuttle service for you to make them even more of an option. Some don't, though, but since Orlando is a touristy place, there's dozens of shuttle/cab services ready to bring you. You won't have to go far unless you pick a hotel that far.
JafarsRomancer
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 6:30 pm
Post subject:
Thanks APK! At least I learned my lesson after that, you know? I won't go any place where I might be walking a lot without comfy shoes now!
And lol, AladdinsGenie, I'm not a mom, but that sounds like what I was trying to do! You're very right though, this is not the time for tanning! xD
APK
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 4:43 pm
Post subject:
My condolences to your feet!
Mainly, I was worried that if I didn't pick a hotel on Disney property, that I'd have to walk really far just to get to the park.
AladdinsGenie
Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:14 pm
Post subject:
I see a lot of mom's try to do that one while working on their tans in their cute little outfits, and it's just....not the time
. Do that at the pool back at the hotel.
JafarsRomancer
Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 2:19 pm
Post subject:
AladdinsGenie wrote:
-YES. COMFORTABLE SHOES. Don't wear HIGH HEELS and then complain there's too much walking to do in the parks. No, they won't give you a wheelchair because you don't like to walk. Get some comfortable sneakers or sandals if you know you'll be doing a lot of walking. And bring extra socks if you know you're going to be on a water ride (walking around in soggy socks all day - ewwww)
Oh my god, I did this once! I didn't complain but I wore high heels and they literally killed my feet and I had blisters and bloody marks when I took them off at the end of the day. So yes, definitely wear comfortable shoes! ^^
AladdinsGenie
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:36 pm
Post subject:
-I've stayed on and off property hotels, and it really depends on if you're by yourself/have personal transportation or not. I was a cast member at the time, so I got discounts on a lot of what they're telling you to skip, but even when I went with my family, it was nice to have the buses as that's the biggest perk. Most people want the full 'Disney Experience', though, so choosing a hotel is their favorite part. I went with the cheap ones as I never spent time in the room past sleeping anyway. Theming is meaningless then. I'd advise against at Disneyland, though, as I hear it's pretty pricey since there's only like two or three hotels? That I'd just bum off a local friend or get a cheap hotel.
-You can't get a refund on tickets you don't use, but you can use them later on future trips (as far as I remember, they might have changed that). Still, discounts are worth it and if you can get a park-hopper, do it. It's always when you think you're going to stay in the park all day that you want to go to another one but you can't because your pass won't allow it.
-Disney buses versus renting a car is silly to me. So you have to wait a while and be cramped for a minutes on the bus if you get on at a particularly crowded time - at least it's free. Rental fees + parking fees add up. You'll need that money for the over-priced items in the park
. Plus, being stuck in traffic in a car versus on a bus isn't that different. I've seen it from both angles and they both suck. With Disneyland, you might want a car. I went by car, so I don't know what it's like on the other end.
-Fast pass is a play it by ear thing. Look around the park that day. If it's particularly crowded? Get a fast pass, especially for the big rides. If it looks like it's going to rain (which is like every day) or that it's not that crowded, just wait in line. I have a general rule of 30-40 minute wait for some rides. It'll help you cool down depending on the queue line anyway.
-I haven't really experienced another theme park down in Orlando, so that might be where the car comes in handy. Do check out other places in Orlando, though. There's more down there than Disney, I promise
-I think I've done official Disney dining once (with this boards very own Ariellen, actually
). It was nice, but not something I was invested in doing all the time, or even care to do more of just to say I've done it. You'll end up doing more of the fast food places, but maybe one nice restaurant could be worth it.
-I agree that not all attractions are worthwhile, but not that the park doesn't deserve a full day. When I went on my first trip there, we did one park a day and there was soooo much I wanted to do left over. You can't do it all in a day, save for maybe Animal Kingdom because there's not as many attractions and half of them are animals. There's a parade going on, a show here, a demonstration there, a ride there, a meet and greet over there...it's impossible. Look at what the park has to offer. If you see there's a lot you want to do at one park, but not at another, plan that out ahead of time.
-LOL Disney meltdowns: it's going to happen. It's more like "Don't yell at the cast members because your child is grumpy and we don't allow balloons in the park". Also, "don't drag your children to the park/to meet a character/to do something they don't want to do just because you want to". Nothing is worse than making a memory that'll scare them for life. You want this day to go as smooth as possible and trying to fit everything in one day isn't worth it. Do what you can, do what THEY want, and come back again on a later trip to experience the rest.
-Don't go to Disney during a holiday, period, or a weekend for that matter. I know the allure of it sounds magical, but the experience of being in a park with 100,000 people is not. The locals show up and it gets even more crowded. Each park has really bad days that are blacked out even to cast members, but MK is always bad on a holiday. The others aren't nearly as bad, so if you do go on a holiday, remember if it's too crowded at MK, hop on a bus to another park.
-YES. COMFORTABLE SHOES. Don't wear HIGH HEELS and then complain there's too much walking to do in the parks. No, they won't give you a wheelchair because you don't like to walk. Get some comfortable sneakers or sandals if you know you'll be doing a lot of walking. And bring extra socks if you know you're going to be on a water ride (walking around in soggy socks all day - ewwww)
lisa jane
Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:29 am
Post subject:
Admittedly I've not been to Disney World, only Disneyland, but if I apply the list to Disneyland...
I agree with the lot.
APK
Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 6:58 pm
Post subject: WDW Dos and Don't List (Do you agree?)
http://www.concierge.com/ideas/hotspots/tours/502223?page=1
Do you guys agree or disagree with some of things on the list? Just wondering, because I want to plan things out right if I ever get to visit!
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